FORT COLLINS — A Berthoud teen was bound over for trial Thursday on charges of first-degree murder and second-degree kidnapping in the death of his former girlfriend, Ashley Doolittle.

In a preliminary hearing Thursday, 8th Judicial District Judge Gregory Lammons ruled 19-year-old Tanner Flores would face both charges after being presented evidence from prosecution and defense attorneys.

Flores will enter a plea to each charge at an arraignment Feb. 23.

A courtroom at the Larimer County Justice Center in Fort Collins was filled with Doolittle’s family and friends wearing commemorative pins picturing Doolittle in her rodeo outfit. Many became teary-eyed at points during District Attorney Cliff Riedel’s examination of Larimer County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Drew Weber.

The most poignant segment of the hearing Thursday was Riedel’s presentation of an interview of Flores conducted by Mesa County Sheriff’s Office Investigator Danny Norris. Flores had been taken into custody June 10, 2016, in Mesa County after deputies found him at his dead grandfather’s property in Collbran, with Doolittle’s blanket-wrapped body reportedly in the cab of his 1999 Dodge pickup. Her mother had reported her missing June 9.

In the interview with Norris, Flores originally contended that he and Doolittle met at Lon Hagler Reservoir southwest of Loveland the afternoon of her death, and she voluntarily entered his pickup and rode to Carter Lake; while returning from Carter Lake, Flores said Doolittle kept looking into his back seat and then grabbed a revolver, pointing the barrel at herself. Flores said he tried to wrestle the gun away from her when it suddenly fired, with a bullet striking Doolittle. Flores said he shot her again five to 10 seconds later. His reason for firing the weapon a second time he explained as an attempt to put Doolittle out of pain.

Within minutes during the interview, though, Flores changed his story after Norris challenged it by saying he had a hard time thinking someone familiar with weapons would handle a gun that way.

Eventually, Flores admitted in the interview to grabbing the revolver out of the back seat of his truck himself following a glare from Doolittle in the passenger seat while driving on County Road 21 on the way from Carter Lake back to Lon Hagler Reservoir, and aiming it at the back of Doolittle’s head and firing two shots.

An autopsy report conducted by the Larimer County Coroner’s Office found three bullets, with only one being labeled as causing a fatal injury to the brain. Weber testified he believed it was the third and final shot.

Riedel said the gun Flores used was taken out of his father’s locked gun cabinet the morning of Doolittle’s death. The single-action revolver requires a cock back of the firing mechanism for each separate shot, an action implying deliberation between each shot, Riedel said.

Examinations by Weber of both Doolittle’s and Flores’ cellphone records showed Flores sent a text message from Doolittle’s phone to his own stating, “I am not meeting you today,” at 4:26 p.m., shortly after the estimated time of Doolittle’s death. Flores is thought to have then turned off both phones and thrown them out of the window of his truck.

Flores’ attorney Daniel Jasinski argued unsuccessfully that Doolittle was not kidnapped by Flores by presenting evidence she willingly entered Flores truck, and was never forced.

Riedel argued in favor of the kidnapping charge against Flores by saying that once he shot Doolittle once, she was no longer consenting to be with him in his pickup.

Sam Lounsberry: 970-6353630, lounsberrys@reporter-herald.com, and twitter.com/samlounz.