Sword and Scale - Episode 177

Episode Date: January 11, 2021

Spawned from a long line of vicious criminals, Nikko Jenkins struck terror into Nebraskans when he callously slayed four innocent citizens in his murderous ten-day spree. It was a family adventure when his sister, cousin, and uncle all played roles in the executions. Despite announcing that he would “wage war on society” when released from prison, his blatant warnings were ignored by all but a few.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences Listener discretion is advised He is a psychopathic murderer and schizophrenic and psychotic and he has PTSD from being brutalized Welcome back from the Christmas break. Happy New Year's. This is season 8 of Sword and Scale. Episode 177. And as always a show that reveals the worst monsters.

Are very, very real. But we hope you had a wonderful holiday break with your family and this next story is about a family too. Just not one you'd want to have a honey ham with on Christmas day. In any case, thank you for being with us. We're going to have so many episodes this season. It's going to blow your mind. You're going to get sick of us. It's going to be like, ugh, there's another episode. Nebraska. It's known for its cows, fields, and its corn. Not necessarily its killers, especially an entire family of killers. The right thing to do is rarely the easiest,

and the easiest option is quite often not the right one. Of course for some, the easy way is the preferred way. And in this case, an easy choice was made in spite of the right choice being obvious. The end result, exactly what you would expect from a self-proclaimed, aspiring homicidal maniac. A trail of bodies. 33-year-old Andrea Krueger was an All-American beauty, who, according to her mother, didn't have a single enemy and was an incredibly generous and loving mother of three. In a home video of her Baby Girls' First Birthday party, Her thick golden blonde ponytail swings freely against her neck and cheek as she helps to blow out a candle while bending over her little girl's high chair.

Andrea's blue eyes sparkled with pure happiness, as everyone joined in to sing happy birthday to her child. But then again, Andrea was often caught in the act of being happy, and her positive attitude was contagious. One of her close friends described her this way. Andrea was selfless, independent, strong, and the heart of her family. She was loving and nurturing. She had an energetic personality that enabled others to be better people. She was ordinary, feisty, and could push people's buttons, then get them to laugh at the same

time. Andrea enjoyed the company of friends and family, country music, traveling, and relaxing at the beach with a good book. The loves of her life were her husband and her kids. Spunky, charismatic, as her friends called her, this doting mom was also a hard worker. Having earned a business degree through the University of Nebraska, Omaha, she had chosen to stay home during the day to care for her

children, a preteen boy, a young daughter, and her special needs baby who was born missing a hand. Because of the little girl's disability, the expensive surgeries and therapies were necessary. Andrea's husband had a day job but was forced to quit volunteering as a much loved football coach in the community. While Andrea cared for the kids during the day and worked as a bartender in the evenings. Andrea's best quality was making other people's day. the kids during the day and worked as a bartender in the evenings. On Tuesday evening, August 20th, 2013,

Andrea was working the shift at an Omaha Lounge called Des Javoux, a bar and restaurant establishment earning four out of five stars. The spacious Des Javoux is described as a cool and comfortable adult beverage hangout. It sits in a plaza along with a few other buildings along a straightaway, close to numerous housing developments in southwest Omaha. The bar was only a short drive from Andreas' home, where her husband was waiting for her after texting her that their daughter had a fever. The last time he heard from her was around midnight,

and he went to bed since it really wasn't unusual for her to arrive between two or three in the morning. It was now four o'clock in the morning, and he awoke in a panic. After calling her cell phone repeatedly and getting no answer, he knew something was very wrong. He turned on the TV and was shocked to learn that a woman had just been murdered a few

blocks away from his home. I woke up Jaden and he watched the girls and I'll go check it out and that was like 615 in the morning and that's kind of when I knew. I pulled over down the street here. I knew it wasn't a coincidence that they were pulling me over. So right then I knew. It was like a double shock. I'm getting pulled over and at the same time I just realized that that was definitely my

wife. She was almost home. She was really almost home. Andrea was the last staff to leave the deja vu bar around 2am. She pulled into a McDonald's drive-through for a bite and was finally on her way home to her husband, babies, and her bed. What happened next was inconceivably despicable. Police arrived on the scene to discover when Dre had been the victim of a potential car jacking.

