Nikki Kuhnhausen
From left to right, Ariel and Taylor, classmates with Nikki Kuhnhausen at Hudson’s Bay High School, take a moment to speak with the media after the court hearing at the Clark County Courthouse in Vancouver Dec. 18.
David Bogdanov, 25, appears in Clark County Superior Court Wednesday on a second-degree murder charge in connection with the disappearance and death of Nikki Kuhnhausen, a Vancouver transgender teen whose remains were discovered earlier this month near Larch Mountain.
The suspect in the death of a Vancouver transgender teen made his first appearance in Clark County Superior Court last week following months of investigation and discovery of the teen’s remains earlier this month.
David Bogdanov, 25, made his first appearance Wednesday, Dec. 18, facing a charge of second-degree murder. Bogdanov was arrested the day before in connection to the disappearance of Nikki Kuhnhausen, who was 17 when she went missing in June. Her remains were discovered close to Larch Mountain by a citizen Dec. 7, investigators say.
According to Vancouver Police Lt. Tom Ryan, one of three officials who spoke at a press conference Dec. 18, the department received a report of Kuhnhausen missing June 10 from her mother. Ryan said that Kuhnhausen lived with friends in Vancouver and lost contact with her roommates after leaving with a male, later identified as Bogdanov, in the early morning hours of June 6.
Ryan said the mother told police she and Kuhnhausen rarely went more than a day or two without contact. Following the report, investigators were able to use warrants on Kuhnhausen’s social media to identify Bogdanov as who she left with the last time her roommates saw her.
According to a probable cause affidavit for Bogdanov’s arrest, Kuhnhausen had left the apartment late June 5. When she returned to the apartment she was wearing a man’s coat and had a bottle of vodka. When she left again she told her friends that the “Russian” male she had been with was going to help her get a cell phone — the affidavit stated she had been using one of her friend’s phones to communicate with Bogdanov, unbeknownst to the friend.
A release from VPD stated that cellphone records and social media data from Kuhnhausen and Bogdanov were used to make the connection. In June investigators attempted to contact Bogdanov at residences of family members, the affidavit stated, though attempts to contact him with updated information provided by family went unanswered. After issuing a warrant regarding Bogdanov’s number, he finally responded to a detective via Snapchat in September, later calling the detective.
Bogdanov confirmed the connection to Kuhnhausen himself in an interview with investigators in October, Ryan explained. During the interview Bogdanov stated he met up with Kuhnhausen in downtown Vancouver, picking her up and providing the coat and vodka bottle, according to the affidavit. Following that first meeting Kuhnhausen sent Bogdanov the address of where she was staying, and he agreed to take her to a residence to get her cell phone.
After arriving at the residence Bogdanov and Kuhnhausen were “chit-chatting” when she revealed she was born biologically male, the affidavit stated. In the interview with investigators Bogdanov stated the revelation made him uncomfortable and he asked Kuhnhausen to get out of his vehicle and she walked away. Bogdanov denied any sexual contact or discussion of it between him and Kuhnhausen; he indicated “that homosexuality is unacceptable in Russian culture,” according to the affidavit.
According to Bogdanov, that was the last he saw of Kuhnhausen. He said after she left he went to work at a job site in downtown Portland, the affidavit read. During the full analysis of cell phone records investigators were able to track his movements that indicated otherwise. Those records showed after leaving the residence he headed to the area of Larch Mountain and Camp Bonneville, before returning to the residence.
While investigators were trying to corroborate Bogdanov’s involvement with Kuhnhausen’s disappearance, a skull, later identified as hers, was discovered. Clark County Search and Rescue did an extensive two-day search of the scene, collecting a number of items of evidence and human remains — Ryan noted the area was “extremely steep, heavily wooded and (had) a lot of underbrush.”
Washington State Patrol crime lab analysis identified the remains as Kuhnhausen’s, the affidavit stated. A Clark County Medical Examiner advised that Kuhnhausen had died by strangulation; among the remains a ligature was found among hair extensions believed to be Kuhnhausen’s.
The affidavit concluded that after learning that Kuhnhausen was transgender, Bogdanov “became enraged” and strangled Kuhnhausen to death and disposed of her body in the Larch Mountain area.
Investigators attempted contact with Bogdanov again on Dec. 17. He declined to give any further statements and at that point was arrested, Ryan said.
Vancouver Police Sgt. Jeff Kipp, part of the department’s major crimes unit, said that it would be up to the prosecutor’s office to determine if Kuhnhausen’s death would be considered a hate crime.
“It certainly may be,” Kipp said, though ultimately that wouldn’t be a decision made by police. Ryan said investigators believed Kuhnhausen being transgender played a part in the alleged killing but couldn’t call it a “targeted” attack at that time.
Ryan noted the investigation was ongoing when pressed for answers on whether or not any other charges would be filed in relation to the case, with reporters asking if anyone else associated with Bogdanov would receive charges.
“There’s still a lot of follow-up to do,” Ryan said.
Bogdanov is currently held without bail. He is scheduled for another appearance in court Jan. 2.
