Dayton man indicted on murder charges in deaths of pregnant woman, teen

A Dayton man indicted Thursday is facing murder charges in the May deaths of a pregnant woman, her fetus and a teen in Dayton.

Nicole “Nico” Narome Cunigan Jr., 32, is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court for four counts of murder, one count of involuntary manslaughter, two counts each of felonious assault and domestic violence and single counts of tampering with evidence, having weapons while under disability and unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

Nicole "Nico" Cunigan Jr.

Credit: Montgomery County Jail

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Credit: Montgomery County Jail

Dayton police responding during the early morning hours of May 22 to the 1400 block of Shaftesbury Road, where they found two people shot to death: 32-year-old Precious Taste — Cunigan’s girlfriend and mother of his children — and 16-year-old Deante Johnson, her acquaintance. Taste’s 3-year-old twins were in the house at the time of the shooting, according to the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office.

Autopsies revealed that Johnson and Taste both died from multiple gunshots, and that Taste was approximately 14 to 15 weeks pregnant.

Further investigation, including witness statements and surveillance video, found that Cunigan reportedly entered the house by pushing in a window. He fired multiple shots and fled in Taste’s vehicle, the prosecutor’s office said.

Dayton police asked for the public’s help to find Cunigan. Shortly after the shooting he was in Richmond, Indiana, but the U.S. Marshals Service in June said they believed he could have traveled to Cleveland.

Cunigan ultimately was captured July 23 after the department’s homicide unit and the Southern Ohio Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team tracked him to Cleveland. They asked the Ohio State Highway Patrol to stop the vehicle Cunigan was driving and he was taken into custody. His capture also involved the Cleveland office of the U.S. Marshals Service, Dayton police said.

Cunigan was extradited to Dayton, where he was booked Monday afternoon into the Montgomery County Jail. He is held on $1 million bail.

Dayton police Maj. Brian Johns provided an update Thursday  May 23, 2024, on the double fatal shooting inside a house in the 1400 block of Shaftesbury Road early Wednesday morning in which a pregnant woman and teen boy were killed. A person of interest in the homicide Nicole Cunigan Jr. is the boyfriend of the pregnant woman. MARSHALL GORBY\STAFF

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