Sword and Scale - Episode 115

Episode Date: May 20, 2018

31-year-old Nicole VanderHeyden was substitute teacher and mother of three. She lived with her boyfriend and father of her infant son, Doug Detrie, in Bellevue, Brown County, WI. The Green Bay metro area. Her body was found naked and strangled in a farm field on May 21, 2016. Her skull was fractured and she suffered blunt force trauma to the left side of her head breaking and dislocating her jaw as well as injuries to her esophagus, trachea, and neck consistent with strangulation. Her clothes were found off the side of a highway on-ramp. Doug reports her missing that same morning. Police arrest him a couple days later after Nicole’s blood is found on the pavement and the murder weapon, a “black cord,” outside his home.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sort and scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences Listener discretion is advised They kind of Freaks me out even farther Seeing this because she was literally from when I remembered the last time she was you win the choir I've been sex and the next thing I know she's literally laying on the donkey right in front of me. Hello, once again, can relate to.

We all have those moments in life. The ones we wish we could take back. Perhaps we've had a little too much to drink. We let our emotions get ahead of us, and we did something really, really stupid. But none of us have a time machine, unfortunately. Sometimes you have to live with those choices and those decisions for the rest of your life. That is, if you actually have that luxury. This is a story in which those regrets are taken to an extreme.

A night that didn't have to happen. Choices that didn't have to be made. But thanks to our good old friend, Alcohol, there's no taking this night back. Stay tuned. We're so sure of ourselves, aren't we? So certain that our judgments are correct, even though oftentimes we base them on little to no actual information. The proliferation of the term fake news has partially occurred because many of the media themselves are outraged by being called out as infotainment instead of actual journalism.

So they repeat the term in their outrage. And in doing so, further cement the notion that in this new world, where we have more information than it is even possible to consume, oftentimes we know less, and our judgments may be nothing more than baseless opinions. 31-year-old Nicole Venderhaden was born and raised in the area surrounding Green Bay, Wisconsin. Nikki, as everyone knew her, graduated from Denmark High School in 2003 and graduated with a BS double major in science and education from University of Wisconsin Green Bay in 2010.

She wanted to be an educator and devoted the next six years of her life to substitute teaching in the Green Bay Area Public School System. She met Brian Vanderhaden and got married. They had two kids, but like many young marriages, it soon ended in divorce. She was ready for her new life to begin. I met her at Jimmy Seas in January, I think it was 2015 or early mid-January. What was the occasion? I was a soul with a few friends at Jimmy Seas and just having some drinks and I think it was a night or two before it was like a playoff weekend for

NFL football and there was a band playing and Nikki came up to me and we had a drink and we hit it off right away and just they went from there and this ended up talking for an hour or so and everything went well. During a night out on the town, Nikki met Doug Dietri and a whirlwind romance would ensue. Pretty much from that night on it was really separated once at all. Pretty close after that very close up very close is not an understatement their relationship escalated quickly

It shortly after that Did Nikki become pregnant? Yeah, I don't know if it was like a month or so after that and At some point in time did Nikki move in with you? Yes, she did. I think it was late summer, early fall, that year. I assume that you had plenty of opportunity to observe Nikki as a mother. Yes. She was a very good mother. That's one part I liked a lot about her was just how caring and, you know, she did everything that the kids needed and taught them well.

Her being a teacher was always about education and health. A month after meeting Doug, Nikki was pregnant with her third child. She moved into Doug's home on Berkeley Road in Ledgeview with her two children, Michaela and Tyler in preparation for Dylan's birth. How would you describe your relationship with Nikki? It was very good for a lot of it. We did have a little arguments here and there, but for the most part it was a good relationship.

And boys had plans for future and everything like that. And I would say good overall. What were those plans? Raising Tyler McKayla and Dylan, and being living together, and raising the family, and being part of the family. And we did have plans to, you know, we had talked about marriage and everything like that, but we had said, would Dylan be inborn,

and they wanted to rush things prior to him being born. And I don't know what it was just, you know, a lot to process, you know. So we just took her time and said we were going to wait to talk about that. And once he was a little older. So we had talked that when he was old enough to kind of maybe walk down the aisle, that would be a possibility of when we go to that stuff. In Nikki's eyes, Douglas D.T. probably seemed like a good guy from a good family. He grew up in the area and went to Preble High School. His grandfather, Bob Senior, started D.T.

Builders Inc. in 1955 and passed it to Bob Junior in the 70s. Doug followed in his father and grandfather's footsteps, becoming a licensed contractor in Wisconsin and a certified contractor in Florida. Nikki's life was starting again. Her and Doug could see a future together. A couple of months after Nikki moved in with Doug, Dylan was born on October 29th, 2015. Dylan, is your first child?

Yes. So was being a father at the New Experience? Yes, it was. How well were you adjusting to that lifestyle? It was tough, but it was great. There's mixed feelings and just adapting. It was kind of daily basis, you know, new things every day and changing diapers and all that.

And it was great overall though, you know. Doug went from a bachelor to a family man with three kids in less than a year. So the relationship, of course, had its ups and downs. Adjusting to a new baby is difficult, even when you're not a new couple. But they had a support system of family and friends and took time to have fun, going out every once in a while. On one such occasion on Friday, May 20, 2016, the pair decided at the last minute to accept the invitation from Doug's friend, Greg, to go out. Me and a group of my friends had planned to go to the watering hole to see a band that we liked.

And when we found out they were going to the watering hole, we were really excited. I mean, I think we found out probably about three months prior to them showing up that they were going to be there. I'd encourage Doug, you know, that it'd be fun. I'm sure that Nick, he would like to get out of the house and that we could go out and have a fun time. I'm sure she hadn't really gone out since the new years, you know, so this is five months later. So Greg and Doug were close and had known each other

since high school. And the time that Doug and Nikki were together, Greg was a fixture at their home and had grown close to Nicky as well. Greg knew going out had become something of a rarity for the couple. They lived the family life. Come home from work, entertain the kids, have dinner, go to bed, and get up the next morning and do it all over again. This evening out was a welcomed break from the family grind. We talked about going to this concert and going out that night and having a good time.

