EL PASO COUNTY, COLORADO: Kara Nichols, an aspiring model, was strangled to death at the age of 19.
A Colorado man, who buried her body in an old horse grave, has now been sentenced in the harrowing case that spanned for over a decade.
On October 9, 2012, the teenager told her family that she was traveling to Denver.
However, Nichols went missing shortly after she informed her close ones about her journey for a job, as per Law and Crime.
Who is Joel Hollendorfer?
Joel Hollendorfer, a father-of-two from Colorado, was convicted of manslaughter in the gruesome murder of Nichols.
On Thursday, August 31, Judge William Bain of the Fourth Judicial District Court ordered the 47-year-old man to serve maximum sentence of 24 years.
He will be placed in a state correctional facility and has also been credited with 571 days of time he already served in prison.
In June 2023, Hollendorfer was found guilty on a lesser charge of manslaughter after he was initially charged with second-degree murder.
Following the sentencing hearing, District Attorney Michael Allen stated, "This violent, senseless crime deserves a more severe punishment than what the law can provide."
"We urge the Department of Corrections to uphold the entirety of the defendant’s sentence," he added.
On October 14, 2012, Nichols' family contacted authorities to report her disappearance.
Where was Kara Nichols last seen alive?
Investigators found that information on the victim's whereabouts in the last known places was in an unincorporated section of El Paso County.
As per public records, Nichols' was last definitely spotted alive 15 miles from Colorado Springs' 9665 Burgess Road where the convicted murderer previously lived.
At the time when she went missing, Hollendorfer's social media posts suggested that he split from his wife.
What led FBI agents to conclude the investigation into Kara Nichols' death?
In 2022, the standard cold case review of Nichols' death made a breakthrough after investigators interviewed a new witness who was Hollendorfer's ex-wife.
She explained to FBI agents that the defendant confessed to her that he accidentally murdered an escort.
Hollendorfer told her that he buried the body in an old horse grave on his family's property.
According to NBC affiliate KOAA-TV, human remains were discovered in the grave of Hollendorfer's mother's favorite horse Milo after a search warrant was conducted.
Hollendorfer was arrested after the coroner tentatively identified the human remains in the grave as those of the young victim, Nichols.
Describing how the defendant murdered the victim, Judge Bain stated, "You knew [Nichols] was addicted to heroin and you gave it to her, used her body in a vile way, put hands around her neck, and rendered her unconscious."
Kara Nichols' father reacts to Joel Hollendorfer's sentencing
Pauls Nichols, father of Kara Nichols, expressed disappointment in the outcome of the sentencing as he called it a "miscarriage of justice."
He stated that even if the defendant accidentally murdered the 19-year-old during sex, he should not have tried to get rid of her body but he should have sought proper medical attention.
