True Crime with Kimbyr - Part 2: Her Kids SAW Her KILLER! Pure Horror Inside The House

Episode Date: October 15, 2025

In Part 2 of True Crime with Kimbyr, we pick up where the horror left off — inside Niccole “Nikki” Halpin’s shattered home. Investigators begin to untangle a web of clues, from the chilling 911 call to the terrifying details uncovered at the crime scene. As suspicion mounts, those closest to Nikki come under intense scrutiny, and shocking revelations about her personal life start to surface. True Crime with Kimbyr takes you deeper into the investigation, revealing the twists, suspects, and emotional fallout that would shape the search for justice in Nikki’s case. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The thing about Chris is that I told you he was an engineer. It wasn't only his personal computer. He also used it for work purposes. And that seemed to be the hesitation. But they were like, we're going to get it back to you. Nothing will be deleted. And then he finally let them have it. Now that they have that squared away,

they have to find out more about Nikki. And while all that's happening, local Massachusetts officers are showing up at her parents' front door. It's the middle of the night. Almost 2,000 miles away. And her father Nelson gets out of bed. He answers the door and her mother, who's still in bed, literally hears her husband almost screaming.

No, no, no. So she comes out, she looks, and she sees that it's an officer. And that's when she knew it wasn't good. And that's when she overheard the officer saying that their daughter Nikki had been brutally attacked and that she was still alive, but in critical condition. It was shocking. It's not what any parent expects or wants to hear.

They also don't want to hear the next question that came out of the officer's mouth. but they needed to know. So they asked if they knew anyone who would want to harm Nikki. And the first name that comes out of her mother's mouth was Don Halpin. She never cared for Don. He had given Nikki so much grief, they fought so much,

they just went through a divorce. She said she would bet money that it was Don. And after this, Nikki's parents and her sister took the first flight they could to Florida as fast as they could to be by her side. Now, this made perfect sense to detect Once Lori had explained that Dawn would be the person in charge of that settlement money if Nikki was dead? That's a million dollar motive.

But the most important thing in this moment was getting to Nikki. Once in her hospital room, the shock really hit this family. Nikki's injuries were severe. She was inundated with a ventilator that was helping her breathe. In order to treat her injuries and facilitate medical procedures, Nikki's head had to be shaved and bandages were carefully wrapped. wrapped around her head. Her father looked at her and told his wife that this was not good.

And Lori agreed. Nikki was on life support. Without these machines working to keep her alive, it didn't look like she was going to make it. To realize your child was just there, just living their life hours before this, and now this was the state that she was in? It's beyond devastating. It's unreal. And Lori didn't know what to think.

I don't think your mind is fully able to understand what's going on in these moments. Like, I think the primal instincts take over and you have all these, you know, hormones, endorphins, things going through your mind, you've got adrenaline. But her motherly instinct told her that all she needed to do in that moment is just hug her daughter. And that's what she did. She just hugged her so tight. She kissed her. She held onto her.

And then she just started to sing. And when I listened to this, it almost brought me to tears. It broke me. It's just so unfair to me that someone else can play God and take away someone like this, someone that everyone loves so much, just poor mother. There was this song that her mom used to sing to her when she was just a baby. And the lyrics were simple. It was Nikki's mama's girl, and her mom would sing it over and over again.

She would just hug Nikki in her hospital bed with tears just streaming down her face, knowing Nikki would never wake up, that life was never going to be the same. And in that moment, Lori did make a promise to her daughter. She said that she would live every single day for her. She wasn't going to leave her side. They were still holding on to some optimism. They were just hoping for a miracle. And meanwhile, back at the crime scene,

these technicians are collecting all of the critical pieces of evidence for analysis. They're taking inventory of anything that seemed out of place. and they don't notice much. They don't see any signs that anyone broke into this house or forced entry. And they knew that he must have come through the front door because Drew even mentioned,

the man used the front door when he left. So they assumed that the intruder might have come in the same way. We'll get to more than that. There were no broken windows or other areas disturbed. So that right there led the officers to believe this was someone who knew this house

or had access to it or that knew Nikki well enough they knew how to lease get inside. They were thinking maybe someone knew that she had a spare key. But this is what kept Nikki's boyfriend Chris and her ex-husband Don on their list. In 5 o'clock that morning, Detective Snipes and Ed Judy actually paid Don a visit out in Clearwater,

which is only about a 25-minute drive from Nickies. Don answered the door, and when given the news, he was clearly shaken. His first questions weren't even about himself, they were about his boys, they were about Max and Drew, were they okay? Had they been hurt? And once the detectives reassured him

that the kids were safe, they asked him to sit down. And he invited them in. They went to the kitchen table and detectives asked Don about his relationship with Nikki since, you know, they just got divorced. And he was honest.