The perpetrator had blocked her Chevy SUV, dragging her out of the car while she pleaded for her life, and then delivered a powerful blow from a shotgun twice in the head, as well as once in the neck and also the shoulder. We interviewed the killer's own psychiatrist, Dr. Eugene Olivello, about that night, and this was his shocking response. He said, well, let's get the car. So he went over to it, opened the door, pulled her out, put her on the floor,

and he saw a motorcycle running with a soda off shocker, and blew her head off. And then I said, why didn't you just take the car? I'll give the blow head off, you have two little kids. What is the father tell? The kid's mom, he's not coming home. That's your blow ahead of you. And then he said, well, why didn't you do the favor?

I went back and blew the other half of the head off. Of course I didn't want it to see it with the half ahead. Isn't that amazing? It wasn't long after that her own mother rushed into her worst nightmare. She arrived at the quarantine scene under the dimly lit morning sky, limply attempting to run to her daughter's lifeless and distorted body lying face down in a puddle of her own blood on the roadway. She was rushed by officers trying to shield her from the horrific sight and literally trying to stabilize her and keep her from collapsing. The perimeter of this desolate area was encircled by police and

emergency responders. Mother runs to where her daughter's body lays as deputies try to console her holding her up. Investigators say the daughter, a mother of three herself, was murdered in the early morning hours. Few clues were available at the time since Andreas SUV was missing. Although there were reports of a car speeding away from the scene, the vehicle did not match the description of Andreas. On a dark stretch of road before he took Andreas life, sat Nico Jenkins, lying in wait for traffic to return from the

Lil Wayne concert that night. He decided that he needed a car, so he would wait for an opportunity and take what he wanted. Andrea's gold SUV caught his eye. In this clip from his interrogation, he explains four all the way back to military have all we to do. Walmart. That's all for right off the interstate. Ain't that Walmart right off the interstate? All for military have? Yeah. So my point is I think like that, the intelligence of what paths to take, you know what I mean? So for way to cameras, things of that nature are closed at this time, bar tiers, and

they're all down to their car for that grant, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, know, you know, you know, It was a perfect opportunity. Niko didn't act alone though. He came from a family with a long history of criminal behavior. By that, I mean 38 of his family members spanning decades were responsible for a whopping 638 crimes in Omaha. That doesn't even include the ones that were acquitted or ended in court mistrials. Never mind the fact that Niko's great-grandfather was a well-respected Native American tribal leader who was able to ingratiate himself into the upstanding Presbyterian community 100 years ago. Something obviously went sour with this recipe. Someone threw in some neglect, some alcohol, a little bit of drug use, child abuse, who knows. And this was the potential mix for creating a killer.

But let's go back to the scene of the crime. 168 and Fort Street, Omaha. During Niko's interrogation, he admitted the reason Andrea became a target, and he admitted he wasn't alone. And that's why young people don't understand me. I don't understand how hard it is for me. But if I'm portraying my family, the understand me. This is not just me. I don't say one thing is getting closer, you know. But I'm literally portraying my family and my bloodline. You've heard that, cliche, the family that prays together stays together. Well, in the case of Nico Jenkins' family, the word pray is spelled P-R-E-Y.

People in this family stay together, all right, until they get sent to prison. That only did Nico include his sister and cousin, but he also brought along his notorious uncle who just got out of jail for kidnapping and assault. On August 21, 2013, a levering Nico Jenkins, Nico sister Erica and their cousin Christine Bordeaux went to West Omaha because Nico wanted to steal a car. He liked an SUV driven by Andrea Krueger, so they got her to stop near 168th and Fort. Nico shot her four times at point blank range killing her. He and Warren then jumped into her vehicle, levering his car on surveillance video, dousing her SUV in gasoline and starting it on fire near 43rd and Hamilton. He even had burns when he was arrested. That night on a lonely street just a few minutes from home, Andrea's car was forced to stop. Nico and his uncle blitzed her vehicle, forcibly opened her unlocked car door and dragged

her out, throwing her onto the hard pavement. She screamed, no, no, please don't. But the intent was clear when Niko pulled a 12 gauge shotgun. He would later say was a high point and disfigured her forever, ending her life in the process. Racing back to his own car, he shouted, That dumb bitch just laid down on the ground. His sister phoned him from the other vehicle chastising Nico. Why didn't you move the body to a ditch? That was stupid.

