Lovers went on the run after he killed her mom, cops say. Now they are back to face murder charges

The daughter of Tricia Freeman and her boyfriend arrived at the Manatee County jail on Saturday.

Kayla Colyer, 21, and boyfriend Roy Nichols Jr., 26, were taken separately to the jail two weeks after their arrest in West Virginia.

Palmetto resident Freeman, 47, usually had her chain-link gate locked, but when Palmetto police officers arrived at her house in the 1900 block of 11th Street West on March 15, the gate had been bent and was on the ground, according to Colyer’s and Nichols’arrest warrants.

Freeman had been killed the day before, police say. Nichols told Ashland, Ky., police detectives he went to Freeman’s house and they had an argument. Something she said “set him off,” according to Palmetto Police Chief Scott Tyler, but what exactly was said is not clear in reports. As stated in the warrant, he struck Freeman and she fell, hitting her head and causing her to “bleed out.”

Colyer told detectives after being read her Miranda rights she knew he was going to kill her mother.

“Colyer stated that she did not go with Nichols to Freeman’s house because she knew what was going to happen,” the warrant said.

Nichols then put her body in the trunk of her green 2016 Chevrolet Sonic and tried to clean up any evidence, the warrant said. Colyer rode with her boyfriend in the Sonic to a location in Chiefland, which was where Nichols grew up according to the Levy County Sheriff’s Office. Nichols then put Freeman’s body and a cardboard box of rags used to clean the scene in a shallow grave about 25 yards from the road, according to the warrant.

The last call made on Freeman’s cell phone was on March 14 in north Florida.

Freeman was reported missing by her friends on March 15. Her car was spotted sitting in a park in Ashland, Ky. on March 16. Damage to the front of the car was consistent to hitting the chain-link fence. Carpet from the trunk was missing, and there was blood inside.

The following day, a witness who lives in a Ohio town near Ashland said he had picked up a white woman and black man who had asked for a ride from Central Park in town. He brought them to his house and they stayed for a couple of days. According to the warrant, the man and woman started to talk about how they had stolen a car and its owner is listed as missing. The witness then told the couple to get out of his house. They left behind cell phones and a back pack full of clothes with possible blood, the warrant said.

Around 8:15 a.m. March 18, Nichols Jr. and Colyer were recognized by an employee of a truck stop in Cabell County, W.V. The witness called law enforcement, and the pair were taken into custody.

In a video taken by the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office Saturday, Nichols arrived in an unmarked black SUV and wore a gray shirt that read, “C’mon Live a Little” as he was being processed. Colyer arrived in a Palmetto Police Department cruiser. She was finishing a McDonald’s meal as she got out of the car, dressed in a beige shirt and pants.

Each were searched and read their charges.

Colyer faces charges of accessory to murder after the fact, while Nichols faces a second-degree murder charge. Both also face motor vehicle theft charges.

This story was originally published April 3, 2017 at 11:21 AM with the headline "Lovers went on the run after he killed her mom, cops say. Now they are back to face murder charges."