48 Hours - Trail of Tears

Episode Date: March 6, 2016

A couple's mountain hike turns deadly.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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I know that Steven did hike a lot in the Gorge, which is a place where there's a lot of popular hiking trails in Oregon. of popular hiking trails in Oregon. It's a very beautiful area, but very dangerous. Rhonda's actually an incredible athlete. She's very strong. She could hike for miles on end. I think Rhonda felt special that he invited her along.

She was so shocked that he was making a special plan for them to go. When I met Rhonda, I was just like, no, nothing can compare to Rhonda. She's just beautiful. She's elegant. She had a huge heart. When our daughter was born, it meant everything to her. She became the focus and the center of her life. She's just like her mom. She loves jewelry. You could see it in her eyes the moment she laid eyes on the baby and it was just very special and magical and she just loved her.

I'm Jessica Colburn and Rhonda Casto was my best friend. She did get to do some modeling and she has made some very beautiful modeling photos. That's another one of her modeling pictures. She wanted to get back into modeling. It was very important to her, and so she wanted to lose weight. And so she came up with the idea. She goes, let's hike the 25 most famous trails in Oregon. Hood River County Sheriff's Office is investigating how a woman, Veronda Castro, fell to her death. It all comes down to this one spot.

At least 150 feet before you hit solid ground. A man hiking with her says that she fell off a cliff last night. It was a tragic accident. I was in shock. I didn't know how to process the information. They were not getting along too well. They were trying, but she wanted something out of the relationship. She wanted more than what she had. We talked about marriage all the time.

It was one of the things we talked about the most, actually. And we definitely were planning on getting married. My plan was the end of summer. That's when I wanted to get married. I knew there was a hike planned. What did she say to you? She said he's either going to propose to me or kill me. I'm Peter Van Sant. Tonight on 48 Hours, Trail of Tears. 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?

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Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It is this mountainous, wooded wilderness, soaring above Oregon's Columbia River Gorge, that draws thousands of hikers every year to trek along these narrow trails. The beauty here can mask a dangerous truth that these paths can be perilous. A stumble here can lead to a deadly freefall. It was along the Eagle Creek Trail that Rhonda Casto, a 23-year-old mother of a nine-month-old baby girl, set out with her boyfriend, Stephen Nichols, back on March 16, 2009. It would be the last hike of her life. She was funny. Anywhere we went, we would make new friends because Rhonda was just outgoing and wanted to talk to everybody.

Jessica Colburn first met Rhonda when they were in high school. She remembers her best friend as simply irreplaceable. There were times where we could just kind of look at each other and know what the other one was thinking and we'd just laugh. No one else knew why we were laughing, but we did. Jessica introduced Rhonda to another friend, Brandy Arneson.

She wasn't afraid to say things that she felt or wanted to say or do. It was always easy to be around her because you kind of became that way as well. But Rhonda didn't have to say a word to make an impression. She was an aspiring model whose beauty had caught the eye of companies like Nike. Tell me about this. That was part of her modeling portfolio. I just love it because she just looks amazing in all of those pictures. A mom can be like, you know, oh well I'm biased because she's my daughter, but I just think that she's just absolutely beautiful. There's nothing about her face that's just not pretty. Everything is pretty. Julia Simmons is Rhonda's mother.

You guys good buddies? Yes, we were very good buddies. She'd call me or she'd be over at my house. In 2005, Julia played a role in introducing her daughter to a man who would change the course of Rhonda's life. I first met Stephen Nichols through the Internet. I was looking for a place, a room to rent. I had a three-bedroom condo, and the other two rooms were just empty. Julia moved into Stephen's Portland, Oregon condo.

He can be very charming and, you know, somebody that's really nice. One day, out of the blue... She asked me if I would like to meet her daughter, and I said, no, thank you. And then she asked me again, and I said, no, thank you. I can find someone on my own. And she goes, okay, well, you're missing out. She's quite beautiful.

