A Boulder judge ordered a $10 million bond on Friday for a man accused of bludgeoning and strangling a 19-year-old Boulder woman, and then leaving her body strapped to a bike trailer in a back yard.

James “Jimmy” West, 52, appeared in court less than 24 hours after he was arrested by Boulder police on suspicion of murdering Zaria Hardee last July. 

Twentieth Judicial Judge Andrew Hartman also slapped West with a protective order to keep him away from Hardee’s family and from any witnesses in the case.

“I think the defendant will be in custody for a bit,” Hartman said. 

Hardee’s mother, Annastacia Saavedra, watched the hearing from the court’s live-feed website. She said she’s not afraid of West, whom she called a monster.

“He not only made my child suffer deeply for who knows how long but watched her die in his hands,” she said. 

The alleged murder happened in West’s encampment in Boulder after Hardee was traded by her own boyfriend for drugs or money, according to the arrest affidavit. Both Hardee and West were homeless, arrest records showed.

Zaria died of blunt force trauma to the head combined with asphyxia, according to arrest documents. She weighed 87 pounds and stood 4-foot, 11 inches. 

In the days before her death, Hardee was spotted hanging out with Boulder’s homeless crowd in Central Park, on the Pearl Street Mall and under a bridge.  A bicyclist thought the scene was odd because she didn’t look like she belonged there, and was so concerned he took a video of her.

In a screenshot photo from that footage, she leaned into an older man who appeared to be sleeping as they sat on a discarded cushion next to a shopping cart. 

The horrific crime showed the underbelly of the dangers of living on the streets, according to Boulder Police Chief Stephen Redfearn. He said that West was in and out of prison during the six months investigators were building their case against him. 

“Zaria should be here today,” Redfearn said at a news conference Thursday. “She should not have been living on the streets of Boulder. It is entirely unacceptable that this young woman lived and ultimately died on our streets.”

Court records show that West has a criminal history going back as far as 1992.

The last day the 19-year-old was seen alive was July 10, 2024, police said.

Her body was found July 14 after the manager of the apartments on Goss Street near Canyon Boulevard and 18th Street called police to come check out a bicycle trailer, which had something bulky ratchet-strapped to it.

No one knew it was there until residents noticed “the smell of death” coming into their units through the air conditioner vents from out back.

West has such a storied criminal history, the public defender who was assigned to represent him had to recuse himself Friday morning.

Judge Hartman requested for West to be assigned an Alternate Defense Counsel attorney and set the next court date for 8:15 a.m. Tuesday, when formal first-degree murder charges are expected to be filed.