True Crime with Kimbyr - Halloween Horror: The Tragic Fate of Nikki Hutchings

Episode Date: April 11, 2025

Halloween is a night of costumes and fun—but for 21-year-old Nikki Hutchings, it became a real-life nightmare. In this chilling episode of True Crime with Kimbyr, Kimbyrleigha unravels the haunting story of Nikki’s tragic fate. What started as a festive night turned into a sinister tale of obsession, misplaced trust, and devastating consequences. Who was hiding behind the mask that fateful night? And how did Nikki’s story unfold in the small town of Bend, Oregon? Join us as we uncover the dark truth behind this heart breaking case. This is a Halloween story you won’t forget. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Halloween. It's the one night of the year when it's perfectly normal for monsters to walk among us. It's the time when everyone puts on their costumes and masks and heads out to play make-believe. But what if there was someone truly evil hiding behind one of those disguises? And they used the dark bestivity of Halloween to turn a nightmare into reality. That's exactly what happened to 21-year-old Nikki Hutchings. and this is her story. Hi everyone, welcome back to my channel, and if you've never been here before,

I'm Kimberlea, nice to finally meet you. So I feel like I haven't been here for a while, but I've actually done more videos than usual. They're just not on my regular day, but today's a special day because it is Halloween, and this is the last video in my Halloween series for this year, and I'm going to miss this series. I'm so thankful for all of you who tuned in,

and now we're going to be heading into our fall Fright Mare series. Like I said, this is the very last video for the All Hallows Horrors series. And I'd like to introduce you to Nicole Marie Hutchings. Nicole, who was called Nikki by her family and friends, was born in San Francisco California on June 15, 1983, to her mom Robin, who met Nicole's stepfather James Hutchings, who went by Jim, when Nicole was only one and a half years old. Jim was the only father that Nikki ever knew, and he considered her his daughter and and raised her like she was.

So I'm going to refer to Jim as Nikki's father, like she did. Over the coming years, two more children joined the Hutchings family. Nikki got a little sister Amanda in January of 1987 and her little brother Timothy in July of 1992. After Jim got out of the Marine Corps in 1987, he and Robin decided they wanted to raise their family in a quieter, smaller town,

and they fell in love with Bend, Oregon. It had such a peaceful atmosphere. and it was one of the first places that Jim and Robin took Nikki for vacation, and she saw snow for the very first time. It was a very memorable experience. She absolutely loved it. They played in the snow together. They built a snowman. And with all the fond memories, the family picked up and moved from California to Bend, which isn't exactly a small town per se, but it's said to be either a small city or a big town with a small town feel. It's nestled in the heart of the Cascade Mountains. Ben Oregon is a city with a split personality, so to speak. On one hand, it's a laid-back outdoor paradise.

You've got world-class skiing, mountain biking, and hiking. But on the other hand, it's a thriving, bustling, creative community with a vibrant art scene, a growing craft beer industry, and diverse culinary locations as well. So this duality is actually reflected in the city's landscape as well. Because in downtown, you'll find these charming brick buildings and tree-line streets, but if you venture a little further out, you'll find yourself surrounded by towering pines and jagged mountain peaks.

So it really is the best of both worlds and a very nice place to raise kids. So in 1987, the town had about 60,000 residents. It was definitely populated back then, and now it's central Oregon's most populated city. I think I can see why so many people want to call it home. It's gorgeous. Look at this waterfall, the snow-capped mountains. The landscape changes as well through the season, so you've got sunny summers, and then beautiful fall and snow falling in the winter. The Hutchings moved to more of a rural area.