Stephen would soon find out for himself when there was an unexpected knock on his bedroom door. Then I turn around, and I look at her her and my tongue pretty much hit the floor. Up until that point, she's the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. And she's like, hi, my name is Rhonda. And I'm like, hi, I'm, and she goes, Steve. And I'm like, yeah, that's. You were tongue tied. I was tongue tied. I was literally floored. I went over to Julia's room and I'm like, your daughter is just incredibly beautiful. And she goes, I told you. It wouldn't be long before the recently divorced 30-year-old day trader took 20-year-old Rhonda on their first date. Everything about her was impressive. And I just

immediately fell in love with her. You felt a connection right away. Absolutely. And what were you sensing from Rhonda? I felt she was into me too. I could tell that she valued intelligence, and I've always thought that that's one of my strongest assets. Attraction right away. Yeah, and I think she was attracted not so much to his looks, but to what he had, his

condo, his money, his, you know, his status. Their romance quickly blossomed, and before long, Rhonda joined her mother Julia in the condo, not as a roommate, but as Stephen's girlfriend. His father, also named Stephen Nichols, remembers it as a happy time. They were a delight together. We're both upbeat and happy, you know, just a zest for life. In 2008, three years into their relationship, Rhonda and Stephen became parents when their daughter was born. She was super protective and just like a new mom, you know, everything's got to be just so. Give me a kiss. Give me a kiss.

Give me a sense what it meant for you and for Rhonda. A magical moment, just looking at Rhonda being transformed, because now the most important thing was her daughter. They had started a family, but hadn't quite made things official. I think there was a lot of times that she thought I was going to propose. And I told her, I am going to propose to you. I made that very clear. But we didn't even have a ring picked out yet.

There's a smile. After having the baby, Rhonda told Stephen she wanted to return to modeling, but needed to lose some weight. I think it's one of the best things you can do is just to go on a long hike. So that was our goal. I wanted to lose weight. She wanted to lose weight. But Julia says that doesn't really sound like her daughter. I never really knew that they went hiking. They'd go to a movie or they'd go play Frisbee golf.

She enjoyed hiking? She loved it. She had hiked that trail numerous times before. Then came the time for that hike in March 2009. She said he'd been kind of bugging her to go hiking for like two or three weeks, like a month. And she says, he's either going to give me a ring or he's going to throw me off a cliff. I'd never heard her say that.

But Rhonda also had a sense of humor. So I really, I don't know. But Jessica swears it's true. When she said that, how did you react? I wasn't sure how to react. To be honest, initially I didn't know if she was serious or if she was actually afraid. As Rhonda and Steven made their way up this Eagle Creek Trail, they had some challenges.

It was about 40 degrees, and the weather was spotty. There were showers from time to time, and the trail was damp. Had it been raining at the beginning, I wouldn't have gotten up. All along the trail, you see scenes like this. Some water runoff making its way down, lots of moss, which is very slippery, makes its way down to the trail where there's muddy footing. It's beautiful, but treacherous. Once you start getting really high up, there is a very narrow part of the trail

that there's kind of like a rope or a chain on the inner cliff edge that you have to hold on to because it's just barely wide enough for one person to walk around the ledge. And it was precisely in this very spot that Rhonda Casto went off Eagle Creek Trail, falling over 150 feet to her death. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman.

The scary cult classic was set in the Chicago housing project. It was about this supernatural killer who would attack his victims if they said his name five times into a bathroom mirror. Candyman. Candyman? Now, we all know chanting a name won't make a killer magically appear, but did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder?

I was struck by both how spooky it was, but also how outrageous it was. We're going to talk to the people who were there, and we're also going to uncover the larger story. My architect was shocked when he saw how this was created. Literally shocked. And we'll look at what the story tells us about injustice in America. If you really believed in tough on crime,

then you wouldn't make it easy to crawl into medicine cabinets and kill our women. Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, wherever you get your podcasts. 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 Marsha 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 Informant's 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. March 16, 2009.

