Cold case murder suspect arrested 52 years to the day after Utah soldier was killed

VERNAL, Utah (KSL.com) — Police arrested a 74-year-old man Tuesday on a murder charge exactly 52 years to the day when an Army soldier from Vernal was shot and killed in his car.

On Nov. 26, 1972, Gregory Dahl Nickell, 21, was shot multiple times and his car was set on fire while his body was still inside. Nickell’s date that night, an 18-year-old woman, was kidnapped and held hostage for several hours and was raped multiple times.

In 2022 — on the 50th anniversary of Nickell’s death — the Uintah County Sheriff’s Office announced that through extensive DNA testing, Daniel Arthur Bell, who used to live in the Uintah Basin, was one of the two men involved in the heinous crime. Bell, however, died in 2019 at the age of 88 of unknown causes and was never arrested for Nickell’s death.

Earlier this month, prosecutors announced that through DNA testing, Darrel Eugene Choate, 74, had been identified as the second man involved in the killing, and on Nov. 1, he was charged in Utah’s 8th District Court with murder, a first-degree felony.

The sheriff’s office said Tuesday that he has been booked into the Uintah County Jail.

“Darrel Eugene Choate was taken into custody by Uintah County sheriff’s detectives at a Salt Lake City hospital for the 1972 murder of Gregory Nickell. The warrant for Choate was issued on Nov. 1, however, due to unspecified medical issues, Choate wasn’t arrested at that time. Coincidentally, Choate was taken into custody 52 years to the day of when the crime occurred. Choate was then transported to Vernal where he is being held in the Uintah County Jail,” the office said.

Investigators are now looking for anyone who may have additional information regarding Choate or the killing. They say Choate was 22 at the time.

“We are interested in speaking with anyone who may have known Darrel Eugene ‘Gene’ Choate personally, or who may have information related to this case. He has a criminal and residential history in Uintah, Carbon and Duchesne counties, as well as the states of Washington, Oregon, Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas. If you have information about people he may have confided in or remember conversations where he shared even the most minor details, your information could be crucial to the prosecution,” the sheriff’s office said.

Anyone with any information is asked to contact deputies at 435-781-6700 or email coldcase@uintah.utah.gov.