He admitted, you know, it was very contentious and they asked about that trust fund. He knew that she controlled it. But he insisted that he had no interest in that money. It was for his son. But he did admit, he didn't always think that Nikki should be in so much control. It was as though he was saying that maybe she wasn't the most responsible person. And then they asked them a most important question.

Where were you last night when Nikki was attacked? Don told him he had actually been at work. He was still bartending and now he was working at Don's Cesar Hotel in St. Petersburg on the beach. Miles away from Safety Harbor. It is about a 45-minute drive. He said even the bar manager could vouch for him. And then he mentioned Nikki and other men. And that was pretty interesting.

Almost like he resented Nikki for dating very soon after they separated when their divorce wasn't even official. He said she was seeing multiple men, meeting some online, getting into relationship after relationship back to back. And he didn't seem very happy about it, especially with his boys being around all these supposed strangers. He was kind of bad-mouthing the dudes, too. Calling them obsessed and even going so far to call one of them like stalker status. Kind of seemed like he was pointing the finger and also degrading his ex-wife, who was now fighting for her life. Detectives left for now.

They were going to check on Don's alibi and find out more about the men in Nikki's life. But sadly, things were looking worse when it came to her condition. The reality was that Nikki had no brain activity whatsoever. There was such a severe beating and it was such a difficult situation for her loved ones because they were truly holding on that things would get better. But they were forced to confront the painful truth that the Nikki that they knew and loved, she was gone. Her body was there, but she wasn't Nikki anymore. And on January 11th, just afternoon, Nikki's loved ones made a very heart-wrenching decision. They removed her from life support. She was

And when they did, Nikki's mom sang to her again. And then she told her, off to sleep, my love. And that just broke my heart. If there could be one positive thing that we can look at, I will tell you that 11 people were able to live because Nikki's organs were donated. She was healthy when she passed away. And she went on to help save 11 people's lives because of that organ donation. It was so emotional when I listened to her.

sister talking about this. She was crying and she said she'd been crying for days and days, but there was this moment that came. She was on the phone with a friend and she was looking out the hospital window and it was that night and she kept seeing this helicopter land on the little hospital landing pad and then take off like every 10 minutes back to back. She told her friend it was so weird that the helicopter just kept doing that and dawned on her that they had harvested her sister's organs that night, and that each one of those takeoffs was her organs going to be transplanted to save someone's life. Now, Jen wasn't sure, so she actually confirmed this with the hospital, and she was right. That is exactly what she saw. That was like the ultimate goodbye. It was so bittersweet

because she gave life. She gave others a second chance when she did not have one anymore. The investigation intensified since now this was officially a homicide. Investigators were interested in every man that Nikki had been seeing or had been in contact with, so they interviewed her best friend Kim, who of course was completely devastated by Nikki's death. But she also knew how important it was to help any way that she could. She was the one that Nikki shared all of her secrets with. And she told detectives, starting with Chris, that Nikki was not serious about that relationship at all. It was just something to pass time, having fun together, getting to know one

another. It was a new relationship. But at that point, it really wasn't progressing to a point where she was going to be exclusive. She was still seeing other people. However, she did say she thought that Chris wanted more of a commitment than Nikki did, at least at that point. Kim also said that Nikki and Chris would bicker about things. She would hear them, you know, on the phone or even in person when they all hung out. So there was some tension there. There wasn't clarity on the context of these disagreements, but it could be due to Chris wanting more and Nikki's still talking other men, but Kim said no. Nikki did not flaunt her business or her dating life. Chris would never have known she was talking to anybody else. So he did not seem to have a motive. But they still had to rule

him out because they were suspicious of him giving the wrong address to the dispatcher. But that could be explained by the fact he wasn't familiar with the location. They still collected all of Chris's computers, his electronics, and he willingly let them come into his house and do an entire search of the residence. So they were able to conclude that he was not involved in her murder. He was exactly where he said he was. He was on his landline and his cell phone at his house, and records proved that. So Chris is ruled out. Kim provides another name, Brian. Kim said she was meeting Nikki out one night, and before she got there, Nikki called her and said, I just met Jesus. It was a joke.

