Man stabbed 24-year-old to death after leaving Fort Worth party together: police
A missing man who was found dead three weeks after he disappeared was stabbed to death on Dec. 1 after leaving a party with the suspect, Fort Worth police said Monday.
The victim, 24-year-old John Richardson, was found in a shallow grave in a wooded area north of Fort Worth, police said.
Police arrested Alexander James Nicholas, 23, on Dec. 24 and the Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office has charged him with murder in connection with Richardson’s death. Police said Nicholas killed Richardson by “stabbing him with a cutting instrument.” Richardson was found with numerous stab wounds, including defensive wounds, and blunt force trauma to his head, according to his autopsy, police said.
Police arrested Nicholas after a weeks-long investigation during which detectives realized that Richardson was not missing, but had been attacked. Nicholas’ defense attorney declined to comment on the case.
Richardson was last seen at a party Nov. 30. According to multiple witnesses interviewed by police, Richardson left the party with Nicholas. Richardson was later reported missing by his roommate, and the police department’s missing persons unit began investigating the case Dec. 2.
By Dec. 10, police began to suspect that Richardson had been murdered, according to the arrest warrant affidavit for Nicholas’ arrest.
One person interviewed by police said that Nicholas told them that Richardson “wouldn’t be coming around anymore,” according to the warrant for Nicholas’ arrest. When the witness asked Nicholas what he meant, Nicholas allegedly made his fingers into the shape of a gun and said “you know what I mean.” When the witness asked Nicholas if he killed Richardson, Nicholas allegedly shook his head yes.
Another witness told police that Nicholas was angry with Richardson because of a car accident for which the suspect blamed the victim.
During an interview with police Dec. 15, Nicholas denied any involvement in Richardson’s death, and said that while he was driving Richardson to a friend’s house, Richardson had asked to be dropped off so he could take an Uber.
Police obtained search warrants for both Richardson’s and Nicholas’ phones, and found that the location data for both showed that they had been in the same wooded area in north Fort Worth, contradicting Nicholas’ statement that he had dropped Richardson off, police said.
Police searched the wooded area Dec. 22 and discovered Richardson’s body buried in a shallow grave.
Nicholas is in Tarrant County Jail, and his bond has been set at $300,000.