Nico's own psychiatrist, Dr. Olavello, also evaluated more than several members of his family, including his sister. Here's how he described him. I evaluated all of them. They were all in Chile, all on my list. I evaluated them, mother. sister. Here's how he described him. kill anybody or assault them. So you can't believe this man. André Krueger was the fourth victim of Nico in a period of 10 days dubbed a murder spree. This was in fact something that seemed a lot more like last-minute shopping for victims, singling them out and ruthlessly devouring them as if they were fresh produce meant for consumption, a delicious

root-a-baga, perhaps. Maybe a couple turnips, nice plump tomato. And victims were easy pickings when he had sisters, uncles, and cousins all volunteering to help. Three of these victims were random individuals while the third murder was a young man he'd already met in prison. Just two days before he claimed Andreas' life on August 18th, he met up with Curtis Bradford. Curtis Bradford was a 22-year-old and he was planning on getting his degree in business.

In the meantime though, maybe commit a robbery or two with Nico and Nico's sister. Nico had other ideas for Curtis though, whose last words to his mom were, I love you, as he kissed the top of her head before leaving the house. On August 18th, Nico's 24 year old sister helped lure Curtis to an intersection, where witnesses

say they heard two shots fired. A gas station attendant returning home after a shift discovered a pile of clothes next to some parking garages. And when he got closer, the pool of blood was unmistakable. He alerted authorities and Curtis' body was found slumped over in a grassy area with huge holes in his hoodie and brain matter on his gloves. I thought it was closed on the side of my garage. So I got on my car, parked on my car, got on my car, and went out to inspect it, you know,

to see what was going on. I seen a shoe and I just knew it, right then I said, well, and I was checking to see if I seen you breathing, waited-bodied position, you know, that was hunched over and foot like this, you know, and face down and then ground. So then I called 911 from there. The honest with you, I never seen like liking it my whole entire life.

You hear about it, you see about it, you know, you know, not up close. This was up close and personal. This is her time ever. Nico's sister had a van dera. So she and Nico set Curtis up with plans of a robbery. She believed Curtis had shot up her house days before and Nico, well, he was just on his 10-day spree. Thinking he was the designated leader of the gang though, he couldn't let a sister take the credit for this murder. See, she was the first to shoot Curtis with a revolver, and it was clear that he wasn't dead, or maybe just on his way to death, Nico quickly finished the job with his sought-off shotgun. His sister later bragged that she was pissed at Niko for taking away her first kill.

What a lovely family! Oh, and guess who purchased the ammo? If you guessed their mom, congratulations! You're correct. Rewind to August 11th, about a week before Curtis was killed, was Niko's first set of murders in his 10-day spree. 66. Niko, 9-myself, 1067. Lear and spring like art was, uh, Tomboy John 095. The white half 150. We got two parties inside of you all hall after we shot the head.

Oh, and did we mention that these first murders took place only a few weeks apart after he was released from prison? Once again, his lovely sister played a huge role in the execution style killings. Erica Jenkins is on trial for two counts of conspiracy and connection to the robberies and murders of Jorge Ruiz and Juan Pena near Spring like Park in August 2013. Prosecutors say Erica's brother Niko needed money, so she and their cousin Christine Bordeaux allegedly lured the men to the park. That's where Niko shot both the men in the heads with a shot before witnesses testified

Erica ranted in court about her situation. She's allegedly assaulted a number of deputies and jailers. Quote, I'm not an animal. They keep exiled with me. That's why I'm irritated. They keep pissing me off." She later said, I'm not going to get a fair jury trial anyways. I won't get anything fair in the district of Douglas County.

Erica is also charged in connection with Nico Jenkins' other killing. Within a month of being released early from prison after 10 and a half years, Nico Jenkins and his family terrorized Omaha for 10 days, shooting and killing for innocent people, but it finally came to an it. I don't care about it. I just wanted to be able to learn about it with the weapon out there. And why? And then some of the parking lot, that wants husband and children. That woman's husband is leaving right now. This is not just some psycho killer that she's wanted to go for. I'm documenting, slightly actually be disordered. I'm documenting, typically, about this.

This is a fact. So my point is, where are we going all of that? My point is this though. This family didn't deserve this. This could have been prevented, had it not been from the rest of the corrections. Doing what they knew they supposed to be and they never gave me an opportunity. They never gave me an opportunity for shooting because I wouldn't take the medicine. Why did Nico Jenkins rampage and kill almost immediately after being released from prison? In the interrogation, he clearly stated he was certifiably crazy, but was he resorting

to an ace in the deck? The crazy card? A lot of killers do, you know? It's an excuse for doing horrible things. And don't you get tired of that phrase just because you're mentally ill, doesn't mean you are a murderer. But if you are a murderer for absolutely no reason,

then you're probably crazy. Those two things aren't mutually exclusive. So was Nico Jenkins crazy or just manipulative. His own wife at the time was among those who tried to warn the prison not to let him out. He's not pretending to be crazy. He's real life crazy. Because he's specifically told me that a popus gives him orders.

