Colorado man accused of helping hide a body after homicide arrested in Iowa

Authorities believe a man arrested in Iowa helped conceal the body of an April homicide victim in Colorado. 

Nathan A. Ryan was arrested in Mills County on Thursday, Mesa County (Colorado) Sheriff's Office announced. Mills County Sheriff's Office has not responded to calls for comment about where Ryan was at the time of his arrest. 

Ryan has been charged with accessory to first-degree murder, tampering with evidence and abuse of a corpse in relation to the disappearance of Kyle Free, 32. He has been accused of helping hide Free's body and is being held without bond, according to court records.

John Eddy and David Castro, both of Clifton, Colorado, were arrested earlier in the week and charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Ryan is accused, along with a friend, of helping remove and bury Free's body after he was killed in April, according to court documents that lay out an admission to authorities from Free's girlfriend, Rebecca Walker. Ryan and his alleged accomplice in the coverup, have given police conflicting reports about the former's involvement. 

Walker told police she called Eddy to the home she and Free shared at about 1:30 a.m. April 11, hours after she filed for a temporary restraining order against Free. He would be shot minutes later, police say. When asked by investigators what Walker expected Eddy to do when she saw Free, she said: "Kill him, he wanted to already anyway." 

Free was reported missing by his brother April 27. Besides Ryan, four others police say are related to the case have been arrested and charged in Colorado: Eddy, 25; Castro, 32; Walker, 34 and Timothy "Zane" Russman, 28.

Free, of Clifton, Colorado, had not been seen since April 4 when police were called to his girlfriend's home because he was "acting strange," according to court documents. Free, who was known to use methamphetamine at the time of his disappearance, missed a court appearance April 10 and a warrant was issued for his arrest. 

Police went to 445 1/2 Mesa Lake St. on April 21 to look for Kyle Free because of his outstanding warrant, but found nothing suspicious after searching the house Walker and Free shared. Castro, who had meth and told police he was accidentally shot, was taken to a hospital then arrested for a warrant, but Free was not located. 

Walker had denied knowing anything about Free's disappearance until Oct. 9 when she told police during a voluntary interview that they had been fighting and she asked Eddy to kill Free, court records show. Free had been acting erratically and threatening her children, police were told, so she called Eddy and told him to come over. 

She hid in a closet, she said, early on April 11 as Eddy and Castro beat and shot Free. Walker, who said Free was screaming and damaging property before she made the call, left him to die in the garage, where he spent most of his time. She and a friend cleaned up the blood four days later with supplies from a store her unwitting parents owned. Walker then attempted to hide Free's identity by using a torch to try and burn his tattoos until they were unrecognizable.

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Ryan and Russman later picked up the tub containing Free's body and disposed of it in an unknown location, Walker told police. Russman was the originally desired hitman but did not answer his phone on April 10, so she reached out to Eddy, who already did not like Free and believed he was a "snitch," records show. Russman and Ryan, who Walker described as best friends, said Russman would kill her if she spoke of their involvement. 

It is believed that Castro, who told police he had a bullet inside him the days after the homicide, was accidentally shot during the struggle before Free's death. He is believed to be the one who stabbed and shot Free, court records show. 

Ryan, according to court documents, admitted to helping remove items from Walker's home in April but said he did not know what was in the tote he helped put into Russman's truck. He said the tote, which police say contained Free's body, remained in Russman's truck until at least the next day, and at that point, Ryan had gone home. 

Russman, who was arrested Dec. 5 and has shown police where he hid Free's body, has been charged with tampering with evidence and being an accessory to first-degree murder, according to court documents. He contends that he and Ryan, the man apprehended in Iowa, buried the tote containing Free's body together. Walker has been charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and tampering with evidence.

Ryan is awaiting extradition. He is scheduled to appear in court in Iowa on Monday. 

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Tyler Davis can be reached at tjdavis@registermedia.com or on Twitter @TDavisDMR.