[Narrator] A loving and outgoing mother of three.
Everybody wanted to be around her and her energy
and her beauty.
She was an incredible human being and a great mother.
[Narrator] Is found murdered in a farmer's field.
There was numerous blunt force trauma injuries.
Cuts, lacerations, bruising throughout her body.
This poor woman was brutally, brutally attacked
and murdered.
[Narrator] As detectives hunt the killer,
they unearth dark secrets.
All the information kept leading us to think
that he was trying to find a way out of this relationship.
They had an argument, something happened, it went too far.
[Narrator] Then, new revelations turn the case
on its head.
In the video, there is a male party following her
into the darkness.
[Narrator] And points to a predator no one saw coming.
It was definitely a very big twist.
When the news came out, he made me sick, when I saw him.
He looked like a monster.
[mysterious music]
[blade scrapes]
[upbeat acoustic guitar music]
Green Bay, Wisconsin is a relatively small,
close-knit community, where a lotta people know each other.
Obviously, our claim to fame is having the Green Bay Packers
in town here.
So, during football season,
pretty much everything centers around that.
It's a hundred percent a place
that you would wanna raise a family.
The crime rate in the Green Bay area
is generally very low,
especially when it comes to violent crime.
[Narrator] On a warm May afternoon in 2016,
nearby Brown County Sheriff's Office
gets a troubling 9-1-1 call from a local farmer.
The 9-1-1 call was from farmers working in a field,
and they located a body.
[Narrator] Investigators race to the farmer's field
on the outskirts of Green Bay.
The body was behind a brushy, woody area,
not visible by the road itself.
It was laying face down with arms spread across the front
of her head, and feet towards the road.
The victim was a blonde female, approximately in her 30s.
Past that, we really didn't have any identifying information
other than the pink wristband on her wrist.
There was a distinct pattern that we found
on the victim's back, which appeared to be
from the sole of a shoe.
It wasn't until body was turned that all the injuries
were located.
The extent of injuries that she suffered
were pretty horrific.
There was trauma to her neck that would indicate
possible strangulation,
in addition to lacerations, bruising throughout her body.
Her fingernails were damaged,
indicative of defensive wounds.
That tells us that she was fighting for her life.
There were nail clippings taken for the potential
of any DNA from the suspect, underneath her fingernails.
We were looking for anything
that could be used as a weapon.
However, the search of the area didn't reveal anything.
[Narrator] After questioning the farmer
and clearing him of any suspicion,
investigators try to determine how the victim ended up
in his field.
The area was searched thoroughly for any clothing
that may have been left behind,
any other tracks, footprints.
There were a set of tire tracks
that went from the driveway
to where the victim's body was found,
and then circled back towards the driveway.
The farmers working the field were using a skid-steer
and a four-wheeler, and they definitely didn't match
those pieces of equipment.
We definitely felt like this was likely
the suspect vehicle that was used
to transport the body there.
[Narrator] As detectives continue
to process the crime scene,
the local sheriff's office receives another call.
Our dispatch center received a phone call
from a party named Doug Detrie,
reporting that he did not know where his girlfriend was.
And the last he had seen or heard from her
was the night before.
We felt very strongly that the missing person report
was gonna involve the victim we had in the field.
[Narrator] Officers from the crime scene
are dispatched to interview the caller,
34-year-old Doug Detrie, who lived with his girlfriend,
Nicole VanderHeyden.
[Narrator] As allowed by Wisconsin law,
officers secretly film the conversation.
It was important to record the interview with Doug.
Based on the victim in the field,
it's always in the back of our mind
that this could be some kind of domestic violence issue
that happened.
Doug looked completely hungover.
He had really dark circles under his eyes.
He looked like he hadn't slept in days.
I asked him why he's making this missing person's report.
Doug indicated that he and Nikki joined a group of friends
out at a local establishment
to participate in watching a live band.
[Narrator] Doug provides a telling detail
when asked what Nikki was wearing.
There was a wristband that the victim was wearing.
So based on that information,
we were quite certain that it was Nikki
that we were with in the field.
