317. The Fitbit That Solved a Murder - Nicole VanderHeyden

Summary

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Murder With My Husband – Episode 317: The Fitbit That Solved a Murder – Nicole VanderHeyden

Release Date: April 20, 2026
Hosts: Peyton Moreland & Garrett Moreland

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Overview of the Episode

This episode focuses on the 2016 murder of Nicole VanderHeyden (Nikki), a mother of three from Green Bay, Wisconsin, and the critical role that modern technology—most notably, a Fitbit—played in both identifying her killer and protecting an innocent man from a wrongful conviction. Peyton sets out to highlight not just how tech helps solve crimes, but how it can also prevent miscarriages of justice in the face of misleading circumstantial evidence.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Technology in Crime & Justice

• Opening Commentary on Modern Crime-Solving:
  Peyton reflects on how technology (geofencing, digital forensics, genetic genealogy, etc.) is shaping modern investigations:

  "Googling one damning search phrase can literally lead to an arrest." (05:16)
  She emphasizes that new tech doesn't just catch criminals, but also prevents wrongful convictions.

2. The Life of Nicole VanderHeyden

• Background:
  Nicole, known as "Nikki," was a beloved mother and teacher who prioritized others and found solace in nature. After divorcing her first husband, she met Doug Dietree and had a child with him.
• Context for the Night:
  Nikki and Doug, exhausted parents, sought a rare night out at a Steel Panther concert with friends (08:53).

3. The Night of Nikki's Disappearance (May 20–21, 2016)

• Sequence of Events:
  • Nikki and Doug go out but split up during the night after a minor argument about Doug socializing with old friends.
  • Nikki leaves upset, seen on surveillance dancing and socializing at the "Sardine Can" bar until 11:30pm.
  • After heated texts and calls, Nikki storms out, refusing a ride from friends and is last seen by them (13:40–15:00).
  • Doug and his friend Greg claim to search for Nikki, eventually returning home without her at 2:40am.

4. The Investigation Begins

• Discovery of Nikki's Body (01:30pm, May 21):
  A farmer finds a naked woman's body, later identified as Nikki, three miles from her home. She'd been strangled, beaten, and fought for her life (22:00-23:37).
• Doug as the Initial Suspect:
  Circumstantial evidence and their rocky relationship put Doug in the crosshairs:
  • He was the last known person to see her.
  • Blood, a matching shoe imprint, and a cord were found near his home (39:25–41:45).
  • Peyton: "While searching their garage, detectives spotted blood on the floor... Air Jordans... some bloody smudges on the bottom." (40:41)

5. The Turning Point: Exonerating Doug with Technology

• Technology Provides an Alibi:
  • Doug’s car never left the bar parking lot; Nikki’s car didn’t move (44:25).
  • Fitbit data proved Doug only took 12 steps during the critical time window (46:20):

    Peyton: "A Fitbit tracks your movements entirely...which means there's no way he could have killed his girlfriend and moved her body in 12 steps." (46:21)

  • Blood in the garage was from a turkey; blood in the car from a child; shoeprint didn’t match (47:19–47:56).
  • Doug is freed; police realize they're back to square one.

6. The True Killer: George Burch & Digital Forensics

• Breakthrough via DNA:
  DNA on Nikki’s sock matches George Burch, a recent Virginia transplant with a violent past (49:24).
• Digital Trail:
  Police had previously cloned Burch’s phone during an unrelated investigation, revealing:
  • GPS + WiFi logs place him at Nikki's house at her time of death
  • His phone moves from Nikki's house to the dump site, then to where her belongings are found (52:01–52:41).
• George Burch’s Ridiculous Defense:
  On trial, Burch tries to claim Doug committed the murder (55:14), but Fitbit and data prove otherwise.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Wrongful Convictions & Technology:

  "This is definitely something about technology that we don't often go over in true crime... advances have made it easier to not put the wrong person in prison." (06:40) — Peyton

• Surprising Doug’s Innocence:

  Peyton: "Little details start pointing away from Doug… For example, Doug left his car overnight at the watering hole. He had to go get it the next day." (44:25)

• Garrett’s Reaction to Doug’s Ordeal:

  "Shoot. It's not Doug. Yeah, I just ripped Doug a new one and it's not Doug. Why would you let me do that?" (43:12)
  "Doug just got drugged through the wringer." (54:15)

• On the Power and Privacy of Technology:

  "Most of my devices, if I'm not doing anything wrong, should have my back... They offer indiscriminate proof should I ever find myself in an unthinkable situation. Doug had his Fitbit." (57:55) — Peyton

• On the Randomness and Tragedy:

