True Crime with Kimbyr - Halloween Horror: The Tragic Fate of Nikki Hutchings: Part 2

Episode Date: April 14, 2025

As the investigation into Nikki Hutchings' disappearance deepens, chilling details emerge. In this gripping episode of True Crime with Kimbyr, Kimbyrleigha uncovers the disturbing twists in Nikki’s story—secrets, betrayals, and the dark forces lurking behind a seemingly ordinary night. What clues did investigators uncover? And who was the last person to see Nikki alive? The search for answers takes a shocking turn, leading detectives closer to the horrifying truth. Don’t miss this intense second chapter in Nikki’s tragic case. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The other new piece of evidence is that Nikki had a boyfriend named Bobby. She'd been seeing him for a while and at first, Jim and Robin liked him. He seemed really nice and he got along with the whole family and things seemed to work out really nicely between him and Nikki. But as time went on, the Hutchings felt like they were seeing more of Bobby's true colors. And they did not like the way he treated Nikki. He seemed to take advantage of her and they had reason to believe that things could have gotten physical between them. So now, since Nikki's missing, they're questioning whether Bobby

could be responsible. By the next day, Nikki still had not shown up. This is November 2nd, and there really wasn't much to go on. But Detective Kandel wanted to track Bobby down to see if he had any additional information for them. He also wanted to find out if any of Nikki's friends could provide more information about the location of the Halloween party, as well as the host and everyone that was in attendance at night. They would need to question everyone. Meanwhile, the Hutchings are now in a panic. A whole day has gone by 24 hours with no word from Nikki. It was hard to go about your normal activities when a huge piece of your life is missing. I couldn't function. I know I couldn't. Every time I do a case like this, I can't help

but feel so awful for the family. All they could do was wait. And Jim felt like the worst part was not knowing where Nikki was. That was the hardest part. It's the unknown. Detectives track Bobby Hunt down and ask him if he knew where Nikki was. He essentially told them it's not his job to keep tabs on his ex-girlfriend, and that piqued their interests. Ex-girlfriend. Since when, they wondered, and he let them know right away that he and Nikki broke up over that past weekend, so just a couple days before she attended that Halloween party and was not seen again. And that raised a red flag.

Had the breakup turned into something more sinister or even deadly. In order to rule Bobby out, the detectives tell him, we would like to have a formal interview with you, and we would like you to take a polygraph. I know they're not reliable enough to be used as evidence in court, but they can be used as a tool to detect deception, and that could be a big clue for them. Bobby was asked questions related to whether he had anything to do when Nikki's disappearance, and it turned out

there was no deception detected in his responses. He also had an alibi for Halloween night, and it was able to be confirmed. Now, this doesn't mean that they just check him off their list as a potential suspect. It just means for the time being, they can continue looking in other directions that might bring in more viable leads. But they didn't have any, and days just kept passing. And Nikki's family was not doing well. Amanda was having a very hard time dealing with the emptiness that she felt.

She said it left a hole that was just empty space in her life. And she described it as horrifying. The family and even the police began monitoring her credit cards and her bank statements, but there was no recent activity. The local daily newspaper and media outlet called the Ben Bulletin began posting about Nikki's disappearance and Ben Police Department put out their own news release, asking anyone with information to please contact Detective Brian Kendall. They were still in the process of tracking down all of those partygoers from Halloween night.

And finally, one woman that they were interviewing named Mary says that not only is she a friend of Nickies, but she was at the party and it was thrown at the house she lives in. So of course, they want to know detail. Hills. Mary explains she lives with two roommates. Both of them are men, Lauren Bowers, and the other is Craig Whiting. They threw a big Halloween party that night. They invited a bunch of their friends, including Nikki, who was very good friends with both of them. Now, Lauren had a girlfriend that had two kids. One was six, and the other was four. And Nikki would come over to babysit them all the time, and that's how she met Mary. As far as the party was concerned, Mary said that there was nothing

out of the ordinary. But she wasn't able to give a full account of everyone in attendance because there was a lot of people coming and going the night. Some even brought their own friends, but at least they had two names of people they could reach out to. They waste no time. They get the address and detectives go over to Lauren and Craig's to see if they could provide them with any new leads. When they arrive, the house is packed with a bunch of friends, roommates are just hanging out, and they asked to speak to a 34-year-old Lauren and 23-year-old Craig separately. Both of them say the same They explained they have known Nikki for a long time. Craig tells them that he's a very close friend with her and her family, that he even lived with them for quite some time when he was trying to find

