Jan. 11—A man initially charged with beating a homeless man to death in downtown Spokane before the charge was dropped tipped police off to a 21-year-old man who confessed to the killing this week to police.

Aaron Holder admitted Wednesday to assaulting 34-year-old Justin Combs in 2021 outside the Intermodal Center, according to court documents. Combs died June 17, 2021, at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center 10 days after the assault .

Holder made his first appearance Thursday in Spokane County District Court on suspicion of second-degree murder. District Court Judge Jennifer Fassbender maintained Holder’s bond at $1 million.

Appearing virtually from the Spokane County Jail, Holder sat next to his attorney and leaned forward with his arms under a table, answering basic questions from Fassbender during the brief hearing.

Samual Tesch-Villa, who was 19 at the time, was arrested the month after the June 7 beating and charged with first-degree murder. Prosecutors dropped the murder charge in December of that year after they couldn’t locate a key witness, according to a previous Spokesman-Review story.

Documents say Tesch-Villa was arrested based on statements from “associates in his life at the time.” Tesch-Villa maintained his innocence, and physical evidence did not support him being a suspect, police said in documents.

On Monday, a police officer wrote in documents he spotted Tesch-Villa, who had a misdemeanor warrant and ran from the officer on sight.

Tesch-Villa told the officer he knew Holder killed Combs because Holder apologized to him for Tesch-Villa’s time spent in jail. Police arrested Holder Wednesday for misdemeanor warrants.

Holder initially declined to speak to police about the homicide before confessing to the killing, court records say.

He admitted to being in front of the Wolfe Apartments, which is across from the Intermodal Center, because his mother would sometimes stay there. During his interview with police, Holder watched the video of the assault and cried, documents say.

He told police he did not know Combs and would not or could not explain why he killed him, documents say. Holder asked police what kind of punishment he was facing.

Documents indicate a woman came across an injured man, identified as Combs, the morning of June 7, 2021, outside the Intermodal Center, 221 W. First Ave. She notified security, who called the police.

A police officer found Combs severely injured and bleeding from his head inside a sleeping bag. He assisted with first aid until medics arrived.

A Major Crimes Unit detective noted blood stains on the sidewalk and scuff marks consistent with a rock impacting it, according to documents. A large piece of basalt rock, which had a blood stain and sleeping bag filler stuck to it, also had scratches consistent with hitting the sidewalk.

Police believe Holder used the rock, which weighed about 51 pounds, to beat Combs.

Surveillance video from a nearby business showed a thin white man, roughly 20 years old, with brown hair, light gray sweatpants, a blue or purple hoodie and a colored blanket approach Combs at about 5:43 a.m. while he was sleeping on the sidewalk.

The man appeared to be going through Combs’ belongings or moving the sleeping bag to see who was inside before leaving the area.

At 5:51 a.m., the man returned, walked by Combs and then away from the area again. Six minutes later, the man returned to Combs yet again. He picked up a heavy rock and threw it at the head area of the sleeping bag while Combs appeared to be sleeping inside, the video showed.

The man ran away but returned seconds later, picked up the heavy object and threw it three more times at the head area of the sleeping bag. The man then dragged Combs out of view of the camera before walking away.

Holder remained in jail Thursday.