BOULDER, Colo. — Boulder police have arrested a suspect exactly 200 days after a young woman's body was found wrapped in blankets on a bike trailer last July.
The suspect was identified as 52-year-old Jimmy Leroy West, Boulder Detective Commander Brannon Winn said during a press conference Thursday afternoon. West was arrested on a murder charge on Thursday morning.
This case started in the late afternoon on July 14, 2024, when officers with the Boulder Police Department responded to the 1800 block of Goss Street after neighbors reported an "unusual bike trailer" that had been there for several days with flies and maggots around it, according to an arrest affidavit. When detectives arrived at the scene, they found what appeared to be a small, homemade trailer piled with blankets and tarp-like materials, the affidavit reads. Wrapped in those items, detectives found the decomposing remains of a woman. The case was labeled a suspicious death.
Detectives believed the body had been there for several days. Under the intense summer heat, the body was badly decomposed and it took three days to identify her, Winn said.
She was ultimately identified as 19-year-old Zaria Hardee by a medical examiner, who said she died of "blunt force head injuries with probable asphyxia." At the time, she was just under 5 feet tall and 87 pounds, the affidavit reads. Police said she was unhoused at the time of her death and they believed there was some sort of relationship between Hardee and her killer.
“We believe the two spent time together within the unhoused community here in Boulder," Winn said.
In the days after the discovery, Boulder police began to retrace Hardee's last steps and talk with people she may have known. Winn said the physical nature of the evidence, paired with the effort required to find unhoused members of the community to interview, took time, but the department investigated every available lead.
For months, little to no updates were publicly available as that investigation continued. But that changed on Thursday when Boulder authorities scheduled a press conference to announce an arrest in the case. Winn, Police Chief Stephen Redfearn and District Attorney Michael Dougherty were all in attendance.
You can watch that press conference announcing the arrest of Jimmy West in the video below.
Chief Redfearn explained that earlier this week, the police department drafted a warrant for a suspect on a charge of first-degree murder in connection with this case, and it was signed by a judge Thursday morning.
“This morning, two of our sharp-eyed officers located that suspect and put him under arrest," he said. “These two officers actually are part of our Homeless Outreach Team. They were down there as a course of their normal duties and realized that they saw this gentleman, they knew he was wanted, and they took him into custody.”
That suspect was identified as West. He was arrested near the Boulder Civic Area, the police chief said.
"It was a relief," Hardee's mother Annastacia Saavedra told Denver7 over a Zoom call on Thursday evening. “I am very, very, very thankful that we can start the healing process now.”
The last six months have felt surreal for Saavedra, who lives in Wyoming. Hardee was her first of six children, who she described as sassy, outgoing, spontaneous, and goofy.
"She was like my best friend," Saavedra said tearfully, thinking about the days when Hardee was a young child. “She never left my side. No matter where I went, she was always right there... She was everything a mother could ask for.”
Saavedra said as Hardee grew older, she wanted to become her own person and grew distant from her mother. The last time the two spoke was in 2023.
“The last thing I heard from her was, 'Oh, I'm OK.' I didn't know where she was. She just told me that she met somebody, and then she's gotta go, and she's OK, and she loves me. And then I was left on read," Saavedra said about their exchange on the phone. “I told my mom, I told my entire family, that entire time, that I really pray that she's OK because the last thing I need is that call. I better never, ever, ever get that call. The only call I should get is her being on the other line checking in.”
Saavedra waited for her daughter to one day reach out or come home. She never gave up that hope, until she got the call she always dreaded in the summer of 2024.
“I was in denial. Like, no you guys got the wrong person," the mother recalled. “I cried every night. I'd wake up crying.”
The family has established a GoFundMe online fundraiser to help support them as they travel to and from Boulder for West's court appearances.
According to the arrest affidavit obtained by Denver7 on Thursday, Hardee was brought to an encampment that belonged to West, located north of 1631 17th Street — about 500 feet from where her body was found.
Investigators interviewed West on July 17, a few days after Hardee's body was found. He told authorities he last saw Hardee a week and a half before then and that the trailer had been stolen from him two weeks prior. He said his bike and blankets had also been stolen, according to the affidavit.
In the interview, West said Hardee left the camp on July 10 and described what she had been wearing. Investigators said his description matched almost perfectly with the clothes she was wearing when her body was found, and surveillance footage of Hardee being escorted to West's camp on July 10 showed her in a different outfit.
Because he was the last known person to have been with Hardee, West's camp was searched. Detectives found rope that matched evidence found at the crime scene, and tent material that was an exact fit to the tent material that Hardee's body had been wrapped in, according to the affidavit. The tent piece contained West's DNA, despite him saying he did not own a tent, the court document reads.
Tape found at the camp also appeared as a possible match to a strip found on Hardee's mouth and lower face. West's DNA was found on Hardee's body, the affidavit states.
Authorities also spoke with Hardee's boyfriend at the time of her death, who admitted to "selling" her to West, "likely accepting drugs as payment on the last day she was seen alive (7-10-2024)," according to the affidavit. The boyfriend was questioned but provided an alibi that was confirmed by law enforcement.
According to his affidavit, West has an extensive criminal history. Court documents show a slew of charges from incidents across Colorado, spanning several decades and ranging from arson in 1986 to burglary in 2007.
Just days after Hardee was last seen alive, West was charged with the unlawful use of dangerous drugs in Boulder, the affidavit states.
“He has been in and out of custody at different points during this investigation," Chief Redfearn said. "Throughout this process, while we were building probable cause to make that arrest, we did our best to keep somewhat of tabs on this gentleman, to know what he was up to. But ultimately, until we had probable cause, we had no reason to detain him for this case, which happened today.”
The prosecution's work is now getting underway, District Attorney Michael Dougherty said at the press conference Thursday. He also stressed that Hardee should be alive today.
"She was 19 years old. Nineteen. And she was living unhoused in our community," he said. "To me, that should give everyone pause. I recognize homelessness is a complex issue and there are people with views on all sides of it, but I think every single person would agree that a 19-year-old woman should be living somewhere with a home, with support and not be subjected to the violence that ended her life far too early. It is a tragedy."
Chief Redfearn expressed similar sentiments, saying the case "exposed a tragic reality that we, as a society, need to do better."
"It is entirely unacceptable that this young woman lived and ultimately died on our streets. Something must change," he said.
West is scheduled to appear in court for an advisement hearing on Friday morning. According to Dougherty, since these allegations happened before Coloradans voted to allow judges to deny bail to defendants charged with first-degree murder, he expects a lengthy bond discussion at some point in this case.





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