SPRING HILL, Tenn. (WKRN) — A Spring Hill woman was laid to rest on Wednesday, two days after law enforcement announced they arrested her boyfriend for murder.
The Spring Hill Police Department (SHPD) said the Robertson County Sheriff’s Office requested a welfare check around 6 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 20 because of a concerning phone call that dispatch received.
When officers checked the house in the 2000 block of Gale Lane, they reportedly found a 30-year-old woman had sustained “fatal wounds.” Authorities identified the victim as Ariel Nevills, who was seven months pregnant at the time of her death.
According to officials, Robertson County deputies arrested the person who made the initial phone call: 29-year-old Vidol Wegner of Indiana, who was Nevills’ boyfriend.
Per the arrest affidavit, Wegner admitted to strangling Nevills “two different ways to kill her and their unborn child.” Wegner allegedly waited until his girlfriend was dead to leave the home.
After being transported from Robertson County to the Maury County Jail, Wegner told News 2 he was upset that Nevills got pregnant and wanted to keep the baby.
“Okay, I got to hit you with the big question, you know it’s coming: did you kill her?” News 2’s Andy Cordan asked.
“I…what did I do?” Wegner replied, but he paused for several seconds before he continued. “No, dude, I didn’t. She did it to herself. I told her this is the way. I had a beautiful future set up for us. She wanted to act crazy. She chose this. It didn’t have to be this way.”
When asked if he was mad because Nevills got pregnant, Wegner offered the following answer: “Listen, when I started that relationship, I told her, ‘If we get pregnant, are we going to do something about it?’ She said, ‘Yeah.’ She found out 10 weeks in; she said, ‘I want to keep it.’ I’m like, ‘Didn’t we have that conversation? I’m not doing this.’ She said, ‘Yeah.'”
“Are you missing her at all and missing, perhaps, even getting a chance to meet that little baby?” Cordan inquired.
“Listen, I loved her. I would have took care of her, the baby; I would have took care of her siblings that she wanted to take with us. I would have done all of that,” Wegner responded.
According to information supplied by the SHPD, Nevills, like Wegner, worked as millwright — a person who repairs heavy machinery.
Wegner told News 2 he could make $10,000 a month, as could Nevills. Wegner said he looked forward to moving with Nevills to Detroit with expectations the auto industry would flourish.
Police said Nevills was an Indiana native who served in the Army Reserve and cared for her four siblings.
Wegner: “She was stable, she was calm; I liked that, you know what I mean? She took care of me, it was peace, and then she gets pregnant and everything changes.”
Cordan: “What do you want people to know about you?”
Wegner: “I didn’t do nothing wrong. I did everything I could in the relationship to make everything possible. I cried out for help every single day about this and nobody could help me.”
Cordan: “Any remorse?”
Wegner: “I got plenty of remorse, man! It didn’t have to happen this way! She wants to be crazy. I told her, ‘If you didn’t like the plan, we could’ve changed it. We could have figured it out.'”
Cordan: “I got the affidavit, and I’ll just tell you what it says. In short, it says that basically you killed her because she was pregnant and you strangled her. Is that true?”
Wegner: “That’s not how it went.”
Cordan: “Then set me straight.”
Wegner: “I’m protecting my legacy, I’m abiding by the Constitution, I’m not doing anything wrong. There is no way for me to get her to be held accountable for what she’s doing. We had an agreement. Why did she go back on that?”
Wegner has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder: one for Nevills and one for her unborn child. He is also charged with one count of felony murder.
The Indiana man is being held without bond in the Maury County Jail. His next court date is set for Feb. 3.
