Captured felon linked to Forest Grove homicide

Fugitive who led police on a high-speed chase in Cornelius knew woman whose death is now under spotlight

By Christian Gaston

The Forest Grove News-Times, Nov 27, 2009, Updated Nov 27, 2009

Nicholas

Courtesy photo / News-Times

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After a nearly 15-hour dragnet search in rural Washington County, wanted fugitive Josh David Nicholas was arrested near Gaston Monday.

And late Tuesday, Forest Grove police said Nicholas is a person of interest in a homicide investigation in the city.

Nicholas, 36, who was arraigned Tuesday afternoon on charges relating to his evasion of police, had recently become acquainted with Lori Fitzgerald, 47, who lived in the 2700 block of Sycamore Court in Forest Grove, police said.

Investigators initially described the circumstances surrounding Fitzgerald’s Nov. 7 death as highly suspicious: numerous items, including firearms, were missing from Fitzgerald’s home.

One of Fitzgerald’s neighbors, Bob Browning, sensed something big was up when he returned home that evening and saw not only police vehicles but the county medical examiner’s truck. “Then I realized the whole front yard was wrapped in crime-scene tape,” he said.

When questioned by police later that evening, Browning didn’t have much to offer.

“There was a fair amount of activity at that house, but no one ever bothered anybody,” he recalled. “I barely knew her. If she was out front I’d say ‘Hi,’ but I didn’t see her that much.”

Nicholas’s relationship with Fitzgerald, which police would not describe, led them to seek him in order to ask questions about the case.

But Nicholas was on the lam, with two warrants for his arrest — one from Washington County and one from Douglas County in southern Oregon.

The search

Last week, the Washington County Sheriff’s office sought the public’s help in finding Nicholas, issuing a series of urgent press advisories saying the fugitive was likely armed and had reportedly told an acquaintance that he wouldn’t be arrested by police without a firefight.

He almost got one.

Monday morning, around 4:30 a.m., a Cornelius Police officer attempted to pull over a man operating a stolen Nissan Pathfinder in the city, but the man gave chase.

Police determined that Nicholas was behind the wheel, and he led officers into a rural area north of town along Susbauer Road.

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