[Narrator] As police work to confirm
that the victim in the field is 31-year-old mother of three,
Nicole VanderHeyden, they learn more about her background.
Nikki was born in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.
Then, she went to high school here.
She was the most amazing, inspiring, beautiful,
happy woman I have ever met in my life.
She always enjoyed being around family.
[Narrator] After high school,
Nikki attended the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay,
graduating in 2010.
Nikki's background included a double major
in science and education.
From that, she was a substitute school teacher.
Nikki was one of the hardest workers I've known.
She always had two jobs as a substitute teacher
and waitressing.
[Narrator] Outside of work,
Nikki was dedicated to fitness.
She definitely took care of herself,
and she worked out a lot.
Everybody wanted to be around her and her energy
and her beauty.
We always complimented how beautiful she was,
and she was, inside and out.
[Narrator] In 2005, Nikki got married
and had two children, but the marriage ended in 2012.
Nikki was definitely a hands-on mom.
I think it made her proud to be able to do that.
'Cause being a single mother is not easy.
[Narrator] Then, in 2015, Nikki met Doug Detrie.
Nikki and Doug had a spark.
They moved very quickly, and got pregnant,
and she was so excited to be become a mother
of three beautiful children.
Nikki and Doug were still learning to live with one another.
It was definitely a life changer.
[Narrator] As Nikki's boyfriend,
Doug is a leading suspect in her murder.
He is brought to the sheriff's office for a formal interview
and informed that the body police have found
is most likely Nikki.
Doug was crying, emotional, in a state of shock.
With Nikki identified as the victim,
detectives asked Doug to recount the events
leading up to the last time he saw her alive.
Doug reported that they had been out at a concert
at the Watering Hole, which is a bar
in a suburb of Green Bay.
As the night progressed, they had been consuming alcohol
and Doug had ran into some friends from high school
that he had not seen in awhile.
And he confirmed that Nikki was mad because she saw Doug
talking to another female at the Watering Hole,
and this basically set her off.
From there, they got separated.
He stayed at the Watering Hole with his friend, Gregg,
and Nikki went with their friend group
to the Sardine Can, which is downtown Green Bay.
Doug had last actually seen Nikki around 11:30
when she departed from the Watering Hole to the Sardine Can.
At some point, Nikki did get ahold of Doug on the phone.
[Narrator] Detectives ask if they can search Doug's phone
for any texts he'd exchanged with Nikki.
Nikki was definitely angry texting Doug.
She made mention of, "What bitch are you talking to?"
She was accusing him of cheating,
telling him that he was abusive.
It was actually a really big red flag for me.
[Narrator] Had Doug and Nikki's argument
escalated into violence later that night?
It started to kinda click with everybody
that they had an argument and something happened,
it went too far, and Doug may be involved.
[Narrator] Coming up, detectives learn more
about the night of the murder.
When we look at the video footage,
you can see a male follow her out of the gate.
We are trying to figure out what exactly happened
a short distance away, out of camera view.
She's not wanting to have anything to do with him,
and starts turning into an argument
and becomes a little bit physical.
[Narrator] And uncover surprising new suspects.
[Narrator] Before a stunning twist
throws the case into turmoil.
The true killer came completely outta left field.
The Google Dashboard data showed him
at every single crime scene that we had.
I was very concerned who this could be.
Who did this to our beloved Nikki?
[daunting music]
[mysterious music]
[Narrator] After confirming that the body discovered
in a farm field is 31-year-old mother of three,
Nikki VanderHeyden, police suspect that her violent murder
may be linked to an angry exchange of texts
she had with her boyfriend, Doug Detrie,
the night she was killed.
The text messages definitely led us to believe
that if Nikki would've made it home,
and if she would've had contact with Doug,
there would've been some sort of altercation.
[Narrator] When detectives press Doug
about what happened that night,
he claims that after 12:30 a.m., he and his friend Gregg
left the bar they'd been at to look for Nikki
at another bar.
Doug describes getting to the Sardine Can with Gregg,
finding that Nikki's not there,
and then continuing to look around for her,
and being concerned.
