--- description: Joseph Michael Lopez, 22, was arrested in the killing Natalie Bollinger, 19. Lopez told police the girl put a hit out on herself title: Man Claims Teen Girl Hired Him on Craigslist to Kill Her image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7f6f3600114aca7d/6989270186f68e09b66e83a5/craigslist-ad-for-sale.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Crime](/tag/crime/) ## Crime Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Man Claims Teen Girl Hired Him on Craigslist to Kill Her by [Lisa Marie Segarra](/author/lisa-marie-segarra/) ## Lisa Marie Segarra Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 10, 2018 8:58 PM CUT  Classified ads on Craigslist Classified ads on CraigslistAlex Segre—REX/Shutterstock by [Lisa Marie Segarra](/author/lisa-marie-segarra/) ## Lisa Marie Segarra Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Feb 10, 2018 8:58 PM CUT A Colorado man suspected of killing a 19-year-old is saying the teen had put a hit out on herself on Craigslist. Joseph Michael Lopez, 22, was arrested this week in the December 2017 killing of Natalie Bollinger, according to the Adam County Sheriff’s office. In an affidavit, Lopez claims he responded to Bollinger’s [Craigslist ad](http://time.com/3674514/5-signs-fake-craigslist-ad/ "undefined") which said, “I want to put a hit on myself,” and shot Bollinger execution style at her request, [a Denver ABC affiliate reported](https://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/local-news/affidavit-suspect-claims-natalie-bollinger-19-hired-him-through-craigslist-to-kill-her?page=2 "undefined"). > [](https://twitter.com/AdamsCoSheriff/status/962067455832072193) Authorities said they found more than 100 [text messages](http://time.com/money/4213126/get-fired-private-emails-texts/ "undefined") between Lopez and Bollinger on the night she went missing, according to the network, and Lopez claims this was in response to her Craigslist ad. He added that he pretended to be a hitman and began speaking with Bollinger, eventually killing her with a gun she purchased, according to the report. Bollinger was found dead on the side of a road in [Adams County, Colorado,](http://time.com/5134833/deputy-police-killed-colorado-shooting/ "undefined") on Dec. 29, 2017, after she was reported missing, the sheriff’s office said. An autopsy found that she died from a single gunshot wound to the head and had a “potentially lethal level of heroin” in her system at the time of her death, according to the ABC affiliate. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5143300/natalie-bollinger-joseph-lopez-arrest/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5143300/natalie-bollinger-joseph-lopez-arrest/"},"headline":"Man Claims Teen Girl Hired Him on Craigslist to Kill Her","datePublished":"2018-02-10T20:58:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T19:14:08.448Z","description":"He claims she wanted to end her life because of problems with her boyfriend","url":"https://time.com/5143300/natalie-bollinger-joseph-lopez-arrest/","keywords":["Crime","onetime","onetimecrime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7f6f3600114aca7d/6989270186f68e09b66e83a5/craigslist-ad-for-sale.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lisa Marie Segarra","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/lisa-marie-segarra/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7f6f3600114aca7d/6989270186f68e09b66e83a5/craigslist-ad-for-sale.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Various","caption":"Various","creditText":"Alex Segre—REX/Shutterstock","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/crime/","name":"Crime"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5143300/natalie-bollinger-joseph-lopez-arrest/","name":"Man Claims Teen Girl Hired Him on Craigslist to Kill Her"}}]}] ```