They got a three-bedroom, two-bath, 1,300 square foot home along DeShute's River. The river was in their backyard. They could go fishing right outside, just steps away from their door. And that's something that Nikki had been doing since she was only two years old. Once in Bend, they enjoyed. taking a little Nikki to Drake Park and it's gorgeous. It's one of the city's most popular parks. A lot of people from the community frequent the area surrounded by Ponderosa Pines

and it's close to a bunch of downtown shops. And this park has many events throughout the year like music events, movies. It's a great place for a little nature walk. And it's actually the place that Nikki gave her grandpa his nickname, Grandpa Duck. Because the first time he took her there, they saw a bunch of ducks and she could hardly talk at the time, but she managed to say, grandpa duck, grandpa duck. And it's duck. And it's funny, what kind of things stick like that?

Let me know if you have any nicknames for your grandparents. I always like to know those things. I had a Mimi and a Graham. So Drake Park would also remain one of Nikki's favorite places to spend time as she got older. The Hutchings new home, like I told you, had the perfect view of this river from their kitchen and their living room windows. They settled in right before Nikki turned four and our little sister Amanda was born. As soon as she became a big sister, Robin said that Nikki was like a little mom. She was so cute, she would sit there and feed her little sister. She even helped her change her diapers, and she would always ask her mom to take little Amanda

out of her crib to play. Nikki also loved learning. Her mom said she actually begged to go to school before she was ready, and she did really well throughout her elementary years. Jim called Nikki a math-wiz, cannot relate, but she also loved learning things from her mom, who was a very proud homemaker. She liked to go camping, do kids. craft projects, write poetry, and of course, spend time with her family.

Nikki learned to cook and to sew, and she even helped sew buttons back on Jim's military uniforms. But she had a daring side as well. Not that you can't if you like doing those things, but Nikki, she liked being one of the boys, so to speak. She started shooting rifles when she was only seven years old with her dad, and she also became best buddies with her little brother, who was born five years after they settled into Bend, completing the Hutchings family. Another thing Nikki loved to do was actually have silly string fights. She and her friends from school would come over and they would have full-on silly string shootouts. I actually missed that stuff.

I got to see if I can still get my hands on it because I don't think my daughter's ever seen it before, but I remember those days. At first, Jim took a job as a long-haul trekker, but he found it was hard to balance his work and his personal life. His children were his main priority, and he hated being away from them for so long, due to the long, due to the long. the nature of his job, he would spend days, if not weeks on the road, making it hard for him to be present for all of his children's important memories. Despite his job's financial benefits, Jim ultimately left the trucking industry to spend more time with his family. There was so much to do and bend. And whether Nikki was by the water or amongst the trees, she seemed to operate on a different level. Being in nature as she grew up, put her completely at peace. And I would not go so far

as to say that she had Disney princess vibes, but picture Snow White with all the wild animals drawn to her, but that's exactly how Nikki was, and she was drawn to them too. Those who knew her said she had a magnetic energy when she was outdoors. It was almost like this radiant joy that came over her, and you could almost feel it when you were around her. She absolutely knew she wanted to be around animals as much as she could, and from a young age, she wanted to go into a career that would allow her to do just that. And sometimes you just know. At 12 years old, She no longer wanted to shoot deer when she went hunting with Jim. Instead, she would point them out and say,

Daddy, look at that deer and then they would all get scared away. And Jim said jokingly that that was the last time she ever went hunting with him. She did begin having some issues at school when she was in eighth grade. It was a tough time for her. Robin recalls having to race over to the school to find out that Nikki was in trouble yet again. She was a tough girl and she was very outspoken. If she took issue with something, she would let it be known. and not everyone like that.

And this didn't end after middle school. Nikki was known to stick up for herself and someone you should not mess with. Jim said that he taught all of his kids to defend themselves, and she did. But her outspoken nature actually came from her mama. Nikki attended Mountain View High School where she met a lot of people. She had a number of very close friends, both guys and girls. She liked to have a lot of fun, but she did have an issue of staying out of trouble when she did so. I've said it before. She had this tough side to her, and unfortunately, it led her to getting in physical fights, and one of them ended up in a suspension.