Doug stated that he had assumed that Nikki made it home
and that she would be there when he got there.
So, him and Gregg got in their car and drove home.
[Narrator] With Nikki's two older children
away for the night with their father,
Doug says he got home to find the babysitter and his son,
but no Nikki.
He said that he woke up to give the baby a bottle
at 6:30 in the morning and Nikki wasn't there.
And it did not appear that Mr. Detrie
was all that concerned until later in the day,
which drew our suspicions.
I did have concern as to, why did it take
until about 4:30 the next day to report her missing?
[Narrator] Following their interview with Doug,
investigators obtain a sample of his DNA and release him.
The initial interview with Doug was basically
to get him locked in so that we could corroborate
everything that he was telling us,
through either physical evidence or through other statements
from other witnesses.
[Narrator] As police set out to verify Doug's story,
Nikki's family and friends learn that she's been murdered.
Knowing that Nikki was murdered and how horrific it was,
impacted our lives in a very horrible way.
Who the hell would do this to someone with such an amazing,
beautiful soul?
[Narrator] Reports of Nikki's murder spread shock
through the community, and Nikki's family members
share their grief on local news.
[Reporter] Heather Meyer and her family
say it doesn't seem real.
Terrible. Absolutely terrible.
It's just been extremely up and down, numbing pain.
[Narrator] As Nikki's loved ones continue reeling
from her death, an officer from the sheriff's office
makes a crucial find.
An officer located some clothing on the side of the road,
approximately a mile drive
from where Nikki's body was located.
Deputies were able to identify the clothing as Nikki's.
There was blood located at numerous areas in the clothing.
The majority of the blood was in her pants area.
There was also a purse located, which contained her ID.
Her cell phone was also found at that same location.
It was pretty apparent that it just got tossed
out the window, in a panic, just by the suspect
wanting to get rid of it.
[Narrator] As they submit Nikki's items to the lab
for testing, detectives receive her autopsy report.
The primary injuries were the strangulation
and trauma to the head.
They had discovered over 240 injuries to Nikki's body,
including 30 to her head and face area.
The last few minutes of Nikki's life,
would've been very painful.
There were injuries to her genitalia,
which could be indicative of a sexual assault.
The medical examiners did do a sexual assault exam,
which included swabbing for evidence.
The lab started finding a partial male profile,
but they didn't have enough information
to get an identification of it.
The crime lab advised us that we would need to
continue to submit samples
that the suspect would've touched.
We're only allowed to send in so many exhibits at a time,
as the crime lab is very busy.
We have hundreds of swabbings of Nikki's clothing.
So I started off with areas where you would more likely see
some touch DNA.
[Narrator] While they await answers from the crime lab,
detectives get ahold of security video
to learn what they can about Nikki's last hours.
When we first were able to take a look
at the video footage from the Sardine Can,
we were able to identify Nikki there with Doug's friends.
Initially, she appeared to be having a good time,
dancing around.
The later portion of the evening,
we can see Nikki and her group of friends
at an outside table,
and you can see Nikki looking down at her phone.
You can tell by her body movements that she is upset.
And eventually she gets up and storms off
through an entrance that they're sitting nearby.
[Narrator] What detectives see next
catches their attention.
After Nikki leaves, you can see a male follow her
out of the gate.
[Narrator] Police ask themselves, who was this man?
And was he involved in Nikki's murder?
We knew that his information was gonna be vital.
That was the last time Nikki was seen before she was killed.
We wanted to know everything that he saw and heard
because he's the last known person that we knew
that saw her alive.
[mysterious music]
[Narrator] The day after Nikki VanderHeyden
is found murdered in a farmer's field,
investigators are trying to track down the man
seen following her out of a bar
just hours before she was killed.
In the video, there is a male party following after Nikki
and walking off into the darkness.
We are trying to figure out what exactly happened
a short distance away, out of camera view.
[Narrator] Officers are dispatched to interview patrons
who were at the bar that night.
Based on the interviews with the witnesses,
we knew that male was Aaron Kulinski.
This was a friend that they were with earlier
in the night.
