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Colby James Hedman pleaded guilty to the premeditated first-degree murder of Kyle Jordan Martz at Martz's Walla Walla, Washington, home and was sentenced on July 23, 2020, to about 27 and a half years in prison.

Martz, 35, worked as an adviser at Whitman College and shared a house with a roommate in the 300 block of South Fourth Avenue. Hedman, 23, was described in court documents as transient, with a last known address in Heppner, Oregon. Police said the men did not know each other, and no motive has been disclosed.

At about 6 p.m. on July 8, 2019, Martz's roommate called 911 to report him missing. His remains were found at the house. Court documents said Hedman struck Martz with an ax, dismembered his body, placed it in a cooler and took his Toyota pickup before driving to Oregon that day.

Baker County, Oregon, deputies found the pickup near Baker City on the night of July 8. Hedman fled on foot, took a Jeep Wrangler and drove it through a fence. The pursuit ended when two Oregon State Police cars blocked him on Interstate 84, and he was arrested at about 11 p.m. He was initially held in Oregon on vehicle and eluding charges before being connected to the Walla Walla homicide. Court documents say he confessed to killing Martz with an ax.

Investigators who had traveled from Walla Walla interviewed Hedman in Baker City during the early hours of July 9, 2019. The closing minutes of the recording give the time as about 2:23 a.m. Hedman said he had no fixed home and was vague about where he had been and whose truck he had been driving before the questioning moved toward the events in Walla Walla.

After his extradition to Washington, Hedman was charged in Walla Walla County Superior Court with first-degree murder and theft of a motor vehicle. His arraignment was continued in September 2019 so Eastern State Hospital could complete a competency evaluation. He underwent competency restoration treatment and pleaded not guilty in January 2020. The defense had planned an insanity defense.

Hedman pleaded guilty in May 2020 to first-degree murder with premeditation, and the vehicle theft count was dismissed under the plea agreement. Prosecutors recommended 25 years, while the standard range was 20.83 to 27.75 years. Judge John Lohrmann of Walla Walla County Superior Court imposed a sentence at the top of the standard range, plus 36 months of community custody. The Department of Corrections had recommended 333 months, or 27.75 years. Hedman told the court he wanted to express his deepest regrets to Martz's family and friends. No later appeal or release has been reported.

The video is a police interview-room recording that runs about 40 minutes. It presents the interview itself and begins with a short narrated introduction naming the people involved.