  "Just got a ride home from the wrong person, just got killed for no reason." (59:17) — Garrett

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Important Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment Description | |------------|------------------------------------------------------| | 05:16 | Introduction of technology’s role in crime-solving | | 11:08 | The couple’s night out described | | 13:40–16:23| Nikki’s fight, disappearance, and last communication | | 22:00–23:37| Discovery of Nikki’s body and crime scene details | | 39:25–41:45| Police search Doug and Nikki’s house | | 44:25 | Timeline inconsistencies and exonerating evidence | | 46:20 | Fitbit data exonerates Doug | | 47:19–47:56| Debunking evidence against Doug | | 49:24 | DNA breakthrough—George Burch identified | | 52:01–52:41| Burch's phone movement on night of crime | | 54:15 | Burch gives false story blaming Doug | | 56:12 | Jury finds George Burch guilty | | 57:55 | Reflection on technology and justice |

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Episode Takeaways

• Circumstantial Evidence Isn’t Enough:
  Peyton and Garrett stress how easily the “obvious” suspect can be innocent, and how digital records like Fitbit, car trackers, and phone data can change the course of justice.

• Technology as a Safeguard:
  Not only did tech lead to the real killer, it protected an innocent man from spending life in prison for a crime he didn’t commit—illustrating both the promise and power of digital forensics.

• The Tragedy of Random Violence:
  Nikki’s story is a chilling reminder that the most tragic crimes can sometimes result from simply crossing paths with the wrong person.

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Final Thoughts

Peyton closes by reflecting on the bittersweet reality: justice for Nikki thanks to digital forensics, but an unthinkable loss for her family and an ordeal for Doug, who became a single dad overnight. The episode ultimately affirms the importance and growing role of technology in both solving crimes and exonerating the innocent.

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Memorable Closing
Peyton: "While some may argue that technology can be invasive and it definitely can be used against us, there is one thing that helps me sleep at night: most of my devices, if I'm not doing anything wrong, should have my back… Doug had his Fitbit." (57:55)

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Transcript

[Narrator/Ad Voice]

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[Peyton Moreland]

Right. We're getting into an ad and it is Shopify. And I'm going to let Garrett take it away because he is probably Shopify's number one fan.

[Garrett Moreland]

I have been using Shopify before I was born. No, honestly, I've been using Shopify for seven years now. I want to say I've been using it for a long time. I feel like I'd consider myself a Shopify expert at this point. But we love Shopify. We still use Shopify. The amount of tools and features they have are amazing. For me, it's that it's super easy to use. If you want to sell anything online at all, Shopify is going to be the place to do this. You really need to check out Shopify. Shopify is your commerce expert with world class expertise and everything from managing inventory to international shipping to processing returns and beyond. See less cards go abandoned and more sales go with Shopify and their Shop Pay button. Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at shopify.com husband go to shopify.com husband that's shopify.com husband.

[Peyton Moreland]

You're listening to an Ono Media podcast. Hey everybody, welcome back to the podcast. This is Murder with My Husband. I'm Peyton Moreland.

[Garrett Moreland]

And I'm Garrett Moreland.

[Peyton Moreland]

And he's the husband.

[Garrett Moreland]

And I'm the husband. Happy Monday. Happy Monday. Thank you for being here. Thank you for listening. Thank you for watching. Thank you for following. Liking, commenting, hating. I don't even care if you hate. Do it. Dare you. Anyways, that's all we got going on. Hope everyone's having. We're going to have a great week. And yeah, that's our intro. A reminder real quick, for those who don't know, we do have bonus content. We have bonus episodes and ad free content over on Apple, Spotify and Patreon and that's that. So go check that out if you want that.

[Peyton Moreland]

Do you think the listeners know that? I just glaze them all the time. Is that the thing I would say or what?

[Garrett Moreland]

What do you mean? Are you glazing them?

[Peyton Moreland]

Like, I feel like sometimes they're probably. Like, if I were to be like, oh, I was thinking about this. Because I was thinking about this this week. I was thinking about how. I feel like we have, like, top 1% listeners.

[Garrett Moreland]

Okay.

[Peyton Moreland]

I like, I feel like our listeners are exceptional. The goat exceptional. Yeah, the goats. And I only say that because of the feedback that we receive from, like, ad companies or, you know, people who interact with our listeners.

[Garrett Moreland]

Yeah, you guys are the goats. I'm not going to lie.

[Peyton Moreland]

But do you think they think I'm glazing all the time?

[Garrett Moreland]

No.

[Peyton Moreland]

Do I say this too much, is what I'm saying, or do you think at this point they don't believe me?

[Garrett Moreland]

They probably just tune it out.

