Police in Wyoming have arrested a 25-year-old man for the murder of his girlfriend in a Riverton motel room last week.
Riverton Police said they responded to the motel last Saturday morning for a call about a dead person found in one of the rooms. Eventually, they arrested Sterling Black and charged him with second degree murder.
They released little other information, but an arrest affidavit obtained by the Cowboy State Daily revealed by 24-year-old Angelina Rose Bell’s young daughter found her mother’s body.
A 911 caller told dispatch that “a little girl found her mother and was not sure if she was conscious but could see lots of blood,” the affidavit said.
Officers responded to the Ol’ Wyoming Motel at about 7 a.m. after the call and found Bell on the floor in the bathroom. The officers also found a spent 9mm bullet casing in toilet bowl.
The little girl was unable to tell officers anything more than “momma’s in the bathroom,” although she later told a victim witness coordinator that “Daddy went for a walk,” “Mommy has blood on her,” “Daddy was mad at Mommy,” and “Mommy’d dead.
The girl, whose age was not given, was later sent home with family.
Officers documented a “large area” of stippling around a gunshot wound to Bell’s face, indicating she was shot at relatively close range, likely between “several” inches and two feet. The wound markings indicated she was not shot from a close enough range to indicate a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Officers also found “signs of drug and alcohol use” in the bathroom. Outside the room, they found a black Mitsubishi Outlander registered to Black but no keys were located.
While police were on scene, Black’s father arrived and said he was concerned about his son. The father told investigators that Black, Bell, and their daughter lived at the motel, but he didn’t say “how he became aware of this incident,” the affidavit said.
Investigators obtained a search warrant for the room and viewed video from the motel’s security camera, which showed Black leaving the room shortly after 5 a.m. wearing a black hooded shirt, grey sweatpants, and black slide sandals. Earlier video showed the family arriving at the room at about 11 p.m. the night before. Black left at about 2:41 a.m. and then returned “at an unknown time” before leaving for a final time at about 5:20 a.m.
None of the neighbors in the motel reported hearing gunshots or arguments, but multiple members of Bell’s family told police there had been abuse “between” the pair beginning in late December. Bell told family members several times that Black hit her.
Late Saturday afternoon, the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office contacted Riverton Police and told them Black was surrendering. Riverton police retrieved Black from the sheriff’s office, and Black’s father gave officers the gun believed used in the murder.
The father said he found his son in an abandoned trailer on his property and told him to “do what is right.”
For the latest true crime and justice news, subscribe to the ‘Crime Stories with Nancy Grace’ podcast.
[Featured image: Ol’ Wyoming Motel/Riverton Police Department. Inset: Angelina Bell/Davis Funeral Home]
