Palm Desert Woman's Killer Was Insane, Jury Finds

PALM DESERT, CA — A 25-year-old man who fatally stabbed his girlfriend at her Palm Desert apartment, where her young son was present, was determined by jurors to be insane at the time of the crime.

The same Banning jury that convicted Richard Colin Holbrook of first- degree murder for the slaying of 33-year-old Nicole Henderson returned Tuesday afternoon with a finding that he was not mentally competent and therefore couldn't grasp the consequences of his actions.

The jury on March 5 found Holbrook guilty of the murder count, as well as child endangerment and a sentence-enhancing allegation of using a deadly weapon — a knife — in the commission of a felony.

Riverside County Superior Court Judge Rene Navarro gave the panel a day off before proceeding with the sanity phase of the defendant's trial, which concluded with closing arguments Tuesday morning. Jurors came back a few hours later with the insanity determination.

The judge scheduled a placement hearing for May 6 at the Banning Justice Center. Holbrook is slated to be placed in a state mental hospital for an indeterminate period.

He's being held without bail at the Robert Presley Jail in Riverside.

According to trial testimony, the defendant and Henderson were in the early stages of a relationship when he visited her apartment in the 45-200 block of Panorama Drive, south of Highway 111, on the afternoon of Oct. 27, 2019.

Holbrook had cut his arm, and Henderson was treating the wound when the defendant abruptly walked away and went into the kitchen, grabbing a knife from the counter.

The victim had her back turned to him when he came back, at which point he stabbed her, causing Henderson to turn and fall onto her back, according to the prosecution.

Holbrook proceeded to stab the woman 20 times in the chest for reasons investigators could never establish, prosecutors said.

Witnesses called 911, and patrol deputies converged on the apartment minutes later, discovering Henderson's lifeless body.

Her 4-year-old son was in the apartment at the time of the attack. However, the boy, whose name was not disclosed, was not injured.

Holbrook was identified as the assailant at the scene. He was located a short time later less than a quarter mile from the apartment building and taken into custody without incident.

He had no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.