I said, okay, we'll try and get some tickets. Then I went home, got ready. Nikki's mom Victoria came over and was going to watch Dylan for the first part of the evening and then Dallas was gonna come over for takeover for her, wants to get a little later. The pair hurried to get ready and eight McDonald's in the car on the way to the watering hole. They arrived at about 8 p.m. and Metal Large Group of Doug's friends as the opening act Annex was on stage. Courtney Girlakowski, a member of the large group, described the evening. We were just having fun, drinking,

singing along to the band, having a good time. Steel Panther performed. And Doug and Nikki were enjoying themselves and drinking pretty heavily. Was this kind of a rock concert type atmosphere? Is everyone having fun? Yeah, everybody was having fun. And you estimated about how many drinks

you had while you were at the ordering home? I don't know, with a six to 10, with including shots, I don't know, something where I'll met. Maybe drinking fairly regularly through the night. Yeah. You recall at least up until the time that you separated was Nikki drinking fairly regularly as well. Yeah. Around 11 p.m. the show was over and the crowd started

to disperse. Nikki and Doug got separated while going to the bathroom and their group of friends was ready to go, but Doug was nowhere to be found. When that concert was done, there was a lot of people, it was crowded. We were kind of sitting there deciding where we wanted to go, what we wanted to do after the concert, because we knew we didn't want to stay there. And we didn't know exactly where Doug was. We briefly looked, it was just so crowded. We decided to go and we would just text him and let him know where we went.

Nicky and the rest of Doug's group of friends decided to go to the Sardine can. In spite of only knowing one of Doug's friends, Aaron Kalinsky, she knew they were good people and went with them expecting Doug to catch up. Now why would Nicky come with you? Where was Doug? Doug. to catch up. Now why would Nikki come with you? Where was Doug? Doug, he found somebody he was talking to with Craig at the bar and they just stayed there and we wanted to move on and we didn't want to leave Nikki alone. So on the ride to the Sardine can, Nikki didn't

let Doug's absence get her down and continued to have a good time. She was drunk, feeling good, kind of happy. And her good mood continued once they arrived. She was like I said, a little bit intoxicated, having a good time, dancing and I don't know, kind of hanging on your shoulder. After some time, Nikki begins to worry and wonder where Doug is and why he hasn't arrived yet. I believe she was texting him and calling out it wasn't very high frequency, but he just

I remember kind of touching base for there and she said he wasn't answering. By this time, the group of friends is ready to go, but Nikki is alone. Aaron asks another member of the group, Angela, to call Doug. This time, he answers. Was there any reaction from Nikki when she saw that Angela was able to contact Doug? Definitely. What happened? She just was wondering why.

I could tell she was as baffled as to why he answered. Angela's phone call and not hers. Nikki becomes visibly upset when Doug answers the call from Angela. Angela verbally admonishes Doug for leaving his girlfriend, calling him a loser before hanging up. Nikki was pissed. She got up from her seat and stormed off down the street.

The Uber had been ordered and was on the way. Aaron chased after the obviously upset and drunk, Nikki. I didn't think she was gonna keep walking and then I just decided to go after her and see if I could crawl her back. Did you walk after? How did you approach? Well I walked in, I saw her, she looked over her shoulder and saw I was coming after her, so she fell out sprinted. So I fell out sprinted. And were you able to catch up with her? Yeah I caught up to her about another half block up, powered. You're still on Howard at this point? Correct. Now, up into this point, time that you had any disagreements with Nikki?

Never. What happened once you caught up with her? I could tell she was crying. I was like, it's okay. No, don't worry about what other people are saying or what just happened. It'll just get you back home to your child. Now you say, did you say

don't worry about what other people are saying? Yeah, what? Because when Angela was hung up with Doug, she called him a loser. And I don't know if that was the tipping point for Nicky or not, but I'm just kind of console her. Did she agree to come with you? No, she did not. What was her reaction? She was Totally opposite. She didn't want anything to do with it. What did she do? I Well, I got in front of her to try to you know console her a little bit and she just became combative and kind of pushing me away and then

became combative and kind of pushing me away and then I just I continued a little longer but then she kind of did like this dead weight thing and fell to the ground was continuing to cry and kind of hit me in my legs and stuff. She was striking at you. She was striking at me screaming at the top of her lungs. What was she screaming? Get away. There was somethings of that effect and just screaming in general. What was your reaction to that? I, I knew there's people across the street at a bonfire. And I just looked over there and I get it all.

I just saw all faces looking at me. So I just backed off and, I just backed off and helped her up and she walked she kept her hand going up powered. Could you see if she was doing anything at this point time while she was walking? She was on her phone. Could you hear her? No I couldn't hear. While she kept walking did you yell anything at her? I just yelled we could get you home faster to your child than what you're doing. And I yelled you're a babe in the woods.

Back at the watering hole, Doug was still buying shots when Greg made him leave. We ended up talking to Andrea and her husband for some period of time. I believe Doug bought around the shots for all of us and I told him I didn't really want to have the shot. I took that one. We were kind of losing track of time. I believe I received a text at some point from one of our friends that was at the Sardine can saying, where are you guys? Where are you not here yet? And I told Doug, you know, we have, we need to leave, you know, I think, you know, it's been longer than we thought it was.

Were you still having a good time at that point? Yes. So do you recall about what time you left the waterings? I believe about 12-25 somewhere around there maybe 12-20. I went to get my car from the Sandlot parking lot which was pushed quite a bit back. I drove up, I parked and I sent Dougie text, you know, to hurry up and get outside. By the time Doug left the watering hole, Nikki had already stormed off from the Sardine can, but she finally got him on the phone. We left the parking lot, we took it right on the

vote. We were driving down,ell. Doug was talking to Nikki. She was upset. He was telling her we're on our way. You know, just go back to the starting can. We'll be there in five minutes. Where are you? We'll come pick you up. You kind of kept repeating that. I think there was a time she didn't answer, then she answered, and then she was very ecstatic, and wasn't making any sense. And I don't know, I talked to her for like 30 seconds, and I wasn't, I don't know, she wasn't making any sense. So I handed the phone to Greg and said,

here, talk to Nikki, she's not making any sense to me. And at that point, Doug, to my surprise, handed me his phone. And I said, you know, Nikki, it's Greg, please tell me where you are. I'll pick you up wherever you are. I don't want to get an OWA, you know, just tell me where you are. Did you tell you?

