Acid trip between friends ends in campground murder

In this episode of Crime Watch Daily Updates: Camping trips can create lasting memories and bond friends forever, but one such trip went horribly wrong.

In August 2015, Trevor Holminski and his best friend, 23-year-old Sheldon Steward, went to the woods in Northern California for a camping trip. Trevor planned on joining the Marines, and the friends wanted quality time together before he left for training.

On August 22, 2015, firefighters responded to a brush fire at Bucks Lake and found Sheldon clinging to life with several stab wounds on his neck. Then, in a nearby fire pit, firefighters discovered Trevor’s body. Investigators set up a murder investigation all while firemen were trying to extinguish the blaze in the forest.

Sheldon later told detectives he and Trevor dropped acid and smoked marijuana, then Trevor made unwanted sexual advances on him. Sheldon claimed Trevor stabbed him, and the two fought for control of the knife. He said he likely stabbed Trevor in the arm during the altercation, but Trevor up and left after that.

Detectives didn’t buy Sheldon’s story completely. They believed Sheldon’s knife wounds in his neck were superficial, and he did them to himself. Sheldon eventually confessed to killing Trevor and leaving his body in the fire pit.

Sheldon was convicted in August 2017 of first-degree murder and arson and sentenced to 26 years to life. He appealed his conviction, but in 2019, a California appeals court upheld the original ruling.

Let’s look back at the tragic case of two friends whose camping trip was supposed to be a time of bonding but ended in total brutality.