It was his voice that came and was just like, if you do what I tell you to do, if you follow my demands then I'll make sure you're safe and make sure you're okay. I told them not to let him out. I said he's not ready to come out in society." Niko's now ex-wife wasn't the only one warning Omaha. Niko's psychiatrist Dr. Olivello was vehemently trying to convey the message that Niko would kill if permitted. husband and her brother, brother and her co-born, and then little kids in proper health. For 10 long and terrifying days between the 11th and 21st of August 2013, Nico Jenkins randomly executed habitants of the Omaha community. First, two male strangers minding their own business,

thinking they might have a sexual encounter with Nico's sister. Second, an acquaintance from prison who had partied with Nico the night before his death. And third, young mom Andrea Kruger, honor way home from a long night of bartending. Finally, an unusual 12-gauge shotgun shell, known as a deer slug, was found in the smoky remains of Andrea Kruger's stolen SUV after Nico's uncle tried to set it on fire.

Remember Nico's mom had purchased the ammo, and his sister was along for the fun. DNA placed Nico at the three scenes and something else unusual was found next to Andrea's body the night of her murder. It was part of the zipper to a fake Louis Vuitton bag. The same type Nico often used to house his weapons. How stylish. When asked to describe the weapon during the interrogation, this is what he said. I think that it shoots 9 millimeters slopes. If he was a seed, it's like you would not believe that. It was the murder weapon.

Like I said, we survived it is, when I first got out, I gave intelligence. Like I said, I didn't know who was coming, what was coming, who was he coming, you know. All I did was give the intelligence. We couldn't have intelligence of when we were the best window of opportunity. His confession to police was a mixed bag, though.

On one hand, he gave details of intelligence to gain leniency while completing the picture of all four murders as intentional, with the motive being cash, a car, or a conflict. However, when he realized officers had hard, cold evidence, he began laying out a case for insanity. This wasn't surprising, given that for a long time he had been claiming to worship the Egyptian god Apophis, and hearing his voice telling him to kill others. These claims were well documented by his private psychiatrist Dr. Olivello, who was hired at the Douglas County Department of

Corrections as a subcontractor for inmates with psychiatric difficulties. Dr. Olivello was familiar with Nico and his whole family. When he was subpoenaed to evaluate Nico for a mental health competency hearing pertaining to the 2013 murders, Nico was waiting for his trial. Olivello and only one other psychiatrist took Nico's claims of insanity seriously. And it got him fired. Let me tell you, the best psychiatrist

don't work in state hospitals and all, okay? You know, I have to be the best in private practice to make money and have people come back to me, okay? They get a I have to be the best in private practice to make money and have people come back to me, okay? They get a check whether they're good or bad, but they have this blanket way of looking at people and they're influenced by the state because they pay them, so they had nothing to gain by saying he was a psychopath, he was dangerous, so they clustered over and said he's fooling us, he's not really that way even if he got out he wouldn't kill anybody and and they would get wrong and I was right so the other psychiatrist who evaluated but they discounted all that because the state

didn't want people to know that they let him out by mistake. Dr. Alvedo was adamant in his belief that Niko should be taken seriously when he said he was hearing what are known as command voices or delusional voices telling him what he should or shouldn't do. He's a psychopath, he's psychotic, he's delusional, he thinks he's controlled by a great god of death who never dies and has all the power in the world and wants to eliminate humanity. So he has more power. Every person that he's Egyptian God kills gives him more power. And so that's what he thought. So he thought the same thing.

Everybody I kill, I'll have more power. During our interview with Dr. Olivello, he recalled how Nico's childhood psychiatrist had also diagnosed him as a schizophrenic and dangerous after he had taken a loaded gun to school as a small seven-year-old boy. Even as a child he was reporting that he heard voices. But before we explore Nico's childhood further, remember that Dr. Olivello largely worked with Nico when he was a young adult, including having sessions with him in jail and prison. He talked about developing a rapport with Nico. He wasn't easy to evaluate.