No, she made a comment that she didn't believe it was me, that it was Doug playing a trick on her, which I was, you know, it's me. I'll pick you up wherever you are, and at that point her phone shut off. I don't believe she hung up on me. I believe the battery died. It wasn't like she was, you know, angry and hung up. I think her battery died. Doug continued to try to call her back with no success. With Nikki alone on the streets, Greg and Doug kept a night out for her as they got closer to the Sardine can. We drove closer to the Sardine can.

We drove up and down a few different roads looking to see if we could find her with her phone dying and not having a great ability to contact her. We decided that maybe she went back to the sardine can. That's what we had kind of hoped. And we went to the sardine can. Greg asked around the bar if anyone has seen Nikki. A few had, but never saw her return after she left. Doug wasn't too concerned for Nikki's safety. He just thought she was pissed, and he was in the doghouse.

He was standing at the bar with two shots, and he said that he didn't know where his wallet was, and he asked me to pay for it. But did you have anything drink there, sir? I did take a shot with him at that point, yes. Did you pay for his shots? Yes. Greg and Doug stayed at the Sardine can for a while before leaving. The time is nearing last call.

Doug is drunk, and Greg recommends a little line of Adderall. They both snort a line in Greg's car before leaving the Sardine can. Did you think they would have a counterbalance to being drunk? I thought maybe it would help him, you know, not be hammered drunk, you know, he might. And is that the reason you reusing it? Yes. From there, we drove up and down a couple streets. I mean, sort of looking to see if she, you know, was walking on her way back.

And so it was kind of nearing barclose. We thought maybe she would have walked back to the Sardine can. At some point, you know, closer to barclose, when I got to Gray Street, I knew that Gray Street connected to Atkinson. And I took Gray Street to Atkinson. I got on to the highway. I went over to our drag bridge, drove around to the 172 exit, got off on Monroe Street and headed to Ducks' home. Greg and Doug arrived at Ducks' house on Berkeley Road at around 2.45 pm. They entered the home like two drunken men. Loudly, Dallas Kennedy, a friend of Nicky's,

stirred on the couch. She'd fallen asleep after putting Dylan down in his bassinet. They were talking about how she wanted to walk home. They just let her walk home. She wanted to walk home. She was upset. They got an argument.

Breaks said he tried to calm her down. And he even grabbed Doug's phone and talked to her, but she didn't want to talk to him. And that was pretty much the end of their conversation in the phone. Neither had died or she had shut it off at that point. Dallas barely knew Doug or Greg and was only interested in going home after a long night,

but Doug's attitude had changed. He was worried about Nikki, the mother of his child. He asked Dallas to call Nikki over and over again, always with the same result, straight to voicemail. He showed me a telephone and he said that they had gotten in an argument and this is kind of what it was and he presented me the phone And it was a conversation back and forth between a male and a female Obviously a jealousy banter. I wasn't trying to be involved. I handed him the phone back and it was just kind of like, you know, should happens. The text made it pretty clear what was going through Nikki's mind that evening leading up to her storming off.

Is it fair to say that some of those text messages were really rather upset or derogatory? Yes, they were. It may not be pleasant, but if I read them to you, can you tell me whether or not that was a text message you believe she sent? Yes. You believe that at around 11, 12 p.m. she sent you a text asking you, quote, so what bitch you with? Yeah, that rings well, yes. You recall her sending a text message that said, fuck you abusive asshole? Yes.

You recall her sending a message that said, quote, wow, what are you with? Because none of your friends know. Yes, I do. And another one that said, I am not surprised how many times have your dick been off for some horror. Yes, I do. Do you recall responding to Nicky sex messages. I believe I received those all like as a group together that I had missed and not Looked at the phone in a few minutes or whatever long it was and saw long. I responded back

Something kind of nicely this trying to diffuse and maybe calm or down because you see an upset from the content of her text Maybe Comer Dawn, because you see him upset from the content of her text. I was kind of puzzled. I didn't know what she was thinking or I didn't know what was going on. The text messages went on to include, sure, you still love horrors. And while you so fucking retarded, Doug replied, LOL. Did you get upset with Nikki? Uh, no I didn't. In fact, at one point she did send a text message that you hurt me all the time. Yes she does.

The text messages undoubtedly put Dallas in an uncomfortable spot. She wanted to leave but stayed and tried to help. We proceeded to go over a few, just where could she be? Just talking about like what happened? Where is she? Yeah, so just vantering back and forth, I had thrown out a few like issue with her sister. Is she with, you know, a few friends?

Did she go to the next bar like, you know, shouting out anything, where could she be? I don't know, did she walk home? Did she walk over the bridge? Did you drive that way home? I pretty much spouted everything off in my head to him. And everything kept coming back. No, no, no, no, no.

So I finally had said, is she in the trunk of your car? And he looked at me and he goes, no. As Doug and Dallas discussed where Nikki might be, she tried to reassure Doug that Nikki would show up soon. She had their baby Dylan to take care of. Because she was breastfeeding and Dylan was nine months at the time that, you know, she's been gone for a long time. She will be back any moment. Like she's just, you know, her boobs are probably engorged and whatnot and she's going to come back to feed the baby. Like,

don't worry. So we just kinda talked about that. Just, you know, she'll be home. She should be home any moment. And what was his general demeanor? He just kept saying I'm very concerned. Keep calling her. I'm very concerned. Like, this just, this doesn't make sense.

And yeah, I was just, I was confused. I also just didn't want to be there. Greg had to go and left Doug and Dallas alone in the house. She didn't know Doug that well. And it only met him a couple of times in passing. She wanted to go home, but Doug still had a request of her. He had asked if I had a bowl to smoke. And what does that mean?

