MORE: WHY THE VICTIM WAS SO SCARED IN THE HOURS BEFORE HER DEATH
BATTLE CREEK, Mich. - Thirty-year-old Shawn Pike is the man police say is responsible for killing 27-year-old Nicole Gates, an employee at the Citgo gas station on M-89 in the Level Park neighborhood of Battle Creek.
Battle Creek Police Department Det. Sgt. Jim Martens says the two did know each other. Martens says the gas station closes at midnight and they believe Pike came in shortly before the end of Gates’ shift, robbing the store and then killing Gates with a knife.
Police say they got on scene around 3:30 Wednesday morning after a friend of Pike’s called police saying he had told them he killed a person.
Police say it took time to find out just exactly which Citgo it happened at and when officers arrived on scene they found Gates in the back of the station.
From there police developed information as to where Pike was that led them to the south side of town where they were able to find further witnesses who gave statements that developed a second suspect.
Police were then led to the downtown area and even stopped an Amtrak train to look for the suspects until they caught up with them near Capital and Territorial Road.
The second suspect hasn’t been identified, but Martens says was arrested for being an accessory after the fact.
“We had about 25 different officers and detectives, including the fugitive team, helping out with this. They moved very fast with the information,” said Martens.
This isn’t the first time Pike has been in trouble with the law. FOX 17 found two personal protection orders against him, one filed last month by the mother of his child. In it she says he broke into her home, stole items and threatened her that if he went back to prison she would regret it.
We also looked into records that show Pike faced charges for fleeing from police and failing to report as a sex offender.
Michigan State Police records show that back in 2003 he was sentenced to spend time behind bars for assault with intent to commit sexual conduct and he just got out of prison for that in September 2012.
Police didn’t go into detail about what happened in the gas station but say it’s a heinous crime and that the motive was robbery.
“He took money. It appears he also took beer, cigarettes and lottery tickets. I mean what kind of person commits that type of crime and then walks out, goes to the cooler and gets a 12-pack of beer? I mean, you just don’t do that,” Martens said.
Pike is expected to be arraigned Thursday.
