Image credit: RCMP

By Aaron Schulze

Nicole Crystal Bell

Remains of missing Shuswap woman found in rural Salmon Arm; primary suspect deceased

Jun 18, 2025 | 11:24 AM

SALMON ARM, B.C. — The remains of a Shuswap woman who went missing eight years ago were found, and it’s believed the primary suspect in her death is a recently deceased man with a history of violence against women in the sex trade.

In a news release issued Wednesday (June 18), the BC RCMP Southeast District Major Crime Unit announced the remains of Nicole Crystal Bell were identified by the BC Coroners Service on May 21, 2025. It comes after Salmon Arm RCMP were told that human remains were found in rural Salmon Arm around two weeks earlier on May 5.

The 31-year-old Bell was reported missing from Sicamous on Sept. 7, 2017, after last being seen five days earlier on Sept. 2. Bell’s disappearance garnered extra attention as she was one of five women from the North Okanagan and Shuswap who went missing over a span of nearly 18 months.

“Although it has been established that the disappearance of all five women were not associated to a single serial actor, investigators believe that the primary suspect responsible for Bell’s death is the same as that of Traci Genereaux,” Supt. Sanjaya Wijayakoon said.

Genereaux was 18 years old when she was reported missing on June 9, 2017. Her body was found by police on Curtis Sagmoen’s family farm on Salmon River Road near Salmon Arm on Oct. 21, 2017, five months after her disappearance.

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Police spent days scouring Sagmoen’s farm for more evidence, but Sagmoen, who had already been convicted of assault and using a firearm, was never charged in connection with her death. Police, however, confirmed it was suspicious.

Police do not believe there’s an ongoing threat to public safety, as the primary suspect is deceased. Sagmoen passed away in April 2025. However, additional parties to Bell’s and Genereaux’s deaths have not yet been ruled out.

Anyone with further information about Bell’s and Genereaux’s disappearances or murders is asked to contact the Southeast District MCU information line at 1-877-987-8477.

The remains of three of the five missing women have now been accounted for. The body of Ashley Simpson was found in November 2021 during a search of an area outside of Salmon Arm. The 31-year-old was reported missing in April 2016. Her ex-boyfriend, 41-year-old Derek Lee Matthew Favell, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in her death in October 2023.

The other two women, Caitlin Potts and Deanna Wertz, remain missing.

with files from Global Okanagan