Weed. He wanted marijuana. He just came out and just was like, I need to relax. Do you have any marijuana on you? And I was like, um, actually I do. And then what did he do? He proceeded to smoke while sitting in the love seat and he offered me and I declined. Dallas felt out of place in her situation and had the strong urge to leave. She grabbed her things and headed for the front door. I have to go. I really have to go. And then I proceeded to walk to the front door. I put my hand on the door handle and he

called my name out to the point of startling. I'm right when I was about to leave and he had asked he goes, Delis and I said, yes, Doug and he goes, can you come back here? Can I hit that one more time? And I go next time and I and he's like, you're right. Okay. And I open the door and I ran for my car. And how did you feel at that point? Just out of place. Just and I don't know, just an urge to get out of the house. And then what do you do next? I locked my door. I looked around the cul-de-sac. It was quiet. I stared into the garage. It was open. The light was on. and I just asked where are you,

Nikki. Dallas drives the short distance home. The night was quiet, and no one was on the roads. Doug got ready for bed. He made a glass of ice water, brushed his teeth, checked on Dylan, and went to sleep. He hoped Nikki would be home soon. Puck's 11 News at 9 begins with breaking news tonight. The Brown County Sheriff's Office is investigating the discovery of a body involved with this

afternoon. The Brown County Sheriff's Office confirmed an adult female body was discovered at about 2 p.m. near a field there on the south side of Hoffman Road. In the early afternoon of May 21, Richard van der Haay and both his grandson Tommy and Tommy's friend Jake were working in a farm field off Hoffman Road just about three miles from Doug and Nicky's house in Ledgeview and only one mile from the Sheriff's Department. The field had not been planted in some time so they were picking stones to clear the

way for the heavy farming equipment. Well, they were working with the four wheeler and then I had told Tommy to take the skid loader and go dig out the big ones that we couldn't lift and me and Jake just kept picking the small ones with the four-wheeler and the trailer. The work was going smooth and they were getting closer to the road. They were tossing the unwanted rocks and other debris into a gully between the road and the start of the field. There was a wooden fence full slaying in the field. I got off and picked it up. I'm just threw it over the hill. And then I was kind of looking and I said, the boys were further

that way from me. I said, is that a dead deer down there and they were looking at it at different from the angle they were at they could see perfect. They said no that's a body. Richard couldn't believe what they said. I thought you were kind of joking at first so I walked over towards them and then looked and from their field division you had a clear view of it. You can see better. Richard told Tommy and Jake to get out of there and called 911. The operator told him to walk away. Before Richard even reached the road, a share of StepuDee pulled up. Soon, there were more deputies, and Hoffman Road was blocked off from all traffic. Deputy Kyle Van Loh was one of the first officers on the scene. Dure the Caucasian female down in a bank, and slow face down.

Are you able to make any observations in the body? Yes, which direction of feet and head were facing? Head was facing south, fever north. Was, were there any clothing? No, females naked face down, socks on. I went down, I took an indirect path, down to the body, outside of approximately 10 feet, and I walked towards the body, checked to see if there was

any signs of life. There were no halls, there was some type of stiffness in the joints and the body was cold to the touch. In the tall grass barely 100 feet from the road was a body that couldn't be identified due to severe injuries to the face. They could only tell that it was a blonde Caucasian woman. She was nude other than a pair of socks and a pink wristband, the kind you get at a bar. Patrol officers canvassed the area looking for any leads and detectives were called in. This was being treated as a homicide

investigation. The medical examiner was brought in to help identify the victim and to determine the cause of death. We were looking for scars, marks, tattoos, very characteristic jewelry, anything that would help us say, okay, we're looking for somebody that has these features or we have someplace we can look to help us identify this person. There were no real identifiable features other than a naval ring, but those are pretty common. The victim's injuries were extensive. To the face alone, there were 20 abrasions, eight contusions, and eight lacerations covering her forehead, eyebrows, left cheek, and right jaw.

Her jaw was fractured as well, and the inside bottom of her skull fractured too. An injury seen mostly in car accidents. What I found was that there's extensive bruising throughout the entire scalp. We also found that she had lots of injuries on her tongue as well. If I were to show you cut sections of the tongue you would see that the whole thing had hemorrhage. There was blood inside the whole tongue, but unique areas that were identified were bruises on both sides of the tongue and also lacerations. These were consistent with bite marks because they were in those areas where you would expect somebody would bite down on their own tongue.

And she also had rupture of the vessels in the eye. If you've ever seen anybody who has been so bloodshot that the blood actually starts to spread throughout the scleror, that's what we're seeing. We're seeing scleral hemorrhages as well. The medical examiner also found evidence of bleeding on the brain consistent with blunt force trauma. In total, there were 241 separate injuries to the entire body, including bruised palms and wrists, jagged fingernails and missing fingernails.

The tops and bottoms of her feet were bruised as well as her ankles. There was also evidence of sexual assault with external injuries to the labia and internal abrasions to the vaginal wall. There was also extreme bruising of the mon's pubis, the area just above the genitals. But one of the most important details found by the medical examiner was the odd mark on the victim's throat. This upside down V-shaped area where there is no abrasion. That is consistent with an area where there either wasn't an injury or something was there.

And this is consistent with a ligature where there's something that's tight around the neck, that's impending blood flow in that area and it's also covering it. So there's no abrasion there or there's no blood reacting to that area because it's also covering it. So there's no abrasion there or there's no blood reacting to that area because they can't get there. The other significant find on the body was what looked like a unique pattern from a shoe or boot. And we're seeing a bunch of these abrasions here on her back. Again, the abrasions are scrapes of the skin and you can see a very kind of a haphazard wispy pattern of these but

essentially they have a top down kind of a direction they're going either from the top down or they're going from inside outside but they are flowing linear abrasions on the back. You can see that there are linear parallel proportions of it, there are areas of sparing as well, indicating a pattern. The body found in the ditch next to a farm field was indeed Nicole Vanderhaden. She was last seen leaving the sardine can, but ended up dead in a field just a few miles away from her home, where she lived with Doug Dietri. She was beaten beyond recognition, raped, strangled, and her body dumped.

