Man, 23, facing first-degree murder charge in November death of roommate at West Palm Beach home

WEST PALM BEACH — A 23-year-old West Palm Beach man was arrested Friday after city police alleged that he killed his roommate last November.

Nikolas Pierce Lafountain is facing one count of first-degree murder. Police said a 25-year-old man was stabbed multiple times and had a sledgehammer embedded in his skull.

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The attack occurred on the night of Nov. 8 in a residence on the 3700 block of Paseo Navarra, off Parker Avenue near Southern Boulevard, police said in a statement Friday evening.

Police did not disclose the 25-year-old man's name, citing a 2018 state constitutional amendment modeled after California's Marsy's Law. It allows either crime victims or their families to have their names withheld from public reports.

According to the statement, police came to the residence after a person inside the home called 911 and reported that there was body under a rug and "blood everywhere." Officers found the body covered by a rug, a sleeping bag and other items.

The officer learned that Lafountain lived in the home but was not the deceased person. He was brought in for questioning the following day and arrested on unrelated charges. Court records show that arrest was for burglary and attempted robbery. Lafountain has pleaded not guilty to those charges and is awaiting trial.

Investigators focusing on the 25-year-old man's death discovered additional evidence in a duffle bag found on the 3400 block of Parker Avenue, about one-quarter mile northeast of the residence, the police statement said.

The police statement did not indicate a motive for the attack.

It was not immediately clear Friday night when Lafountain would appear before a judge for a bail hearing.

The death was one of 22 confirmed homicides in West Palm Beach during 2021 and one of 109 in Palm Beach County, according to a Palm Beach Post online database.

jwhigham@pbpost.com

@JuliusWhigham

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Man, 23, facing murder charge in roommate's death at West Palm Beach home