Remains of suspected Curtis Sagmoen victim Nicole Bell found in Salmon Arm

The BC Coroners Service has confirmed that human remains found on a rural property in Salmon Arm last month belong to a woman who went missing nearly eight years ago.

Police were alerted to the human remains being found on May 5, 2025, leading to an expansive search of the property by the Salmon Arm RCMP.

On May 21, 2025, the BC Coroners Service identified the remains as belonging to Nicole Crystal Bell, who was reported missing from Sicamous on Sept. 7, 2017.

Investigators quickly learned her disappearance was the result of foul play and the case was handed over to the Southeast District Major Crime Unit (SED MUC) on Sept. 26, 2017.

While police did not name serial violent offender Curtis Sagmoen, the SED MCU indicated that Bell is suspected to have been one of his victims.

She was one of five women who went missing in the North Okanagan within a short period of time in 2016-17.

Traci Genereaux’s remains were found in October 2017, five months after she went missing, on a rural Salmon Arm property owned by the Sagmoen family.

The other three women, Deanna Wertz, Caitlin Potts and Ashley Simpson, all went missing in 2016.

Wertz and Potts have still not been found, while Simpson’s remains were discovered in a remote area outside Salmon Arm in 2021 and Derek Favell has since been sentenced to life in prison for her murder.

“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,” said Supt. Sanjaya Wijayakoon, operations officer for the BC RCMP Major Crimes program.

In today’s news release, the SED MCU added that there is not believed to be an ongoing threat to public safety following the discovery of Bell’s remains as “the primary suspect is now deceased.”

Sagmoen was found dead at a Vernon motel earlier this year. He was never charged in either woman's death.

The SED MCU notes that additional parties have not been ruled out and the unit continues to investigate the deaths of Genereaux and Bell.

Anyone with information on their disappearances or murders is urged to contact the SED MCU information line at 1-877-987-8477.