To her, the guy looked like Jesus, he had long hair, a beard, a mustache, and Nikki and Brian had fun that night. They exchanged numbers. But the next day, Kim said that Brian was calling Nikki back to back multiple times over and over again, and he wasn't getting the hint that Nikki wasn't interested in seeing him again. So investigators feared that maybe Brian had become obsessed. And maybe he felt slighted by her, and maybe he's the man that was knocking on her windows. But investigators were once again able to rule him out based on phone records and GPS.

He wasn't near Nikki's home that night. So Brian's ruled out. Next, Kim explained that Nikki regularly worked out a local gym, and there was a guy there named Troy that would walk her out to her car, even though she never asked him to protect her or bring her outside. Investigators again wanted to make sure this guy wasn't stalking her or had harmed her. Troy wasn't even in town the night that Nikki was killed, so he too, was ruled out. Now, another thing I wanted to point out was just because a woman is meeting new people even casually dating or getting into a relationship and deciding it's not right for her, there's nothing inherently dangerous or wrong with that in of itself, right? And even her best

friend Kim was like, listen, she wasn't doing anything dangerous. She wasn't going home with a guy on the first night she met him. Not that that should be dangerous, but we have done enough cases to know that there are some risks to meeting strangers right. away, but Kim wanted to clarify that her friend was responsible. She had children. She was definitely open to get to know someone, but she wasn't making reckless decisions. She wasn't just bringing a guy to her house with her children there before getting to know him. So this led investigators back to Dawn, someone she knew, someone who wouldn't have harmed

his own kids and who would have worn a mask to hide his face. Friends of Nikki, including Kim, told the investigators they always found Don intimidating, and Kim went so far to call him the most aggressive person she'd ever met. Remember, he was a former correctional officer, but he was also a boxer, who at one point even sparred with Mike Tyson. That detail alone painted a picture of someone that was capable of violence. Detectives checked, and sure enough, Don's boss confirmed he was 45 minutes away at the time of Nikki's murder. There was even CCTV footage showing Don was at

the bar. He was fully cooperative. He even took a polygraph test and he did pass for the most part. And I say it that way because they did find some deception when they asked one specific question if he knew who harmed Nikki. That's interesting. But he had a reason why. He explained to them, No, I don't know who did it, but I have a gut feeling about who it could have been. He explained when he was initially interviewed, he wasn't just necessarily pointing fingers. He was genuinely concerned because he told detectives that Nikki had confided in him that she was worried she had a stalker. Not just anyone, someone she knew.

So the investigator's interest was piqued. Don explained that the only person he could think of that had given him, and Nikki issues most recently was her ex-boyfriend Dan Welch. Remember him? He was the one that didn't even want to be with her. He didn't want to get married. He wasn't ready. Well, first of all, Don is not a fan of Dan. He thought Dan was the reason that him and Nikki's marriage failed because they tried separation before their divorce. They wanted to see if they could mend things, but then Dan came along. And Nikki pushed forward and ended things with Dawn. But that's not why. Don thought Dan was an issue. He told the investigators that after Nikki broke things off with Dan,

things were okay for a while, but then Dan started to bother Nikki. And she didn't normally share her dating life with her ex-husband Don, but it got so bad, she actually asked Don what to do. Don told detectives that Nikki had told him that she started noticing Dan was at the same locations that she was, like he had followed her there and he was watching her. And that's concerning because Dan didn't live in the same town. And then it was undeniable because one night, Nikki's out with her new boyfriend Chris and she noticed that Dan shows up at the very same place and he's watching them. So at this point, Don tells Nikki that if she's so worried, she needs to get a restraining order,

but she didn't. So the investigators aren't sure that Dan was as much of a problem as Don thought. So they decide to ask Nikki's mom and her best friend Kim about what they thought about Dan. Nikki's mom, Lori, is surprised that they're even asking about Dan because she always liked him. She said he's really responsible, he has a good career, he's quiet, polite, and she really thought that Nikki and him were going to end up getting married and be together forever. However, she did explain that Nikki, starting back on last Christmas, So not this current one, but the one before,

she really felt like the relationship wasn't progressing. And one of the reasons that she got upset is because she was really excited. Dan had told her that she was getting her something sparkly that year for Christmas. She thought it was going to be a ring, and it wasn't. She thought they were going to get married, that he was going to propose, and she was really let down. It was a beautiful diamond bracelet. But it's just not what she wanted.

