Former Colorado Springs resident murdered in Mexico

Mexican authorities are investigating the murder of a woman who formerly lived in Colorado Springs and had been living in Mexico for the past three years.

The victim is known by her immediate family as Holly Brenda Horsman, 49, and by other relatives as Holly Brenda Anderson.
Three of Holly’s nieces living in Colorado Springs contacted KRDO NewsChannel 13 this past weekend, saying she was killed on Easter Sunday at her home in the tourist area of Mazatlan, on the west coast of Mexico.

According to Holly’s nieces, they learned of her death last Friday. They said she had been beaten and possibly shot. The suspect and motive for the slaying are unclear.

The nieces said Anderson lived most of her adult life in Colorado Springs and was trying to move back to the city. In Mazatlan, she ran a boat refurbishing business and had plans to open a restaurant, they said.

Anderson would have turned 50 in June.

“We’ve started a GoFundMe page to raise $2,200,” said Amanda Alire, one of the nieces. “It’s for someone to go down there and bring her body back here for cremation. If we wait too long, they will put her body in an unmarked grave and we don’t want that.”

But Karen Salyers, Holly’s sister, contacted KRDO NewsChannel 13 late Monday afternoon and disputed what the nieces said.

“Her husband and her two adult sons have already made arrangements for her to be cremated in Mexico,” Salyers said. “That was her happy place. She wanted to stay there. She didn’t want to come back to Colorado.

When told of Salyer’s comments, Alire said, “I had no idea about any of that.”

Mazatlan is a popular tourist destination for Americans. In recent years, Americans murdered while vacationing in Mexico has been more of an issue.