Stabbing suspect arrested in Florida

Published 6:00 am Saturday, December 24, 2016

ALACHUA, FL – A former Chowan University football player who police say stabbed his girlfriend to death in Chesterfield County, VA last month has been arrested in Florida, police said Wednesday.

Back on Nov. 11, Nishae A. Samms, 23, was found by her mother unresponsive in her apartment in the 6500 block of Statute Street in Chesterfield. Responding officers determined that Samms had been stabbed, and she was pronounced dead at the scene.

Tevin McGougan

Tevin McGougan

Chesterfield police later named Samms’ boyfriend, Tevin James McGougan, 23, of the 600 block of Cowardin Ave. in Richmond, as a suspect in her slaying and charged him with first-degree murder.

McGougan was apprehended late Tuesday by the Alachua County Sheriff’s Office in Alachua County, Florida. Alachua is located about 15 miles north of Gainesville. Chesterfield police detectives were in Alachua on Wednesday. McGougan is being held at a medical center there, police said.

Police have not yet said why McGougan was at a medical facility and not in jail.

McGougan and Samms were parents of a young daughter, and police say the pair had a stormy relationship.

Police called Samms’ murder “a domestic-related homicide.”

On Sept. 29, McGougan strangled Samms to the point of unconsciousness and shoved her head against a wall in the home they shared with their daughter in the 600 block of Cowardin Avenue, according to Richmond court records. This incident occurred shortly after Samms had moved to Chesterfield from Richmond.

McGougan was charged Oct. 1 with domestic assault and strangulation causing injury. However, the Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office withdrew the charges Oct. 14 after consulting with Samms.

McGougan, a Hampton native, attended Phoebus High School and played at Chowan from 2011 to 2014 where he appeared in 22 games as a defensive lineman.