[Narrator] Police track Aaron down and bring him in
for an interview.
Aaron advised us that throughout most of the night,
Nikki was having a great time.
And then, at some point he saw a mood shift in her.
He basically had said that Nikki was trying to get ahold
of Doug, and that he wasn't responding.
Nikki ultimately became very angry,
and that's when she left the Sardine Can on foot.
Aaron describes following her and trying to convince her
to come back and get a taxi or an Uber to go back home.
[Narrator] What Aaron says happened next,
raises detectives' suspicion.
But she's not wanting to have anything to do with him,
and it starts turning into an argument
and becomes a little bit physical.
At one point, Nikki fell to the ground on her own
and she started creating a bigger scene.
Aaron advised us that she began kicking and punching at him
as he was trying to help her up.
He had tried to tell her, "Hey, we can get you home.
You can come with us," but she refused.
Aaron noticed that there were people in the neighborhood
seeing what was going on.
So he decided to just leave it alone at that point.
[Narrator] Investigators wonder if there's more
to the story than Aaron's telling them.
We were actually able to find those people
and they indeed remembered a female and male yelling
or having a disagreement.
Continuing to watch the video,
Aaron does return a very short time later.
And, based on the other statements from the friends
that were with the group,
we knew that Aaron didn't necessarily do anything wrong.
[Narrator] Aaron says he and his friends
took an Uber home, never to see Nikki alive again.
There was video footage that showed Aaron
and the other group leaving in an Uber.
And, there was no indication that they had come back
to the area after they left.
[Narrator] With Aaron crossed off the list,
police continue scouring the bar security video for clues,
and find something unexpected.
We eventually saw Doug and Gregg arrive there.
Doug told us they're looking all over for Nikki,
but the video's showing that he and Gregg go to the bar
and just start hanging out.
It definitely isn't consistent with the sense of concern
that he was initially talking about.
According to the surveillance video,
Doug and Gregg stayed at the Sardine Can
until about 2:15 in the morning.
And the fact that Doug said that they did all this looking
while at the Sardine Can,
told us that he's not being entirely truthful
with his efforts to locate her.
[tense music]
[Narrator] Detectives wonder if Doug had misled them
about his concern for Nikki.
Was there something he was hiding?
Just the mere fact that he didn't know
where his girlfriend was, and didn't appear to care
all that much, was a red flag.
[Narrator] With their suspicion growing,
police reach out to Nikki's family
to learn more about her relationship with Doug.
Nikki's mother and sister, they both voiced concerns
of Doug's behavior.
Nikki's mom, as well as her sister, Heather,
both say that they wouldn't be surprised
if Doug was the person that was responsible for this.
[Narrator] Investigators search Doug's name
in police records, and make an alarming discovery.
Checking police records, we did locate past girlfriends
that accused him of being abusive.
There was at least one incident that was reported to police,
but was never charged.
[Narrator] Police contact the woman who filed a complaint
against Doug, and ask her for more details.
So when we saw that,
that was obviously very concerning to us.
[Narrator] Despite learning that Doug's ex-girlfriend
had a prior assault conviction, and that Doug had never been
formally charged for domestic violence,
investigators remained suspicious.
At this point we had the information
that showed there could be the pattern of this abusive,
aggressive behavior.
And, we know that Doug and Nicole
had a volatile relationship,
which would lead us to believe that there would be
some sort of confrontation that night.
[Narrator] Police obtain a warrant
to search Doug and Nicole's home.
During the search at Doug and Nikki's house,
there were several things of concern that were located.
There was blood on the floor in the garage,
there was blood and dirt found in Nikki's vehicle.
There was also a set of Nike Air Jordan shoes
that had a herring bone pattern on them,
which was similar to what was on Nikki's back.
There was also some red marks,
on the surface appeared to be blood,
on the bottom of those shoes.
[Narrator] While conducting the search,
Doug's neighbors from across the street
approach police with a startling new discovery.
While mowing their lawn, they noticed a blood spot
on the curb line of their property.
And also, they hit a cord of some type
with their lawn mower.
