CLEARFIELD – A DuBois man will spend the rest of his life in prison for killing his girlfriend.
Joseph Fields, 36, was found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Nicole Snyder after a trial in June. Tuesday President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman sentenced him to life in prison without parole.
The charges stem from an incident Sept. 22 in DuBois at Snyder’s residence. When her seven-year-old son answered the door, police noticed he had blood on his clothing. Snyder had been stabbed four times, according to court documents. She died shortly after the police arrived.
Prior to sentencing, Snyder’s sister, Diana Holmes was barely able to read from a written statement directed at Fields.
“You know what you did that night,” she said, explaining that he was outraged because Snyder didn’t want to be in a relationship with Fields. “Nothing you say or do will bring her back to us.”
“You severely damaged our family with your actions,” she said.
Holmes talked about how dedicated and loving Snyder was as a mother. She said, “Those memories and wonderful times will stay with us” and he could not take them away.
She commented that she didn’t think Fields was even sorry for what he did and said she took solace in the fact that “you are going somewhere where you can’t hurt anyone else.”
As she spoke, Fields remained expressionless. He appeared the same way during the trial when he testified that he stabbed Snyder in the chest after they argued for two hours about him cheating on her.
They wrestled around, he said and he stabbed her again in the neck. He claimed he dialed 911 and handed the phone to her before he left through a back door.
There was a manhunt for him that lasted 15 hours.
Fields told the jury he didn’t know that she was dead until the next day when he got a text message from a relative.
For the complete story on the trial, click here.
