GRESHAM, OR (KPTV) -
Investigators said the man accused of murdering Whitney Heichel admitted to waiting outside her apartment, asking for a ride and then pulling a gun on her.
Jonathan Holt was arraigned on seven counts of aggravated murder with a firearm.
Court documents released Monday show three of those charges said Holt shot and killed her to in furtherance of committing the crime of sodomy. Four other counts said he killed Heichel in furtherance of the crimes of kidnapping and robbery.
Appearing via video arraignment in a Clackamas County courtroom, Holt wore a suicide prevention smock and appeared upset. He grimaced multiple times and, at one point, wiped a tear away.
Whitney Heichel's husband reported her missing last Tuesday, after the 21-year-old did not show up for her shift at a nearby Starbucks.
A Clackamas County Sheriff's Office probable cause document said Holt admitted to police that on Oct. 16, he waited outside Heichel's Gresham apartment and asked her for a ride.
About five minutes into the ride, Holt told investigators he pulled a gun and forced her to drive to Roslyn Lake in Clackamas County. Once there, deputies said he forced Whitney Heichel to perform a sex act on him.
He is then accused of shooting and killing Whitney Heichel. Holt told investigators he disposed of his cellular phone at Roslyn Lake after the shooting and took Whitney Heichel's body and dumped it on Larch Mountain. Roslyn Lake is near Dodge Park, a site investigators searched last week.
A swab from the steering wheel of Heichel's SUV revealed a DNA profile consistent with Holt's, according to the probable cause document.
Holt was arrested Friday night around the same time police found Whitney Heichel's body on Larch Mountain.
Autopsy results showed Whitney Heichel died of multiple gunshot wounds, the Multnomah County Medical Examiner's Office said, and that the manner of death was homicide.
According to court records, Holt has no criminal history.
In addition to living in the same apartment complex as the Heichels for the past few months, Holt may have also known the young woman through a Gresham Jehovah's Witness congregation.
In a statement released Monday, family spokesman Jim Vaughn said Holt was an "irregular attendee" of their congregation. Holt, who will turn 25 this week, went to Parkrose High School, where he graduated in 2006.
He made his first court appearance Monday afternoon. He was arraigned on those charges and is behind bars without bail.
A preliminary hearing in the case is set for Oct. 26.
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