48 Hours - The Case Against Nicole Addimando

Episode Date: November 22, 2020

A young mother shoots her partner claiming self-defense and abuse. The killing of the popular gymnastics coach divides a town. CBS News correspondent Jericka Duncan reports for "48 Hours."See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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ConstantContact.ca She was afraid for her life. I mean, I was constantly afraid for her life. I messaged her every morning to see if she was still alive. On the night of the shooting, my phone rang. And it was a little after 2 in the morning. And it's Nikki. She sounded so scared. Nikki Otamondo, better than anybody else in this world, knew how dangerous he was at that moment. What's his name?

Chris Grover. Chris Grover? Dad, I want to be a dad. Chris Grover. She had been asking him sort of throughout the night, you know, just let us leave. Just let me leave with the kids. What was he saying?

He told me I'm not going anywhere. I'm not leaving. you know just let us leave just let me leave with the kids he pulled a gun out of the couch and said he would kill her and when she did that the gun fell to the floor I picked it up and he said what do it Nikki didn't attempt to evade the police and didn't hide the fact that she shot And you said you wouldn't do it. Nikki didn't attempt to evade the police and didn't hide the fact that she shot him. He's laying on this couch. He's just laying there. Nikki is the most gentle, loving friend we've ever had.

Everything she does is for her kids. In hindsight, it's so easy to connect the dots. There were so many instances where I would notice a bruise. She attributed to playing with the kids and some kind of accident. We had medical documents demonstrating physical injuries. There were many people who saw her with black eyes, with bruises. Bruises, injuries. On her face or on her neck. She had bite marks on her back. Burn marks. Well, if that's true, as a prosecutor, it's my obligation to investigate it. Anyone who knew Chris was there to support him.

He was my gymnastics coach. He always made us feel safe. My son never hurt anybody. He lived for Nikki. He lived for those kids. He was a gentle soul who was full of life, and she took it. She was a very good actress. Just take a few deep breaths, okay? We know that it's not popular to say that a woman who's claiming domestic violence is lying.

It's not popular to say that she was self-inflicting injuries. You believe the people who were supporting Nikki Adamondo were manipulated by her. I don't believe Chris ever abused her. She intentionally planned and murdered him when he was sleeping. Thank you. At At 2 a.m. on September 28, 2017, police officer Richard Sicilli encountered a car stopped at a red light. The light turned green, and when the car didn't move, officer Sicilli says he tooted an air horn to get the driver's attention.

What happened next stunned him. You need to relax, okay? Just take a few deep breaths, okay? An agitated young mother named Nicole Otamondo in stocking feet told him something had gone terribly wrong at home. He's laying on the couch. She's just laying there. She said she'd been abused, had tried to leave, and her boyfriend had a gun.

I picked it up, and he said he wouldn't do it. He picked it up and he said he wouldn't do it. Police officer Cecilia I think is in shock that this is unfolding before him. Putnam County Chief Assistant District Attorney Hannah Krause would soon be investigating Nikki's story. He doesn't know if there's an ambulance that's necessary. There are two children in the car. Nikki had called a friend. Seen here on the police dash cam video, the friend, Elizabeth Clifton, pulls up and officers ask her to wait in a nearby parking lot. I watched police emergency vehicles going by. And at some point I saw that the ambulance

went back the other way and it didn't have its lights on. So I was afraid. I was afraid of what had happened. The officers went to Nikki's apartment and found her partner, Chris Grover, who appeared to be sleeping on the couch, dead, with a single gunshot to the head. They found the shower running and single gunshot to the head. They found the shower running and a broken laptop in the bathtub. They brought Nikki to the police station, where she was interrogated by detectives, and Elizabeth learned Chris was dead.

I never in a million years had a fear that he would die. I was afraid she would die every day. Not long afterward, Gail Grover got a heartbreaking visit from the sheriff. He told us that Chris had passed. And my first question was, are Nikki and the kids okay? That right there tells you we had no clue. No clue, says Gail, that anything was amiss in her son's life. She describes Chris as kind and athletic. He had a black belt in taekwondo and was head gymnastics coach at Mr. Todd's gym in Poughkeepsie. Beth Whalen coached with him there.

He was just always so happy and full of energy. at Mr. Todd's gym in Poughkeepsie. Beth Whalen coached with him there. He was just always so happy and full of energy. I mean, he was like a rocket running around the gym. He was a huge kid at heart, huge kid. And that's where in 2008, he met a pretty young coach named Nicole Adamondo. He was 21, she was 19. Soon they began dating. In 2012, they moved in together and announced Nikki was expecting their first child, son Ben.