She didn't want expensive jewelry. She wanted a commitment. And then Kim tells the detectives that Dan was a really great guy. And she could tell that he genuinely loved the boys. However, that was before they broke up. And she's going to give them more insight into why Nikki was done. It wasn't just about a ring and a bracelet instead of getting married. It was concerns that Nikki had about Dan.

intentions. Because over time, Kim explained that Nikki was getting concerned about the way that Dan would constantly ask her about the trust fund money from the settlement. It was none of his business. And she felt the more he mentioned it time and time again, the more it seemed like the real reason he was sticking around was because he wanted the money. And in September of just that year, 2003, Nikki decided it was time to break it off. They had been broken up for about four months. when Nikki was killed. And in those four months, Kim explained that things got worse and worse.

It started with a night out. It was Nikki and Kim doing their usual Friday night together. And while they were driving, they noticed Dan's car barreling towards them. He almost sideswipe them and forced them off the side of the road. They were terrified. Then Dan pulled up next to them on the passenger side, and when they stopped,

he blocked Nikki in so she could not open her door and get out. So what did he want? He wanted Nikki. He wanted her back. But if he thought that this was the way to achieve that, he was wrong. That behavior showed Nikki instantly that Dan had another side of him, one that she did not trust around her children. And by that time, it was over. But the thing is, Dan wasn't done with Nikki. Not too long after this, Nikki called Kim in a panic saying that Dan, was outside knocking on her front door. And she didn't want to answer because she wanted him to leave. She wanted him to think she wasn't home. So she hid. And now he was walking around outside of her house, knocking on all the windows.

Knocking on the windows? Wasn't that what little Drew said? That there was a man that knocked on the windows and that he was the one that hurt his mommy? Well, when this was. was happening. When he was walking around the house, knocking on the windows, Nikki was hiding, and she told her best friend Kim to stay on the line with her, just like she did on the night she was attacked. She wanted Chris to stay on the phone as she looked around that house. Back

when this was happening with Dan, Kim, of course, was concerned and she's like, should I call the police? Is it really this serious? Are you worried that he's going to do something to you? What What do you think he wants? And Nikki said that is not necessary. Do not call 911. She just wanted him to leave and to get the picture that she did not want to be with him anymore. She just wanted to move on peacefully.

With this new information, detectives decide to drive over to 35-year-old Dan Welch's house, which was just six miles away from Nicky's. And the first thing that struck them as odd was when they asked if he knew Nicky, Dan was like, who? Really? They're like, Nikki. Nikki, you know your ex-girlfriend? And he's like, oh, you mean, Nicole. I've been waiting for you to show up. I just heard what happened today on the radio. And I was like, okay, he couldn't pick up a phone. I mean, I thought about what I would personally do if someone that I had just dated a few months earlier had been murdered. Would I call?

Would I just want to give them any information that I possibly could? What would you do? Do you find it weird if somebody doesn't take the initiative to reach out to the police department? I mean, maybe he was in shock. Maybe he really truly had no information to provide. Or maybe it's a red flag. And I'm not a professional. But I think it would be a little suspicious to me the way he answered the door and pretended that he didn't know who they were talking about,

especially if he said he just heard about it on the radio. But the detectives specifically were already focusing on Dan. This just added to the red flags in their perspectives. But he invites them in. They sit down and the detectives reiterate to him that they're here to talk about Nikki's murder. And they want to know if he could provide any information. But he didn't even have to say anything for the next red flag to pop up because as the detectives are sitting there, they notice something.

Proped up casually in the corner was a silver five cell. maglight flashlight, the kind that's long and heavy and could easily be mistaken for a baseball bat in the dark. When Detective Snipes looked at it, that's exactly what popped into his head. Drew being seven, he could have easily thought that it was a baseball bat in the attacker's hands. Now because they can't take anything from this house, because they don't have a search warrant, they don't want to draw attention toward anything, including that flashlight. Because they might want to retrieve it later when they do have a search warrant and they don't want to spook Dan because then he might get rid of it. But the detectives do kind of like exchange a glance.

