A man who killed a woman, then left her body in the stairwell of his Denver apartment in 2022, was sentenced to 32 years in prison Monday.
Innis Lee Collins, 42, took a deal in August and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the killing of 19-year-old Namantha Noller Rice. Charges of first-degree murder, tampering with a body and destroying physical evidence were dismissed in the deal, court records show.
Another resident found Rice dead in the stairwell of the apartment building near East 16th Avenue and Broadway in April 2022.
Police arrested Collins, Rice’s then-boyfriend, after reviewing surveillance footage that showed him carrying an unconscious Rice out of his apartment and towards the stairwell, leaving the apartment on his own, walking down the street, changing clothes, then reentering the apartment.
Collins had been arrested on an assault charge in February that year after an incident that involved Rice, the affidavit states. That case doesn’t appear in state court records.
