KALAMAZOO, Mich. — The suspect now charged in the 2018 disappearance of a man in Portage was likely jealous of the victim's romantic relationship, said police.
In court documents, investigators said Nicholas Johnson caught Bonifacio Pena in bed with a woman both men were attracted to. A day later, Johnson told the two he got a tip about an empty house with lots of money and guns inside.
He convinced Pena to go with him through the woods to break in and steal those items, according to investigators. Others who lived in Johnson's apartment complex said they heard gunshots after the men left.
Later that night, Johnson returned and Pena was not seen again.
Johnson demanded the woman wash his clothes. Witnesses said he also burned his boot and sweatshirt that night in a fire, according to court records.
That was May 18, 2018. Pena was reported missing days later by family.
Over the next few days, Johnson went out to the woods for several hours at a time, returning covered in mud, per witnesses.
Others noticed him muttering to himself about not talking to police or taking a polygraph.
Late that month, apartment residents reported Johnson to police, saying he pounded on their door saying, "the same thing that happened to Bonafacio (Pena) is going to happen to you."
In interviews with police, Johnson gave investigators different versions of the events of May 18.
After being released from an unrelated charge, Johnson took the train to Denver and tried to connect with a former high school friend. That friend, police said, would not let Johnson stay with him, leaving him homeless.
In February 2021, Johnson's parents went missing, with lots of blood found in the home. The couple's bodies were found miles away, buried in shallow graves on state land.
Kalamazoo
Police: Nicholas Johnson took parents' phone, made several trips to area where bodies were buried
Johnson eventually pleaded no contest to two counts of second-degree murder. He is serving 29–69 years for that crime.
Now Johnson faces open murder and several other charges for the death of Pena, though Pena's body has never been found.
