Officers describe mounting tensions between podmates leading up to University of Colorado dorm murders

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (CN) — After hearing testimony from Colorado Springs investigators on mounting tensions between a man accused of murder and the victims shot and killed in a University of Colorado dorm, a local judge found probable cause on Tuesday to bind over the two first-degree murder charges for a trial.

Nicholas Jordan, 25, was arrested in February after his former dormmate Samuel Knopp, 24, was found shot and killed along with 26-year-old Celie Rain Montgomery.

“The defendant said he would kill the victim a month prior to his death,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Andrew Vaughan said in a preliminary hearing.

Vaughn claimed Jordan killed Montgomery to cover up the first murder. Detectives, however, are still analyzing phone records to determine Montgomery’s relationship to Knopp and why she was in his dorm on Feb. 16.

After interviewing Giancarlo Argueta-Augedelo, who lived alongside Knopp and Jordan, Colorado Springs police officers learned of mounting tensions between Jordan and his dormmates. Argueta-Augedelo told officers Jordan was a “weed head,” who often slurred his words “like a zombie.”

According to police, Knopp clashed with Jordan when the latter refused to take out his trash. Jordan eventually left the dorm, and disenrolled from the university days before the shooting.

In an arrest affidavit, police said Jordan’s keycard had been used to access the dorm twice on the morning of the murders. Investigators also obtained footage from a surveillance camera showing a person in dark clothing entering the building at the time the keycard was scanned.

Lead Detective Ed Crofoot testified that upon his initial arrest, Jordan told police he had been living in his car and entered the dorm to use the bathroom. Crofoot recalled Jordan being surprised to learn of the arrest warranted, which was served as he was on his way to work at a construction site. Jordan couldn’t recall the names of his dormmates when questioned by police.

During the investigation, Crofoot also learned Jordan had been evicted from his previous apartment and then threatened to hunt down those who reported him.

Crofoot found that three weeks before the shooting, Jordan purchased a 40 caliber handgun outside Detroit, Michigan, which matches the weapon officers believe was used to commit the murder. Officers additionally found an AK-47 assault rifle in Jordan’s 2009 Ford Escape.  

“Essentially this is a lot of speculation that is remote from the actual incident, that is being combined into a big ball of roommate squabble," countered public defender Nick Rogers, on behalf of Jordan. "I would submit there isn’t enough information to bind him over."

Ultimately, Fourth Judicial District Judge David Shakes found the legal standard required he view the evidence in the light most favorable to prosecutors.

“When I apply that standard, I find the people have met their burden,” said Shakes, who was appointed by Colorado's last Republican governor, Bill Owens, in 2003.

The hearing was held in person at the El Paso County Judicial Building in Colorado Springs and livestreamed on the state court's website.

Jordan is scheduled for arraignment on Oct. 25.

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