North Ogden » Police say Brittany Nichols and her live-in boyfriend had no documented history of violence. Yet when officers arrived at their home Sunday, they found Nichols dead with multiple stab wounds.
Her boyfriend, Johnny Maurice Bell, was located hours later on a bus destined for California.
Police on Monday booked Bell into the Weber County jail on suspicion of murder. An affidavit filed by a North Ogden police detective says Nichols had stab wounds "all over her body" and was found dead in her bedroom.
The affidavit also says Bell confessed to killing her.
"The nearest we can find a motive is that she told him the relationship had ended," said North Ogden police Chief Polo Afuvai.
Afuvai said Bell, 21, and Nichols, 23, lived together in a North Ogden condominium for about four months. Afuvai said he did not know why Nichols wanted to end the relationship, but said she told her plans to family, who last saw her Saturday night.
When Nichols' father was unable to contact her Sunday, he drove to the condo and found her dead inside. Nichols' family in Syracuse declined an interview request Monday.
Afuvai said detectives found a murder weapon in the condominium, but Bell was gone. An acquaintance of his told police he had boarded a bus for San Bernardino, Calif., the chief said.
The Utah Highway Patrol and local sheriff's deputies met the bus at its regular stop in Cove Fort and arrested Bell there without incident. North Ogden police took custody of Bell and interviewed him. Afuvai said Bell made his confession early Monday.
