Henry Boyce, Third Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney, announced Monday Nicholaus David Patterson, 26, of Pocahontas, pled guilty to two counts of Murder in the First Degree.  Patterson was sentenced to 110 years in the Arkansas Department of Correction and will begin serving his sentence immediately.  Patterson will be not be eligible for parole until he has served 77 years of his sentence; making him 103 years of age when he becomes eligible for parole. 

The charges were filed against Patterson last summer after he confessed to murdering his grandparents, Ricky and Rita Bozwell, both 66, in their home in Pocahontas on July 10, 2018.  Relatives were concerned about the whereabouts of the Bozwells and were looking for them and trying to make contact with them in the days following the murders.  Patterson gave various explanations for his grandparent’s absence during the days following the murders and he stayed in the home where the bodies were found.  The bodies were eventually discovered four days later in their home.  Both victims were shot and Mrs. Bozwell also was stabbed.

Boyce said, “I am satisfied with this plea agreement in that the defendant has admitted his guilt and the sentence is tantamount to Life.  The facts of this case were heinous in nature and this plea spares the family the ordeal of trial.”