Dennis Montgomery lived only about a half-block from Greg Nickell's parents, so the two Vernal men easily fell in with each other in the fall of 1972 when Nickell's Army stint ended and he came home.
The two had served together in Vietnam in 1970, where they were with the 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry in Cu Chi, a hot zone during the war's escalation into neighboring Cambodia.Both had transferred into the mechanized infantry unit, Montgomery from the Airborne Rangers, Nickell from a unit that had been in Cambodia.
Montgomery, now 46, said he didn't really know Nickell before they served together. They became closer back home, two years later.
Montgomery came straight back to the United States from the war, and got to know Nickell's parents through church activities. Nickell went to Germany before he returned to Vernal in October 1972. When Nickell got back to Utah, the two veterans helped each other work through their war experiences by talking about them.
"His dad was a businessman, had an oilfield business. Greg worked in the business, pretty much having a rip-roaring time. Just having a good time," Montgomery said.
Nickell had gone without the stateside mundane for so long the plainest pleasures seemed luxurious - even something as ordinary as driving out for a hamburger, Montgomery said.
"He had bought a brand-new Pontiac. It was real nice," Montgomery said. "From a Spartan life to hey, I got a new car, I can go where I want - life's good."
Greg Nickell died in the Pontiac, shot point-blank and immolated only a month after he came home.
Despite a massive manhunt, no one was arrested for Nickell's murder for nearly 20 years - until Wednesday, when the Uintah County sheriff and his deputies, with the help of the Salt Lake police, arrested Willard Dale Taylor in his Rose Park home.
When Montgomery heard the news Thursday night from a reporter, his reaction was to the point.
"Good," he said.
The crime has haunted Vernal. "There was a lot of speculation about who did it," Montgomery said. "A fellow got killed a few years later. The rumor was, he did it. There was a lot of speculation about guys coming back from the war, smuggling dope in caskets. There was a rumor that it was a drug deal."
But Montgomery, who spoke at Nickell's funeral in 1972 and now lives in Roosevelt, said he never believed those rumors.
"The thing that makes me so mad is it wasn't an easy matter to survive that war. He was looking forward to getting out of the service and getting on with his life.
"Life robs you. That's pretty much how I felt about Greg," said Montgomery. "Life robbed him in the end. I'm just glad that justice is going to be served now."