[Peyton Moreland]

Yeah, well, I'm not trying to glaze or anything.

[Garrett Moreland]

I think there's no problem with glazing.

[Peyton Moreland]

Like, I just, like, I feel sometimes with the feedback we receive, I don't know. Sometimes I just feel like our listeners are a little special.

[Garrett Moreland]

Yeah, I agree.

[Peyton Moreland]

I don't know.

[Garrett Moreland]

No, I agree. I agree. I agree.

[Peyton Moreland]

Like, obviously they are. We wouldn't be here without them.

[Garrett Moreland]

It's true. So you're special too, though.

[Peyton Moreland]

Well, thank you.

[Garrett Moreland]

Welcome.

[Peyton Moreland]

That means a lot. But I just want you to know if you're listening to this, that you matter and you matter to me because I wouldn't be here without you. You have a 10 seconds. Yes, you do.

[Garrett Moreland]

No, no. Zero.

[Peyton Moreland]

I was so excited.

[Garrett Moreland]

I haven't slept. I don't eat. I probably lost 10 pounds. Stressing my life away. That's what I got going. I'm stressed working, doing a bunch of stuff. But it's okay. I'm pretty soon here. Hopefully everything will be chill and we'll look. It. It is what it is.

[Peyton Moreland]

You know, by the time they listen to this, will, we have had the opening.

[Garrett Moreland]

Yes, by the time. No, no, no, no, no. This is one more.

[Peyton Moreland]

One more. Right?

[Garrett Moreland]

Gosh, that gave me a heart.

[Peyton Moreland]

That kind of gave me.

[Garrett Moreland]

That makes me sick to my stomach.

[Peyton Moreland]

Yeah.

[Garrett Moreland]

I might barf all over the place.

[Peyton Moreland]

Yeah, that's how I feel about it, too.

[Garrett Moreland]

Anyways, hope everything's going well. I have nothing else to say. I'm sorry, guys. I have 10 seconds. Any hot takes?

[Peyton Moreland]

I was gonna say, a lot of things have gone wrong this week for you, dude. Just, like, which is, like, a little. It's a little discouraging because it's like. Like his mixer broke today. So now you can't make bagels, can't practice with employees. How do we even get that fixed? Are they gonna have to ship another one? You know, opening is soon.

[Garrett Moreland]

I just, I think I'm gonna close shop, you know? No, I tried damn hard. It was tough.

[Peyton Moreland]

I know.

[Garrett Moreland]

It's fine. It'll be okay. I don't want to talk too much about the bagel shop, but I will talk about any hot takes that I have, but I feel like I can't think of any right now. If I think of a hot take in the middle of the episode, I'll spit it right out. So on that note, let's hop into this week's episode.

[Peyton Moreland]

Our sources for this episode are greenbay prez gazette.com, cbs news.com oxygen.com wbay.com hanson funeral service.com box11online.com wncy.com we are greenbay.com wtxl.com mirror.co.uk the troublewithjustice.com wicourts.com and legacy.com I feel like lately we've kind of covered a lot of cases that have to do with technology. And I know that I'm kind of including my solo show into the dark in that because I just kind of feel like this has been a theme lately. We see a lot of cases getting solved with some new form of technology. Geofencing and location analytics, genetic genealogy, digital forensics. Because of these tools, googling, one damning search phrase can literally lead to an arrest. We made a joke about this on last week's episode. Bringing your phone with you to commit a crime could literally mean life in prison. Throwing out a used soda can could now prove it was your DNA left at a crime scene years ago. But what we often don't highlight is how that same technology can actually save a life, not just solve a crime. Or more specifically, keep someone from being wrongfully accused of a crime they didn't commit. Which is why today's case shows circumstantial evidence might tell one story. But with the tech we have nowadays, concrete evidence has the power to change the narrative entirely. And this is definitely something that about technology that we don't often go over in true crime. And that is again, like, we have all these new ways of solving crime, but because of these advances, we've now also made it easier to not put the wrong person in prison.

[Garrett Moreland]

Yeah.

[Peyton Moreland]

So today I want to introduce you to a 31 year old mother of three from Green Bay, Wisconsin named Nicole Vanderhayden or Nikki as her friends called her now, Nikki was the kind of person who lived for everyone else. She put others before herself constantly, and she took a lot of pride in this. Born on March 29, 1985, Nikki graduated from high school in 2003 and went on to get a degree in science and education. Now after that, she spent the next six years of her life working as a substitute teacher for the Green Bay area public school system. And on her off days, Nikki would do anything to get outside for a good hike or to connect with nature. She loved exercising and taking care of herself. But Nikki's number one priority in her life eventually was her family. She got married. She had two kids with her first husband. But eventually they felt it was best if they parted ways. And Nikki leaned on those closest to her to get through those difficult times. Especially when she learned that she would have to share custody of her son and daughter with her ex. This. But as someone who always embraced the journey that is life, Nikki soon met and fell in love with someone else. It was January 2015 when Nikki met Doug Dietree.