She had kicked and clawed at her attacker to the point of ripping off her own fingernails. She was strangled, most likely from behind, with some type of ligature. It's just a guess, but the footprint on her back was caused either by being kicked while down, or the attacker pressed their foot against her back as they pulled the ligature tight. Of course, the police still didn't know who the victim was. It wasn't until Doug called 911 to report Nikki missing that they got their first real break. Police noticed that Doug's description of Nikki had a lot of similarities to the victim

that they had found. Too many similarities to ignore. And if it was Nikki, then the very first suspect was going to be Doug himself. Police went to Berkeley Road on the guys of following up on the Missing Persons Report, but really at that point, they were investigating Doug. Myself and Officer Shield arrived at approximately 512 when I actually activated the digital and the video and audio recorder. That is the voice of Sergeant Tracy Halshback.

She interviewed Doug at his home while wearing a hidden camera. By this time, Doug was extremely worried. He had already contacted Dallas, Greg, Aaron, and all of Nikki's family looking for her with no luck. Greg went over to help Doug with the Missing Pers's report. He said he was worried because no matter how mad Nicky was at him, there's no way she would ever leave Dylan for that long. And that if I wanted to, he would let me know when the missing person's report was done. And I could come then pick him up and bring him to his car.

And I said, you know, I was a lot more sober that night. Maybe I can help better with the missing person's report. Greg answered the door when Sergeant Holeschback knocked Doug letter into the kitchen so they could go over details of the missing person report. Because they were together most of the previous night, Greg stood nearby offering clarification and more accurate times to Doug's explanations. He looked very pale.

To be blunt, he looked really hungover. He looked like he was pretty sleep deprived. He had bags under his eyes, his eyes were dark gray, and he had a really pale face. I did not observe any sort of scratches marks of any sort on his arms or hands. He was wearing like a bright colored polo shirt. I would, I guess describe it as like an aqua

or a royal blue polo shirt with cargo shorts. I didn't observe anything on his legs between his knees and his socks that he was wearing. I didn't observe any injuries on him. Without knowing he was being recorded, Doug was passing the test. He had no injuries indicating he'd been involved in a struggle. His hands, arms, and legs were clear. He was forthcoming, answering all questions, and even signed over his mobile phone on the

spot revealing Mickey's accusatory texts. His concerns seemed evident and sincere. Initially, I think he was baffled by the fact that he just couldn't find Nicole in that it was, you know, five o'clock, six o'clock in the evening and he still wasn't hearing from her. I think that the worried appeared to be setting in as the conversation between he and I continued. He didn't express to me in any way, shape, or form that he was worried, but other than the fact that it didn't make sense for her not to be home. I mean, she was a mother that was caring for an infant, she

was breastfeeding a child and or pumping for a baby. So it was concerning to him that, as he expressed to me, that it didn't make sense that she wasn't there. So, I didn't whole-spack, never let on that they had found a deceased female just a few miles away. I was on a fat-twenty mission. It was not an interrogation, however, I knew at that time I needed to find out every single detail possible. Meanwhile, back at the field off Hoffman Road, the details were building up. Crime scene investigators photographed everything of interest, and accident reconstructionists tried to recreate the events leading up to the body being dumped.

They were able to isolate a set of tire tracks with a width of 55 inches. The width didn't match Richard van der Huy's farm equipment for Wheeler or his truck. But likely it matched the vehicle used to dump the victim. That evening Heather, Nikki's sister, got a text that changed everything. I don't remember exactly who sent me a message. This was right before we were going to go out and look for her. We saw on the news that there had been a body found in Bellevue. And I mean, we prayed that it wasn't her.

Heather got a message or a text or something on that order that there's a body found and in Bellevue or something on that order that there's a body found and in Bellevue or something on that order and what did you do upon hearing that? Everybody, everybody to start freaking out and I only got in, um, my mom said, stay positive. We don't, I think that's Nikki and to hear everybody trying to stress something. It was just, I don't know, it was just a other. As the investigation wore on into the night of May 21st, Doug is again interviewed by police

about Nikki's disappearance, this time being escorted to the Sheriff's Department. I think two officers showed up again and asked if I would give them more information on missing persons report and I said yes and uh they were all day in their van, down I think it was with the stuffins and I think somebody else was riding in the back and I was riding in the front and we went to the Sheriff's Department. Eventually, police would give Doug a few more details about their line of questioning. Yeah, after they asked some, you know, characteristics of Nikki and everything, and they said,

I thought there was some similarities or some of the lot of similarities, but they confirmed that it was Nikki that the body of that they had found. And I don't know, it was something on that order. And I had a lack of one through my mind at that point. And I was, how did that make you feel when you heard that? Devisa, shocked.

I don't know, I was just, a lack of one through my mind. I was just so puzzled and shocked. Her dad, I mean, is the whirlwind of emotions. And one officer, the detective, where he goes Kingston, said that the body found was did have a pink bracelet on from the concert and that that loss at that point is flying to go and you know my dad and mom hugs and we just I don't know this was a wreck blur after that. So at that point based on the conversation you would have had with officers and then learning that the body found out at Pink Brassloo, you were pretty sure this was Nick.

Yeah, I was, because I was trying to hold out any hope that that wasn't Nicky at the, you know, that they found in. That like pretty much confirmed it to me. It's only after police asked Doug for a DNA swab that he realizes that they think he may be involved. And yes, for DNA, DNA swab or something on that order, and I said, I'm talking over with my parents, and I was then getting concerned, you know, with them bringing me down to the sheriff's department. I'm like, oh my god, they think I did this. Early on the morning of the 22nd, off dutyduty deputy Nicholas Nairat spotted some suspicious clothing on the way home.

I exited the Sheriff's Office parking lot, East Undevelopment Drive, turned North on to County Highway GV, and then the on-ramp to 172 Westbound. And at that point did you observe anything? Yeah, at first I thought it was what appeared to be a dead animal on the right side of the road, headed up the ramp onto 172 Westbound. When I got closer I noticed it was what appeared to be a pile of clothes or a clothing item on the right side of the road. At first, he didn't make the connection to the victim, but quickly remembered that the female in the field was missing her clothes.

