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21-year-old pleads guilty to killing woman, moving body to Colorado Springs Walmart

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- The man who claims he killed a 21-year-old woman at her request and then drove her body to a Colorado Springs Walmart will serve prison time after pleading guilty to second-degree murder this week.

Joshua Alan Thomsen, 21, faces between 35 and 55 years in prison for the death of Amy Elizabeth Shrieves last April, according to the 4th Judicial District Attorney's Office. Thomsen pleaded guilty Wednesday to the murder charge and tampering with a deceased human body.

Amy Elizabeth Shrieves; Photo: Facebook

Colorado Springs police officers found Shrieves' body inside a car in the Walmart parking lot on S. 8th Street back on April 4, 2019. Investigators later learned that she was shot in Eleven Mile State Park, which is west of Colorado Springs.

The scene where Shrieves' body was found

According to an arrest affidavit, Thomsen claims that Shrieves sent him a text message saying she wanted to commit suicide but wasn’t able to do it herself. Thomsen told police that Shrieves asked him to kill her, and he agreed. They met at the Tinseltown movie theatre in south Colorado Springs, and Shrieves got in Thomsen’s car before they drove out to Eleven Mile Reservoir.

Thomsen told police they went to a campsite and got out of the car. Thomsen says “Ms. Shrieves kneeled down and he shot her four or five times.” He then loaded her body into his car, drove to the 8th Street Walmart and called 911 to inform police about the killing, according to the affidavit.

A police dispatcher asked Thomsen for what he meant, and he replied saying “umm…girl asked me if I would kill her, and so we went into the mountains and I shot her four times.” He described her physical appearance and gave her name as “Amy Elizabeth.”

He told the dispatcher that Shrieves sent him the text messages around 8 or 9 p.m., and he got off work at 10, according to the affidavit. They met up around midnight and drove up to the reservoir. He claims he asked if she was sure she wanted it, and she said yes, so he shot her at about 1 a.m.

Officers arrived and found Shrieves dead in Thomsen’s car and recovered a .45 semiautomatic handgun from the glove compartment.

Thomsen also says he sent a text message to Shrieves’ ex-boyfriend to tell him about her death.

The 4th Judicial District Attorney's Office says Thomsen will be sentenced on April 3.

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Andrew McMillan

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