a place of his own. And Lauren explains that he's been best friends with Craig. And they live together with Mary at the house where the Halloween party was held, the one that the officers were standing in front of at that moment. They explained that they planned this party earlier that month, and Craig added that he was actually the one that came to Nikki's house that night. He thought Nikki could use a night out, and he was in the area so he stopped by to ask her if she wanted to come over maybe he knew about the breakup and you know how that goes sometimes when you're finally single you get to hang out more everyone living in lawrence house was interviewed but none of them knew where nicky might be they said the party was packed and the last time they think they saw her was probably around midnight they were all drinking

and many partygoers were heavily intoxicated that night niki's friends were genuinely worried about her they weren't overly concerned at this point they were just all hoping that she would turn back up but no one had heard from her or seen her since that night. If they did provide anything, it was more of their own opinions instead of facts, like giving possibilities of where Nikki might be. Maybe she left with someone. Did you talk to her boyfriend? Things like that.

However, the detectives were able to get more names of friends who were there that night. And when asked if they remembered seeing Nikki, many said they didn't. And if anyone said they did, it was maybe for a few minutes. It's kind of like she was invisible that night. No one really recalled when she left or even seeing her leave. They don't remember anything that stood out to them. For example, if she had been like the last to leave the party with a whole bunch of other people, maybe somebody would remember that.

Like, we closed it down. It was like no significant interactions took place to put a time on when they recalled seeing her last, if at all. And it is tough. You don't go into a party or anywhere saying, I better remember everything I saw because I'm going to be questioned about this later. It's hard to rack your brain after the fact. And now detectives wonder if Nikki wandered out of this house on her own that night. Did she get intoxicated and walk off? Did she get kidnapped?

Was there a stranger in this house with bad intentions? But they weren't much further in this investigation. And when Nikki's family was asked about Lauren and Craig, it was kind of a dead end. They echoed the same things that the guys had told the detectives. Jim confirmed that Craig is a close friend of Nicky's. Everyone loved him. They called him Baby Huey because he was a big, goofy guy and a good guy. So this helped detectives move along.

and expand the search outward to other states now. Nikki's picture, all for information and details surrounding her disappearance, was shared across agencies all over the country. Since they don't have any new leads, they decide to run some background checks on everyone living at the house that hosted the party, as well as people that were in attendance. They have to start somewhere. And there weren't that many things that stood out if anyone had a record.

There were no violent crimes. Craig didn't have any offenses, but there was one thing that looked questionable in regard to Nikki's good friend Lauren Bowers. It's something that stunned everyone close to him, especially Nikki's family. It turned out that Lauren was a registered S offender. I think you know what that means, and it's not good. And no one knew. Nikki's dad remembers getting that news and being floored. He could not imagine that at all. The charge, in case you're wondering, was from a decade before this, and it was for intercourse with someone underage, and this man was 24 at the time. So, of course,

Dr. Kandel goes back to confront Lauren about his past, and he's very open about it. He explains that was a mistake. It's something for my past. It happened a long time ago, and he's moved forward. It had been, I think, a decade by then. And he wants to keep it in the past. He told them that he would do whatever they needed in order to cooperate in Nikki's case. And I mean, wow, this is pretty disturbing.

And it makes me wonder if anyone close to him knew about this. I mean, he was registered. But as it related to Nikki's case at hand, there was no concern. There was no connection or evidence of Lauren or anyone else they interviewed knew anything. Plus, at this point, it's still a missing person's case. They don't have any real evidence to connect to anyone. They're still in the information gathering phase. Now, Nikki's family organized a local search effort in Bend.

They distributed flyers with her picture and a description. And several members of her family spoke to local media. And they asked anyone with information to contact law enforcement. And that's when people started to come forward. They were telling police that they had seen Nikki. And this made her family so hopeful. But the problem was none of these eyewitness accounts could be confirmed. And as a bus driver, all Jim found himself doing was driving by Drake Park every time he was working

and just keeping his eyes out for anyone that looked like his daughter. The whole family was having a hard time believing that this was their new reality. But they were really trying to hold on to hope that Nikki would be found and found alive. Every time they saw someone that resembled her, they stopped and they took a closer look. And every time a knock came to the door, they thought it could be Nikki, but it wasn't. And then things take a darker turn. There were three separate tipsters who came forward and told the police to look into a guy known as Spider. But the reason why was pretty terrifying.