He was my easy to detect you and call your name, you know. It took me a long time. I had to see him three or four times before I could keep my heart from being fast and get my feet down. I mean, he braved that name and he called feet down. I mean he braided me and he called me names and he said you better be ready for this guy the first time I saw him for an hour. Man I went back to the clinic. I said this guy is her relic. He's a maniac. He's like this. He doesn't anybody do anything about it. He was scary but he was brilliant in certain areas. He

knew the law and his right up and then he wrote every law book in the prison library. He was brilliant in a psychopathetic way and he knew a lot. Not only did Dr. Olivello find Nico to be brilliant in a psychopathic way, but he also found him to be physically formidable. After all, Nico had spent 60% of his jail and prison time in segregation and solitary confinement. He had a lot of time to exercise. I mean, he invited me to come into his cell because I said, you could trust me, Dr. O'onja, come in in the cell and not stand out there. We'll talk in here. And I said, Nico, there ain't no way in hell I'm going to go in the cell with you, Chris. I'm going to tell you right now you could kill me or one finger and I'm not coming in here. So, you know, that's the type of thinking he had. So he must have

trusted me, but I didn't trust him. While incarcerated, Nico found other ways of strengthening himself. You might want to ask yourself if the following activities are things a normal person does just to convince the system you're crazy. Or if these are truly the acts of an insane person. Judge for yourself. At one point when being interrogated about the 2013 murders, he began to whisper. When the detective asked him why he was whispering, his response was, due to my psychiatric state, I do a lot of bizarre things. I snort my semen, bro. It was true. He wasn't making this up in a legal suit by Nico against the state of Nebraska. Yes, he sued the state of Nebraska

for failing to realize how crazy he was and for letting him out without mental health help. Anyway, during this trial, evidence of his bizarre behaviors came up. So let's get into it, shall we? And once again, you judge, crazy or manipulative. Information in this suit said, Nico carved wounds into his face with a piece of tile

from the gallery floor, which caused a guard to spray him with pepper spray to get him to stop carving into his face. Imagine having wounds on your face that you put there intentionally and then being pepper sprayed. Imagine how batshit crazy you would have to be to do this to yourself. This little incident required 11 stitches. Prison staff also verified that Nico would drink his own semen for neuro stimulators to increase his serotonin levels and to decrease his emotional rage. That's a quote, that's not science.

Nico also reported that he was snorting his semen in his left nostril on a daily basis, and drinking his own urine daily for the last two weeks as his own method of nutritional supplementation. I hope you weren't having lunch just then. But that's not crazy, right? Well then, neither is his homage to the serpent god, a poffis, who seemed to help Nico's creative juices flow. In order to honor a poffis, and by the way, before you send in your emails,

I've heard the name of that Greek god described in 17 different ways. So if I'm saying it wrong, too bad. Let's get back to it now. In order to honor a Pope, he tried to carve his penis into the shape of a serpent. I don't know about you, but mine already kind of looks like one. Nico went a little bit too far though basically cutting off his own dick and requiring 27 stitches. How did Nico manage this while in segregation? Well somehow he took a guard's badge and he used the sharp pin on the back to do this to himself. Crazy? Yeah I think I'd go with crazy. And he got knives and all that crap from

guards, you know that. I mean, the guards gave him all that stuff, knives and everything. You can get anything you want to jail in prison. Even in that village, he was in solitary employment. He got him from the guards. That's what he got him for. The guards got him for him. Because he hated them and they didn't give a shit. Well, he was so dynamic and powerful and influencing people. He could've offered them something. They got it. It's prison in jail. It's all money.

It's what you buy. I mean, there's a hierarchy. And you could get anything you want. Another miraculous feat, Niko performed well can find to a cell was swallowing a set of guards keys. That would take practice, I think. In any case, one of his sisters wasn't too happy about it. That should never happen, and it was very disturbing to hear.

It was heartbreaking and it was unbelievable. Like I couldn't even imagine it. Like really, you know, he swallowed some keys and then that alone, seven keys for his illness. He needs to be in a hospital and he needs to be treated for his mental illness and not in 23-hour confinement. Ah, poor Nico, such a victim. Most mental health specialists within the corrections department hypothesized that Niko was gaming the system, being manipulative, and most also admitted that he did have some mental health problems.

However, they attributed his antics to a personality disorder. In other words, he would not need further help or treatment, and the recommended practice at an appropriate facility was ignored. It's funny how that distinction exists in the mental health community between mental illness and a personality disorder. It's just a way of defining something very, very wrong in your brain, and that way of defining decides whether you can get help or not.

Seems almost arbitrary in a soft science-like psychology. In any case, a lot of these specialists that thought this were not all psychiatrists or psychologists, and they worked within the system. They were employed by the state. Dr. Olivello and others felt this was a conflict of interest Another psychiatrist a private psychiatrist said he definitely mentally ill and he's a Psychopath and dangerous and he also has PTSD because his childhood was a disaster Okay, I mean, I don't even want to go but the point is some psychologist

Prison he was in I don't know if he read my report or not. He said, but he's fooling Dr. Oliver better. We've had him here for years, and he's conning him into believing he's mentally ill and dangerous. So I got about that and I said, this guy's a hack. He doesn't know what he's talking about. He's going against the board, certifies that cat, and he's taking care of tons of violent people.