Was he excited about being a dad? Absolutely. Ecstatic. He was a proud papa. Chris, a talented amateur videographer, made this video for Nikki, which he called Becoming Mom. Two years later, daughter Faye came along. Those kids were everything to him. And to Nikki, too. Gail says Nikki was an excellent mom. Elizabeth Clifton taught a Mommy and Me music class Nikki attended with Ben.

One time she came to class with what looked to me like a black eye. She covered herself completely. And even in the summer, she'd be wearing long sleeves, long pants, have a scarf covering around her neck. Nikki's childhood friends, Laura Mokadanu and Rachel Haw Hawks also noticed injuries, but didn't press her. I would notice a bruise, you know. She would often say, you know, oh, I was playing with Ben and I got hit by his guitar. You know, it was always something that to me at the time seemed very plausible. I didn't think twice about it.

seemed very plausible. I didn't think twice about it. Then one day, a mom from the gym where Chris coached heard about Nikki's injuries. She'd seen Chris lose his temper in the past with young gymnasts in his class. Concerned, she made an anonymous report to Child Protective Services, or CPS. As required by law, CPS visited Nikki and Chris's apartment. Before long, Chris was dead, and Nikki was trying to explain why. He faced me, and then he looked up for a second, and I just... I think she thought she got them to believe that she had acted out in self-defense as opposed to intentionally killed Chris Grover. It's like, obviously self-defense, right?

I think she thought she was going home that night. But Nikki did not go home that night. Instead, she was charged with second-degree murder and Chris's death. What did you think when they charged Nikki with murder? I was heartbroken. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing.

The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert, to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military, and when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. Did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, early and ad-free on Wondery Plus and the Wondery app. A few weeks after Chris Grover's death, Today, remembering Coach Chris. friends, family, and former students like Mikaela Hughes

He always said, let's go kid. gathered to release balloons in his honor. Two, one. Let's go kids! And it felt really nice to know that like I wasn't alone. Supporters of Nikki Adamondo were reeling too. Supporters of Nikki Otamondo were reeling too. Her arrest for Chris' murder prompted an outcry from friends, family, and advocates for victims of domestic violence. For choosing to defend herself and survive, Nikki may spend the next 20 years to life in prison.

Elizabeth Clifton began organizing rallies and fundraisers. And also reliving the years of terror she says she went through with Nikki, beginning in April of 2016, when she decided to confront Nikki about her injuries. And I said to her that I'm really scared for you and I'm worried that you're not safe at home. Elizabeth says Nikki reluctantly admitted her partner Chris was abusing her. It wasn't like floodgates. I would say a slight trickle of acknowledging that, yes, this was happening. Nikki's case stood out to me because of the level of violence that was involved. Rachel Louise Snyder is a journalist who spent 10 years studying domestic violence for a book called No Visible Bruises.

As part of her research on Nikki's case for a New Yorker article, she read the full court record and interviewed dozens of people. She says Nikki alleged Chris forced himself on her sexually but didn't become violent until after son Ben was born. And he slammed her head into the doorframe of Ben's room and then raped her. It happened again, said Nikki, almost two years later when she was pregnant with Fay. She sought medical attention here at Vassar Brothers Hospital in Poughkeepsie. And a couple of days later,

she was standing in the kitchen making eggs for Ben and Chris allegedly came in and said, in the kitchen making eggs for Ben, and Chris allegedly came in and said, you better be making some for me. And she said, yes, sir, pretty sarcastically. He forced her to the ground and took a spoon and held it into the gas flame and burned her all over her body with it. Again, Nikki sought medical attention. The report from the exam states assailant named Chris heated up a metal utensil on the gas stove and burned Nikki in multiple areas of her body. He was, as far as I understand, tying her up. You know, I remember seeing the

marks around her neck and wrists. I mean, what he was doing was raping her. Nikki feared Chris was videotaping the encounters. Elizabeth says she and Nikki's therapist pushed Nikki to press charges. Multiple people, in fact, tried to get her to file police reports, and she was just petrified. She said that Chris would tell her that nobody would believe her,

and she doesn't want her kids taken away from her. She knew she was in danger. Elizabeth tried to help Nikki leave, and in the summer of 2016, Nikki did pack the kids in the car and drive over to Elizabeth's house. One of the hardest things I've ever experienced is that she would come and she'd drive and she'd slow down and then go again. She saw Nikki drive past her house over and over again for hours, and she was on the phone saying, just come in, just come in the front door, and Nikki just couldn't do it.

