{"id":128324,"date":"2026-05-09T20:36:45","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T02:36:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-woman-pleads-not-guilty-in-veterans-park-beating-case\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T20:36:45","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T02:36:45","slug":"cortez-woman-pleads-not-guilty-in-veterans-park-beating-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-woman-pleads-not-guilty-in-veterans-park-beating-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Cortez woman pleads not guilty in Veterans Park beating case"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Robert
Robert Salt and Nykhona Holiday<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A Cortez woman accused of first-degree murder and two counts of first-degree assault pleaded not guilty Thursday in 22nd Judicial District Court.<\/p>\n

Nykhona Holiday, 20, appeared in court on charges in a homicide case that unfolded at Veterans Park near Cortez Welcome Center in August.<\/p>\n

Although the defense and prosecution gathered to formalize a plea on Thursday, the parties revealed they are in discussions to reach a final settlement in Holiday\u2019s case.<\/p>\n

The hearing was largely procedural, centering on a schedule for the felony case as court proceedings and possible negotiations continue.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a number of what we would characterize as fairly substantive and serious conversations,\u201d her attorney, Stephen Singer, told District Court Judge William Furse.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would characterize things as hopeful in terms of reaching resolution but we don\u2019t have one yet,\u201d Singer said.<\/p>\n

Holiday is charged alongside Robert Salt for what prosecutors argue are gruesome, escalating assaults against three men in August, two whom have since died. The allegations involve significant violence in a public park central to Cortez, two allegedly intoxicated individuals and multiple witnesses who allegedly fled out of fear.<\/p>\n

Curtis Benally, 40, died from blunt-force trauma soon after the incidents on Aug. 20, while Anthony Hill, 56, another alleged target of Salt and Holiday, was found critically wounded on the scene and died March 15.<\/p>\n

A third man, Bilbert Tsosie, 61, was found unconscious by police with serious face wounds, but remains alive, District Attorney Jeremy Reed said on Thursday. Reed said at the prosecution hasn\u2019t elected to charge for Hill\u2019s death because the investigation remains active.<\/p>\n

Testimony from a prior hearing described Salt stomping and standing on the victims\u2019 heads in a manner the state alleges showed \u201cextreme indifference\u201d to human life. Police previously testified to finding extreme amounts of blood at the park.<\/p>\n

Salt is charged with multiple counts, including first-degree murder, second-degree murder, and first- and second-degree assault, along with a habitual criminal count. Salt has a plea hearing set for 1 p.m. Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Detective Charles Osborn testified at an earlier probable cause hearing that Holiday was present throughout the assaults and admitted participating. She told the detective that Salt coerced her into it by threatening her life.<\/p>\n

She is charged with one count of murder involving extreme indifference and two counts of assault involving extreme indifference.<\/p>\n

Under Colorado\u2019s criminal code, in Revised Statutes 18-3-202(c), the legal term \u201cextreme indifference\u201d is used to allege circumstances of reckless and brutal conduct, showing extreme indifference to the value of human life that it creates a grave risk of death.<\/p>\n

\u201cI informed Nykhona that one of the individuals assaulted by Robert had died as a result of their injuries,\u201d Osborn wrote in a report. \u201cNykhona appeared visibly upset upon learning this information. Nykhona then looked at me and said she was going to tell me the truth about what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Osborn testified Holiday then walked him through the events and drew a diagram of the park.<\/p>\n

\u201cRobert gets angry, aggressive and a bully when he drinks,\u201d Osborn said, testifying about what Holiday told him.<\/p>\n

Furse questioned whether prosecutors intend to try Holiday and Salt together. Reed said prosecutors have not made a final decision, though trying them simultaneously \u201cmakes some sense\u201d because both cases, from the state\u2019s perspective, involve the same evidence and witnesses.<\/p>\n

Furse entered Holiday\u2019s not guilty plea and scheduled an administrative setting conference for May 15 to determine a future trial date. Both parties agreed a future trial may take two weeks.<\/p>\n

Reed told the court that setting an initial trial date would help move the case forward, particularly if the Colorado Bureau of Investigation is expected to accelerate parts of its work once a trial is in place.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are getting ever closer to something that I think would be acceptable to the people and workable for Ms. Holiday, but we\u2019re just not there yet,\u201d Reed said in court. \u201cOur belief is that it\u2019s likely this one does resolve.\u201d<\/p>\n

awatson@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Attorney says plea agreement discussions remain active<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13565,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[21,133,168,28,60,29,6419,76],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-128324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-cortez","tag-courts","tag-crime","tag-headlines","tag-montezuma-county","tag-newsletter","tag-tj-trueanthem","tag-u-s-22nd-judicial-district"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128324"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=128324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}