We did find a large quantity
of what appeared to be dried blood,
as well as two pieces of electrical phone charging cord.
There was also some clumps of blonde hair.
The blood on those items and the blood found in the road
were positively identified as Nikki's.
It was pretty apparent to us that that's where
the altercation took place.
That's where she was likely killed.
When that crime scene in front of the house was located,
that gave us a theory of what happened.
And it continued to point us towards Doug as the suspect.
[mysterious music]
[Narrator] After determining that Nikki VanderHeyden
was likely murdered on the street in front of the home
she shared with Doug Detrie, investigators are weighing
a growing body of evidence against Doug.
This evidence that we found is kind of emboldening
what we had initially thought, that Nikki got home,
an argument ensued between her and Doug,
and this incident took place in the street.
And somehow, some of that evidence
would've gotten transformed into the garage
and then into Nikki's vehicle.
Looking at the totality of the circumstances,
we decided there was probable cause
to arrest Doug at that point.
[Narrator] With Doug in custody,
detectives work to solidify their case against him.
When we did the search of Nikki's car
and found the blood and the dirt in the car,
it was initially thought that that may have been the vehicle
that was used to take Nikki to the field
where she was located.
One of the things that we learned was that she had
a progressive snapshot device in her vehicle,
which is used for driving behavior, insurance rates.
But we figured that this could help us
show location from the night she was murdered.
Once we got those records back,
it was found that her vehicle did not move
the night of her murder.
At that point, all kinds of questions are still out there.
The big one being, if Doug was involved in this,
how Doug may have moved her, did he use a different vehicle?
Did he have help?
We knew that Doug's vehicle was not in play.
It was at the Watering Hole all night,
where it was verified on video.
One person whose name came up was Gregg Mathu,
who was actually driving Doug during their night out,
and dropped Doug off at home.
Gregg was Doug's best friend,
was with Doug that entire night.
And, we were focused on him maybe being an accessory.
[Narrator] Investigators bring Gregg
to the sheriff's office
and ask him about the night of the murder.
Gregg was very exact about timelines of phone calls
and what they did that night.
Gregg's timeline was very consistent with Doug's,
which was suspicious in nature,
that you usually aren't gonna have your times down that pat.
We pressed Gregg very hard,
hoping that we would find some sort of inconsistencies
in his story, or get him to crack and finally turn on Doug.
After becoming upset with some questions,
he did leave while investigators were still
sitting at the interview table, talking to him.
[Narrator] Investigators asked Gregg's parents
to confirm his alibi of coming straight home from Doug's
shortly after 2:45 a.m.
Gregg's parents told us they were only
going off of what he told them.
They didn't physically see him
or have any firsthand knowledge.
[Narrator] While detectives keep Gregg on the board
as a potential accomplice to Doug,
they receive DNA test results from the crime scene.
There was little to no sign of Doug's DNA
anywhere on Nicole's body or clothing.
Doug's DNA profile is not matching up with an unknown male
DNA profile that we're finding on those items.
[Narrator] Test results on other evidence
bring even more disappointing news for investigators.
It turns out the blood on the floor of the garage
was likely from a turkey that Doug had killed while hunting.
The blood in Nikki's car was from one of her other children,
and it was not Nikki's.
What we thought was blood on the bottom of the shoe,
tested inconclusive for blood.
So all those things that we thought we believed
to be Nikki's blood, turned out not to be.
We also got location data from Doug and Gregg's cell phones
that corroborated their account of where they were
that night, down to the times they left the bar,
the route they took home,
then when they got back to Doug's house, and from there.
[Narrator] With no concrete evidence
linking Doug to Nikki's murder,
authorities release him from jail.
Doug's DNA isn't really showing up
where we thought it was gonna be.
And there's still this unknown male profile
that really threw a curve at us.
[Narrator] Police believe that Nikki was murdered
in front of her own home.
But if Doug hadn't killed her, who had?
I was very concerned who this could be,
who this monster could have been,
that did this to our beloved Nikki.
