Westland, MI: Co-defendant: Girl was strangled with dog leas

By ERIC D. LAWRENCE
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

One of two men charged in the killing of a 16-year-old Westland girl described today how he sat beside her while his friend strangled the girl with a dog leash.

The pair later took Carlee Morse’s body to an unknown church, where it was dumped in a trash container, the man said during testimony in a preliminary examination in 18th District Court in Westland.

Nicholas Cottrell, 22, who pleaded guilty Monday to 2nd-degree murder in the case, discussed in gruesome detail how Justin Yoshikawa, 19, killed Morse, his former girlfriend, early on Aug. 20. The testimony came as part of Cottrell’s plea agreement that would spare him a possible sentence of life without parole. Instead, he faces a 25-50 year prison term at his sentencing on Jan. 26.

Cottrell’s mother, Tina Lowe, faces a five-year felony charge of accessory after the fact. She is to be arraigned in Wayne County Circuit Court on Jan. 20.

Yoshikawa, who did not testify, is charged with 1st-degree murder.

Before Cottrell testified, Judge Sandra Cicirelli warned those in the audience about the graphic details to come. But the hearing remained packed, and audience members cried and gasped as the details came in a disturbing flood of revelations. After two hours, Cicirelli ordered the case against Yoshikawa bound over to Wayne County Circuit Court, where an arraignment will be held on Jan. 20.

Cottrell claimed that his friend, whom he had met at a drug house early last year, hatched a plan to kill Morse. The reason for the killing was unclear, although he said Yoshikawa had claimed that Morse stomped on his face while he was sleeping at some point.

With Yoshikawa hiding in the back seat of Cottrell’s car, Cottrell and Morse smoked marijuana. The attack happened shortly after a specially selected song began playing.

“Justin arose from the backseat and started to strangle Carlee,” Cottrell said, noting that Yoshikawa ordered him to hold her legs, which he did.

While Cottrell, who admitted during questioning that he had been a drug dealer, drove, Yoshikawa continued to strangle the girl to make sure she was dead.

“The rope did not let go until probably an hour later,” he testified.

Late that day or early the next morning, the pair drove for 1-2 hours looking for a place to dump the body, coming upon a red brick church with a trash container. Cottrell said Yoshikawa had placed the body in a garbage bag and “told me that he broke each joint to bend freely without breaking of the skin so there was no blood involved.”

Authorities have not been able locate Morse’s body. Morse’s mother said she last saw her daughter when the girl asked to go outside about 12:30 a.m. on Aug. 20.

Cottrell and Yoshikawa were arrested last month after someone with information about the case contacted police.

Contact ERIC D. LAWRENCE: 313-223-4272 or elawrence@freepress.com.