Apparently, this man had admitted to killing Nikki and burying her body on his property. Yeah, that would definitely be a reason to look into him. So they made the spider person their main priority, and after digging deeper, they find out his real name is Danny Shane. He's also a convicted felon, and he's associated with a local and violent gang known as the park rats. And the name might be kind of silly, but their actions were nothing to laugh about. They had been committing offenses on people in the downtown Bend area targeting Drake Park specifically. That's where the name came from, park rats. But that's also a location that Nikki frequented.

It was not the safest place at night. During the day, beautiful, but at night, it was being overrun by homeless encampments. There were alcohol-related offenses going on and natural risks as well, like wild animals coming out and roaming the area. So many locals knew better than to go there at night. This particular gang had been known to be involved in drug dealing, and Spider specifically had a bad reputation for harassing people. He was also the so-called gang leader.

So they apprehend him and they bring him in for questioning. When the name Spider is mentioned to Nikki's family, the detectives are surprised that they're actually familiar with Danny. They do not know him personally, but Jim and Amanda have both heard the name before because Nicky went to high school with Danny or Spider. And he had changed a lot since then, and Jim definitely made it clear he was not a fan. So the detectives asked Spider how he knows Nikki and he says high school. And they say, when's the last time you talk to her and he says he thinks it was a few weeks

ago, well, that lines up to when she went missing. So they asked whether there was an issue between the two of them, and he's looking at them genuinely confused, and says no. And that's when they let him know that Nikki was missing. So you know what he tells them? He tells them that she probably wanted to go somewhere if she's gone. That's not the best answer. So they go one step further, and they give him a polygraph, which Danny agrees to. And he passes with no deception. But it was so hard not to think that he knew more than he was letting on. I mean, those are pretty harsh allegations that he's going around telling people he killed Nikki and she was buried on his property.

So after letting him go, the Bend Police Department sent out helicopters to fly over Danny's house and the land that he lived on. They were looking for disturbed ground where a grave could have been dug, but they were not able to locate anything. It's been a few weeks now, and they were scanning for a grain. which meant there was a possibility that they believed that Nikki could be dead. And her family had already been preparing themselves to get that kind of news. Because weeks turned into months and still nothing.

And the chances of her being alive didn't seem high. Something I wanted to mention is that Nikki's little brother Tim was only 13, and he had a very hard time understanding that someone could just be gone. It's not something that parents think about explaining to their children. explaining to their children. They don't ever think they're going to have to explain that their sibling just vanishes. And it's not something we usually teach our children about because we don't ever want that to be the case in our own family. Jim said that Tim worshipped the ground that Nikki walked on. He was completely lost without his big sister. And the whole family felt disconnected. They all had a

new purpose. And that was finding Nikki. It consumed them day in and day out. Amanda didn't even know who she was without being a younger sister to Nikki. Her whole identity was. in crisis, it's like they could not move forward without answers. And it wasn't long after this that the Hutchings were contacted by the Portland, Oregon Police Department. And it's not a call that any family wants to receive. They were told that a body had been found, and it matched Nikki's description. So they wanted someone from the family to make an identification. Everyone was in shock. But Jim decided to ask one question. Did the victim have a tattoo of a dolphin on her left shoulder? And as they waited to hear back,

I'm sure it was agonizing. And when the officer called Jim and informed him, that there was not a tattoo located on this person, as harsh as it sounds. They were relieved that it wasn't Nikki. But it was heartbreaking that somewhere out there, there was a family that lost someone. Sadly, now the Hutchings knew what it was like to get a phone call like that,

and they were hoping they wouldn't have to experience the reality of it. But we know the story doesn't end well. Finally, there seemed to be some surprisingly good news. Detectives had continued to track Nikki's credit card, her bank account, and cell phone, and after a few months, their persistence eventually paid off. The detectives receive a hit on one of Nicole's credit cards, and they were excited. This was an indication that Nikki was still out there. They just needed to track down where these purchases were made, and they didn't waste any time.