[mysterious music]
[Narrator] Two days after finding Nikki VanderHeyden
savagely murdered, detectives hunting her killer
arrested her boyfriend, Doug Detrie.
But when DNA evidence exonerates Doug,
detectives turn their focus to one urgent question.
The biggest question we had to answer
outside of who did this was, how did she get home?
We spent countless hours
watching video surveillance
of every single known business between Nikki's residence
and the Sardine Can.
We had investigators watching highway camera footage,
bridge camera footage, to see if we could catch
either her walking or crossing the river
to get to that side of town.
We were running outta leads. It was frustrating at times.
[Narrator] Still hoping for a DNA match to the killer,
investigators continue sending the crime lab
samples of Nikki's clothing found at the side of the road.
We picked 10 items at a time for testing.
We were looking for any items that we believe
might contain more of this unknown male's DNA, hoping for a
full profile.
After sending several batches
and not coming up with anything definitive,
we end up sending a batch that included the socks
that Nikki was wearing still when her body was found.
The crime lab were able to get enough of a profile
off of that sock to be able to enter it
into the CODIS system.
The suspect somehow got some touch DNA on those socks.
[Narrator] Entered into the national DNA database,
the profile returns a hit
that takes investigators by surprise.
The DNA hit that we received was that of
George Steven Burch,
who was from the state of Virginia.
As far as we knew, he had no relation to anybody
that was with Nikki that night, or Nikki herself.
All the information we had was leading us towards Doug.
So once we got that DNA information, it was very surprising.
George Burch was in and out of prison on the East Coast.
And at some point earlier in 2016,
had moved to the Green Bay area.
So we start digging through the Green Bay
Police Department records,
see what we can find out about him.
George Steven Burch was contacted
by the Green Bay Police Department a few weeks after
the homicide for a hit and run car accident.
The vehicle was a Chevy S-10 Blazer that was found
a short distance away from where Mr. Burch was staying.
At the time, he was questioned about it
and claimed that the vehicle must have been stolen.
[Narrator] Suspicious about the nature and timing
of the supposed theft, investigators see if his Chevy Blazer
could've been used to dump Nikki's body.
We ended up comparing the specs of a Chevy Blazer
and the width of the tire tracks that we found in the field.
And we found it to be a very near match.
[Narrator] Digging deeper, detectives find
even more evidence connecting George
to Nikki's last-known movements.
We knew that he hung out at a bar
that was down in that same general area of the Sardine Can.
We were able to identify Burch's Google account,
and track the location of the cell phone
that that Google account is associated with.
The Google Dashboard data showed us roadmap
of Mr. Burch's whereabouts that night.
And, he was found at every single crime scene that we had,
including the farm field, Nicole and Doug's residence,
the roadway where Nicole's property was found,
and then back at his residence.
When we got that information,
we knew we had our guy at that point.
[Narrator] Police track down George Burch
and bring him in to the sheriff's office.
When we had our contact with Mr. Burch,
it was obvious that this wasn't his first contact
with law enforcement.
He was very cool, very calm.
Burch didn't provide any details
or provide his version of events of anything.
We still didn't necessarily have the details
on how they met, why they were together.
[Narrator] But with DNA and other evidence
firmly implicating him, police charged George Burch
with Nikki's murder.
When the suspect was arrested,
it was a result of actual - physical evidence. And, - I felt
so much relief that the family
would never have doubt as to who did this to Nikki.
When the news came out about who did this,
he made me sick,
when I saw him.
He looked like a monster.
[Narrator] On February 19th, 2018,
George Burch goes on trial
for the murder of Nikki VanderHeyden.
But when he finally takes the stand,
what he says leaves the courtroom stunned.
At trial, Mr. Burch's explanation for what happened
was he met Nikki at the bar, they were getting along,
flirting, having a good time.
And, he ended up bringing her back to her house
where she resides with Mr. Detrie.
George said they were having sex
in front of Nikki's house, in his vehicle.
And at some point, someone comes out,
hits him over the head with a pistol
and knocks him unconscious.
He wakes up and finds Nikki already dead on the ground,
and someone holding him at gunpoint.