By the time I got to the clothing, I was already near highway speeds and didn't really recollect what it was until a little bit down the road or what I thought it could be. Deputy Nairat called it in. what it was until a little bit down the road or what I thought it could be. Deputy Nairat called it in. Lieutenant James Valley responded to the area and located several articles of clothing. I located first located a shirt, some pants inside the pants I observed underwear which appeared to have blood stains on the underwear. I also located a bra that was along the edge of the highway.

I would say the edge would be between the pavement where the grass starts. The other officers located a shoe along with a purse and a lanyard in the ditch area. At the bottom of the lanyard was what looked like a laminated security ID, like one that you would wear at work. On the ID was a picture of Nicole Vanderhaden. Investigators searched Doug's house looking for evidence. They find blood in the garage and in the bathroom, a pair of air Jordans that might match the pattern on Nicky's back, and they take various electrical cords to compare to the ligature marks on Nikki's neck.

On May 23rd, the investigators catch a break in the case. Doug and Nikki's neighbor, Matthew Peterson, contacts the police. My wife called me at work just as I was about to end the day and said that there had been news reports that had been Nicole Vanderheim's body that was found in a couple miles from our house and we decided that that was appropriate time to call. What he was reporting didn't see Maud when he noticed it two days previous. I went out to Moe my lawn in about 10 in the morning and came upon an area in front of my yard that was a significant amount of blood.

It was a budding the curb at the very, very front of the yard almost directly in front of my home. I decided that that blood was probably from an animal. It would not have been the first time that there's quite a bit of wildlife in our yard. It would not have been the first time that there was blood from the animal and I I didn't even think about the possibility that it was a crime scene. Dismissing the strange blood stains he started to mow his lawn. The very first

pass of mowing my lawn close to the curb I heard a a click, sounded like my blade of my lawnmower hitting something, and I shut my lawnmower off and found a cord, a piece of cord. I picked it up and it looked a lot like the cords running along my lawnmower, so I initially thought that something had fallen off of my lawnmower. I inspected my lawnmower, tried to start it. It started just fine. At that point, I decided that the court was a piece of garbage or something that had flown off of somebody's vehicle. And I just set it on the curb to pick up later.

And I subsequently forgot to pick it up and proceeded to mow my lawn. Two days after Nikki went missing and the unidentified body was found, police had been alerted to the scene of the crime across the street from Nikki's home. There, they had found a lot of blood all over the ground, the curb and in the grass. They also located tuffs of bloody blonde hair and, most importantly, a wire used to charge phones that had blood on it. It appeared to be the ligature used to strangle Nikki. Eventually, the police would track down two joggers and a kid with a dash cam that put the

blood there as early as 5.45 or so in the morning on Saturday. Finding blood outside of the home Nikki and Doug shared pointed to Doug as the culprit. He was their best suspect. I made a telephone call to Doug and asked him where he was at that time he advised me that he was at his parents' house on Euroline. I then drove Sergeant Slinger Lieutenant White to the Euroline address where we made contact with Doug in Doug's mom. And was Doug taking in any custody on the court? Yes, I actually made contact at the door. I asked Doug to step outside at that time. Sergeant Slinger in Lieutenant White took Doug into custody while I spoke with Diane on the

inset of the residence. You were present during the transport of Mr. D. Trey on the 23rd? Yeah, I would have been driving to the jail. Given that you were driving, you probably couldn't view Mr. D. Trey, but were you able to observe the interactions between Mr. D. Trey and the other officers? I wasn't able to see specifically because I was driving, he was seated in the back seat, but I could tell by his emotions that he was very emotional. He's in a very emotional state.

Doug was arrested at his mother's home and taken into custody. Sergeant Holeschback, who had developed a rapport with Doug when she interviewed him at his home, spoke to his family as he was handcuffed on the porch and then escorted to jail. Doug was lost as to what to think. I was just like, I don't know why I was like, how am I in this position? What's going on? I didn't get it. This is, I think I said to him that this is wrong. I, you know, I was told not to, those advice not to say

anything. I wanted to say so, so many things, you know, this is, I had nothing to do with this. You guys are making a big mistake here. Captain David Conrath alerted the public of Doug's arrest. At approximately 5.27 p.m. tonight, May 23, 2016, officers responded to an address to a call of blood located in front of an address on Berkeley Road and proximity to Douglas Dietrich's residence. The scene was preserved and evidence is still being processed as we speak. As a result of this information, 34-year-old Douglas D.T. was taking into custody for first degree intentional homicide. Judgments can be made by anyone at any time. The crucial thing to ask yourself is, do you have enough information?

Do you have the right information? Do you have accurate information? Or are you basing your judgments on nothing more than a whole lot of assumptions? Perhaps even a personal dislike. The question becomes even more important in the criminal justice system when the ramifications of your judgments can adversely affect someone's life or perhaps even take it away. Doug was held for 18 days on a $1 million bond while the investigation continued. But as more and more forensic evidence came back

from various labs, the more it looked like Doug wasn't guilty at all. The blood found in his garage was from a turkey. The blood in the bathroom was from Nikki's sister Heather. She got a nose bleed in the hysteria following hearing about the body in the field. The Air Jordan's didn't have any blood on them, and were not a match for the print on Nikki's back. Doug's saving grace was his fit bit. He had been wearing it ever since he got it and set it up. It recorded his footsteps and various other physical activities automatically. The police had a timeline for Nikki's murder and Doug's Fitbit recorded that he was asleep during the time frame.

There was the DNA. The medical examiner had swapped pretty much the entire body and found tons of DNA but only partial profiles, except for one on the socks. They found a complete profile and that profile was enough to exclude Doug and literally everyone else the police could think of. Authorities were in fear that Nicky's case would now remain unsolved. It wasn't until August 2016 that the DNA matched a profile on the FBI database. George Birch.