And at this point, Detective Ed Judy that's leading this interview decides that maybe he's going to go a little easy on Dan, build a little rapport with him. So we just asked him about himself, about his habits. And then he kind of segues into asking him what he was doing on the night that Nikki was attacked. And Dan explained that he had been really. regularly going with his friend Larry on jogs and on bike rides for almost like 20 miles at a time sometimes, maybe sometimes more, maybe sometimes less, because Larry was training for a marathon. And that night, Dan said, I got some Chinese food, I ate dinner, and then like he regularly did, he went with Larry on one of those jogs and then bike rides.

Afterward, he said he went home and he went to bed. Detective Snipes asked for Larry's phone number. They get it. And while Detective Judy is talking to Dan, he calls him and he corroborates that, yes, they went jogging and biking. But Larry does say one thing that stood out to him that night was that Dan usually does the whole 20 miles. But that night, he told him he had a stomach ache and he had to go home early. They asked him what time that was. And he says it was about 9 p.m.

So that was plenty of time for Dan to have made it over two nickies. And his friend Larry made sure to directly tell the detectives, I'm not going to be Dan's alibi. At that point, they asked Dan to come down to the station to make a formal statement. And also, because they want to get a DNA sample, fingerprints, which he agrees to, he provides them with DNA, he provides them with swabs, he provides them with fingerprints. And then they ask him about his relationship with Nikki. He casually mentions that he thought she was really attractive.

but that he never really wanted a commitment with her. So their relationship never went anywhere. And they both moved on. And as a matter of fact, he has a new girlfriend named Stephanie and things are going really well. Detectives go one step further and they ask him if he would be willing to take a polygraph. And he says yes.

These polygraph results were so bad, they were in the negatives. He scored a negative 19, so much. deception was detected, but I'm sure most of you know they're not admissible in court. So the reason they're still used is they are used to gauge whether or not detectives should move forward in a certain direction. And all signs were pointing to Dan. And he was really angry when they were telling him his results. He's like, I don't know why I scored the way I did because I didn't do it. And he was like, no, everyone's going to think I did. Everyone's going to think I'm a suspect and I didn't do it. I don't have a reason to hurt her. He was also acting like really buddy-buddy with the detectives.

He even says, you know, when you drop me back off, you can come search my entire house. And of course they did take him up on that offer. And they go one step further. They're like, can we have our forensics team come in here? And he says, sure. But that's when something really weird happens. Something that personally made me really frustrated when I heard it. He gets a call from his girlfriend, and he doesn't even step away from the detectives. He answers. And the first thing he says to her is that, you're not going to believe this. I'm here with homicide detectives throughout my house. They're waiting to search it because I'm their prime suspect. And I thought to myself, that's a really weird flex. He was almost bragging. It was even almost in a way to garner sympathy in that moment.

He's pacing back and forth around the detectives and apparently his girlfriend's asking him questions because he's answering. But of course they can only hear one side of that conversation. So this is what was said. No. No, she wasn't robbed. Nothing was stolen. No, she wasn't raped. No, the kids were not hurt at all.

Oh, no, no, no, no. Actually, she was bashed in the head. And these detectives were just sitting there stunned because, first of all, they never told him he was a prime suspect. And none of those things he told his girlfriend had ever been released to the media. Yeah. The detectives hadn't told him any of that. They asked him all the questions, but he never actually inquired about what happened to Nikki,

the woman that he said he loved. And what struck me as very odd was the way that he used the word bashed. That's so insensitive. It is factual. But bashed? Just that word. It just, no. Someone that cared, I don't feel like they would say that. And around 10 p.m., the forensics team did show up. The detectives had specifically told them, they wanted them to search for any dark clothing, a ski mask, anything that would be similar to what Drew described the attacker wearing. And they tore apart this man's closets, his dresser drawers.

but there was a lack of any clothing like that. And I was thinking if they were searching my closet, it would be the exact opposite because almost all my clothing is black. But it was the lack of evidence both there and also at Nikki's house that was really perplexing and another red flag. Nikki's house had no evidentiary value at all. They found no fingerprints. They found no foreign DNA.

They had nothing concrete. And as they were leaving Dan's house, something happened. It was like one red flag after the next because Dan walks right up to Detective Judy and he's like, here. He hands him the flashlight and he's like, I know you want it. That is so weird. So weird. Who does that?

But here's the thing. When the detective looks down, he realizes this is a three-cell maglight. It's not the same flashlight that they saw. they entered that house. That was a five cell. This was a three cell. The other one was bigger and heavier. This one's skinnier. And this one was more of a gold color, not a silver, so this to them was a distraction. It was a decoy. It was deliberate. Now they had lost the opportunity to get the silver one, and they don't know where Dan put it. But he was right about one thing. He was now their prime suspect. Now that they had Don ruled out, he was actually given custody of his boys.