It was a cold day, rain off and on. People think, of all the days, why would you choose that day to hike? When we started off, it was actually a very nice day. But by the time Stephen Nichols and Rhonda Casto headed back down this narrow path, the weather had turned. Suddenly, disaster struck. Stephen says he hiked down to Rhonda's lifeless body and tried to resuscitate her. With no cell phone signal, he returned to the trail parking lot and called 911. He told the operator that Rhonda had been acting high,

being silly, and running on the slippery trail before she fell. I tried to call her and I got no answer. Rhonda's mom, Julia, who had moved out of the condo, had been babysitting the couple's nine-month-old daughter. As the hour grew late, she got increasingly concerned. Six o'clock rolled around, no, nothing. And then eight o'clock rolled around, nothing. Then came a knock on the door. It was a chaplain sent by the local fire department. She just looked at me and she said, your daughter's gone.

Stephen called his father to break the news, but could barely get the words out. And I could hardly understand what he was saying. He was crying so hard. And he goes, Rhonda's dead. And that's all he could say. He was completely broken up. And I just said, what happened? He said, she fell. We were hiking and she, it was all icy and she just slipped off the mountain. A man hiking with Rhonda Castro says that she fell off a cliff. You don't think about your friend's name being said and saying that she has died by falling off a cliff. That's been so horrifying.

And knowing that you're never getting back to your child. and knowing that you're never getting back to your child. Within days, Rhonda's loved ones held a memorial where Julia says Stephen was acting strangely. Rhonda's family claims that you were not grieving, that you seemed unmoved by Rhonda's death. The exact opposite. I was crying nonstop. exact opposite. I was crying non-stop. When I'm really, really sad, I just, I close down.

That's just the way I deal with pain. Detectives from Hood River County, where Eagle Creek Trail is located, began investigating Rhonda's death. Her autopsy seemed to support Stephen's claim that she may have been high that day. Traces of marijuana were found in her system and prescription drugs, which may have affected her balance. Authorities declined to declare the death an accident, but Stephen Nichols was not charged with any crime. For about three months after Rhonda died, I completely shut down. Stephen cooperated with police, answering all of their questions. Then he and his now motherless daughter moved across the state to live with his family. It took four years, but in 2013,

Stephen was ready for a new chapter in his life. I sort of wanted a fresh start, and so that's when I decided to go to China. Stephen and his daughter, now five, moved to Wuxi, about 75 miles from Shanghai. So how does a kid from Oregon end up in China? I had been there before and I liked China. Stephen got a job teaching English to Chinese businessmen. My daughter was absolutely thriving. A little over two months and she was fluent in Mandarin. She had dance lessons. She was taking Taekwondo. She was learning to play the piano. She loved it. I loved it. Everything was perfect. To top it all off, Stephen met Landy Yin-Yan. And after about a year of dating, he proposed. Landy quickly became like a mother

to Stephen's daughter. They adored each other. She couldn't have had a better thing in her life than Landy. Meanwhile, back in Oregon, Rhonda's mother, convinced her daughter had been pushed off the trail, kept pressuring investigators for answers. I kept calling and asking why nothing was happening. But something was about to happen. In April 2014, a secret grand jury heard evidence

and indicted Stephen Nichols for the murder of Rhonda Castro. Ten months later, Stephen and his daughter decided to take a trip back to Oregon. The two first landed in San Francisco, where Stephen was stunned to be met by authorities and arrested. where Stephen was stunned to be met by authorities and arrested. I saw something pop up on my phone and I about jumped out of my seat. Stephen was extradited back to Oregon and charged with the murder. He pleaded not guilty.

His daughter was sent to live with Rhonda's family. As Stephen Nichols waited in jail, police gathered evidence for the murder trial on their theory that it was no accident. Investigators returned to the scene of Rhonda's fall for an unusual experiment. They brought with them two crash test dummies, the same size and weight as Rhonda Castro, to prove their theory she was pushed. Here we go. Steve, you have been accused of a despicable crime. That you pushed your girlfriend, the mother of your daughter, off of a cliff.

Respond to that. No, I did not. I love Rhonda. I will always love Rhonda. I fully expected to spend the rest of my life with her. I have never done anything to harm her. We are on the record in Hood River County, state of Oregon, versus Stephen Wagner Nichols. In August 2015, Stephen Nichols was in court for a bail hearing.