I grew up with violent people. I grew up with homophobic in the neighborhood. So, yeah, and I had a handle myself with psycho-pass, so I don't get killed. Indisputably, Nico Jenkins had some kind of mental health troubles or deficits. Dr. Olivello didn't disagree with the diagnosis of a personality disorder. However, he also felt Nico suffered from more primary and significant issues, namely, Schizo-effective Disorder or Schizophrenia, Psychotic Disorder, and PTSD from his horrific childhood. Dr. Olivello first evaluated Nico in 2010, and Nico said he'd been having auditory hallucinations from age 7.

At the time of Dr. Olaveto's 2010 evaluation, the hallucinations were telling Jenkins to kill people. Dr. Olaveto believed these statements. In our interview, he briefly described some of Nico's family history. You can't believe this family. Listen, let me tell you something. I'll give you the formula, okay? It's 100%. Right, okay. I'm going to give it to you. Bad genes, got that?

Which you can't put nothing about. Bad upbringing, especially bad parenting and no parenting. Right? Bad environment, bad outcome. You had a moment's face. You just remember that. Bad genes, bad, bad, bad parenting, and upbringing, bad environment, bad outcome. That's 100%. Absolutely 100%. That's Dr. Rose's 4-pets. He was taken out of his

home because his father was a drug addict and gets a frenic, by the way, and he was out of control. He's drug, he dealt drugs. And he was a homicidal maniac. If I put out my hand to be loved, it turns like it waxed in the head and kicked across the room. Or I got to watch my mother being choked at that, so killed. And I got a father come so much to try to kill me. I don't think I'm going to be normal. So why is it so complicated that people can't figure out why people are psychopaths and

murderers? I mean, it's quite simple. I don't have to otherwise. Later in 2010, a therapist with a department of corrections met with Niko, sometimes as often as every week. She also maintained he was hearing the voice of the God Apophis and believed Nico's threats that he would kill when released. Not only were his delusions consistent, but Nico's paranoia about taking medications also persisted as well, even though he was much calmer when he was taking them. The important thing to know about this therapist is that she kept up the sessions because she did not believe he was faking mental illness. She agreed with a diagnosis of Dr. Olivello and felt Nico needed to be transferred to an outside facility that was better equipped to handle him. Because she was so concerned, she wrote the parole board with this recommendation.

Nico Jenkins should be treated at the Lincoln Regional Center, and if parole, mental health treatment should continue as part of his parole. She had never written a letter like this before. like this before. Equally concerned was then Nebraska-Umbudsman Marshall Lux. Umbudsman, what's that? It's an official, officially appointed to investigate individuals' complaints against maladministration or badly run administration, especially that of public authorities.

Who was complaining though? Nico Jenkins. Why was he complaining? Well, it was because four people were dead and they didn't have to be. And according to Nico, it was the Nebraska Department of Corrections fault. Neko Jenkins took the lives of four people when he was fresh out of prison. In the span of ten days, he wreaked havoc on all of the Omaha residents who feared they might be next. After all, the murders were random and reckless acts committed by one of the most feared men in the state, assisted by his own even more terrifying sister and

other family members. But according to Niko, there were several reasons the blame of the dead should not land on him. First, he was documented to be insane. He worshipped Apophis the Egyptian god of chaos and death, and he had the penis to prove it. and death, and he had the penis to prove it. Second, he was not given appropriate mental health treatment in prison. And third, instead of receiving proper help, he was repeatedly placed in solitary confinement. Finally, he warned everyone clearly that if he were released without some kind of transition or help, he would kill. And he did. So it must be someone else's fault.

According to a statement Nico made to detectives, the Nebraska Department of Corrections is so responsible. This is equivalent to me being a pit bull that they pull off that chain and whoever it hurt, you're responsible for it. Because you knew the danger of the animal, knew the danger that you created in that cell. As a result of Nico filing formal complaints and eventually suing the prison to no avail, an oversight committee was formed and headed by a man named Marshall Lux.

It all starts with the complaint that Nico brought to our office, which he was entitled to do as an inmate in our correctional system. To really understand it, we need to start with the beginning for Nico. He was originally committed, I believe it was in the year 2000 to the Youth Corrections Facility, which is located in Omaha. That's where underage inmates serving felony sentences are kept while they're young. His original offenses as I recall were armed robbery.

