ST. GEORGE — A call reporting a suspicious vehicle in the parking lot of a store on Pioneer Road led to the arrest of a Colorado man charged with attempted murder.
File photo shows St. George Police officers responding to a scene in St. George, Utah, Sept. 24, 2023 | Photo by Alysha Lundgren, St. George News
Shortly after 8 p.m. on Sunday, officers responded to the Walmart on Pioneer Road in St. George on a report of a suspicious vehicle with Nevada plates in the parking lot.
Upon arrival, officers found two individuals sitting inside the van with smoke coming out of the window, according to charging documents filed in 5th District Court. Both occupants, Rodrigue Douvinski, 22, of Las Vegas, Nevada, and Nicole Huggins, of Boone, Colorado, were detained by police,
While speaking to the pair, a third man approached and reportedly attempted to get into the van. When asked to identify himself, the man said he had no identification on him but that his name was Jerimiah Miller.
When officers were unable to verify the information, the man provided that same name a second time. Due to the odor of marijuana coming from the van, officers searched the vehicle; during which, they found several child support documents under the name of Joshua Stephen Williamson, 39. A photo comparison later confirmed the man in the parking lot was the same individual who had initially identified himself as Miller.
Officers then discovered through a records check that Williamson was wanted out of Colorado for attempted second-degree murder.
The suspect, 39-year-old Joshua Stephen Williamson is arrested on an attempted murder warrant issued out of Colorado during a stop on Pioneer Road in St. George, Utah, Feb. 19, 2024 | Photo courtesy of Pike’s Peak Area Crime Stoppers, St. George News
The no-bail warrant was issued Jan. 20 out of El Paso County, Colorado, and includes the attempted murder charge, as well as charges of assault by strangulation, reckless assault with serious bodily injury and harassment. The warrant was forwarded to the Washington County Attorney’s Office and a hold was placed on Williamson.
Additionally, Williamson was featured on Pike’s Peak Area Crime Stoppers in Colorado Springs for second-degree attempted murder.
While processing the scene in St. George, more than 20 different bank cards and identification cards issued out of Colorado, Nevada, and Maryland were also recovered, none of which belonged to the occupants of the van.
“Each of the cards were listed for different names, none of which were present or in the van,” the officer noted in the report.
Police also seized a camouflage bag that reportedly contained suspected heroin and methamphetamine. Baggies of suspected marijuana were also found scattered throughout the van, police said.
When investigators attempted to interview Williamson, he requested an attorney.
Huggins reportedly told police that she and the others had traveled to the area from Colorado. She also said that before heading to Utah, the group had stayed in Las Vegas, Nevada, where they had broken into multiple vehicles and stolen bank cards and other items that were later recovered by officers in St. George, the report states.
She said the group was “simply passing through the area” on their way back to Colorado, the officer noted in the report.
All three were arrested and booked into Washington County Purgatory Correctional Facility on multiple charges.
In addition to being booked on the no-bail warrant, Williamson faces dozens of local charges, including second-degree felony possession of a dangerous weapon and 18 counts of unlawful acquisition of a financial card. He also faces misdemeanor theft, providing false information to a police officer and drug and paraphernalia possession charges.
Huggins faces 20 third-degree felony charges: 19 counts of unlawful acquisition of a financial card and one count of unlawful possession of another’s identifying documents. She also faces misdemeanor theft, drug and paraphernalia possession charges and providing false information to a police officer.
Douvinski was booked into jail on one second-degree felony count of a pattern of criminal activity. He also faces 12 counts of unlawful acquisition of a financial card and one count of unlawfully possessing the ID of another, each a third-degree felony, as well as misdemeanor possession of marijuana and paraphernalia charges.
The arrest serves as a shining example of the importance of reaching out to authorities whenever something looks suspicious, St. George Police Officer Tiffany Mitchell wrote in a recent post on the department’s social media page. She also thanked the witnesses “for caring enough to make that call.”
The suspects were attempting to use the credit cards stolen out of Las Vegas at stores in the area, according to the post, and officers say they believe there is another suspect involved who was driving a black SUV and is still at large.
This report is based on statements from court records, police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings. Persons arrested or charged are presumed innocent until found guilty in a court of law or as otherwise decided by a trier-of-fact.
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