And that's what a domestic violence victim leaving looks like. It looks like a series of false starts. In this mindset, her terror of him is stronger than her belief that the system will save her. In 2017, just months before Chris died, Nikki sought medical help three times from a midwife who noted multiple injuries. In May, rope-like burns. States Chris has a gun and uses it in my body. In June, vulva, swollen, looks inside out.

In August, bruised and bleeding. Chris, at gunpoint, raped her. And then, in September, came that anonymous call to Child Protective Services. CPS called Nikki and Chris and said, we're going to come by and interview you tomorrow. Suddenly there were outside eyes on them. Nikki said Chris left the house that day with a bag full of evidence of abuse, presumably to get rid of it. The next day, CPS conducted its home visit. Afterwards, Chris went to work and came home that night in a quiet mood. At one point, Nikki said he called her into the bedroom, where he was loading his gun.

And he wants her to try to load it, and he gives her a bullet, and apparently she's shaking. According to Nikki, she later took a shower, and at some point, Chris threw the laptop in the tub. She said he forced her to have sex with him on the couch, but was unusually gentle. And if you are a domestic violence victim victim and someone who is usually very violent with you is suddenly gentle, you're going to get that message. You're going to understand immediately that that is a goodbye.

Nikki said she lay for a while on top of Chris and believed he was asleep. When she tried to get up, he pulled the gun from behind the couch cushions. Nikki said she got the gun away and pointed it at him. She said he laughed at her. And then he said, here's what's going to happen. You're going to give me the gun and I'm going to kill you.

And then I'm going to kill myself. And the kids are going to have no one. And she said she just lunged and shot. Shot him in the head. She said she just lunged and shot, shot him in the head. Nikki's supporters say her choice that night was simple, either kill or be killed. In March of 2019, Nikki Otamondo, out on bail at the time, went on trial for the murder of her partner, Chris Grover. Friends and advocates wearing purple,

the color for victims of domestic violence, lined up in support. They stood side by side with loyal Chris supporters, heartbroken to learn Nikki's defense would hinge on allegations that he abused her. What do you want people to know? That Chris didn't do this. My son never hurt anybody.

And that's the bottom line. Video cameras were not allowed inside the courtroom here at the Dutchess County Courthouse in Poughkeepsie. Prosecutors argued that Nikki painted herself as a victim, but that her allegations of abuse were untrue. She was not the victim in this case. Chris was the victim in this case. And that became very, very apparent. Prosecutor Hannah Krause has spent much of her career advocating for victims of sexual violence. Krause told jurors the physical evidence was overwhelming, starting with the fact that Chris was killed with a direct contact wound to the head.

The medical examiner testified that the muzzle of the gun that was imprinted in Chris's head meant it was embedded in his head when she pulled the trigger. Krause said Nikki, not Chris, threw the laptop in the tub in an attempt to make it look like Chris had evidence to hide. She didn't expect the laptop to be recovered in a way that we could still examine it and determine that there was absolutely no evidence of abuse on that laptop. And Krause presented a series of texts Nikki sent Chris just days before he died, calling him an a**hole man-child and asking, WTF is wrong with you? Are you this stupid? She was the one who was abusing him in these messages when they communicated throughout the day. Then there were internet searches on Chris's phone the night he died.

Krause believes Nikki made them. If you shoot someone in their sleep, will the police know? 15 minutes of searches that are a roadmap to exactly how he was murdered. Even more damning was a text Nikki sent a friend six weeks earlier. I haven't figured out a way to kill him without being caught, so I'm still here. Nikki punctuated the text with a grimace emoji, which her lawyers say clearly shows she was joking. Yet several weeks later, he was dead. So that's quite a coincidence. Krause acknowledges Nikki had a traumatic experience when she was just five years old. Nikki was raped on a sleepover at a friend's house. The rape was witnessed by another child. Nikki didn't tell anyone at the time, but her friends

say it had a lasting impact. So if we wanted to have sleepovers with Nikki, we would always go and sleep at her home. She never, ever slept at one of our houses. Nikki said the assault made her uncomfortable with sex as an adult, which she confided to Chris when they began dating. For about a year, they didn't become intimate because he cared so much about her and that was who he was. He never changed. Chris didn't change, says Krause, but Nikki grew into someone who invented stories of abuse. She never reported these allegations to police, but the story spilled out over the years to friends and therapists. Krause told the jurors

these accusations began before Nikki met Chris when she accused an ex-boyfriend of assaulting her. What are they gonna think if she alleges every relationship she ever had was non-consensual? Would they believe what she said about Chris? A few years after she began dating Chris, nearly a decade ago, Nikki told a therapist that a maintenance worker at her mother's apartment complex raped her. Nikki later said her memories of the time were unclear and she wasn't sure which abuse was by the maintenance worker or Chris. How do you not remember which abuse was by the maintenance worker and which abuse was by your partner? Around the same time, Nikki met a married police officer who invited her to become a live-in babysitter with his family. He was the parent of a child who was coached by the defendant and at one point Chris Grover as well.