Nikki really needed an outlet, something that she could give her energy to so that she would kind of stay out of trouble. She knew she wanted to go to college and become either a veterinarian or a marine biologist. When she was old enough, she even got a tattoo of a dolphin on her left shoulder because she loved dolphins and wolves. She had a soft spot for both. So she decided to volunteer at the Humane Society of Central Oregon, and this led her to find out about an amazing opportunity to work at a wolf sanctuary. Despite all of the demands of high school and her social life, she was determined to pursue her passion, which, if you haven't guessed, was animals. When she was finally old enough, she took a job at that wolf sanctuary to gain more hands-on experience. And when she was working, she wasn't just standing around on the sidelines watching.

No, she wasn't. Nikki was always getting her hands dirty, cleaning out stalls or handling all the animals. She was up for every challenge. That included possibly going into the Marine Corps. That was something else on her list, just like her dad. So that was another outlet for her. She enrolled in the Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps

at Mountain View High. She wanted to be more regiment and work on her grades. So she also participated in the Oregon Youth Challenge Program. Now, this was sponsored by the Oregon National Guard. It's designed to teach teens work skills, and discipline, and it helped Nikki tremendously so much so that she wanted to give back. So during her teen years and the summers between her sophomore and junior year and her junior and senior year, Nikki worked with the Youth Conservation Corps. The teens in this program are given

schooling and work skill training. They would take on projects to help improve public lands, and Nikki, she was always thinking of others. She even saved enough money that she would buy other people things. And one of the things she bought was for her mom. It was a beautiful silver cross pendant and it had gold leaves on it. You can tell from everything I've told you that Nikki is compassionate, she's caring, and she loves people. During her senior year, Nikki actually moved on site of the Wolks Sanctuary, and I thought this was so cool. Her everyday routine consisted of living and taking care of these animals, and a bus would transport her to and from school. And I'd never heard of anything like this, and she absolutely loved it, and I think I would too.

Did you do something like this because it sounds really cool. It sounds too good to be true, but this is what she was doing. After Nikki graduated in 2001, she actually decided to continue living and working at the Wolf Sanctuary. She began working with horses too, and she would do guided tours for people that came to visit. Finally, in the fall of 2001, Nikki wanted a change, sort of. She wanted to come back and live with her family. And of course, she was welcomed with open arms. The thing is, she did have to move into her old room with her

little sister Amanda and there was some sibling rivalry there she was actually very close with her brother they were attached at the hip anytime they were together but Amanda she had her own group of friends she enjoyed kind of doing her own thing but the sisters did get along very well they just went through that typical time when they're two teenagers living under the same roof and in one bedroom so even though they had their normal disagreements as teens usually do they loved each other and they like spending time together with their family when nicky moved back in she quickly got a job and actually a number of them over the next few years. This is not too uncommon for a teen.

She would start working somewhere, get a few paychecks, get a little money, and then quit. She just didn't know exactly what she wanted to do yet. But one thing was certain, Nikki always knew how to make friends. Her mom remembers her bringing a new friend home every week, and she would have no idea where she met this person. But many times, Nikki would also move out and live with those friends here and there. But then she would come back to live with her family. And even when she wasn't living under their roof,

she wouldn't go more than a couple days without seeing them. They thought it was always nice having Nikki around. And they were so happy when she came back to live with them again in September of 2004. The holidays were right around the corner and the Hutchings family always look forward to spending time together. And I told you that this was a Halloween-related case. Well, the kids in Bend, Oregon, like many other children across the United States,

like to get dressed up for Halloween and go trick-or-treating almost every house was decorated and waiting for kids to come knocking. But as the Hutchings kids got older, they grew out of trick-or-treating and would rather spend time, have parties, or doing other festive activities. By 2004, the Hutchings family had relocated to a similar three-bedroom two-bath home about 15 minutes away from where they previously were living. Now, this area is much more populated. You can see lots of houses.

