- The 2016 South Ogden double homicide remains unsolved despite video evidence and leads.
- Families of victims Cyle Van Komen and Kevin Nelson seek answers and closure.
- The Weber Metro Cold Case Task Force hopes new technology will solve the case.
SOUTH OGDEN — On a cold December evening in 2016, three people were watching a home in South Ogden.
For over an hour, they crept just out of view of those inside, peering in windows and leaving tracks in the snow outside. All of it was documented on surveillance video.
"It's very peculiar, it's creepy, disconcerting, you know, they're watching people inside a house that they ultimately end up killing," Ogden police detective Rachel Walker said. "All of them are just awful to watch because you know what's coming."
When those caught on video entered the home at 3636 S. Ogden Ave. on Dec. 9, 2016, they shot three men, leaving two of them — Cyle Van Komen, 24, and Kevin Nelson, 61, dead.
More than eight years later, who was responsible, what they were looking for inside, why they entered the home and whether they meant to kill who they did, all remains a mystery.
For Cyle Van Komen's father, JJ, the video elicits one emotion: anger. The time that has passed without answers hasn't helped.
"Probably the biggest question, or I would say even frustration, is you never want your child's case to be a cold case," JJ Van Komen said. "And then the fact that they have all this video evidence, and you can see the people who did this and know what they're about to do, and you know, with video evidence, usually you think something gets solved fairly quickly, and it hasn't."
Officers arrived that night to find a chaotic scene. Detective Brian Schultz, of the South Ogden Police Department, was there and recalled the urgency they felt in trying to process everything.
"My main concern that night was preservation of that crime scene," he said.
There was a lot to unravel. Two men were dead, another en route to the hospital. There's the matter of tracking down witnesses and parsing out who actually lived in the home, who was present or nearby at the time of the shooting, who were friends, family or neighbors.
"I remember that night when we came on scene, there was probably 50-60 people at 10 o'clock at night around this house with people wanting to know what had happened," Schultz said. "Just trying to figure out everybody, but you're still being an investigator on scene."
Interviewing witnesses, obtaining surveillance videos, documenting shoe prints in the snow, Schultz said police collected everything they knew to be important to an investigation.
They eventually spoke to the surviving victim and chased down "hundreds of leads," including some good tips from Van Komen's roommates, Schultz said.
Nothing came of it.
"It's a lot of sleepless nights, you know, as far as working with this case and just trying — not being able to solve it, because a lot of these cases, they just stay with you," Schultz said.
When he was contacted by the Weber Metro Cold Case Task Force about the case, Schultz said he jumped at the opportunity.
Utilizing the expertise of detectives from various agencies, the nonprofit task force was formed in early 2025 to take a fresh look at unsolved homicides in the county. By seeking donations from individuals and businesses, the task force hoped to incorporate the latest technologies in its cold case investigations.
Schultz is hoping advancements in technology, other experts' perspectives and new resources will help.
"I wanted to bring this case down here, not because I felt it was cold — there's tons of things that could be done — but more wanting a fresh set of eyes to kind of go over everything that we preserved evidence-wise because of the volume and the nature of the case," he said.
Without answers, the wound of loss hasn't healed, and talking of their lost loved ones elicited emotions from the families of Cyle Van Komen and Kevin Nelson. Still, they are hoping for those things that have eluded them: answers, closure, peace and justice.
They know they aren't the only ones who want those things.
"I think a lot of people in the community would love some closure because this is one of the one of the most devastating things that'ss happened in South Ogden in history — a double homicide," Nelson's nephew, Ralph Nelson, said.
The shooting occurred in the home Cyle Van Komen shared with some roommates, and Kevin Nelson owned the home next door.
The two men weren't particularly close, but their families said the neighbors were friendly, and it wasn't uncommon for people to come and go.
"It's nice guys that live there," Walker said. "It's a place that everybody wants to come hang out, because they have a good time and they get to see their friends, and I think that there were several people at the house kind of in and out."
At 61, Nelson was older than the others.
"They called him Gramps," his sister, Flo Jones, said.
Kevin Nelson's family has tried to fill in the gaps of that night. Describing him as a "free spirit," Jones said he left home at a young age. He had owned the home in South Ogden for about eight years, and they think he may have stopped by Cyle Van Komen's place to watch a show.
"I feel like he got caught up in the wrong place, the wrong time with the younger crowd because he's in his 60s," Ralph Nelson, Kevin Nelson's nephew, said. "I'm thinking it's over a woman, money or drugs, and then Kevin just happened to be there."
Police said they don't have reason to believe that any of those living at the home were involved in anything criminal or dangerous. Walker said there is a lot of speculation around the case, but few things are certain.
"Based on how the suspects were watching the house and kind of surveying it beforehand, I would say that I'd be confident it's the right house," she said. "I don't think anybody can say at this point if those were the right people. Um, one of the victims didn't even live at the house, so it could be wrong place, wrong time. We just don't know."
Cyle Van Komen's mother, Ranae Finch, said she doesn't think that Cyle was the target that night, either. She doesn't have an inkling as to why this happened to her son.
"It's devastating, because they took him away, right? And there is no getting him back and no answers as to why someone would do it or what motive. It just doesn't make any sense. It just feels senseless," Finch said.
Cyle Van Komen loved hockey and the mountains, his mother said. JJ Van Komen said Cyle had a kind and friendly nature that extended to all of those around him.
"One thing that really stood out to me about Cyle is he was very accepting of everybody," JJ Van Komen said. "He always had a big group of friends, associates with him, new people all the time."
Many years, he said Cyle Van Komen would bring someone to the family's Christmas celebrations, because he didn't want them to be alone for the holiday. Finch said he didn't have any enemies.
"That's the thing that, I think, has kind of gone through all of our heads is, he was loved, and he had so many different groups of friends that didn't even hang out together, but that they would swear he was their best friend. It just doesn't make sense."
Flo Jones prays for answers about what happened to her brother.
"We're just here to see if we can find out who did this horrible thing," she said.
JJ Van Komen wants justice for his son.
Cyle Van Komen's mother wants to see those who are responsible for his death to finally tell the truth.
"Come forward," she said. "Give my kids peace. Give us peace. It's just heartbreaking. We just want answers."
The Weber Metro Cold Case Task Force is raising money to help pay for DNA testing on these cold cases through its website.
Anybody with information on these cases is asked to call or text the task force at 801-399-8672.
Utah's Cold Cases is a series of KSL-TV stories and podcasts that highlight unsolved homicides, deaths and disappearances in our state. The stories can be found on KSL 5, the KSL+ app and ksltv.com. Utah's Cold Cases KSL Podcast can be found wherever you listen.