[Garrett Moreland]

I know this is going to sound a little ditzy, but it's just weird to think that like 2015 grand was 11 years ago now, which is scary.

[Peyton Moreland]

Doesn't feel that long.

[Garrett Moreland]

Doesn't feel that long. But like we were just living, we're like we just live normal lives while all this insanity happens around us.

[Peyton Moreland]

Right. Like we were just at college during this time.

[Garrett Moreland]

People are killing people and just doing insane crap and I was just going to college and is being an idiot.

[Peyton Moreland]

Isn't that just the just weird?

[Garrett Moreland]

It's just weird. It's like, yeah, it's weird.

[Peyton Moreland]

The irony of life.

[Garrett Moreland]

Yeah, exactly.

[Peyton Moreland]

And like an uncomfortable one. So just a few months after they actually started seeing each other, Nikki and Doug got some unexpected news. She was pregnant with her third child. That was Doug's child. And even though the two were still basically getting to know each other, they both felt this was something they wanted. Now at the time, Doug was working for his family's company in business development. And it seemed like he was ready to kind of start settling down. And eventually Nikki moved into their home and. And they welcomed their young son in the winter of 2015. But as any parent or even non parent knows, the first six months with a newborn can be extremely daunting. So By May of 2016, both Nikki and Doug were in desperate need of a date night. So that afternoon, Nikki and Doug spoke to some friends about going to see a last minute concert. And was this Glam metal band called Steel Panther that was in town. And they figured this is going to make the perfect date night. So Nikki asked her mom to babysit again. She has just a little six month old at home with her other kids and since they plan to stay out later, her friend Dallas would then come to relieve her mother later in the evening. Now around 8:00pm that night, Nikki and Doug met their friend Greg, Matthew and some others at a bar called the Watering Hole in Green Bay.

[Garrett Moreland]

Okay.

[Peyton Moreland]

Now Doug said Nikki was excited this night about letting loose. According to him, she had had two drinks before he had even finished his first. Nikki deserved to blow off some steam after not having gone out for the last six months with a brand new baby. So Doug wasn't holding her back. But around 11pm, as the concert began to wrap up, things started to get a little tense with the couple. Doug and Greg had actually run into some old friends from high school at the Watering Hole. But the rest of the friends they had gone to the show with, including Nikki, were now trying to leave. So they wanted to go to another bar called the Sardine can that was nearby. But Doug and Greg, who are now catching up with their old friends, are like, we don't want to go to Sardine can. We want to stay at Watering Hole with our friends. So they told Nikki, you go with the rest of the group on this date night to the other bar and we will meet you there shortly. Now Nikki obviously is not exactly happy to hear about this because the group they had even come here with was mostly Doug's friends, not even her own. And some of the people he was now catching up with were attractive young women from his past. Still, she didn't want to wait around for him to finish catching up, finish his conversation. So she left with the original friends, figuring Doug and Greg would be along in a matter of minutes. Now this ends up not being the case this night. Instead, Doug continued to hang around the Watering Hole for a while longer. And at first Nikki seems fine at the new bar she's seen on security footage, looking happy, dancing, having a good time. But when Doug still hasn't shown up 15 minutes later, Nikki does start to get pissed. She texts Doug, wondering where he is. Now, eventually those texts escalate as Nikki begins to accuse Doug of cheating on her. And she also mentions something about him being abusive towards her. Now soon Doug does text back with some cavalier response like, lol, stop and be good, I'll see you at the Sardine Can. But when he still doesn't show up to the second place. By 11:30, she calls Doug, and he doesn't answer. So she asks one of the other friends they're with, hey, can you try calling Doug? And when they call, he does answer. So this sets Nikki off because her boyfriend has now screened her call on their date night. I mean, they have a newborn baby at home. This is their night out. He's at a completely different place and is now ignoring her. She gets so angry, she runs out of the bar. And one of Doug's friends, a guy named Aaron, chases her out to the street to try and convince her to come back again. He's probably just being a good friend. They've had a lot to drink this night. He's like, hey, Nikki, I understand you're mad, but you can't just, like, go out alone and leave. He tells her, hey, the rest of us are actually calling Ubers, and we're gonna head home. Why don't you just catch a ride with us? But by this point, Nikki is in hysterics. And when Doug's friend Aaron, who's trying to help, tries to approach her, she actually pushes him away, ends up falling on the ground, and kind of just starts kicking and screaming at him. And when he realizes people are looking, he's like, that's it. I'm gonna just back away. Leave her be. I mean, this isn't even his friend. This is, you know, he knows her through Doug. And as he's leaving, he yells to her one last time, quote, we can get you home faster to your child, your babe in the woods. But she just gets up, storms off in another direction on her cell phone. Now, eventually, around 12:30am so an hour and a half after the concert ended, Doug and Greg finally decide to leave the watering hole. Doug, at this point, has been trying to call Nikki back, texting her, hello, I've tried calling you 10 times. But Nikki, at this point isn't responding. And apparently, once he hears that the rest of the friends have actually already left the sardine can and that Nikki had wandered off on her own, refused to go with them, refused to take an Uber home, him and Greg decide to start driving around the area looking for her because she's not answering her phone. Now, around 12:36, she actually finally does answer, but according to Doug, she is slurring her words so badly that he can hardly understand her. And he's like, listen, I don't know where you are. Just go back to the sardine can. We will meet you there in five minutes. And then we can Go home. But a few minutes later, their calls stop going through because Nikki's phone is either turned off or dead.

