In December of 2017, the life of 19-year-old Natalie Bollinger was cut tragically short in a case that would unfold with bizarre and disturbing details. The young woman from Thornton, Colorado, was reported missing on December 28, 2017. Her body was discovered the next day in a wooded area in Adams County, having died from a single gunshot wound to the head. An autopsy would later reveal that she also had a potentially lethal level of heroin in her system at the time of her death.
The investigation into her death took a strange turn when authorities delved into her phone records and online activity. These records led them to 22-year-old Joseph Michael Lopez. Upon his arrest, Lopez told investigators a shocking story: he claimed that he had responded to a Craigslist ad posted by Bollinger herself, in which she was seeking someone to 'put a hit on myself.' According to Lopez, he and Bollinger exchanged over 100 text messages before he picked her up. He alleged that she brought her own gun and that he tried to talk her out of her decision, but she insisted.
Lopez's account of the events changed during the investigation. Initially, he claimed Bollinger had shot herself, but he later confessed to pulling the trigger. He told police that they had said a prayer together before he shot her. After the act, he took her purse and the gun. While some of Bollinger's friends and family acknowledged a history of suicidal thoughts, others insisted she was excited about her future and would not have taken her own life. Prosecutors argued that regardless of the alleged Craigslist ad, Lopez had hours of opportunity to get help for the vulnerable young woman and instead chose to act as a predator.
Ultimately, Joseph Michael Lopez was charged with first-degree murder. However, in a plea deal that angered Bollinger's family, he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. In December 2018, he was sentenced to 48 years in prison. Natalie Bollinger's father expressed his outrage at the plea deal, stating that there was 'no justice' in the outcome and that it was a 'spit in my family's face.'