point Chris Grover as well. Krause says they began a relationship that lasted several years, including after Nikki lived with Chris and was pregnant with Ben. Nikki said the married police officer also forced himself on her sexually. There were so many other men, so which one was she talking about? Nikki's supporters insist these aren't false allegations. They are true. And author Rachel Louise Snyder says child victims of assault often grow up to become victims again. The fact that Nikki was assaulted when she was five years old means that as an adult, she's put into a much higher risk category. In fact, it would make her two thirds more likely to be victimized as an adult, she's put into a much higher risk category. In fact, it would make her two-thirds more likely to be victimized as an adult. But Prosecutor Krause told the jurors that in Nikki's case,

there is proof her allegations were false. And that her injuries often had an innocent explanation. The bruise on the eye was from Ben hitting her in the eye with a guitar. It's not rocket science. It was witnessed seeing Ben hit her with it. The medical records weren't clear-cut either, according to Krause, including that first visit Nikki paid to this hospital when she was pregnant with Faye

and was asked a series of questions to which she answered no. Is abuse inflicted with tools? No. Do you have burns or does he burn you? No. Krause says it wasn't until Nikki returned a few days later that a nurse noted those burns. So what do you think that means? I think she decided to go back a second time and be able to answer yes to every single one of those questions. What she was saying was happening was completely inconsistent with the evidence we were finding as our investigation went on. And so Nikki faced a huge risk that day when CPS came calling, says Krause, her inventions of abuse would be exposed. To Krause, that was Nikki's motive for murder. She was concerned that Child Protective Services would know this manipulated

history that she put out there was not truthful and that she might lose her children. When seen in this light, Krause argued, Nikki's story of what happened the night Chris died quickly unravels. The pretty young mother eliciting sympathy was never what she seemed. I think people need to understand what really happened here. And what really happened here? Chris Grover was asleep when she killed him. That's what happened here. See more photos from the case on Facebook at 48 Hours. In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn, and it harboured a deep, dark scandal.

There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reach the age of 10 that would still have heard it. It just happens to all of them. ten that would still have urged it. It just happens to all of us. I'm journalist Luke Jones and for almost two years I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with. In the Pitcairn trials I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island to the brink of extinction.

Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Hot shot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty. Her specialty? Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals. However, while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets, the most dangerous secret was her own. She's going to all the major groups within Melbourne's underworld, and she's informing on them all.

I'm Marcia Clark, host of the new podcast, Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and defense attorney, I've seen some crazy cases, and this one belongs right at the top of the list. She was addicted to the game she had created. She just didn't know how to stop. Now, through dramatic interviews and access, I'll reveal the truth behind one of the world's most shocking legal scandals. Listen to Informants Lawyer X exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery

app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, and listen to more Exhibit C true crime shows early and ad-free right now. It was time for attorneys John Ingrassia and Ben Oster to present the defense case in Nikki Otamondo's murder trial. They say she lived in constant danger and believed she would die the night Chris Grover died. You have a woman with no prior history of violence, no prior criminal history at all. We know that too often women who have sought help end up in a body bag. That was what she was confronted with on that evening. That was what she was confronted with on that evening. The lawyers would need to convince a jury that Nikki acted in self-defense and shot Chris to save her own life.

So they called witnesses to corroborate Nikki's claim that she was brutally abused by Chris for years. There were psychologists, nurse midwives who were fearful of the abuse that Nikki was undergoing. There was a police officer testified at our trial. He was ready to send police officers to effect an arrest. They produced photos documenting Nikki's injuries and argued that Nikki's wounds could not have been self-inflicted. Burns to the face, the point of leaving a blister. Burns to the breast. She had bite marks on her shoulder blades. You can't reach your own shoulder blades.

