Man Charged with Murder After Allegedly Killing His Pregnant Girlfriend for Wanting to Keep Their Unborn Baby

A man in Tennessee is facing first-degree murder charges after allegedly admitting to killing his pregnant girlfriend.

According to a press release from the Spring Hill Police Department, 29-year-old Vidol Wegner, originally from Indiana, was arrested on Monday, Jan. 20, after officers discovered the body of a 30-year-old woman at a home in Maury County.

Officers were dispatched to the home at around 6 a.m. local time that day, after the nearby Robertson County Sheriff’s Office received a call from Wegner, the Spring Hill PD said.

Police said the woman, later identified as Ariel Nevills by local outlets WSMV and WKRN, had sustained fatal wounds and was pregnant at the time of her death. Spring Hill PD added that she and Wegner were “in a relationship.”

An arrest affidavit obtained by the two outlets states that Wegner admitted to strangling Nevills using “both hands around the neck and his forearm.”

He also allegedly admitted to strangling her “two different ways to kill her and their unborn child,” and the affidavit states that he waited until Nevills was dead to leave the house.

Wegner spoke with WKRN in an interview from the Maury County Jail and said that Nevills “chose this.”

“No, dude, I didn’t. She did it to herself,” he reportedly replied when asked if he killed Nevills. “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.”

“Listen, when I started that relationship, I told her, ‘If we get pregnant, are we going to do something about it?’ ” he told WKRN, adding elsewhere in the interview that he “loved” Nevills and would have taken care of the baby.

“She said, ‘Yeah.’ She found out [about the pregnancy] 10 weeks in,” Wegner continued. “She said, ‘I want to keep it.’ I’m like, ‘Didn’t we have that conversation? I’m not doing this.’ She said, ‘Yeah.’ “

According to an obituary, Nevills was originally from Valparaiso, Ind. She served in the Illinois Army Reserves and worked as a union millwright — someone who works on and installs heavy machinery — for much of her career.

Nevills is survived by her parents, six siblings and “many loving aunts, uncles, cousins and friends,” the obituary states.

“You were a light in so many of our lives. You will never be forgotten,” one friend wrote on Nevills’ obituary website.

Wegner has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony murder. He is next set to appear in court on Monday, Feb. 3.

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages