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Celia Barquín Arozamena had played on some of the best golf courses in the world, but her promising life ended on a modest public course on the way to her university, Iowa State University.
Barquín Arozamena, a leading Spanish golfer, finished the first nine holes on Monday morning at Coldwater Golf Links in Ames, Iowa, when a man attacked her, the police said. She was stabbed to the chest and neck, her body was thrown into a pond next to the No. 9 T-shirt.
The assassination of Ms. Barquín Arozamena, who won the 12 Big Women's Championship in April, stunned the university town of Ames and led her hometown in Spain to declare three days of mourning.
Iowa State has announced it will host a half-day ceremony at the university football game on Saturday to honor Barquín Arozamena, 22, as the 2018 Female Athlete of the Year. The school will also award him a posthumous degree, which will allow him to obtain a bachelor's degree in civil engineering.
"Losing one of our student-athletes, it's like losing a child," said Jamie Pollard, athletic director of Iowa State. said Tuesday, fighting tears. "Celia was the victim of a senseless and random act committed by a stranger in broad daylight, playing something she loved."
The Police Department of Ames arrested Collin Daniel Richards, 22, who was living in a homeless camp in a wooded area near the field and charged him with first degree murder. Police said Mr. Richards, who had a long criminal history in Iowa and was released from state prison in June, had cuts and scrapes on his body, which was consistent with a recent altercation.
Officers identified Mr. Richards at the beginning of the investigation after receiving a tip from another man who had stayed in the same homeless camp. He told the police that Mr. Richards had recently raised the need to "rape and kill a woman," police said.
The investigators found a knife and a bag of Mr. Richards' bloody clothes near the camp, said Geoff Huff, the department's investigation commander. Richards was jailed on Wednesday with a $ 5 million bail.
"It's disturbing that something is happening in broad daylight in a community as safe as Ames," said Commander Huff. "It's a terrible thing that has happened.
Ames is about 30 miles north of Des Moines. It is linked to Iowa State University, whose campus is in the city center and whose 35,000 students make up half of the population. Ames is considered one of the safest cities in the state, with one homicide registered in the last two years.
The death of Ms. Barquín Arozamena occurred about a month after the body of another student, Mollie Tibbetts, 20, was found in a field east of Des Moines.
Born in Reocín, a town of 3,000 inhabitants near the northern coast of Spain, Barquín Arozamena is a high school graduate and one of the best junior golfers in the country. She decided to play college golf in the United States and enrolled at Iowa State University in 2014, with a specialization in Civil Engineering.
She immediately dominated the golf course, earning three top-10 finishes in the tournaments and being selected for the All-Big 12 First Team. She finished her college eligibility spectacularly last spring, winning the Big 12 Championship and qualifying for the 2018 United States Women Open on L.P.G.A. Tower.
"Celia was so proud to compete for Iowa State," Christie Martens, the school's female golf coach, told reporters on Tuesday. "Winning the Big 12 Championship for our team was very important to her because of her performance at Iowa State."
The Ames police department said it was unclear what time Barquín Arozamena was attacked Monday, but that golfers playing behind her had spotted her abandoned bag on a fairway around 10:20 am. The owner of the bag was not found reported the episode to the police.
About an hour later, the police found his body in the pond and then found his smell with a dog in a wooded area of the course, where they met the man from the camp who knew Mr. Richards .
It was not clear whether Mr. Richards, who had previously been convicted of robbery, burglary and harassment in Iowa, had hired a lawyer or had he been appointed one. Prior to being sentenced to prison in late 2017, he lived with his grandparents in Coon Rapids, a small town about 70 miles west of Ames.
Her grandparents could not be contacted on Wednesday for comment. But in a Interview with the Daily Times Herald in Iowa, her grandmother, Diane Richards, said, "We are so devastated.
In Reocín, city officials held a minute of silence for Barquín Arozamena on Tuesday and declared three days of official mourning.
Spanish sports minister José Guirao lamented his death, writing on Twitter that she had "a great future as a sportswoman".
Reocín Mayor Pablo Diestro told local journalists that his assassination was an inexplicable "bomb" for his family and other local residents. Mr. Diestro was also his teacher when she was young.
"She was one of those students who do not need a lot of work from you, who are still aiming for 10 out of 10 and succeeding," said Diestro.
"When she was there, we could see her playing sports, studying, always very focused on her business," said Diestro. "She went on with things and never tried to provoke anyone."
Barquín Arozamena grew up idolizing Spanish golfers Seve Ballesteros, born in her home region of Cantabria, and Sergio García. The local news included photos of Mrs. Barquín Arozamena meeting the two golfers as a girl.
"Broken by what happened to #CeliaBarquinArozamena" Mr. García wrote on Twitter Tuesday. "I had the pleasure of meeting her and I know that she was a special person."
Raphael Minder contributed to the report.
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