Nicole Marie Speirs (November 3, 1983 – March 25, 2006) made headlines in the area of

Tooele, Utah Tooele ( ) is a city in Tooele County in the U.S. state of Utah. The population was 35,742 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Tooele County. Located approximately 30 minutes southwest of Salt Lake City, Tooele is known for Tooele Army ...

as a

domestic violence Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner ...

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

victim. She was killed March 25, 2006 at age 22, by her then-boyfriend and father of her twins, Walter Smith. On the night of Nicole's death, Smith reported that he found her dead in her home, drowned in her bathtub, after returning from a trip to

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...

. The autopsy confirmed that drowning was the cause of death. Tooele is located approximately 18 miles west of

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

. The pair met during the summer of 2004, and went on relationship. Later Nicole gave a birth of a twin boy and girl. Smith, her 24-year-old boyfriend and a member of the

United States Marines The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through com ...

who had returned from Iraq, was not immediately known to have killed her until December 12, 2006, when he confessed to the killing. According to police, Smith walked into a Veteran's Administration hospital building and confessed eight months after the fact. Smith was since discharged from the Marines. As it was later revealed that Walter suffered from PTSD (

Post-traumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on ...

) because of the six months he served in the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

. Walter could not explain why he murdered her. The detectives on the case suspected that the true motive behind the murder was that Nicole wanted to get married. On August 14, 2007, Smith pleaded guilty to a second-degree manslaughter charge as part of a

plea bargain A plea bargain (also plea agreement or plea deal) is an agreement in criminal law proceedings, whereby the prosecutor provides a concession to the defendant in exchange for a plea of guilt or '' nolo contendere.'' This may mean that the defendan ...

.Stephen Hunt
War-haunted former Marine pleads guilty
''Salt Lake Tribune'', August 15, 2007 He was originally charged with first-degree felony murder. Smith and Nicole's parents agreed to a plea bargain. He was sentenced 1–15 years for 2nd degree manslaughter on October 9, 2007. The case was covered by ''

Investigation Discovery Investigation Discovery (stylized and branded on-air as ID since 2008) is an American multinational pay television network dedicated to true crime documentaries owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. As of February 2015, approximately 86 million Ameri ...

'' show ''Unraveled'', an episode called ''Deadly Demons (S01E05).''

References

Additional references

*Discovery ID, Unraveled
Deadly Demons
*America Reframed
Reserved To Fight
2014 *New York Times, Deborah Sontag

January 20, 2008 *Tooele Transcript Bulletin, Mary Ruth Hammond
Boyfriend accused of killing young mother
December 4, 2006 *KSL News, Sam Penrod
Man Admits to Taking Part in Girlfriend's Death
December 12, 2006 *KUTV.com

December 12, 2006 *Nicole Speirs
MySpace
an
Yahoo
profiles *Section o
Bonnie's Blog of Crime
– tracking media coverage of Speirs murder *KSL news, Sam Penrod
Man Accused of Murdering His Girlfriend Deemed Competent to Stand Trial
June 5, 2007 {{DEFAULTSORT:Speirs, Nicole American murder victims 1983 births 2006 deaths People murdered in Utah People from Tooele, Utah Deaths by drowning in the United States 2006 murders in the United States