An Ogden man who killed his live-in girlfriend by stabbing her more than 16 times with five knives will serve at least 25 years behind bars, the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole announced Thursday.

Johnny Maurice Bell Jr., 21, will get his first chance to ask for a parole date in January 2034.

Bell pleaded guilty in 2nd District Court to first-degree felony murder for the Jan. 4 slaying of 23-year-old Brittany Nichols. He was sentenced in September to prison for 15 years to life.

Bell told police he killed Nichols because she announced she was breaking up with him.

The next day, Nichols' parents went to the apartment and found the victim's 3-year-old daughter had spent the previous night and most of that day with her dead mother after Bell fled.

Stephen Hunt