There’s a significant update in a Bowman homicide case.
Two of the suspects are now charged with conspiracy to commit murder.
That’s punishable by a maximum of life in prison without parole.
21-year-old Chase Swanson is held on $5 million dollars bond.
26-year-old Madison West has not appeared in court yet.
23-year-old Nicholas Johnson of Rhame was killed in late August. His body was found in a Bowman motel room.
West and Swanson were later arrested as suspects in Denver, Colorado. They were driving the victim’s pickup truck.
A BCI agent for the State of North Dakota said in a criminal affidavit that Johnson was found in a room where West and Swanson had been staying.
The victim had wounds to his skull and a dark colored leather belt cinched around his neck which caused significant bodily injury to the victim.
Court documents say a two ratchets were found in the motel room that fit the shape of the head wounds.
28-year-old Minnesota Resident Todd Pashano is charged with hindering law enforcement in the case.
This is not the first time Madison West and Chase Swanson have had run-ins with law enforcement.
Madison West has an open case from July in which she’s charged with theft of property and felon in possession of a firearm, she faces up to 25 years in prison for those charges.
Chase Swanson faces an open case from June where he struck a man in the face with a steel rebar.
He also threatened to kill the victim in the case.
Swanson faces 15 years in prison.
