Robert Amos, arrested in the death of geology student Alyssa Heberton-Morimoto last week at a remote campsite south of Fairplay, was charged today with two counts of first-degree murder.
Amos appeared in a Fairplay courtroom, where he also was charged with crimes of violence and being a habitual criminal.
Heberton-Morimoto’s body was found Tuesday in a shallow creek with a strap around her neck, hours after she sent out a distraught plea for help on her radio, according to an arrest affidavit. An autopsy concluded she was strangled.
The 24-year-old student was mapping a portion of the Pike-San Isabel National Forest under the direction of University of Colorado at Denver geology instructor Karen Houck.
Authorities believe Amos strangled Heberton-Morimoto at his campsite, where she had parked her vehicle, then dragged her body to Salt Creek and concealed it with branches, according to court documents.
Amos, under the alias Dennis Lee Cook, was convicted of strangling a 69-year-old music teacher in 1981 and was sentenced to 15-years-to-life in Kansas. Much of his prison time was served in Colorado.