[Garrett Moreland]

Oh my gosh. Okay.

[Peyton Moreland]

One of the last messages she'd sent Doug said something about how she'd met up with a friend. Friend. Though again she's not being coherent. It doesn't say where. So around 1am, Doug and Greg go into the sardine can, hoping Nikki went inside with said friend, but she's not there. They wait around cuz remember he said to meet him there. They wait till about 2:15am and then they're like, okay, maybe she's not coming here. Maybe she just found her way home. Especially if she had met up with someone she knew. She probably just got a ride.

[Garrett Moreland]

Yeah.

[Peyton Moreland]

And that's when Greg drives Doug back to his house to relieve the babysitter. Now they are back at the house by 2:40am and Nikki's friend Dallas, who was there to babysit, is passed out on the couch. When Doug wakes her up, they are both shocked to learn that Nikki hasn't made it back yet. So Dallas gets woken up, it's extremely late. Nikki, her friend is nowhere to be found. They have lost track of her. And now Doug and Greg are just being obnoxiously drunk. The baby's asleep upstairs and she's like, oh my gosh, can you guys calm down?

[Garrett Moreland]

Okay?

[Peyton Moreland]

She starts asking him some questions. And then Dallas says something to Doug that was half kidding, half serious. She says, quote, is Nikki in the trunk of your car? Doug literally looks at her and goes, no. But something about Doug's demeanor when she jokes just isn't sitting well with her. Something in her gut in this moment is like, okay, something's not right. Like Nikki's not here. That was weird. Dallas says good night, closes the door behind her. Though not realizing how correct her instincts might have been. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Skims keeps reinventing intimates. Every launch feels like the best one yet. Stretchy, comfortable underwear, an adorable push up bra, and now a new cotton fabric. That's honestly a game changer for me. And I honestly have to tell you that I have gotten onto skims and ordered almost every single thing they offer in this cotton fabric. It's the everyday cotton. It is so soft. It is like butter on your skin. It is good quality. There fits the. It's just such good fit. You guys, this isn't even because they are a sponsor of the show. Whether they sponsored or not, I would rave about skims products. I really, really do believe in them and I think you have to go check it out. I actually just got the Skims fits. Everybody scoop Bralette in the new Everyday cotton. I already had it before that but I got it in the new one and it is just perfect for the girls. Shop everyday cotton and all of my favorite bras and [e-mail] also you are a guy.

[Garrett Moreland]

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[Peyton Moreland]

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[Garrett Moreland]

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[Peyton Moreland]

BetterHelp therapists work according to a strict code of conduct and are fully licensed in the US and with over 30,000 therapists, BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform, having served over 6 million people globally. So when life feels overwhelming, therapy can help. Sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com husband that's betterhelph e l-p.com husband now the following morning, May 21st, Doug wakes up with the baby around 6:30am and after feeding his son, he goes back to bed. And then he gets up around 11am that's when he realizes Nikki still isn't back and her phone still isn't on. So for the next few hours, he just assumes that, okay, she got really mad at me last night. She's probably still mad at me. She's probably sleeping off a hangover at this friend's place that she texted him about. But as the day goes on, he gets more and more worried.

[Garrett Moreland]

Also, like I don't know. I guess I can't judge. It's just. That's something I feel like we wouldn't do, but maybe other couples do it.

[Peyton Moreland]

Yeah. I mean, I think it's even more worrisome that she has a newborn at home. Yeah, like, still not home.

[Garrett Moreland]

Exactly. That just sounds like I'd be in full panic mode.