What about the bite marks on her neck, on her back, places that she couldn't reach? How do you know if any of those injuries actually came from Chris and not one of the other individuals that she was claiming she was involved in a relationship with? But Nikki's lawyers say the other men brought up by the prosecution were an attempt to create confusion and that Nikki hadn't had sexual relations with anyone but Chris for years before his death. So that kind of fog that they created was shaming Nikki in a way.

And it's not relevant to the case of whether Mr. Grover was victimizing her with intimate partner violence. They insisted the aggressive texts Nikki sent Chris were ways to stick up for herself and said she paid for them afterwards when Chris hit her. It's not uncommon for people to use words to fight back. The lawyers reminded the jurors that the internet searches about how to kill someone who was sleeping, they were made on Chris's phone with no evidence that Nikki made them. And the medical examiner testified there was no proof Chris was sleeping.

Dr. Newman said it could have happened exactly the way Nikki said it happened. They called Nikki herself to the stand so the jurors could hear from her directly. What did you tell her day one, day two? To tell the truth. Just to tell the truth. The truth never changes.

And Nikki's story did not change. Visibly shaken and sometimes in tears, Nikki told the court that Chris lashed out when he felt disrespected, beat her, raped her, choked her, and left her tied up for hours. For Laura Mokadanu, watching her friend testify was heartbreaking. It was three full days of her up there being interrogated and having to relive the trauma that she experienced. Nikki told the jurors that after Faye was born, Chris began watching pornography constantly and would try to recreate the porn with Nikki. Nikki's attorneys presented photos most too graphic to show,

which Nikki claimed Chris posted without her consent on Pornhub, a pornographic video sharing website. The videos had keywords like bound and pound or break a bitch or it's just really ugly, disrespectful language. The jurors saw the photographs, but they didn't see the ugly words or the information on the post about the user who uploaded the images. Someone called Grover Respect, who, like Chris Grover,

described himself as a 29-year-old cinematographer who loved martial arts. The judge ruled there was no way to prove Chris created it. Grover Respect was who posted the Pornhub videos, which were clearly our client. There was other evidence jurors did not see, including the full medical report from 2014 and these midwife exams documenting injuries the summer

before Chris died. In some ways, her case was cut off at the knees from the start. It's not uncommon for some evidence to be excluded at a murder trial, and prosecutor Hannah Krause believes this was excluded for good reason. She argued that Nikki may have made the porn herself. There is no way to identify a man in the photos, and it wasn't rape. Does that look like someone is taking part in a consensual act? I believe that was consensual with Nikki, absolutely. Nikki's testimony may not have changed many minds.

She would say one thing, and then in the next breath, she was saying something else right on the stand. You could see that it wasn't the truth. Music teacher Elizabeth Clifton did testify for Nikki's defense, but wasn't asked about everything she'd seen, including one day in 2016 when Nikki said she was having a miscarriage. The amount of blood, just like puddles of blood on the floor and her clothing stained. Elizabeth believes Chris's abuse caused the miscarriage and says Nikki was afraid to go see a doctor because Chris would get angry. I witnessed her suffer through a horrible painful where she was almost

not able to speak because she was in so much pain miscarriage because she was afraid to go to hospital. Laura did not testify at the trial, but this photo of Nikki in a bridesmaid's dress at Laura's wedding was a defense exhibit to document a burn on Nikki's chest. Laura says it's an example of how the prosecution and not Nikki manipulated the story. And she has what I believe was a burn mark from a curling iron because her hair was clearly just curled. Nikki's hair was just curled, says Laura, because the bridal party had just gone to the hair salon together. She says the mark was big and oval shaped and was old and already healing when they got to the salon. It was a burn mark from a heated metal spoon. There was no question.

After 14 days of testimony, the case finally went to the jurors, who would have to decide, was Nikki Adamondo a terrified victim or a manipulative liar? Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of sriracha that's living in your fridge? Or why nearly every house in America has at least one game of Monopoly? Introducing The Best Idea Yet, a brand new podcast from Wondery and T-Boy about the surprising origin stories of the products you're obsessed with and the bolder risk takers who brought them to life. Like, did you know that Super Mario, the best-selling video game character of all time, only exists because Nintendo couldn't get the rights to Popeye? Or Jack, that the idea for the McDonald's Happy Meal

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It's just the best idea yet. After three days of deliberations, finally, a verdict. A jury of eight women and four men rejected Nikki Otamondo's claim of self-defense and convicted her of criminal possession of a weapon and second-degree murder. It was like getting punched in the stomach really hard. This, for her, was the worst possible verdict. It was like getting punched in the stomach really hard. This, for her, was the worst possible verdict. It was traumatic. She's so tiny, and she's sitting there,

and people thinking she's a criminal. And I just wanted to hug her. I couldn't. hug her? I couldn't. Chris Grover's family and friends found some comfort at last. Thank God somebody was listening and for once a little bit of relief because they had drug Christopher's name through the mud so bad and turned him into this monster that he was not. Did you feel vindicated? No, this is never about me. I felt happy for Chris's family. They got to the point where they heard the jury say guilty.

