Note: This article contains details that may be disturbing to some readers.
A Kenai man was arrested early Sunday morning after he told the Kenai Police Department that he killed a woman at the Main Street Hotel in Kenai, according to a police affidavit.
Nicolas Andrew Bushnell, 30, of Kenai, is charged with one count of murder in the first degree and two counts of murder in the second degree in connection with the apparent strangulation death of Breann Pearl Lang, 33, of Sterling, who Kenai police officers and emergency medical services found dead at the hotel on Sunday.
A Feb. 12 affidavit written by Kenai Police Investigations Sgt. Ryan Coleman says Bushnell reported Lang’s death to the Kenai Police Department just after 3:30 a.m. on Feb. 12. That affidavit says Bushnell told officers he needed to go to jail because he strangled someone to death in a hotel room.
Bushnell directed police to room 116 at the Main Street Hotel and gave officers a key to the room, according to the affidavit. Officers found a dead woman inside the room, later identified as Lang. Coleman wrote that the crime scene investigator found ligature marks on and a phone charging cord partially around Lang’s neck.
The investigator also found drug paraphernalia such as nitrous oxide, a marijuana pipe, marijuana and “items that appeared consistent with acid” in the hotel room, Coleman wrote.
While talking to Coleman at the Kenai Police Department early Sunday, Bushnell said he and Lang were friends and went to the hotel to do psychedelic drugs together, Coleman wrote. Bushnell said he and Lang did “whippets,” or nitrous oxide, and took hits of acid, according to the affidavit.
“During the night, (Bushnell) said he decided he would kill (Lang) because she was a demon/the devil,” Coleman wrote in his affidavit.
Bushnell said he then took a shower and waited “a few hours” before reporting to the Kenai Police Department that he had strangled Lang to death, Coleman wrote.
Bushnell was remanded to Wildwood Pretrial Facility for one count of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder.
Charging documents allege Bushnell committed the crime of murder in the first degree when he intentionally caused the death of another person.
Bushnell committed the crime of murder in the second degree, charging documents allege, when he caused the death of a person with the intention of causing them serious physical injury or by knowing that the conduct was substantially certain to cause death or serious physical injury.
Bushnell also committed the crime of second degree murder when he knowingly engaged in conduct that resulted in the death of a person “under circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to the value of human life,” documents allege.
Bushnell was convicted in 2021 of second-degree harassment after pleading guilty to the charge related to a 2020 incident.
Preliminary hearings for the case stemming from Sunday’s incident are scheduled for Dec. 23 and March 6.
Reach reporter Ashlyn O’Hara at ashlyn.ohara@peninsulaclarion.com.
This story has been updated.