[Peyton Moreland]

Like, I understand him being like, maybe she's mad at me. Maybe she really did run into a friend. But also, you know, that your wife was, you know, so out of it that she wouldn't get a ride home with the friends. She was kind of kicking and screaming at them like she clearly was not in her right mind.

[Garrett Moreland]

That seems kind of nuts to be

[Peyton Moreland]

like, so isn't that a little nerve wracking that you don't know who she's with or where she's at when you know the state she was in?

[Garrett Moreland]

Exactly.

[Peyton Moreland]

So he begins calling hospitals and local jails, but none of them have Nikki. So finally, at 4:30pm that day, he calls the police to file a missing person's report. But I'm going to rewind just a little earlier that day, around 1:30pm and you're like, wait, why did you probably go 4:30 to, you know, making the missing person's report? But this is important to the story. So earlier that day at 1:30, a farmer is out combing his land just a few miles from Doug and Nikki's house, and he finds what he thinks is a deer laying on his property. Though as he gets closer, he sees it is far, far worse. There is a woman completely naked, other than her socks and a pink wristband. So he calls the police, who rush to the scene, and they discover that this woman is dead in this farmer's field. And they are having a hard time identifying her. There's no id, There is no purse or phone. She has a severe injury to the side of her face. She has a shoe mark on her back.

[Garrett Moreland]

Oh, my gosh.

[Peyton Moreland]

And while there's a lot of blood on her body, there is not a ton on the ground, which indicates to them that she was likely killed elsewhere and. And then dumped here afterwards.

[Garrett Moreland]

Okay.

[Peyton Moreland]

When they roll her over, they find there's a significant injury to this woman's neck. So she appears to have been strangled. Her fingernails are actually damaged so badly, which tells them that she definitely fought for her life.

[Garrett Moreland]

Strangling someone's crazy.

[Peyton Moreland]

Also, where are her clothes and her belongings?

[Garrett Moreland]

Like, I know there's anytime killing someone in general is insane, but I don't think I could strangle somebody unless I was like, completely fighting for my life, you know?

[Peyton Moreland]

Yeah.

[Garrett Moreland]

Like, I just find it weird. People are like, I'm going to kill this person by strangling them.

[Peyton Moreland]

There's definitely something psychological, I guess, but

[Garrett Moreland]

I guess depends anyways, keep going. I mean, you could like weird naked choke somebody, but, like, when I imagine strangling, like, I imagine they're strangling them like this, like on top of them.

[Peyton Moreland]

Yeah. You know, what was I. Were you just rear naked choking somebody?

[Garrett Moreland]

No, I was just saying.

[Peyton Moreland]

What is that?

[Garrett Moreland]

What do you mean?

[Peyton Moreland]

Rear naked choking? That's a name for it.

[Garrett Moreland]

Oh, yeah. Just choking somebody. Geez, you know me.

[Peyton Moreland]

You're like an MMA fighter.

[Garrett Moreland]

Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

[Peyton Moreland]

Okay, So I agree with you, though. I do think, like, strangling is so intimate in a way. So again, this is all happening. They like, the farmer found her at 1:30, calls the cops. They are now, you know, blocking off the scene, getting investigators, crime scene investigators there. And as this is happening, a call is made to the local police at 4:30pm back up to now where I took you before this. It is the report about a missing woman named Nicole Vanderhayden who perfectly fits the description of the body they had just found. Remember, this body is only a couple miles away from her home. So it's very easy for police to be like, we just got a missing persons call and we just found a body.

[Garrett Moreland]

Yeah.

[Peyton Moreland]

So of course, the detectives first stop is to Doug at Nikki's house to find out what even happened to her. Like, how is she here, what happened the night before? And that is when they learn she only lives three or so miles from where she was found dead. But when police get to Doug's house and sit him down, they actually don't tell him right away that they found Nikki's body. They want to just see how the interview plays out as her being a missing person's report. So he explains to them he couldn't find Nikki. They lost her that night. We hung out around the sardine can. We waited until about 2:15 for her to show up. We drove around for another 20 minutes or so trying to find her. Then we just came back here, said I was asleep by 3am woke up to feed the baby at 6, went back to bed until 11. And one of the first things police notice about Doug is he does seem visibly distraught. He doesn't have any signs of injury on his face, bare arms or exposed legs that they can see. It doesn't look like someone who's been in a fight. And they know that Nikki fought whoever did this to her. Plus, he does fully cooperate with the investigation. He even allows police to confiscate his cell phone for forensic analysis. And during that interview, they come across the text that him and Nikki had exchanged the night before.

