We want to warn you, some of the details in this case are disturbing.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Authorities in Yankton are investigating the first murder of 2025.

On Thursday afternoon three women came to a Yankton apartment complex on the 1000 block of Memory Lane to check on a friend they hadn’t heard from in 24 hours.

When they went inside, court documents say they found 41-year-old Heather Bodden’s decapitated body.

Interviews and surveillance video led investigators to the victim’s boyfriend, 32-year-old Craig Nichols Jr.

Snow has been lacking for a wide variety of reasons

“We’re literally about less than 24 hours into it. The court papers are going to show that there is a history of mental illness,” South Dakota Attorney General, Marty Jackley said.

One of the three women who came to check on Bodden told investigators Bodden texted her, “about being threatened with a weapon by her boyfriend,” Wednesday afternoon.

Two other people told investigators they’d stopped by the apartment on Wednesday night to do drugs. When they left the victim was still alive.

An affidavit says early Thursday morning, between 2:50 and 6:44 a.m., Nichols can be seen going in and out of the victim’s apartment. He leaves with two trash bags and re-enters the apartment without them.

Nichols was arrested at his home on Walnut Street Thursday. Authorities said he barricaded his door.

Investigators searched Nichols’ apartment and found a pair of wet shoes with a reddish-brown substance.

Inside the victim’s apartment, investigators found three weapons wrapped in a floor mat, the victim’s head and a bag of bloody clothing some were labeled with Nichols’ name.

Jackley says the weapons involved include two sharp objects and a pair of pliers.He also says there may be additional charges.

Nichols is charged with second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter and is being held at $500,000 cash bond with his next court appearance scheduled for 10:30 a.m. January 8.