Two Cortez residents are being held in connection with a violent homicide and two assaults that took place in the city’s Veterans Park on Wednesday evening.
District Court Judge William Furse placed 33-year-old Robert Salt, Jr., on a $3 million bond and 20-year-old Nykhona Holiday on a $1 million bond after hearings Thursday.
At the hearings, assistant District Attorney Justin Pierce said police came to the park around nightfall after a report of someone lying there and found three beating victims lying near the swimming pool.
One was pronounced dead after unsuccessful efforts at CPR, and the others, both critically injured, were taken to the hospital.
According to a police affidavit, Holiday approached police at the crime scene and, after being advised of her Miranda rights, said she was looking for her phone. According to the affidavit, she had blood on her shirt as well as her shoes, which she said she had traded with Salt. She reportedly told police he was behind a nearby building and he was taken into custody.
At an interview at the police department, Holiday said Salt had been intoxicated and agitated and had assaulted multiple individuals, according to the affidavit. She said he forced her to take part in the assaults, threatening her life, and she kicked all three victims about six or seven times each.
At the bond hearing, assistant DA Pierce said, "After leaving all three men for dead, it appears they [Holiday and Salt] lacked remorse to such a degree that they went to City Market covered in blood and shoplifted more alcohol and returned to the scene of the crime, apparently to continue drinking."
A dozen relatives of the murder victim, some crying, were present at the hearings. One man spoke, telling the judge he wanted justice for his brother and did not want Salt to be released before trial. "We're all shocked," he said. "We don't have words for what happened."
Hearings for the filing of charges were set for both defendants on Sept. 5.
Gail Binkly is a career journalist who has worked for the Colorado Springs Gazette and Cortez Journal, and was the editor of the Four Corners Free Press, based in Cortez.