A Black Forest man accused in the death of Kara Nichols, who disappeared nearly 10 years ago, has been charged with first-degree murder, attorneys announced Thursday.

Joel Hollendorfer, 46, was initially charged with second-degree murder, but prosecutors last week indicated their intent to upgrade charges against him. Defense attorneys announced at a Thursday morning first-appearance hearing that they’d received new charges in his case.

Those charges, prosecutor Christina Perroni said, included first-degree murder. Hollendorfer is also charged with tampering with physical evidence for offenses attributed in court records to Oct. 9, 2012, the last day athat Nichols’ family spoke with her, according to an arrest affidavit.

In light of the updated charges, Perroni asked Fourth Judicial District Judge Robin Chittum to revoke Hollendorfer’s previous bond set at $1 million.

Defendants charged with first-degree murder are typically held with no bond. Chittum granted Perroni’s request, ordering Hollendorfer to be held at the El Paso County jail with no bond.

“We are thankful his bail was revoked today and for the added charge of First Degree in Kara’s heinous murder and cover-up all of these years,” Michelle Bart, Nichols’ family’s spokeswoman, said in a written statement.

Hollendorfer’s case was assigned to the judicial district’s Chief Judge William Bain. Hollendorfer was set to return for another first appearance hearing Feb. 23 in Bain’s court, when Bain may also consider a pending motion for expanded media coverage in the case, among other issues.

Detectives interviewed Hollendorfer in 2013 about Nichols’ whereabouts based on call records indicating they’d been in contact the night she went missing, and investigated his property in 2014. He told them he was “seeking escort services” the night she disappeared, and answered an advertisement, but did not meet with the person he spoke with that night.

FBI investigators contacted Kristina Palmer, once Kristina Hollendorfer, at the beginning of February this year, according to the affidavit. According to court records, Palmer filed for divorce from Hollendorfer in 2018.

She told investigators Hollendorfer admitted to her after his father died that he “accidentally killed an escort he hired.” She also told El Paso County Sheriff’s Office detectives that he told Palmer he’d “accidentally strangled her until she died, according to the affidavit. She told detectives he said he’d buried her body on top of one of the horse graves on his property with plastic bags and lime.

Investigators discovered human remains on the property Feb. 7, the same day Hollendorfer was taken into custody on an unrelated warrant. Two days later, those remains were officially identified by the El Paso County Coroner’s Office as Nichols.