He was about 16 years old at the time that he went into that facility. Then in 2003 2003 he was transferred to the Lincoln Correctional Center, which as I said is an adult facility, and he very quickly got involved in an assault on another inmate. He had been a management problem for the corrections people, even when he was in the youth facility, and he continued that behavior while he was at the adult facility. And so after this assault that he committed on another inmate, he was placed in a segregation cell. Segregation cells, or solitary confinement, have been documented by the APA, the American Psychiatric Association,

as having a very negative outcome. The APA opposes the use of segregation for more than 14 days because of its detrimental effects on mental health. Clinical impacts of isolation even on healthy people include perceptual distortions, hallucinations, revenge fantasies, decreased brain function, and self-mutilation, among several other maladaptive behaviors. Remember by the time 2013 rolled around, Niko had spent as much as 60% of his time there. When he came to us, his complaints all revolved around those issues of his mental health

treatment, of meds, his being placed in segregation. And the other thing that is important to realize is that throughout this entire period and later, in his communication with the mental health staff of Nico Jenkins, continually articulated, I guess, what we would refer to as ideations about how he intended to kill innocent people once he was released from custody. This was not a rare occurrence. This happened a number of times throughout his history in the system. He'd talk to mental health staff and he'd talk about ideas about going from house to house

and killing people once he was released about how he was destined to be a homicidal maniac that he would wage war on society and basically that he would kill people indiscriminately once he was released from custody. These concerns were voiced by the Oversight Committee, Dr. Olivello, another female psychiatrist, Niko, and even his mother. And they continued until it was nearly time for his sentence to expire. Late in Mr. Jenkins sentence, and remember, we're talking about a person here who has been in the system since 2010, but has a sentence which is going to expire in 2013. I think it was in July of 2013. So the clock is ticking. Someday his sentence is going to expire and he's going to have to

be released. And so as this, as time is running out, we in, in the Ombudsman's office, we're getting, remember, we're talking about someone who's Sitting in a segregation cell and has been for much of his career in the correction system and if nothing changed after 2011 He was going to ride out the to the end of his sentence in 2013 and be released cold in the community from a segregation cell. So from a place where he was totally isolated from almost all of other human contact and our concern was that there needed to be some plan for transitioning him gradually from a segregation sale into a larger community within the correction system and then gradually into general populations.

One solution proposed by this oversight committee was to place NECO in a separate facility to be evaluated and properly treated since inmates and segregation rarely have access to adequate mental health treatment Let alone access to professionals If they're lucky they receive a weekly session with a therapist who merely decides if the inmate is a suicide risk Then they get sent off on their way back to their cell Even Nebraska state senator Ernie Chambers became involved. The senator was known for his civil rights advocacy. I had contacted the department director myself and told him we don't want this man to come out into our

community without the treatment that you can provide while he's there and we have four people dead who did not have to die. And I place it at the feet of the Department of Corrections and the director, Houston and the governor for not properly managing that department. And I'm in the process of compiling documentary evidence, which is not confidential that the department had, including a request by neco's mother that a civil commitment be undertaken in johnson county

apparently even neco's mom who had not been in solitary confinement and was the one who purchased the ammo actually alerted officials about the craziness of her son and although martial l Lux and his committee received Senator Chambers letter, the Department of Corrections never notified the Douglas County attorney. Plus, within six months of Niko's mandatory discharge from prison, a reputable psychiatrist had compiled

a report confirming that Niko met the qualifications for a civil commitment to a treatment facility. This information never reached the proper channels and in fact was intentionally withheld by a physician who made the last call. And that call was Niko's not crazy. It's shocking to realize how subjective these calls really are. The report that never made it included information that Niko was still indicating difficulties

with mental health issues, anger, and self-harm behaviors. At the time of the evaluation, he was on 15-minute checks for suicide. He had also cut himself in the face and refused to allow medical staff to remove the stitches because the cut was a declaration of war. Nico also said, at the time, he was going to, quote, eat the hearts of women, men, and children." Upon his release, he was requesting emergency psychiatric treatment on a daily basis at that time. When we interviewed both Dr. Olivello, Niko's private psychiatrist and Marshall Luxe, they alluded to the differences in mental health treatment between the Douglas