And that was bittersweet. They were in such an emotional state. They were hardly talking. Drew was very upset. Max was really sad and scared, and they just shut down. Their 32-year-old mom that they should have had so many more years with was gone. These poor boys. They were up all night, every night with nightmares.

And Don was doing his best as a single dad now to care for them and comfort them and ease their pain. He had a new routine where they would all. fall asleep in the same bed. And he would have them watch cartoons before bed so that they would watch something funny as they drifted to sleep. That way it could use their minds. But no one could believe that this was their new reality.

And what was so frustrating to the detectives was that they really did now believe that Dan killed Nikki, but they had to prove it. And it was looking like that was going to be very hard at this point. He's completely free. And there was nothing they could do about it. All they had was suspicion, circumstantial evidence, not enough for them to arrest him, but enough to make the detectives very nervous.

And for Nikki's family, her parents, her sister, her best friend Kim, they were not wondering if this man who they once smiled with, they joked with that was in their house had actually attacked Nikki in her room and took her life. And then a call comes in. It was unexpected and it was from a woman and she introduces herself as Stephanie Hayes. Dan Welch's girlfriend. She sounds really nervous and she sounds upset. And she's like, listen. I feel like my boyfriend is trying to use me as an alibi. And that makes me feel really uncomfortable.

And then she clarified. She says, I want to clear something up. I have been seeing Dan, but he keeps calling me his girlfriend. And that's not the truth. We're not in a serious relationship. We had just been casually hanging out before all this happened. And now he's acting like, we're really serious. And I don't like it.

I don't like the way that he's putting me in the middle of this investigation. She let them know that she got a phone call from him on the night that Nikki was killed. And she remembers exactly when that call came in, 10, 14 p.m. And what stood out to her was that when she picked up the phone, right away she heard Dan's voice and he was extremely out of breath. He was huffing and puffing and he was breathing heavily into the phone. And she was like, what are you doing? She was thinking, why would he choose to pick up his phone when he couldn't even catch his breath yet?

And he told her, oh, I'm sorry. I'm just loading some of my tools into the back of my van. but that was weird because he had already done that earlier in the day. Now she felt like he was really suspicious and detectives did too. They started thinking about, remember how Dan said he was on his bike with his friend Larry? And he told him he was going home. Well, they don't think he went home. They think he turned right around and he headed to Nicky's on his bike.

And then after he committed the crime, he had to hurry to get back to his landline, specifically his landline, so that he could prove that he was at his house. That's why he didn't wait to call Stephanie, and he was still out of breath from riding his bike as fast as he could. Now, coincidentally, Dan's friend Larry was training for a marathon. And Dan was right there by his side for weeks and weeks, getting his endurance up, practicing, going as fast as he could, possibly planning that bike ride over to Nickies and back. I looked it up on Google Maps, and it said that it would have taken him approximately 24 minutes to get from his house to Nickies. Larry said that the last time he saw Dan was at 902 p.m. And by 9.30, Chris got that instant message that said HB from Nikki's laptop.

That was enough time for Dan to get there. About 10 minutes later, Nikki was on the phone with Chris, and moments afterwards she was being attacked, and he's calling 911 still before 10 p.m. And even though it would have taken on average 24 minutes to get from Nicky's, And then back to Dan's house, he has been training. He could have probably made better time. It's only 4.9 miles away.

He's used to going on 20-mile bike rides. And his bike would have been way less obvious than a car speeding away from the scene. And not only that, Stephanie said that when she was at his house before the murder occurred, you remembered seeing a mask, a ski mask. And it only made her feel uncomfortable because, well, first, why would you be wearing that in Florida, but also because now when she found out more details about the case, she realized that he was in possession of a mask that could have been the same as the killers. And detectives thought that this was just even more proof that he got rid of a scheme mask,

because remember, they didn't find one in his possession. They also were never able to find that five-cell mag flashlight either. Stephanie agreed to have her phone tapped, and she had multiple conversations with Dan trying to get him to talk about the ski mask or why he was out of breath, but he would give her these very vague answers. He just wouldn't fall for the bait. Still, now detectives have a mode of transportation and more evidence that Dan was involved. On January 12th, the medical examiner's autopsy report came out. Nikki's cause of death was blunt force trauma to her head. And her specific injuries, I'm just going to read them directly from this report. There was a laceration over her left eye, a laceration over her left eye, a laceration over her left.