But the case wasn't over yet. Under an updated New York state law, the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act, Nikki was entitled to another day in court, a hearing where her claims of domestic violence might be factored in to reduce her sentence. I wrote a letter to the judge explicitly saying, like, these are the situations in which

it was specifically clear to me that it was Christopher Grover who was hurting her. Judge Edward McLaughlin, who also presided over Nikki's murder trial, heard from other witnesses and from the prosecutors who argued that Nikki wasn't a real victim, had access to services, and she could have left Chris at any time,

including the day he died. She had a car. She had the means to leave if she was concerned. If any of this were truthful, she had the whole day to leave. But author Rachel Louise Snyder does believe Nikki and says expecting a victim of domestic violence to leave is misguided. Absolutely, you're most likely to die leaving. The research points to that over and over and over.

Snyder says Nikki did avail herself of services, but especially with two very young children at home, she couldn't figure out how to get out alive. In fact, on the night Chris died, Nikki told the police officers that she asked Chris to let her go at least 17 times. I said, if you said let me leave and I won't tell anyone. I said if you just let me leave, I won't tell anyone anything. And Nikki repeated that he said, you're not leaving. I tried to leave, he wouldn't let me leave. I tried to leave, he wouldn't let me leave.

I said, let me leave, you said you're not leaving. You said you're going to live with me. I represented a young woman who left. Eleven months later, she was killed. Leaving doesn't protect you, and leaving isn't the answer. What about the research that shows women who try to leave, they're more likely to be harmed? I don't dispute that at all. I just don't believe she was a victim here. I believe that she created all of

this. In a 47-page ruling released in February of 2020, the judge essentially sided with the prosecution, saying Nikki was only steps from her front door the night Chris died and could have left. He also said her inconsistent statements about past abuse made it impossible to know the identity of her abuser. He denied Nikki's request for a lighter sentence. The reasons basically boiled down to she could have just left and who knows who was abusing her. Nikki's supporters insist they know exactly who was abusing her. Chris, Chris Grover, like his name is in those documents. And those documents were submitted to the judge and his name is there over and over and over again. But to this day, Chris's friends and former students defend the man they knew.

Everybody loved Chris. He would go above and beyond for everyone. You never saw him get upset. You never saw him get mad. At the gym, he always made us feel safe. And I don't believe that he was ever capable of, like, any type of harm. Someone can be a wonderful person in a lot of situations and still be an abuser

in the same way that someone can be a wonderful person and still be a victim. On February 11th, Nikki's supporters gathered once again outside the Poughkeepsie courthouse, this time for her sentencing hearing. The system didn't get it wrong. The system got it right. We need to make sure that other real victims that are out there, true victims of domestic violence, understand that we are there to help you get out safely. To prosecutor Hannah Krause, they are sending a dangerous message. I think she manipulated them. I think she was manipulating everybody around her. Look, she may very well be manipulative.

I have no idea, right? But was she the victim of sustained and extremely severe abuse? Yes, absolutely. No doubt in my mind. Nikki was sentenced to 19 years to life in prison. The Grover family is now focused on the kids. Ben and Faye live with Nikki's relatives and spend weekends with the Grovers. That's what means the world right now, those kids. Nikki drew these pictures of herself with her children while in jail. To many, the outcome of her trial was exactly what she feared all along, that no one would believe her.

If you don't believe that a woman was victimized based upon the proof that we had here, then what happens when you don't have visible bruises? I'd like to imagine there's a day someday when she'll be free. But right now? But right now that feels very distant. Nikki's supporters continue to raise money to help defray her legal expenses. Her lawyers have filed an appeal. I will send down an army to find you in the middle of the darkest night.

It's true, I will rescue you. I will save you. Nicole Adamondo will be eligible for parole in 2036. If you or a loved one are a victim of domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline, 1-800-799-7233. I'm Erin Moriarty, 48 hours, and this is my life of crime. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. 60 Minutes looks into the future. Half of all children born today in the United

States and Europe is going to reach their 103rd or 4th birthday. Half? Hear the research yourself Sunday. If you like this podcast, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a quick survey at

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