Joel Hollendorfer, 46, has been accused of strangling 19-year-old Kara Nichols to death in his car in October 2012, and he allegedly confessed to his parents and wife
A man who allegedly admitted to his wife that he “accidentally strangled” a sex worker to death 10 years ago has been arrested after she told the police.
Joel Hollendorfer, 46, has been accused of killing 19-year-old Kara Nichols in his car, while they were having sex, and then burying her body on his parents’ property in Colorado Springs El Paso.
The teenager, who had been working as an escort, has not been seen since her father reported her missing in October 2012.
A court affidavit states Hollendorfer confessed to his father, who died in November 2014, without telling the police, but also told his then-wife Kristina Palmer.
Ms Palmer did not cooperate with the original investigation, but FBI agents then tracked her down in Virginia last month.
She said the father-of-two admitted he had “accidentally killed an escort he hired” and buried the body at his parent’s property.
The affidavit says: “Joel told her he hired an escort and during sex with her in his car he accidentally strangled her until she died.
“Joel then transported her to his parent’s property where he buried her on an old horse grave with plastic bags and lime.
“Kristina had no knowledge of Joel ever moving the body. She related Joel told her he felt responsible for his father’s death, as he had told his parents about this.”
She also said his parents “knew he killed Kara” and were “covering for” Hollendorfer, who regularly used drugs and slept with escorts at the time of the alleged murder.
Hollendorfer was arrested on Monday, on unrelated charges, and when he spoke to detectives about the case he denied ever meeting Ms Palmer.
However, he agreed to show them where horses were buried at his parents’ property and later that day a search team found a hand and human remains.
Police had searched the property in October 2014 using specially trained dogs, but did not find anything.
Hollendorfer has been charged with second-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence. He is now awaiting trial.
