Jury trial starts for defendant accused of fatally shooting woman at Boulder trailhead (2024)

UPDATE | Jan. 10 — Cody Lee Hobirk, the final defendant in this case, was sentenced on Jan. 10, 2024 to 26 years in prison, according to the Boulder Daily Camera. He previously pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

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UPDATE | Dec. 14 — A jury found Jaime Alonso Moore guilty of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, aggravated robbery, tampering with a deceased body and tampering with physical evidence on Thursday, according to the Boulder Daily Camera. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

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BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. — A jury trial will begin Monday for a man accused of fatally shooting a 25-year-old at a Boulder trailhead in 2022 and fleeing to New Mexico.

Jaime Alonso Moore is accused of killing Alexis Alyssa Baca, 25, whose body was found near the Realization Point trailhead in Boulder County on the morning of July 24, 2022. He was charged with first-degree murder, second-degree murder and aggravated robbery.

Moore's jury trial begins Monday with jury selection. The trial is expected to end in mid-December.

Three others were involved — Elizabeth Nicole Griffin and Ashley Lynn Provine were both sentenced in early September. Cody Lee Hobirk pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and will be sentenced on Jan. 10, 2024.

During the sentencing hearing for the two women, Provine spoke about her relationship with Moore, which started when she was 15 years old. She said she was preyed upon, and moved in with him when she was 18, thinking she was in love. Out of fear he'd leave her, she didn't alert police to the shooting, she said in court in September, adding that she felt guilty and ashamed of her actions.

All four were arrested between late July and early August 2022 in connection with Baca's death.

Based on an arrest affidavit, when deputies responded to Realization Point the trailhead on the morning of July 24, 2022, it was clear Baca was deceased and had a bullet wound above her left ear. She was identified by the coroner's office and the subsequent police investigation linked the four suspects to the scene. On the evening of July 23, they drove in two separate cars to the Boulder trailhead, according to the affidavit. The suspect accused of fatally shooting Baca — Moore, who was 31 at the time — said she fired at him first, and that his fiancée Provine, who was 18, friend Hobirk, who was 43, and friend's girlfriend Griffin, who was 23, helped him cover up the homicide.

The investigation led authorities to Las Cruces, New Mexico, which is about a 10-and-a-half-hour drive south of Boulder. After interviews and collecting evidence — with the help of the Las Cruces Police Department — the four suspects were identified. They are all residents of Las Cruces. Baca was also a resident of the city.

According to the affidavit, in a police interview, Provine told police she, Moore and Hobirk had driven up to Colorado from New Mexico to help Baca, who knew both men. Provine said Baca had called Hobirk for help returning to New Mexico. Provine said when they reached the Boulder County trailhead the night of the shooting, Moore told her and Griffin to take a long walk, which they did. She said when they returned, Baca was gone, according to the affidavit.

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In an interview with detectives following his arrest, Moore openly admitted he had shot and killed Baca, the affidavit reads. Moore and Hobirk allegedly tried to get her body out of the car — they both got her blood on them — and put her on the hillside near the trailhead, where she was found the following morning. Provine and Griffin helped throw away items from inside the car and wiped down door handles, the affidavit reads.

The group then fled to New Mexico, tossing the two firearms into the wilderness in random places, the affidavit reads. The FBI was involved in the investigation.

All four were arrested between late July and early August 2022.

The place where Baca was murdered now has a memorial, thanks to Baca's family.

During the sentencing for Griffin and Provine in September, a prosecutor said while they did not actively murder Baca, they played a role as an accessory. Neither called police, despite opportunities away from Moore and Hobirk to do so, she said. The defense for Griffin argued that she was abused as a child, fell into poverty and did not receive any love growing up. She turned to drugs to hope, the defense said, and after Baca's death, she held a lot of guilt. The defense for Provine stressed that her relationship with Moore started when she was 15 years old and she was preyed upon by him. The defense said Provine did not tell police about the shooting because she feared nobody would love her. She protected Moore in "a terrible sense of loyalty," the defense added.

The judge sentenced Griffin to four years probation and Provine to four years in prison.

Moore's trial is expected to last through Dec. 15, starting with jury selection on Monday.

Hobirk will be sentenced on Jan. 10, 2024.

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