They immediately reached out to the Hutchings, and Robin answered, and they let her know the news. about all hope was dashed when Robin admitted that it was actually her that used that account. It was not Nikki. And that would be tough because you're expecting to hear some good news and then it's not. It's nothing. It's another dead end.

And after so many months went by, the calls from detectives came in less and less because the case was growing colder and colder. Life was standing still for the Hutchings. Amanda was a senior in high school and she was so excited about applying to colleges earlier that year and eagerly awaiting her acceptance letters. But now, none of that seemed important.

Eventually, she did learn that she had not only been accepted to a university in Minnesota, but she got a full scholarship, and she was overjoyed to hear this news, but at the same time, she could not leave her family, not at a time like this. The question about what happened to Nikki would linger for close to three long years.

As it turned out, there was someone hiding something. They knew what happened. It took them that long to build up the courage to come forward and reveal that secret. And I'm sitting here imagining holding in a secret like that. In March of 2007, a woman that I'm going to call Jenny came into the Bend police station wanting to speak with an officer.

She's an old friend of Nicky's, and she wants to come forward with information about her disappearance. Now for some background. They find out they had already interviewed Jenny back when they were questioning everyone who attended. the Halloween party. She was there. She was the girlfriend of Lauren Bowers, the one with the six-year-old and the four-year-old child at the time. She's the mother of one of Lauren's children, the younger one. But they had a pretty rocky relationship, and they had since broken up. That is what prompted

her to speak up, and what she says astonishes the detectives. They asked her what happened, and Jenny said that Lauren killed Nikki. They wanted to know how she knew that. And Jenny admitted that Lauren told her he was going to kill Nikki that night. And later, she saw her show up at that house and she knew it wasn't going to be good. That is a lot to keep inside. And she goes on to explain that she remembers a couple days after Lauren told her that he was going to kill Nikki. And then she showed up at the Halloween party. That's when police come to their door and tell them she's missing.

Jenny was questioned. But at the time, she lied. And she said it had been a few weeks since she's off. on Nikki last, but that wasn't true. She told him she lied because she was scared. She says that Lauren actually threatened her saying if she ever told anyone, he would shoot her in the head, right between the eyes actually. This wasn't the first time he told her not to talk, so she kept quiet. But this was merely words. It was a story. There was no solid proof. At this point, there wasn't even a body. So the detectives devised a plan. They asked Jenny if she thought that Lauren

would talk to her about the whole situation, and she said she thought he would. So this woman bravely agreed to wear a wire and meet with Lauren while the cops are standing by with rifles and they're listening in to make sure the Jenny isn't in any danger. She arranged to meet Lauren at a park to talk. And the plan seemed to work. Lauren met with Jenny, and she told him she wanted to know everything

that happened to Nikki. Here's part of that interaction that was recorded. I want to know what happened. That bitch was trying to destroy my life with you. How was I supposed to stop? Lauren asked Jenny if he could trust her. When she said yes, he revealed that Nikki was trying to destroy Lauren's life with Jenny. He didn't know what else he was supposed to do,

and he would rather be dead and go back to jail. He actually said he would rather take his own life than go back to jail. But detectives have no idea what Lauren is referring to, but they're still listening and hoping to get some more context. But instead, Lauren starts to become agitated. with Jenny asking more and more probing questions. He wants to know why all of a sudden do you want to know about all this?

And that's not good. He gets suspicious and he point blank asked Jenny if she told the cops he had done something and then he asked her if she was wearing a wire. And Jenny, of course, said no. And she's like, you actually believe that I would wear an effing wire? And I guess that was convincing. But Lauren explains, ironically,

that Jenny has no idea how good the technology is, that they could tap anything. And this is 2007. So imagine how far it's come now. Why are you asking me these questions? Does you tell the cost I did something? But this is not going well for Jenny. However, somehow she knew how to calm him down.

Enough for him to admit that in his words, he had her gotten rid of. Wow. I'm going to need to know what did you do? I had her gotten rid of, okay? That was enough to arrest Lauren Bowers. Lauren Bowers. It was at the very least in admission that he knew what happened to Nikki, and he had something to do with it if he wasn't the person that actually did it.