It's like a mini trial, with witnesses called. Nichols' attorney is Mike Arnold, who recently made headlines representing Ammon Bundy, the leader of the armed occupation of Oregon's Mollier National Wildlife Refuge. Please stand down. Go home and hug your families. Mike Arnold for Mr. Nichols. This occurred in 2009, and yet there's no arrest in this case until 2015. What changed? I don't know. This was a tragic accident.

It was a slip and fall on a dangerous trail. Arnold questions the man who organized the dummy experiment, Deputy Daniel DeHaven. What is your opinion about whether or not Ms. Castile was pushed? I believe that it's most likely or most probable that she was pushed. Arnold, having obtained the video through Discovery, hopes to use their own demonstration to turn the tables on the prosecution. Deputy DeHaven admits, in six different attempts, they could not get the dummy to land at the spot they believed was Rhonda's final resting place. She lost her guts.

Who's that laughing that she lost her guts? I have no idea. Arnold has some questions about the scientific rigor of DeHaven's tests, including laughter in the background. Was that person laughing part of the scientific experiment? No. Bail was set at $2 million. Unable to come up with the money, Nichols returns to jail.

You ready? to come up with the money, Nichols returns to jail. You ready? After all these years, Jessica and Brandy- Holy crap, Jessica. Finally find the courage to visit, for the first time, the spot where Rhonda fell from that trail. That's from your mom Rhonda and this is from us

all the details that we had so far heard none of those make sense with just simply sliding and falling down and if it was not an accident what was she thinking when she went down? That the person that she thought loved her could have done this to her.

I'm positive that he killed her. If Stephen Nichols murdered your daughter, why did he do it? Did investigators have enough evidence to charge Stephen Nichols? Chat now with correspondent Peter Van Sant on Twitter. So we're at an outcropping here at Eagle Creek. Stephen Nichols' defense attorney, Mike Arnold, knows about the dangers of the Columbia River Gorge firsthand. We know people fall every day in their homes imagine adding exhaustion and weather to that situation anytime you get away from a trailhead you got to keep mine you're at the

mercy of the outdoors arnold and his team of investigators try to reconstruct what happened to rhonda but it's not easy more than six years after her death. Physical evidence disappears, particularly in a rainy state like Oregon. Your physical evidence could disappear within hours or days. Stephen Nichols says this is how the tragedy unfolded. They are heading down the trail. Rhonda was in a great mood, and jokingly, she put a towel around her shoulders and was calling herself Supergirl. She broke into a run. And according to Nichols, at this very point, she slipped on the wet path and fell more than 150 feet to her death. To me, the evidence, the physical evidence and the science shows us it's an accident.

And, Arnold says, accidents like Rhonda's are more frequent than people realize. the evidence the physical evidence and the science shows us it's an accident and arnold says accidents like rhonda's are more frequent than people realize when rhonda died in 2009 she was the fourth fatality on the gorge trails in just a six-month period dozens of other search and rescues are done every year 48 hours caught up with one hiker who has a terrifying tale to tell. I shouldn't have survived that. April Meads is a 20-year-old college student and athlete. She headed out on a gorge hike in May 2015. Look over here. That soon became a struggle to survive. that soon became a struggle to survive. I don't know if I stepped on a loose rock or if the path just crumbled beneath my foot,

but just the next thing I knew, I just fell and I was sliding down the side of the cliff. April was skidding toward a 100-foot drop-off. I somehow grabbed onto a root. If I sneeze, if I cough, if any little thing goes wrong, then I was gonna die. Luckily, several hikers happened by. They quickly made an improvised lifeline

made literally from the clothes off their backs. T-shirts, sweatshirts, jackets, things like that. And it was probably 45 feet long. One brave hiker rappelled down. And I kept saying, I don't even know who you are, but you were the most amazing man I've ever met. Thank you. I love you.

You were risking your life to save mine. With the hiker's help, April made it back up to safety with a new respect for the trail. Mr. Nichols is here with his lawyer, Mike Arnold. Mr. Nichols, if you could please stand. When I look at Steve Nichols, I see an innocent man falsely accused that's grieving over the loss of Rhonda. Arnold says there was no murder and that he can prove Rhonda's death was an accident.