Do you swear to tell the truth? The whole truth and nothing but the truth. So, I'll be there. Yes, ma'am. Please state your full name, it's fire last night. George Steven Birch Jr. for, RCH. Thank you. To most of your friends call you a Georgia, do they call you something else? Most people call me a big country. George Burke came to Green Bay after his marriage deteriorated. He arrived on March 1, 2016, and was staying with a friend

helping around his mechanic shop just to get by. What did you know about Wisconsin before you came here? Doctors. helping around his mechanic shop just to get by. Police began to surveil George as they investigated his connection with Nikki. What they found made them pretty sure they had the right guy. In the time since Nikki's disappearance, George had reported his vehicle stolen, a red Chevy Blazer. A perfect match for the 55-inch track found on the field. It was subsequently involved in a hit-and-run accident then burned in a fire.

The report was on June 8, two days before detree was released. Furthermore, during the hit-and-run investigation, George gave consent for a forensic download of his phone. Did you know that if you have an Android phone and a Google account, you're constantly being tracked wherever you go? Well, George didn't either. And it's pretty accurate.

When police looked at George's GPS data from the night Nikki went missing, they could see that he was at Nikki's house with a margin of error of just a few hundred feet. He was at the field where her body was found with a 9.8 foot margin of error. And he was on the on ramp where her bloody clothes was found. With this and George's DNA found on Nikki's sock, they arrested him for first degree intentional homicide on September 8, nearly four months after Nikki's death.

The evidence will show that George's DNA significant amounts of George's DNA were on various pieces of evidence in this case, including on Nicole's body. The evidence is going to show that George's cell phone went to these various locations. He was with Nicole. The evidence is going to show you there was sexual contact.

But at the end of the trial, you will have a completely innocent explanation that ties all of this evidence together. With all the evidence against George, his only hope in trial was to explain it all away by pointing the finger at Doug D.T. George's defense team tries to make Doug seem abusive, controlling and wanting to end his relationship with Nikki. So in May of 2016, when you said that when your house sells, you and Nikki were going to go on your separate ways, don't worry about it.

It is what it is. When you said that to your mother, is that an accurate statement? I don't specifically recall what you're talking about. What was that? In a conversation with your mom, Diane Dietri. I don't recall that conversation. How about when you told her, I'm very seriously thinking about telling Nikki

and the kids they have to move. I'm not cut out for this life one bit. Do you remember that? I remember, you know, I think I sent something on to what lines of that. And I was having a little downer day or whatever and I just said that to my mom with not truly meaning it, I guess.

I was maybe just, you know, a little crappier, irritated that day and it was said something on the order of that, I guess. So in May of 2016, though, there were times where you were seriously considering breaking up with Nikki and the kids. I never really make seriously thought about it like it made plans or anything like that. It was just kind of an upset. Here's a listen to text, or something like that. It's just a lie to your mom. I haven't seen it, you know, I guess you could always say I didn't have any intentions to

go through with that. Next, they laid out the evening's series of events according to George. He claimed while he was at Richard Craniams, a bar about half a mile down from the Sardine can, he noticed Nikki standing next to him and struck up a conversation and began to flirt. After last call, George claims Nikki left with him willingly and went to his house where she used the bathroom. He claimed that she invited him over to her place

and gave him directions as they drove. They arrived on Berkeley Road and pulled over across the street from her address. She said there was a light on this. She thought the baby's here was still up. So you never went inside the residence? And there's certainly never been in residence. George claimed the two stayed outside in the car

where things escalated. Sorry, pulling around, messing around a little bit. Sorry, kissing. Kissing. I was kissing our neck a little bit, touching each other. From here, George says they moved to the back seat, where he didn't really fit. So he stood outside of the vehicle. For me to be able to access what we were doing and

that function correctly, I had to kind of scoot her to like the edge of the seat because I was standing outside the blazer and I had to pull her where her bottom is almost not hanging off but almost at the edge of the seat. What George claims happened next is unbelievable. where the bottom is almost not hanging off, but almost at the edge of the seat. What George claims happened next is unbelievable. The next thing that I remember apart from us having in the course was literally waking up on the ground

outside the truck, laying in the grass curb area. At first I was, I didn't know what was going on. I looked down and I'm laying on the ground and my pants are around my ankles literally. And I'm trying to, I was a little groggy trying to kind of put two two together, what the hell was going on. I kind of grabbed my pants and went to kind of move and that's when I pretty much noticed something was going on behind me. Eventually I realized it was a person standing behind me. The first thing I heard was don't even fucking think about it.

It was fairly dark. I saw someone who looked like a hood sweatshirt, couldn't really see any faces, just clumps, standing behind me. It looked like it was like in this direction and looks appeared to be a firearm in his hand. George claims a hooded figure snuck up behind him as he was having sex with Nikki and knocked him out. When he awoke, he was instructed to move to the rear of the vehicle where he saw a body. What's the mind tension? I looked closer and realized that it was a cold day in there. George continues claiming he was instructed to pick her up and put her in the car which he did. Then he was told to get in the driver's seat and drive.

Once I started the vehicle, you have your interior lights and the interior lights were bright enough that I could actually see someone I could see in their reflection in the mirror that I couldn't physically turn around and look at them. And again, at that point did you know who that individual was? Never seen before in my life. Do you know who that individual is now? Now I do. Who was it?

Who's that Beatre? This is where Georgia's story takes a turn to the theatrical. I've seen what you see on movies and forward things like that. And the only thing that come to my mind, the only option I had George, he was in fear for his life and followed the gunman's directions, turning onto a dirt road a few minutes later. We made a left turn to search for a dirt road. A few moments after that, he was instructed to turn into a field and stop.

It's not looking good. Just, I mean, the middle of somewhere I don't know where I am, to a field and stop. the best way for me to remove myself from this situation if at all possible. The gunman gets out of the car leaving the door open and instructing George to get out and then get her out. I was told to pretty much reach in from the driver's side and grab the colon, pretty much bring her out of the vehicle. How did you get her out of the vehicle? I had to grab her arms or under her arm area and pull her across the seat. Was that somewhat difficult? Yes, sir.

