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Suspect in Colorado dorm slayings had reportedly threatened his roommate over chores, say court docs

February 24, 2024 | | Print Article

Taking out the trash.

That was one of the things murder suspect Nicholas Trevon Jordan, 25, argued about with his University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) roommate, Samuel Knopp, 24, before he allegedly shot Knopp and Celie Rain Montgomery, 26, in the head, a court document, unsealed on Friday, revealed.

As BizPac Review reported, on Feb. 16, the Colorado Springs Police Department received an alert of gunshots being fired inside a dorm at UCCS’s Crestone House. Upon arriving on the scene, officers found Knopp and Montgomery dead, each with at least one bullet to the head.

The unsealed police detective’s affidavit “cited an interview with another roommate of Jordan and Knopp’s, who said Knopp collected a bag of garbage and placed it near the defendant’s door in January, precipitating a death threat,” according to NBC News.

“Mr. Jordan threatened Mr. Knopp and told him that he would ‘kill him’ and there would be consequences if Mr. Jordan was asked to take out the trash again,” the affidavit reads.

Knopp had filed three complaints against Jordan with campus police and housing officials on Jan. 9, including the death threat, according to the document.

The second roommate was in the dorm when the shots rang out. He reported the gunfire and locked himself in his room until the police arrived. The affidavit notes that he and Knopp had told officials that Jordan created “unsafe living conditions.” The murder suspect, they said, made a mess of the dorm and smoked marijuana in his room.

“Campus police and housing officials confirmed receiving complaints, the affidavit said,” NBC News reports.

Jordan put in a request to withdraw from both his classes and campus housing just a day before the tragic shooting, according to the affidavit.

A man of “uncertain identity” was caught on security cameras entering the Crestone House residences before 6 a.m. on Feb. 16, the document states. The entry was a match to Jordan’s key card. Roughly 14 minutes later, security video showed someone leaving from the same door and running off.

On Monday, Jordan, who came to Colorado from Detroit, was arrested.

“On Monday, February 19, 2024, at approximately 7:52 AM, members of the Colorado Springs Police Department’s Motor Vehicle Theft Unit located Nicholas Jordan in a vehicle,” the Colorado Springs Police Department said. “At approximately 8:37 AM, CSPD’s Tactical Enforcement Unit responded and took him into custody without incident in the 4900 block of Cliff Point Circle East in Colorado Springs.”

According to the court, Jordan was held on a $5 million bond, NBC News reports. He has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

“Knopp studied music and was scheduled to perform a senior recital on March 21. A video of his junior recital shows Knopp onstage at the university’s Ent Center for the Arts’ Chapman Foundation Recital Hall playing a range of styles, including jazz and classic rock, on what appeared to be a hollow-body electric guitar,” the outlet states. “Montgomery was enrolled for a semester in 2020 at Pueblo Community College to study culinary arts, the institution said. Her connection to Knopp, if any, was unclear.”

A status hearing for Jordan’s case is scheduled in court on March 15. El Paso County District Court records show that a preliminary hearing was scheduled for March 27.

Melissa Fine
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