The remains of a woman who went missing in September 2017 have been found in rural Salmon Arm, B.C.
Nicole Crystal Bell was 31 years old when she was reported missing from Sicamous. On May 5, 2025, Salmon Arm RCMP received a report that human remains had been found.
The BC Coroners Service later identified Bell.
When an investigation was launched into Bell’s disappearance in 2017, investigators with the Southeast major crime unit quickly learned that her disappearance was the result of foul play.
She was one of five women who went missing in the North Okanagan in 2016 and 2017.
In November 2017, human remains discovered on a farm on Salmon River Road in the Salmon Arm area were identified as missing 18-year-old Traci Genereaux.
Curtis Wayne Sagmoen lived on the property, which his parents owned.
“Although it has been established that the disappearance of all five women were not associated to a single serial actor, investigators believe that the primary suspect responsible for Bell’s death is the same as that of Traci Genereaux,” Supt. Sanjaya Wijayakoon, the operations officer for the BC RCMP major crimes program, said in a statement on Wednesday.
Sagmoen generated a lot of public attention after the remains of Genereaux were found on his family farm in 2017.
No one has been charged in connection with her death.
The Shuswap-area man was convicted of assault causing bodily harm and using a firearm during an offence, in cases where the victims were sex trade workers.
The concerns around him were amplified early in 2022 when RCMP issued a press release saying Sagmoen, who lived in the Salmon River Road area, was bound by a court-imposed probation order, a condition of which specifies that he “must not have any contact in any way with any sex trade workers.”
Sagmoen died earlier this year.
In a press release on Wednesday, the Southeast District major crime unit said investigators do not believe there is an ongoing threat to public safety at this time, as the primary suspect in Bell’s death is now deceased.
However, additional parties to the offence have not yet been ruled out, and as such, the major crime unit continues to investigate Bell’s and Genereaux’s deaths, and is requesting that anyone with information about their disappearances or murders contact the Southeast District MCU information line at 1-877-987-8477.