A jury found 66-year-old James Bachmurski guilty of second-degree murder in the death of 15-year-old Jade Colvin. Colvin, reported missing from her Arizona home in June 2016, was later connected to Bachmurski after the U.S. Marshals Service contacted Winneshiek County investigators in 2022.
Bachmurski admitted to paying for Colvin to travel to Iowa in March 2017. Investigators said he took her to his farm in Winneshiek County, where she had no cell service. Colvin used Bachmurski’s phone to send her last message to family and friends on March 30, 2017, believed to be the day she was killed, roughly two weeks after arriving in Iowa.
After a two-year investigation, Bachmurski was arrested and charged with second-degree murder in August 2024. The trial lasted about a week, during which Bachmurski did not testify. A sentencing date has not yet been set. Second-degree murder in Iowa can result in up to 50 years in prison.