There's one universal truth out there, and that's physics. That's something that can't be outlawed. It can't be confused with rumor and innuendo. And the science you believe is on your side in this case. You know, Peter, the funny thing about science is you don't have to believe in it for it to be true. Arnold is talking about the condition and location of Rhonda's body.

Call Dr. Young. Oregon medical examiner Christopher Young performed Rhonda's autopsy Raise your right hand. and testified at Nichols' bail hearing. That all of Rhonda's serious injuries occurred below her waist. The pelvis was essentially shattered. Meaning, Arnold contends, that Rhonda slipped feet first.

I want you to assume for a moment someone being pushed off of a cliffside. Because if she'd been pushed, she would have tumbled head over heels, sustaining injuries over her entire body. I can tell that based on the injuries that she has, she landed predominantly on her legs and her pelvis. The defense then takes aim at that dummy test, which Arnold thinks is as dumb as its name. Three grown men who have some athleticism through their job duties were not able to make that dummy reach what you think is the final resting place of Rhonda Castor. Correct. Arnold says no tests were done to see if Rhonda made any contact with the outcroppings on the way down the cliffside, contact that could have affected where her body finally came to rest.

I didn't have a team of investigators there. I have to trust law enforcement to do their jobs. But what if, as Rhonda's family and friends believe, it wasn't an innocent fall? Why would Stephen want Rhonda dead? She got treated badly and he tried to cheat on her several times. Julia says that Rhonda and Stephen's relationship had been stormy for years before that fateful hike. had been stormy for years before that fateful hike. And as her relationship evolved, honestly,

did she love Stephen more for what was inside him or what was in his wallet? What was in his wallet? Because I know that she didn't like his personality after she had been with him a few years and saw how he tortured her mentally. Two years into their stormy relationship, Rhonda and Stephen allegedly had a shouting match one night in this bar that a witness says quickly escalated into a shocking threat. The last time I saw Rhonda was at Boston's Grill.

Jen Sconce was a friend of Rhonda was at Boston's Grill. Jen Sconce was a friend of Rhonda's back in 2007. Steven was very friendly in the beginning. He was buying drinks for all of us. But as the night wore on and Steven had more drinks, he became a little bit aggressive and rude. Jen says Steven thought Rhonda was acting flirtatious towards others in the bar. He started to verbally abuse Rhonda

by calling her stupid and a bunch of other names. Jen says the fight got louder. She asked him to leave the bar. She said, maybe I'll just leave you. And as she said that, he turned around and said, if you leave me, I'll kill you. just leave you. And as she said that, he turned around and said, if you leave me, I'll kill you. How do you know who Jen Sconce is? Never happened at all. No. I've never threatened Rhonda with physical harm. Never. I don't think I've ever threatened anybody with physical harm. If Stephen Nichols murdered your daughter, why did he do it?

Because he had an inkling that Rhonda was going to leave him, and he didn't want to pay child support. Bye, Daddy. Today, you would have been 30. You always knew how to make me laugh, and my heart aches for you constantly. I love you always. A trail of tears from a mysterious fall off a rain-soaked path. What really happened to Rhonda Casto? It's been really hard, just having no closure and not knowing what happened. But Rhonda's mother says she knows what happened.

She was murdered by her baby's father. And why? Nichols' huge losses in the stock market. He had lost a bunch of money the year before. He lost like a quarter of a million dollars. Julia became suspicious when she learned that Nichols had taken out a life insurance policy on Rhonda just months before her death. How big a policy? A million dollars. And who's the beneficiary of that? Stephen Nichols. Mike Arnold says, so what? That's what responsible

parents do. Stephen and Rhonda each had a policy on the other for the same amount of money. If you're a young couple with a kid, you should have life insurance. Accidents happen, and you want to leave your family better off if you pass unexpectedly. Nichols claims he's never hurt anyone. I'm the most non-violent person you will ever meet. That being said, I'm not perfect. I have been emotionally abusive at times to people, but I've never physically hurt anyone. abusive at times to people, but I've never physically hurt anyone. Investigators believe that's not true, that this picture taken by Rhonda herself and sent to her brother shows red marks left from an alleged physical encounter with Nichols.

