The Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office is confirming that remains found at Lake Pleasant earlier this year belonged to a missing Phoenix woman.
On Wednesday, the medical examiner announced that DNA determined that the victim is Taylorlyn Nelson.
Her sister, Ashley Nelson, also took to Facebook on Wednesday to announce the findings and said Nelson “can now be at peace!"
ABC15 reached out to Nelson’s mother, who declined an interview but released the following statement:
We are sad but also happy to have some more closure. We're also glad that the legal part of this is done so that justice can fully be served.
Nelson was first reported missing by her family in March. They became concerned after Nelson got into an argument with her boyfriend and did not contact anyone afterward.
According to court documents, family and friends have accused Nelson’s boyfriend, 27-year-old Kodi Bowe, of assaulting her on multiple occasions. They reported to police that in one incident, “there was an imprint of the butt of a gun on Taylorlyn’s head.”
Nelson also told family members that if she ever disappeared, “Kodi killed her and put her under their trailer,” court documents said.
On the night she disappeared, she allegedly told a friend that if she didn’t return home with heroin for Kodi he would kill her.
When officers searched their trailer, blood, a bullet hole and a 9mm shell casing were recovered. Police say the DNA of the blood matched someone who would be a child of Nelson’s mother.
Bowe’s brother, Maxx Bowe, was also arrested in connection with the case.
Maxx is accused of holding Nelson’s shoulders while Kodi shot her in the head, court documents stated. Maxx also allegedly admitted to getting rid of the gun.
