A 19-year-old went missing nearly a decade ago. Her body was just found in Colorado

A 19-year-old went missing nearly a decade ago in Colorado. Now her body has been found and a man faces charges.

Kara Nichols was last seen on Oct. 9, 2012. She was reported missing five days later.

Nichols told friends she planned to travel from Colorado Springs to Denver for a modeling photo shoot the day she was last seen, KOAA reported.

For nearly a decade, people had been searching for Nichols. In January, officials at the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office conducted a review of the cold case.

They found a witness to speak with and uncovered “critical information,” the sheriff’s office said.

“A search warrant was obtained (on Feb. 7) and a team of El Paso County Sheriff’s Office Detectives and Specialists alongside the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) Evidence Response Team were deployed to the 9600 block of Burgess Road,” deputies said Feb. 8 on Facebook.

Human remains were recovered from the area and identified as Nichols a day later.

Joel Hollendorfer was arrested and charged with second-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence. Officials did not say what specifically led to his arrest.

“There have been hundreds of hours worked on this case, dozens of search warrants executed, and numerous leads which have come in over the duration of this case spanning across the United States and Europe,” the sheriff’s office said. “These types of cases are complex and difficult to solve.”

This story was originally published February 9, 2022 at 8:12 AM with the headline "A 19-year-old went missing nearly a decade ago. Her body was just found in Colorado."