He pushed her down on the stairs and left bruises on her back. But Julia admits the hostility went both ways. One time she got really mad at him, and I don't know if you guys want to use this, but she bit him on the shoulder, and they were fighting really bad. Physically fighting? Yeah. I always believed that, you know, he pushed her. Gary Tiffany, now retired, was the lead detective following Rhonda Casto's death in 2009. He never doubted she was

murdered. And when did it become a homicide investigation as opposed to an accidental fall? Pretty much the next morning. In that August 2015 bail hearing, Tiffany tells Arnold his suspicions were further confirmed by stories he heard from Rhonda's family. Rhonda had conveyed to them that if she didn't come back, it was because Mr. Nichols pushed her. Do you think that's a true statement? Knowing her family, I'm going to say it's made up. What did the file for Steve Nichols' Rhonda Castro case consist of upon your retirement? Arnold wants to know what hard evidence led to Nichols' arrest.

But there's a problem, something that could throw the entire case into doubt. Apparently, key evidence, including some death scene and autopsy photos, is missing. There were multiple files that are gone. were multiple files that are gone. Matt English, the current sheriff of Hood River County, is about to drop a bombshell. It could potentially be criminal act. And did you have a suspect in those criminal acts?

Yes. Who's the suspect? Gary Tiffany. Gary Tiffany, the lead investigator. And what's the potential crime for which you believe he's a suspect? It could have been official misconduct or tampering with evidence, potentially. Gary Tiffany has denied, under oath, that he ever intentionally destroyed anything. Do you know what happened to the hard drive those files were on? No, it was there when I left. Tiffany has not been charged with any crime. It's now January 2016, and we're back in Hood River,

where defense attorney Mike Arnold plans to put the prosecution's case on trial. It's a hearing to have all charges against Stephen Nichols dismissed. Mr. Arnold, call your next witness. So do you recall hiking up Eagle Creek Trail back on March 16th of 2009? Very much so, yes. Arnold has tracked down a witness that investigators and prosecutors overlooked. John Whaley, the last person, besides Stephen Nichols, to see Rhonda Castro alive. It had been very, very wet. last person, besides Stephen Nichols, to see Rhonda Casto alive.

It had been very, very wet. He passed the couple on the trail possibly minutes before Rhonda's fatal fall. What'd she look like? She was quite an attractive gal, estimated to be in her younger 20s. And was there a man following behind her? Right behind her. They were not arguing. No. Ms. Castro appeared happy?

Yes. Whaley tried to share his story with the deputy at the scene, but was brushed off. He wasn't helpful, and he did basically say something like, why don't you move on before another accident happens. Mike Arnold has another surprise. He does something this 48 Hours correspondent has never seen. He subpoenas in open court. This time I'm serving a subpoena to Ms. Rasmussen. The prosecutor sitting right across from him. Exhibit 118. Because there's someone else in the courtroom

who Arnold believes is the real reason Rasmussen charged Nichols with murder. Turns out the reason that indictment came up is because of pressure from a book author. Best-selling true crime writer, Steve Jackson. He said he couldn't write the book until this case was solved. We've been following up on a story... Best-selling crime author Steve Jackson will go just about anywhere for a good story. From Parham Russia, this is Steve

obviously. Including the Hood River County Courthouse, where he's researching a book, along with his investigator, on Rhonda Casto's death. Suddenly, a startling new chapter in this case begins as the motion to dismiss hearing continues. Is that an email from Steve Jackson to you? It looks like it, yes. Defense attorney Arnold believes Steve Jackson is the reason why Nichols is charged with murder, and he drives home the point with Detective Gary Tiffany. He'd give me information about Mr. Nichols. He wanted to write a book. And he wanted your help? Yeah. Yes. And he wanted a conviction of Mr. Nichols? Yes. Mr. Arnold makes witness.

Call Kerry Rasmussen. Arnold spells out the Jackson connection by calling prosecutor Kerry Rasmussen to the stand, stunning the courtroom. And you're a deputy district attorney? That's right. Remember, five long years had passed after Rhonda's death before Stephen Nichols was charged with her murder. And Arnold thinks he knows why Rasmussen, after all that time, decided to act. There's an email that was read earlier into the record from Steve Jackson to you dated February 17, 2014. You remember receiving that?

