A 4th Judicial District Court judge found probable cause Tuesday to charge an Iowa woman with the first-degree murder of a Colorado Springs man whose body was found stuffed in the trunk of his abandoned car in Iowa after he was reported missing.

Bionca Charmaine Rogers, 21, was denied bond by Judge Marla Prudek, who admitted the case against Rogers was mainly circumstantial but said the prosecution had gathered enough evidence to charge Rogers with first-degree murder, robbery and tampering with physical evidence.

The body of 61-year-old Grant Michael Frazier was discovered in late February in the trunk of his 2009 white Mitsubishi Galant in an apartment complex in Newton, Iowa, about 35 miles east of Des Moines.

According to an autopsy by the Iowa State Medical Examiner’s Office, the man had been stabbed several times, including one stab wound to the area between his left shoulder and neck that had severed a major artery and punctured his heart, as well as several cuts to his head, back and defensive stab wounds to his left hand. All of his ribs had been broken, his larynx had been crushed and his jaw had been shattered, the autopsy stated.

The damage to Frazier’s body had been so severe, the prosecution said, that the coroner in Iowa had not been able to determine the exact cause of death but had concluded that the stab wounds and blunt force trauma combined had killed the man.

Michael Frazier, 21, the victim’s son, testified that Rogers and her 4-year-old daughter were at the apartment he shared with his father off North Murray and Palmer Park boulevards when he arrived on the afternoon of Feb. 16. He said he had never met Rogers and he did not know how his father was involved with her, but that their demeanor was friendly. Later that night, about 10:45 p.m., he testified, Rogers and his father left the apartment without notice, leaving the man’s wallet and belongings behind. That was the last time Michael Frazier saw his father.

When his father did not return home the following morning, Michael Frazier tried to call him and received a text message that read, “This hunny is extraordinary… I will be back tomorrow, have a good time son,” according to testimony from Colorado Springs police Detective Donald Chagnon, the lead investigator in the case.

The prosecution described a scenario in which Rogers, fearing that the Department of Human Services in El Paso County would try to take her daughter away as a result of a previous concealed weapon and child abuse case, befriended Grant Michael Frazier to use his vehicle to get back to Iowa and turn custody of the child over to her mother.

According to the prosecution, Rogers had been living in the same apartment complex as the victim since January, likely developing a relationship as neighbors.

Defense counsel argued that detectives had not been able to establish a time of death or the location where the alleged murder had taken place and that the victim’s body found in the trunk of the car did not directly implicate Rogers. Defense attorney Nathan Ojanen also called into question the credibility of a witness who approached Colorado Springs police after news of the victim’s disappearance had been reported in local media.

Judge Prudek sided with the prosecution, saying that Rogers had driven the victim’s vehicle from Colorado Springs to Iowa City and that the alleged murder had likely occurred in El Paso County. The judge further agreed that a previous incident in which Rogers had stabbed her father during an argument in a manner similar to the wounds found on Grant Michael Frazier’s body showed a pattern of violent behavior.

Rogers will be held at the El Paso County jail pending an arraignment scheduled for Oct. 1.

Grant Michael Frazier and Bionca Rogers