Man charged in death of transgender teen missing for months
Vancouver, Washington — Police say the remains of missing Vancouver teen Nikki Kuhnhausen have been found and a man has been arrested and charged with her murder.
The Vancouver Police Department says David Bogdanov was arrested Tuesday. Kuhnhausen was a 17-year-old transgender girl who last talked to her family on June 5.
Her friends told detectives she was staying with a friend that night but had left to meet a man, reports CBS Portland, Oregon affiliate KOIN-TV.
Detectives accessed Kuhnhausen's Snapchat account and found that Bogdanov had picked her up in his car, according to Vancouver police. Police said they believe Bogdanov asked Kuhnhausen to get out of his car after he learned she was transgender.
Bogdanov said he asked Kuhnhausen to get out of his car, but he said she walked away and he never saw her after that, police said.
In July, detectives got a search warrant for Bogdanov's cell phone call and location data. The analysis took months, but police found that in the early morning of June 6, Bogdanov was near Larch Mountain in east Clark County.
On Dec. 7, someone found a human skull in the woods around Larch Mountain while they were picking bear grass. The Clark County Sheriff's Office responded and found other human remains and evidence. Forensic analysis confirmed that the remains belonged to Kuhnhausen.
Kapp said medical examiners have not yet released Kuhnhausen's cause of death.