Man pleads guilty to killing Palm Desert woman

A sentencing date is slated to be confirmed tomorrow for a 25-year-old man who fatally stabbed his girlfriend at her Palm Desert apartment, where her young son was present.

After deliberating less than a day, a Banning jury on Tuesday convicted Richard Colin Holbrook of first-degree murder for the 2019 slaying of 33-year-old Nicole Henderson.

Along with murder, jurors also found Holbrook guilty of child endangerment and a sentence-enhancing allegation of using a deadly weapon -- a knife -- in the commission of a felony.

Because the verdicts were reached late in the day, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Rene Navarro deferred discussion regarding a sentencing date, setting a hearing on the matter for Thursday morning at the Banning Justice Center.

Holbrook, who is being held without bail at the Robert Presley Jail in Riverside, is facing 26 years to life in state prison.   

According to sheriff's investigators, on the afternoon of Oct. 27, 2019, the defendant and Henderson were involved in an unspecified dispute at her apartment in the 45-200 block of Panorama Drive, south of Highway 111.   

As the two were in the living room of the residence, the defendant grabbed a knife and stabbed her multiple times, according to prosecutors.   

The attack was reported to law enforcement immediately afterward, and patrol deputies went to the apartment and discovered Henderson's lifeless body.   

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.

The child endangerment count stems from the presence of Henderson's 4-year-old son in the apartment at the time of the attack. The boy, whose name was not disclosed, was not injured.

Holbrook had no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.