I do. Mike Arnold reads a portion of Jackson's email. So I'm sending this to you today as a courtesy to let you know that I'm resuming my intentions to research and write about this. I hope that someday justice will be served. What was the last line of your email back to him the next day? With all this being said, perhaps it is time to see what a panel of citizens will decide. Perhaps it's time to see what a panel of citizens will decide. Perhaps it's time to see what a panel of citizens will decide. Right. It was. I think it was about right.

It was because of the pressure put on you by Steve Jackson. Objection is argumentative and leading. I will sustain it. Jackson says his email to the prosecutor is something any journalist might do. Have you done anything wrong? Absolutely not. That has nothing to do with me, but I think a grand jury looked at the evidence

and said there's enough here to go to trial. That's why we're here. Rasmussen told 48 Hours she will not discuss this case until it goes to trial. At this hearing, she doesn't want to talk to Mike Arnold either. Sustained means sustained. You weren't asked a question, ma'am. Please remain silent.

Hold on. We all know what sustained means in this courtroom. Ask the next question, please. Arnold isn't buying the timing of the grand jury. So just a coincidence? Objection. Ms. Rasmussen, you can't object. You're a witness.

You have an attorney who's representing the state on this matter. That objection is overruled. So is it cause and effect? He sent you the email, which caused you to react by setting it for grand jury. Objection. Yes or no? No. The defense will have much more to deal with than just Steve Jackson.

Besides life insurance money, the prosecution will argue yet another potential motive for murder. A love triangle, claiming that Stephen Nichols was in love with Rhonda's younger sister, Melanie. He wanted to be with my other daughter, and he wanted Rhonda out of the picture. According to court-filed documents, Melanie Casto will allege she began having sex with Nichols when she was just 15. Melanie declined to speak with 48 Hours, and Nichols says allegations of statutory rape or any relationship are false. Ms. Simmons, if you could please make your way up to this table and raise your right hand. One key to the prosecution's case will be the credibility of the woman making so many of the accusations, Rhonda's mother. Julia Simmons,

S-I-M-M-O-N-S. What do you do for a living, ma'am? I'm not doing anything right now. Are you unemployed? Yes, I'm on disability. From attacking Nichols' character... Stephen Nichols is a sociopath and a murderer. ...to accusing him of killing for cash... Life insurance, a million-dollar policy on her. ...to allegations involving Rhonda's younger sister... He had a sick side to him. Ironically, it is Julia, the woman who had wanted Stephen Nichols

to meet her daughter all those years ago, who has led the charge against Nichols for years. But now, on the stand... Are you just trying to badger me? Is that what you're trying to do? Mike Arnold puts her credibility under the microscope. So you got a hard up on money in 2009? Yeah, I think so.

Accusing Julia of painting Nichols as a murderer so she could one day collect Rhonda's life insurance policy. Did you say I want to lay claim to be the beneficiary of my daughter's life insurance claim? Well, I see it on here, so I must have done it. Arnold claims Julia would do just about anything for money, including a despicable crime, cashing her granddaughter's monthly death benefit check

from the government despite never having custody of her. Although named in open court, 48 Hours has chosen not to name Julia's granddaughter. How much money were you getting a month from Social Security benefits? $500. Did you steal Social Security benefits? Yeah. But ultimately, does Julia's confession of taking her granddaughter's checks

really tarnish all of her testimony in the case of her beloved Rhonda? She was like it for me. She was like my rock, my sidekick, my everything. I feel like there is enough evidence to convict him. I'm confident that he would be found guilty. I spend probably 80% of my waking hours just reading and then I'll go to the shower, cry a little bit over my daughter, think about her. You just, you take it one day at a time. All right, thank you.

Thank you, Your Honor. Just last week, Judge John Olson denied the defense's motion to dismiss. Stephen Nichols will stand trial for the murder of Rhonda Castro. Later this month, the judge will consider reducing Nichols' $2 million bail. No date has been set for Nichols' trial. What will be the most compelling evidence at Nichols' trial?

Chat now with correspondent Peter Van Sant on Twitter. 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 wondery.com slash survey.