[Garrett Moreland]

I feel like I used to ask all the time where the cameras were. And look, I've kind of gone away from that. And I also feel like. Do you have seen that movie with Shiloh LaBeouf? Eagle Eye? I haven't seen in so long.

[Peyton Moreland]

Shia LaBeouf.

[Garrett Moreland]

Oh, Shia. Sorry. Gosh. Shia LaBeouf called Eagle Eye and I haven't seen it in so long. But if I remember right, he. There's basically like a camera and like. Like anything can be seen at any time. Like nothing's ever missed.

[Peyton Moreland]

What I thought, like, cuz he's in Disturbia.

[Garrett Moreland]

You thought it was gonna be like a scare movie?

[Peyton Moreland]

Well, that's like a camera in that one too. The whole movie's based off.

[Garrett Moreland]

No, no, no. But like, it's like, are you surprised there's not like a camera in the sky that just constantly sees us and just always keeping an eye on us?

[Peyton Moreland]

Is this your hot take?

[Garrett Moreland]

Oh, it wouldn't bother me. I'm not doing anything wrong. I mean, it might be a little awkward like when we're, you know, doing dirty stuff. Other than that, like outside. No, I'm. I mean, I guess I can't see you inside. See? Yeah, it doesn't bother me. Yeah, like it really wouldn't bother me. Anyways, that's my hot take. Watch me 24 7. Doesn't bother me.

[Peyton Moreland]

I mean, there's so many cameras outside, you kind of are being watched.

[Garrett Moreland]

I might be saying some crazy stuff, but whatever. Anyways, we'll keep going.

[Peyton Moreland]

Like if you live in a city.

[Garrett Moreland]

Yeah.

[Peyton Moreland]

They can track you block to block for sure.

[Garrett Moreland]

So yeah.

[Peyton Moreland]

So they're going through these text messages and this is also Shias and holes.

[Garrett Moreland]

Yep. Thank you.

[Peyton Moreland]

And I do like that movie a lot.

[Garrett Moreland]

He didn't transform. He's in a bunch of movies. Yeah.

[Peyton Moreland]

Oh, Transformers. I haven't seen that, but I did know he was in that too. I just don't know what Eagle Eye is. I don't. I've never heard of that. So they're going through the text messages and this is when they come across the one where Nikki called Doug a quote, abusive, a hole to which Doug said, oh, she just gets that way sometimes when she's been drinking too much. He's like, she says things she doesn't mean. But obviously when detectives read this in someone's phone, it's going to set off alarm bells. So they ask him, hey, can you just come down to the station later tonight? And he complies. And it's not until that interview around midnight that they tell him, we actually think Nikki's body was found earlier today at 1:30, which is Loki.

[Garrett Moreland]

Like, holy crap.

[Peyton Moreland]

Now, at first it almost seems like he's in denial. He like, well, it couldn't be her. Until they're like, well, she had a pink wristband on her and that is the one that was given to them at the watering hole for the concert. So he completely loses it. It's like reality sinks in. In this moment, it confirms to him that this was Nikki. But tears are not. The police aren't convinced that Doug is free and clear. They think it's very possible he did have something to do with this. And after three to four more hours of questioning, that becomes very clear to to Doug too. He suddenly asks for a lawyer. He refuses to give a DNA sample without a warrant. His cooperation comes to a complete stop. Now, meanwhile, just before dawn the next morning, more evidence is found in connection to Nikki's murder. Just off a highway on ramp about a mile from where her body was found, an off duty police officer actually spots something. It's a purse. Then he finds some shoes and some clothes nearby. And when detectives get the purse, they find it contains Nikki's ID and her cell phone. Now, around the same time, a medical examiner is performing Nikki's autopsy. And it confirms two things. One, that she had been strangled with something that resembled an electrical cord of some kind. So it wasn't hands, there was a weapon used, and she had been hit in the head with a blunt force object. But the medical examiner couldn't conclusively state what came first. And in addition, she concludes that Nikki had about 240 separate injuries on her body, including ones to her face. She had a fractured jaw and had injuries suggesting that she had been sexually assaulted. Though obviously they're having a hard time ruling out the possibility that she might have just been murdered after having consensual sex. So investigators turn to what little evidence they have to determine what happened to Nikki in the final hours of her life.

[Garrett Moreland]

I just. Yeah, I don't know. I don't. I'm trying to figure out, well, I'm

[Peyton Moreland]

about to make you happy. Because they're starting with, you're gonna make me happy. Okay, they're going to the Surveillance.

[Garrett Moreland]

Oh, okay, good, good.

[Peyton Moreland]

From the sardine can, you were just a little early.

[Garrett Moreland]

All right, let's hear it. Let's hear it.