It's a suburban area. Their home was on the end of a cul-de-sac with breathtaking mountain views. in the Wishing Well subdivision, it was Halloween night on Sunday, October 31st in 2004. Nikki was 21, Amanda was 17, and Tim was 13. That morning, Amanda got ready for work for her job at a local department store nearby. She was expecting to get done somewhere around 7.45 p.m. Amanda did not drive yet, and she relied on either her parents or her older sister, Nikki, to pick her up and drop her off when she needed to go anywhere.

So even though Amanda's workplace was within walking distance from their home, she did not like walking home alone in the dark at night, especially on Halloween night. So she asked Nikki if she could come get her later. But Nikki had plans of her own. She wanted to stay home and hand out candy. So she said, you know what, dad will be out of work by then.

He'll probably opt to just swing by and pick you up. Jim did everything for his family, especially his kids, and he was more than happy to go get Amanda that night. He didn't want her to walk home all by herself. He called being a dad his number one job, even though his actual job was a local bus driver. Nikki wanted to be home at night for those trick-or-treaters. That's fun, being on the other side of the door once you hit a certain age, and get to hand out all the candy and see the fun costumes.

You know, I've never done that before? At my age, I've never done that before. I still go trick-or-treating every year. Before Amanda left, Nicole turned to her in a serious tone and asked her if she could talk to her about something important when she got home. It seemed like Nikki had something on her mind. So Amanda agreed that she would, and then she left. The day started out perfectly normal.

Robin and Nikki got the candy ready for the kids, and Jim went off to work. Later that evening, when he came home, the family had fun handing out some candy for a bit until Jim had to leave to go get Amanda and run a few errands. There had been many knocks on that door that night, one after the other, but there was one right before 10 p.m. that was different. It was too late to be. trick-or-treaters. And Robin was taking care of the household chores, so Nikki went to see who it was. It wouldn't have been her dad and sister who they were expecting home any minute because they

wouldn't need to knock. So she had no idea who would be at their doorstep that night. When she opened the door, she was surprised to see a couple of her close friends standing outside. They were on their way to a nearby Halloween party at a mutual friend's house and wanted to know if Nikki was interested in coming along. So Nikki, being 21, she definitely liked to hang out, party. and have a few drinks, especially on a festive night, like Halloween. So she said yes. She told her friends she would be right back, and she quickly went inside to let her mom know

that she'd be going to a friend's Halloween party. Robin didn't even think twice about it. It was completely typical of Nikki. She was very independent, but responsible enough to at least let her parents know where she was going and check in. Robin just told Nikki to be safe and have fun. She had no idea that would be the last time she saw her daughter.

The last goodbye? The last time she would see her smile as she was excited to have some fun that night. Her very last Halloween with Nikki, and one that would be undoubtedly etched into her memory forever. When Nikki got to the Halloween party, it was filled with a bunch of her friends as well as people that she didn't know. Some were in full-on costumes, so you couldn't even make out who they were,

and then other people came dressed in normal everyday clothing, and that is how Nikki went, because it was a choice that she made at the very last minute. But there was dancing, of course, loud music, drinking, all while being surrounded by Halloween decorations. This party extended past midnight into the early morning hours of November 1st. As everyone fell back into their post-spooky season normality, the Hutchings household was getting up for a typical Monday morning. That's when Jim noticed that Nikki wasn't around. So he checked her room and she wasn't there.

He had no idea that she had gone out the night before. The last time he saw her, she was in her room filling out, job applications. By the time he came home with Amanda, he had no idea she already left. But when he couldn't find her that morning, Robin let him know that she attended a Halloween party at a friend's house the night before. When he heard this, she was like, oh, okay, that makes sense. She was probably drinking and she decided to sleep over at a friend's house. He figured she would call and check in or show back up at the house by the afternoon. Maybe she slept in after a long night. I mean, she hadn't even left until a little after 10 p.m. Typically, the morning.