ear, a large laceration behind her left ear, and to the left ear with sections of her ear missing. There are abrasions to the back of her head, a bruised area of the outer left shoulder, a bruised area on the outer left bicep, a bruised area on the left forearm, a bruised to her left collarbone, a large area of bleeding found inside the skull on the right side. This was a violent an attack. But Dan had no criminal record, and on paper he only had maybe a few traffic tickets. So he did not look like a murderer whose behavior was escalating. No arrest, no domestics in the past. So detectives felt like it was going to be harder for them to convince a jury that this normal citizen with no criminal record just became a murderer and killed his ex. It's not

unheard of, but they may not convince a prosecutor to even go forward with the case. But then, Luckily and coincidentally, a woman gets arrested for selling substances and it was actually prescription medication oxycodone. And she turns on her dealer who happens to be none other than Daniel Welch. So he wasn't as squeaky clean after all. He gets arrested on the drug charges, he's indicted, and ultimately lands him in prison for three and half years. At the very least, the detectives on Nicole's case feel good about this, good about the fact that

he is now behind bars. and now they can build a case against him. Plus, this gives them more credibility since now he does have a criminal record. They feel like they are at least one step closer, but still, they're lacking any direct evidence. Meanwhile, the detectives are diligently having all of their interviews that they've done with persons of interest and suspects

as well as all the phone calls they've had, with various witnesses, family members and friends all transcribed. This is for future court records. It's also for posterity and because it's just part of the case file. It's normal procedure. There is a professional whose job it is to pay close attention and transcribe every word that's being said on all those recordings. And in this case, that was Genevieve Myers.

And she took her job very seriously, as she should. Because it is imperative that you get things right. Her job was to sit at her desk, put her headphones on, and type out interviews, wiretaps, and 911 calls word for word. She does this day in and day out, and this has been her job for nearly a decade. Lots of experience. This was over a month after Nikki's murder and she is still transatlose. describing recordings and she finally gets to transcribing Chris's 911 call. It's the very last and maybe the most important recording of all.

But at the time, she didn't know just how important this recording would be. And you know that Chris was hearing all of that too at the time and he didn't know that his girlfriend wasn't going to survive. But he was hearing her being brutally attacked. He was hearing her screaming. He was hearing her struggle. And now Genevieve was hearing that too. She said it was the most chilling thing she had ever listened to, someone being killed. But more than that, she hears a male's voice.

But it's not Chris's voice, because it's coming from the open line that Chris had on speaker. Remember, he's on with 911 on one of his phones, and he's on the other phone on speaker listening to Nikki. Well, not only did that recording catch what was happening to Nikki, but it caught her killer's voice. Now, if you weren't listening intently, you might have missed this. Genevieve said that she'd always heard people say that the hair stood up in the back of their necks, and this time, hers really did. And that's because as she's listening to this crime taking place, she said it was the most chilling things she'd ever heard listening to someone being killed.

And she clearly hears the killer say, Nicole, calm down. She played this portion over and over again, and that's when the hair really did stand up on the back of her neck because she recognized this voice right away. This was Dan Welch. He had a certain tone to his voice, she said, And she knew that because she spent over a hundred hours transcribing all those interviews I told you about. The phone calls recorded between Dan and Stephanie.

And there were hours of Dan talking to detectives, even complaining when he was in that interview room for hours. She could tell right away it was Dan Welch. She transcribed all those other recordings before she had a chance to transcribe the 911 call. But that was a good thing. Because had she heard it first, she may not have made the connection. It wasn't just the tone. He was the only person that called her Nicole. And it just gives me chills.

Because I remember back when the officers came to his door and they were like, do you know Nikki? And he was like, who? And he's like, oh, you mean Nicole. Genevieve knew from listening to everything that she did that all of Nikki's friends and her family members called her Nikki. He was the only one that said Nicole. The investigators listened to that portion of the tape time and time over and over again,

maybe 10, 20 times. No. And they could hear it too, but they wondered if this was going to be convincing enough for an arrest or a conviction. The detectives weren't sure. So then they had the audio professionally enhanced. Nicole's loved ones listened to it. And they too said it was Dan.

