She helped her boyfriend get rid of evidence after he killed her mom, cops say

Tricia Freeman’s daughter is facing an additional charge of tampering with evidence in connection to the Palmetto’s woman’s death.

Kayla Colyer, 21, and her boyfriend , Roy Nichols Jr., 26, were apprehended in West Virginia on March 18 after the Palmetto Police Department obtained warrants charging the couple with stealing Freeman’s car. Nichols later confessed to killing her, police said.

Three days earlier, police were called to the 47-year-old Freeman’s home by friends who became concerned when they couldn’t reach her.

While police didn’t have enough evidence of foul play initially, attempts to locate her soon began to unravel a trail pointing to Nichols and Colyer’s involvement. Freeman’s car was found abandoned in a park in Ashland, Ky., on March 16, and the couple was found less than 48 hours later in nearby West Virginia.

Nichols was formally charged earlier this month with second-degree murder and grand theft of a motor vehicle. He is being held without bond at the Manatee County jail.

Colyer was initially charged with accessory to murder and grand theft of a motor vehicle. On Monday, the State Attorney’s Office formally filed those charges against Colyer, and added one count of tampering with evidence.

On Tuesday afternoon, Colyer appeared before Circuit Judge Janette Dunnigan for a first appearance hearing on the new charge. Dunnigan found probable cause for the charge and appointed the Public Defender’s Office to continue to represent her.

Colyer remains in custody at the Manatee County jail and is being held without bond because of her initial charges.

After her arrest in West Virginia, Colyer told Ashland police detectives she hadn’t helped Nichols kill her mother, but that she did help Nichols get rid of materials that he used to clean the crime scene.

During Nichols’ interview with Ashland detectives, he admitted to going to Freeman’s home, and that something Freeman said “set him off” so he hit her, knocking her to the ground and causing her to hit her head. Freeman then bled out, he claimed, and he loaded her body into the trunk of her green 2016 Chevrolet Sonic and cleaned up the scene.

Colyer also admitted to detectives, however, that she knew Nichols was going to her mother’s house to kill her, which is why she didn’t accompany him, according to police. The two headed north in Freeman’s car, stopping in a wooded area in Chiefland, where Nichols grew up and where he buried her in a shallow grave. They also put a cardboard box with the rags used to clean the scene in the shallow grave, police said.

This story was originally published April 18, 2017 at 3:46 PM with the headline "She helped her boyfriend get rid of evidence after he killed her mom, cops say."