Why? It's pretty much dead weight. He carried Nikki's body cradling in his arms to the edge of a small ravine. He dropped her feet, gripping her under her her arms as the gunman tells him to throw her in. At this time he was kind of like looking around motion. I don't know if he was taking in. He heard something or if he was looking like around just to take him, was going around him or looking to see if, I don't know if

somebody could see us or what was born at that time. But that was the motion that he was making at the time. At this time when I've seen him kind of look away this to draw his attention more to what was going on than to me. And when I did the cold kind of flipped over like this way, feet more, like more head over and flipped over. And when he kind of paid attention what was going on that time that's when I turned and everything I had I lunched at him and pushed him as hard as I possibly could at that time. He fell down. I don't know. He stumbled backwards. Did he fall down? I don't know because I broke forward.

What did you do? All I asked for my phone. Seeing his opportunity, he threw Nicky's body as a distraction, so he could push the gunman and run away. I actually looked a cigarette trying to calm down, because I didn't know nothing. I didn't know my environment. I didn't know where I was, and I just wanted

to get out there, I just wanted to get home or somewhere safe. So what did you do? I actually had to pull out my phone. Hey Google, give me directions to-12 South Greenwood. George said he then just went home and took a shower, but didn't call police. He went upstairs and laid down. The next day he woke up and went on a fishing trip.

You didn't call 911. No sir. You went fishing. Yes sir. Why would you not tell someone while you just went through? I don't even know who to talk to. I don't even have a conversation with someone about something like that. What do you say? You say hello. I need to report a murder. Where I'm from, you don't talk, you don't tell about things you've seen, you don't tell on people, people get killed all the time when I'm from for that.

And I fear for my own safety, if I would have ever said anything, because like I said, where I'm from, it happens all the time. People go to tell on people and tell things, and we end up dead, they never make it to court, they never make it anywhere, they find them dead. They never make it to court. They never make it anywhere. They finally did. I thought Virginia was for lovers. The prosecution poked holes in George's testimony, calling attention to the inconsistencies. If he didn't tell police about his involvement because he thought they had

the right guy, why didn't he say anything after he was released? If Nikki said the kids were at their dads, why was their babysitter? Why would she have sex outside rather than send the babysitter home? Why would Doug and Lista Stranger to help him hide the body? Eventually, George let his emotions get the best of them. What really happened was you drove in the call home 20 miles away from where you lived, fully expecting that you were going to have sex, right? That was your expectation. You were going to have sex. That's why you're driving your home, right? I was hoping that we would. It was leaving from what had happened before and maybe it spoke. It seemed like that's what was going to happen.

When you get there and it becomes clear that Niki isn't going to have sex with you. When she attempts to go into her house and leave your vehicle, that's when your normal change is right. No sir. That's when things get aggressive, don't they? Not at all. That's when you grab that cord and strangle her don't you? No sir not at all. That's when it gets slammed on the ground repeatedly when she's trying to run toward her house when those blood stains leave in the direction back to her home. No that is true. Well you know you were out cold when if you were assaulted. Because you said I did it. You'll have the jury believe that Doug Dietri sat there and did all of these things to his girlfriend. Well, you were just out cold on the lawn hanging out.

I wasn't hanging out. I had been knocked out from behind, sir. When I didn't know anyone was behind me. I actually didn't say you were knocked out from behind. You didn't remember what happened. You were having sex and the next thing you knew, you woke up on the ground, right? It made me a little too believe that I had been knocked out

because I didn't pass out from standing there. The prosecution continued to try and get George to slip up. Clear this up for me. You're backing down the embankment with Nicole's body in a fireman's carry position, right? No. What are you doing? I told you before when I was sitting, when we're time're time for you sir I was carrying her over to this area. When I

got to the final position I let her legs go because I could barely carry her because it was all like going off and on and off and like it was kind of hard to manage carrying her without losing my balance. That's when I let her go and I was still bracing her with this arm and I put both arms under her shoulders. Douglas Feige was standing in front of me at this time. George said he hauled ass from the field, but his GPS said it took him 15 seconds to travel the short distance from the field to the road. He drove past the sheriff's station and didn't stop. He didn't call 911.

He got rid of his clothes and went fishing the next day. Add a dog possibly come from the house in front of George and sneak up behind him. This line of questioning gets George defensive and he speaks aggressively to the prosecutor. He's just standing there calmly. Oh my god. I wouldn't say calmly, sir, because he, though, I remember him poking me with the gun as he was standing behind me before I pulled my pants up. And that's when he told me, don't fucking think about it. The prosecution presents their closing argument pointing out the preposterous details in George's account, calling it outlandish and holy and plausible. His anger during the cross-examination didn't help the case. His five precious criminal convictions didn't help either.

The defense could only continue to point the finger at Doug D. Trey, and remind the jury that just because a story sounds ridiculous or sounds unbelievable doesn't mean that it is. or sounds unbelievable, doesn't mean that it is. George's testimony did cast some doubt, though. While in deliberation, the jury asked to see the cords gathered from Doug's home. But after only a few hours, they came back with a verdict. The verdict reads as follows. We, the jury, find the defendant, George Steven Birch, guilty of first degree intentional homicide is charged in the information.

It is signed by our four-person and dated this first day of March 2018. George is due to be sentenced on May 4. In Wisconsin, first degree intentional homicide carries a life sentence. And it is likely that George will spend the rest of his life in prison. Nikki's life was starting all over again, but was cut short far too soon. Her son Dylan is now too too and still lives with Doug. Nikki's family's only solace is that her killer is behind bars. Doug's life was almost taken away because of some partial information and a rush to judgment. But eventually, technology and not human judgment

let justice prevail. That does it for another episode of Sword and Scale. Thank you to all of you who continue to listen to us, to support us through thick and thin and stick with us no matter what. We appreciate you very much, our loyal supporters. Without you, we wouldn't be here. Thank you. 1 tbh 1 tbh 1 tbh 1 tbh 1 tbh 1 tbh 1 tbh

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