But what was even more convincing is that Dan's own sister came forward and she actually requested to hear this tape. And they were like, there's no way that she's going to admit it's her brother, even if it is. But they were surprised and shocked when she was. And she said yes, that she'd know Dan for her entire life. And not only was that his voice, but she said, that was the maddest that she had ever heard him. At this point, he's in custody at the Florida Department of Corrections located in Lake Butler, Florida. They'd go get him, they take him out of his prison cell.

They'd transfer him back to Pinellas County, where he faced first-degree murder charges and armed burglary for entering Nikki's home with the intent to commit a crime inside. This didn't just happen overnight, though. This was January 2006. two years after Nikki had been murdered. And finally, on May 18th of 2007, with Nikki's family's approval, prosecutors offered this monster a plea deal.

Dan Welch pled guilty to the lesser offense of secondary murder in exchange for avoiding a long-drawn-out trial. He knew he wasn't going to win, though. He had heard the recordings, he saw all the evidence. He knew he wasn't going to win. From everything they gathered, the detectives truly believe that after he went on the bike ride

with Larry, the night that Nick was attacked, he immediately drove all the way to Nicky's. Now, they still don't know how in the world he got inside her house. There could have been a spare key, or he could have, they believe, possibly gone through her garage. But he did get inside. And he was the one that left an instant message that just said, HB for Chris. They don't know if it was an accident or if it might have been some kind of secret message. We will never understand what it was for.

But when Chris responded back and asked how Nikki he got home so quickly, unfortunately, Dan knew in that moment that she would arrive back at her house any minute. So he hid in a closet waiting for an opportunity to jump out. And when it presented itself, he attacked Nikki and it was all caught on that 911 call. I could not believe as he's attacking her, this poor mother who's trying to get away, trying to tell her kids to run so that she could shield them from what was happening, he says, Nicole, calm down. It's pure evil.

And what did he get? 25 years in prison. For Nikki's family, it was a gut punch. On one hand, it meant no trial, no forcing Max and Drew to relive that night in all the excruiting details. But on the other hand, 25 years felt like a slap in the face. Kim, Nikki's best friend said, he'll get his freedom back and Nikki won't. In her victim impact statement, Nikki's mom looked directly at Dan and said, you beat her and beat her right in front of her kids.

How could you? Her voice was cracking, but she also had the strength of a mother who had lost everything to look at this man who didn't even respond. He didn't apologize. The only explanation his attorney actually offered was that he wanted to spare the boys a trial. That's why he admitted to guilt. But Nikki's family doesn't buy it. They believe he took the deal because the evidence was stacked too high against him.

The voice on the tape, the eyewitness accounts from Drew, the red flags that he couldn't shake. After the sentencing, Don, Nikki's ex-husband, the father of her children said, what many were thinking. It was premeditated. It wasn't just a crime of passion. He believed that Dan deserved far more than 25 years. Nikki's loved ones had her ashes, and they planned to spread them all the places that she loved to ski. Her family also started the first Massachusetts chapter of parents of murdered children. was a way to honor her and help others. Her mother also said she put a candle in her window and

she had promised to keep it lit until she got justice for her daughter and now she could finally turn it off. That summer, Don took the kids back to Massachusetts. They visited the chapel where he and Nikki had been married and a family vacation spot where they had once been so happy and together him and the boys scattered some of her ashes there as a way for her to go back to all the places that she loved. When they returned to Florida, Don did something that maybe some would think is weird and very unexpected, but he moved the boys back into the house where Nikki had been killed. It did seem impossible at first, but then he noticed something. The boys seemed lighter.

They would open up more. They would smile. They would tell stories about their mom. And that house wasn't just holding them to trauma. It was holding onto her. And Don said that he realized that for Max and Drew, this wasn't a crime scene. It was the home that their mother was. had chosen specifically for them.

It was the home where she loved them, where they had so many memories, and he wanted to keep that connection. Today, they're all grown up, and they survived, and they thrived, and I've heard interviews with them. They seem like amazing little boys who love their mother so much.

The things they said about her were so beautiful. They just adored Nikki. And Nikki's friends and family members remember her for her smile, her love, her energy that filled every room. And they remember her as a mother who fought for her. sons every single day of her life. And even in her final moments, she did what a mother would do.

She protected them. She told them to run and hide. I absolutely can't even imagine having to make choices like that in my final moments. And I'm so thankful for all of you who are here to hear me talk about stories like Nikki's. I appreciate it so much. I will see you in my next video. Bye.