After a Halloween party or any party isn't nearly as fun and glamorous as the night before. When you're all dressed up and your costume or your cute outfit and you've had a few drinks, you feel emboldened to do things you wouldn't normally do if your face was showing without the mask or you were sober. And that following morning always comes with a healthy dose of reality. Groggy partygoers wake up with blistering hangovers and their face still caked with last night's makeup. When the dark cloud of Halloween is lifted and the costumes are tucked away and the makeup, and the makeup is washed off. Everyone goes back to their typical lives in the real world.

But Nikki still wasn't home by late afternoon, and she hadn't called her family. So they started to question why. It wasn't like her to be that out of touch. Jim and Robin also noticed that Nikki had left the night before without her purse or her ID. Both were still in her bedroom. Now granted, this was a house party with friends.

She wouldn't have had to show proof that she was 21 years old and she got a ride. But it also signaled to them. The Nikki intended to come home in a reasonable amount of time. since at some point she would need her belongings. It's true, if someone has like a purse or wallet that they use all the time,

they're probably not going to even leave that behind at all. And if they do, it's because they figure they'll be right back. So now Nikki's family is growing concerned. They still weren't that worried, but they did begin calling a number of Nikki's friends and there was a lot to get in touch with. So they were hoping that at least one of them was with her or knew where she was. This went on into the evening.

And the family had called everyone who was close to close to Nikki and then began calling her acquaintances, people she babysat for. They just wanted to exhaust all avenues before taking the dreaded next step of calling the police. But no one knew where Nikki was. And now there was a reason to be concerned. They knew if Nikki was just with friends, she would have let them know, especially if she wasn't coming back home. This is when the Hutchings started to have a very bad feeling and they reached out to Bend Police Department. Something I didn't know before researching this case. case is that there's actually a spike in crimes during certain holidays in America, and Halloween

is one of them. I figured New Year's, but that's more drunk driving deaths. However, Independence Day and Halloween rank high as times of the year when violent crime in particular tends to go up. Now, I do holiday homicides, and now I know why I stumble on such heartbreaking stories at times when people are usually looking forward to the holiday cheer. The types of crimes that typically go up on July 4th and Halloween are burglaries, carjacking, vandalism, and alcohol-related crimes like underage drinking. Christmas and New Year's, sadly, there's a spike in more domestic crimes, and that's sad and shocking. The police in Bend, Oregon actually dread going on patrol during Halloween night.

It's one of the worst nights of year for them. It's as though the darkness of the night dedicated to evil provides a veil for real-life monsters to lurk in those shadows. The police are not used to getting calls for adults going missing, and when they do, you probably know what they assume, that these people want to disappear, that they've left on their own free will. But they still take these reports seriously.

Sometimes they just approach them a little differently, but there were some red flags right away in this case. For one, Nikki left her ID in purse behind, as we know, and then she got a ride from someone, and no one knew where she was or who that was. There were a lot of unknowns. What Ben Police did know was that Nikki was 21 years old, five feet four inches tall,

weighed 160 pounds and had brown hair and blue eyes. The other unique identifiers were that she had a slight gap between her two front teeth, a pierced tongue with a silver barbell, and tattoos of a rose and a dolphin on the back of her left shoulder. She was last seen wearing a maroon polo shirt with the word city of bend on it, and black windbreaker style pants with white tennis shoes. The Bend Police Department sent Detective Brian Kendall out to meet the Hutchings and take a detailed report. He talks to Robin, Amanda, and Jim, and they tell him everything we already know. But there were a couple things that I haven't gone into detail about first.

Amanda kept stressing that her sister wouldn't leave like this. And then she mentioned something that stood out. The fact that, remember right before leaving for work, Nikki stopped her and told her she had something important to talk to her about. And then she recalled Nikki just telling her, I love you, and I'll see you later. But she never did see her later. So she can't help but wonder what Nikki wanted to confide in her about. That bothered Amanda.

She felt like it might have something to do with why she's gone. That would be very haunting, not knowing what Nikki was hiding or wanted to get off her chest.