A Woman Told Friends Her Boyfriend Was Threatening Her with a Weapon. A Day Later She Was Found Decapitated

A South Dakota man is facing murder and manslaughter charges after police say he killed a woman and decapitated her.

According to court documents obtained by PEOPLE, Craig Allen Nichols Jr., 32, was arrested in Yankton, S.D. — located southwest of Sioux Falls — after three women called police to report that they had found their friend with her head cut off in her apartment on Thursday, Jan. 2.

South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley confirmed in a press release that the woman was identified as 41-year-old Heather Ann Bodden.

According to the court documents, Yankton police responded to a call at around 3:30 p.m. local time on Thursday, and after speaking with the three women, they “made entrance to the apartment and observed what appeared to be a deceased headless person.”

One of the women told police that Bodden had told her over text message on Jan. 1 that her boyfriend, Nichols, had been threatening her with a weapon that afternoon, per the court documents. She added that she had not heard from Bodden for more than 24 hours, and the women decided to meet up at Bodden’s apartment to check on her.

Security camera footage of Bodden’s apartment complex obtained by police showed three men, one of whom was identified as Nichols, arriving at Bodden’s apartment around 10 p.m. on Wednesday night. The two other men — referred to in court documents only by their initials, CE and CR — later told police during an interview that the group of four “participated in the use of narcotics,” and that Bodden was alive when they left the home.

The two unidentified men were seen leaving the apartment at around 11:00 p.m., police said in the court documents, and Nichols was later seen leaving and coming back to the apartment several times, carrying two trash bags out of the building, between 2:50 a.m. and around 6:45 a.m. on Thursday morning.

Police eventually searched Bodden’s apartment, finding a trash bag with her head, a bag of bloody clothing labeled as belonging to Nichols and three weapons wrapped in a floor mat, per the court documents.

Investigators also found shoes with a “reddish brown substance on them” inside Nichols’ apartment, and the court documents state that Nichols declined to give blood and urine samples at the local hospital after he was arrested.

Nichols is now facing second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter charges and two counts of contempt of court.

The Yankton Police Department and Yankton County Sheriff’s Office are still investigating the incident, they jointly said in a press release shared on Facebook.

Court records show that Nichols is next due in court on Jan. 8.

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Bodden’s family later opened up about her death in a GoFundMe page set up to raise money for her funeral expenses and to help care for her daughter.

“Heather Bodden was tragically and brutally taken from us by someone who claimed to care about her,” her sister-in-law wrote on the GoFundMe page, which has received over $5,000 of its $15,000 goal as of Sunday, Jan. 5.

“Heather was a bright spark in this world. Her friends and family loved her quick wit, as she was always ready with a joke or snappy comeback,” the statement continued. “She loved her daughter Lily to the ends of the earth and her mom, Pat, was her best friend in the world. Pat and Heather’s stepdad, Sherman, will be caring for Lily.”

According to the page, Bodden is survived by her parents, daughter, seven siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and “many more family and friends who loved her dearly.”

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.