'My heart is broken': Friends remember Utah woman killed in murder-suicide

COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS – Norah Nelson had a great laugh.

That's just one thing Brighton High School teacher Christine Yee remembers about the 19-year-old who died May 30 in a murder-suicide at the hands of her mother, according to police.

"Norah was a bright student and a thoughtful, empathetic human," Yee told KSL. "She was genuinely a kind person who hung out with lots of different groups."

"She always had a lot of friends," added Sloan Ballou, who knew Norah since sixth grade and graduated from Brighton High School with her in 2025. "She still has a lot of friends."

Cottonwood Heights police said Norah Nelson was shot and killed on May 30 by her mother, Heather Nelson, 51, who then turned the gun on herself. An online obituary noted that Heather Nelson suffered from "severe mental illness."

"This is a tragedy and a shock to the community on every scale," said Cottonwood Heights Police Sgt. Joey Incardine, noting that police deal with mental health issues multiple times a day. "It's something that has just become so prevalent in modern-day society that we really need to take a step back and figure out how we're going to address this better."

'She meant so much'

This case has weighed heavily on police and on the Cottonwood Heights community more broadly.

"My heart is broken," said Yee, who taught Norah Nelson in English, online study skills, and drawing classes.

She recalled that Norah Nelson worked on a mini documentary during her senior year about the high school's sign language teacher, even conducting the interview in sign language and working to add subtitles.

"She told me that she imagined how lonely it was for (him) to go about his whole day without being able to communicate fully with anyone," Yee said. "So she would often check in on him to converse."

Kate Jerez got to know Norah Nelson in high school and remembers her as being very inclusive.

"She was very outgoing," Jerez said. "She was an artist. She was really good at art."

Jerez, who also graduated from Brighton High in 2025, can't believe her friend is gone.

"I'm still not really comprehending it," she said.

Ballou, the longtime friend, acknowledged that for most people, this murder-suicide is just another "bad news story."

"But I'm seeing one of my best friends, you know, my little sixth-grade Norah," she said. "It's definitely surreal."

Ballou said she wants people to know how her friend lived, not just how she died.

"She meant so much to me," Ballou said, "and she meant so much to so many people."

Funeral services are scheduled for this weekend.

Related topics