County jail, where Niko actually seemed to be improving under the care of psychiatrists versus the Lincoln state run facility. This was explained by Marshall Luxe. And so you always have to worry about the pressures that the mental health staff in these settings are under to do things or recommend things that are consistent with what the warden wants or what the security staff wants. Clearly that did not happen in Douglas County and I'm not able to say with any certainty that's what was going on in the correction system, but it is something to consider and it is a factor in these situations. There is this tension between the metal health staff and the security staff about how to handle these cases. And that's a challenge for the metal health staff,

a very serious one, and that they have to deal with, and it's hard, it makes their job harder. That's too bad. It was indeed too bad for Andrea Krueger, Curtis Bradford, and the other two victims of Nico and his god, a poffess. On September 5th, 2013, he was charged with the four homicides. Everyone was still wondering,

is Nico Jenkins crazy, including the judge who ordered him to be evaluated yet again. A hearing was held and a state psychiatrist declared Nico competent. So the judge went ahead and allowed Nico to represent himself. Inside the courtroom, it seemed like Nico Jenkins ran the show. Yelling something about a socialist revolution at our cameras and during his hearing, yelling over Judge Peter Battalion, quote, let me talk your honor, you're violating my human rights. Even calling Judge Battalion prejudice, the same judge that will oversee his trial in the absence of a jury. But right out of the gate, Jenkins made an objection. Battalion asking to what? Jenkins said he filed two motions, when saying his Miranda rights were violated after being arrested for four murders last summer.

The other, against Douglas County Attorney Don Cline, but Battalion says those motions were filed in properly. At one point, Jenkins looking over at Klein and grinning. Judge Battalion scolded him saying, quote, you only need to look up here. You don't need to make faces. Jenkins saying, I only smiled. Battalion arguing back while smiling is a face. Throughout his entire trial, Nico continued to profess that he was hearing voices and corroborated his claims with courtroom outbursts of howling, growling, laughing at the mention of the

deaths and speaking in tongues. If you're listening to this and you're a judge, and a murder suspect wants to represent himself, just say no. Just go ahead and say no. Just go ahead and say no. The prosecution called only four witnesses and the victim's family had to endure the circus side show called Nico Jenkins. Finally, the three-judge panel sentenced him to death. He was also sentenced to 450 years in prison on weapons charges connected with the murders. Niko's is the first death penalty to be given since Nebraska voted to bring it back. His sister, mom, and uncle are also doing time for their roles.

Therefore, this battle finds that the death penalty is appropriate, should be and is here by given for each of the four murders by the defendant. Cal 1 murder in the first degree, a class 1 felony, Cal 2 use of a deadly weapon firearm to commit a felony, 45 to 50 years to run consecutive to all murder convictions. Cal 3 possession of a deadly weapon by a prohibited person, 45 to 50 years to run consecutive This sentence only occurred after several more attempts were made to evaluate Niko and determine if he was competent to withstand the death penalty phase, as he seemed to fade in and out of lucidity. He now presented with the face of not only crazy,

but possibly stupid. He had since taken a razor to his now billboard-like face and attempted to carve 666 onto his forehead to join his lovely Satan tattoo. Too bad he was looking in a mirror at the time and confused himself. The etching turned out to read 999 or 222 depending on how you look at it. He now sits on death row, but of course he's appealing. In the meantime, a lovely woman, in some apparent desperate need for attention and drama, has professed her love for him and they plan to be married. Probably a my favorite murder fan. In the words of the man who possibly knew Nico best, one last time he was Dr. Olivello.

But I'm gonna tell you something, Nico was disconnected from his soul. And you're talking to a guy that's evaluated at a over 100,000 people grew up with La grew up with the mafia and the mafia Italian neighborhood. He will never allow himself to be killed. He already said it to some degree that he'll never get me in the elected chair. On April 20th, 2020, the Supreme Court declined to hear Nico Jenkins appeal. Regardless of whether Nico meets his fate by lethal injection or somehow chooses his own fate,

he will likely continue decorating himself with wounds and asking for psychiatric help. In the meantime, his notorious family legacy lives on in the streets of Omaha. Nico Jenkins did in fact try to warn anyone that would listen. He knew what he was capable of and what he would do when he got out of prison. He knew what the voices had been telling him his entire life, ever since he was six. Even after Nico warned that he would kill when he was released, the system went ahead

and made the wrong choice. The easy choice. They let him out, wiped their hands of him and he was no longer their problem. According to Nico, the system slowly helped create the monster. But was the monster always really there? Waiting to make the wrong choice, the easy choice. Well, thank you for joining us. We hope you had a good time. This is the beginning of season 8.

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