[mysterious music]
[Narrator] Investigators believe that 31-year-old
Nikki VanderHeyden was brutally murdered by convicted felon,
George Burch.
But at trial, George blindsides everyone
by claiming that Doug Detrie was the one responsible
for Nikki's death.
Mr. Burch, in the courtroom, was
very arrogant, very pompous.
His demeanor was that of, "I'm innocent and Doug did this."
Mr. Burch advised us that Doug ordered George
to drive the body to the farm field.
George said that Doug had ordered him to carry Nikki's body
into the field and drop it.
George then said that at one point
he was able to get into a struggle with Doug,
push him away, and get back into the car and take off.
He didn't come up with that story until he had a chance
to look at all the evidence
that was being filed against him.
[Narrator] George's wild allegation forces detectives
to dig deeper to prove his guilt.
Part of the obstacles in this was disproving
that Doug did it,
and show his movements from that morning and that night.
During the investigation, we learned that Nikki
had given Doug a Fitbit device as a gift.
So, we realized that Doug was wearing that Fitbit device
during all our contact with him.
So, we're able to review the information
on the Fitbit device, when he was home, going to sleep,
and waking up again.
Based upon all the Google Dashboard data
that we had from George,
we knew at what time he and Nikki arrived back
to Doug and Nicole's residence.
So we were able to look at Doug's Fitbit
to show that at that time that George and Nicole
were outside, Doug was sleeping,
and not in fact out murdering his girlfriend
and disposing of the body.
[Narrator] Back in court, prosecutors use
the location-tracking evidence to demolish George's story.
The act of violence that Doug allegedly did to him,
did not add up with any of the other evidence that we had.
None of us bought George's story
in court.
We all knew it was a joke, and a fairytale made up.
I think Nikki just wanted to get home to her children.
And I know she fought for her life that night.
[Narrator] Now, prosecutors put forth their theory
of what really happened that night.
What I believe happened is that there was some arguments
between Doug and Nikki.
I believe that Nikki did leave the Sardine Can
pretty upset, and ended up at Richard Craniums bar,
'bout a half mile away.
She was intoxicated. She was by herself.
She was emotional.
She is very outgoing, personable person.
So, she'd be very easy for someone to prey upon.
At some point she meets George Burch.
They get to talking, he offers Nikki a ride home,
she accepts it.
They end up in front of her house.
I believe at that point,
George thought he was gonna get some action
for taking a girl home,
and didn't expect her to start fighting.
And, that enraged Mr. Burch.
And it turns into a sexual assault.
At some point, he strangles her with that phone cord
that was found.
She fell out of the vehicle.
He continued to stomp on her back and her head,
eventually killing her.
And then, loading her up in his vehicle,
driving her to a field and disposing of her body,
and then going home like nothing happened.
This poor woman was absolutely, brutally,
brutally attacked and murdered in front of her own home,
where her baby lay sleeping.
And, the thought of what he did to her
is beyond comprehension.
After closing arguments,
it didn't take very long at all for them to make a decision.
The verdict reads as follows.
We, the jury, find the defendant, George Steven Burch,
guilty of first degree intentional homicide.
[Narrator] For murdering Nikki VanderHeyden,
George Burch is sentenced to life in prison without parole.
The true killer in this homicide
came completely outta left field.
I felt extreme relief for the family
that someone was going to answer for this extremely heinous,
horrific crime.
He's going to prison for the rest of his life.
That was music to our ears.
But we still knew it wasn't going to bring our Nikki back.
Nikki had three young children at home,
one of which is a newborn.
She had her entire life ahead of her,
and a lotta things to accomplish,
and a lot of friends and family that miss her.
She was an incredible human being, a great mother,
and she should be recognized as that.
[Narrator] Despite the pain of Nikki's loss,
her friends and loved ones are devoted
to keeping her memory alive.
My children and I, we celebrate her life every year,
on May 21st, and we talk about her.
And we go to the cemetery.
I love to remember Nikki
dancing and smiling and laughing.
I loved her laugh. It was so contagious.
She just was always smiling.
I love to remember her that way.