[Peyton Moreland]

So they. From the sardine can, ye second bar.

[Garrett Moreland]

We got the watering hole. We got the sardine can.

[Peyton Moreland]

Yes.

[Garrett Moreland]

Nice, Nice.

[Peyton Moreland]

So on that footage, like I said, Nikki appears to be having a fun time dancing and drinking with friends until 11:15pm Then a little after 11:30pm she does get visibly upset after being on her phone, and she does storm out of the bar. Now, that footage does show their friend Aaron following her to check on her. So this is when they decide to call Aaron in for questioning. Like, hey, tell us a little bit more about what happened when she stormed out of the bar.

[Garrett Moreland]

Okay.

[Peyton Moreland]

He tells police, ah, she did have odd behavior in the street and how he did actually eventually go back to the bar after Nikki got physical with him. Remember, they had that little altercation and he goes back in. Plus they have surveillance footage that shows him coming back alone around 11:45pm just minutes after he had walked out after her. So Aaron's kind of a dead end and can easily be rolled off the suspect list. But there's more to that footage that night that does raise alarm bells, particularly how Doug and Greg come into the sardine can later. Remember, come to meet her there so they can take her home, and they keep drinking. In this footage, they don't seem too concerned about the fact that Nikki is missing, that there's. She's supposed to be meeting them there, which

[Garrett Moreland]

messed up. Yes. Illegal, no.

[Peyton Moreland]

I also think there could be, like, well, she's still coming. This has been a messy night. She said she was talking to a friend. She's gonna meet us here. So we're just gonna keep the night going until she walks in.

[Garrett Moreland]

Okay.

[Peyton Moreland]

You know what I mean? I do think there's.

[Garrett Moreland]

Maybe.

[Peyton Moreland]

I do.

[Garrett Moreland]

Yeah.

[Peyton Moreland]

Sorry.

[Garrett Moreland]

She's okay. Yeah, maybe.

[Peyton Moreland]

I don't know why I said that like that.

[Garrett Moreland]

I do think.

[Peyton Moreland]

I do think that I want to suck your blood. I know. I. I'm trying to give them the benefit of the doubt, but let me know if this changes when I tell you that they stayed there for two hours having a good time, basically waiting for her to show up. So when police see this, they're like, well, he said he went there to go pick her up. But on this footage, they seem to be having a good time. So they continue to look closer at Doug, and when they dive into his past, they learn that an ex girlfriend of his once filed a domestic violence claim against Him. It seems that she never actually pressed charges, but it was enough for police to wonder, hey, is this a pattern? His, you know, new girlfriend wound up dead. His ex girlfriend filed a domestic violence claim. Plus, the more they talk to witnesses, the more they learn that this couple had their fair share of issues. I guess Doug had told his mother at one point that he just wasn't cut out to be a family man after they had their baby.

[Garrett Moreland]

Yeah, you should probably figure that out before you decide to have a baby.

[Peyton Moreland]

By the way, he even sent her a text that read, quote, this is going to be nothing but hell for 18 years. Which I would dare say a lot of newborn parents probably do feel that way.

[Garrett Moreland]

No, I could. I can see that, you know.

[Peyton Moreland]

Yeah, but this is the part that not a lot of newborn parents might feel. He was even thinking of kicking Nicole and the kids, his newborn baby, out of his house and just going single.

[Garrett Moreland]

So he basically was. Wanted to be a deadbeat dad.

[Peyton Moreland]

Yeah, a little. He was like, I want to go back to the bachelor lifestyle. I don't want a kid. I just wanted to, like, hang out.

[Garrett Moreland]

Dude, some people, when any form of hardships or trials happen, they just fall. Hold like a lawn chair, just straight, just, nope, nope. I'm not gonna do anything hard in my life.

[Peyton Moreland]

And when police talked to Nikki's friends, they learned that she had told them that Doug, he kind of was a little bit of not a good dad. He often slept in. He called out of work. She tells her friends, this is irritating. Like, we have a baby. This is immature. And then there were rumors that he was talking with other women, sending sexually explicit messages to other. Basically, when police are learning about this, they realize Doug does not seem ready for fatherhood. And that began to take a toll on their relationship. Okay, they wanted different things, but is this enough motivation for murder?

[Garrett Moreland]

Also, it doesn't get rid of the fact that you still have a kid at home. Yeah, so get rid of the wife. But, I mean, that doesn't solve the problem that you think you have.

[Peyton Moreland]

Right. Why do most of us want to learn a new language? It's probably not about memorizing grammar tables or topping a le leaderboard. It's because we want to speak it out in the real world with real people.

[Garrett Moreland]

It's true. Like, I've. I know Spanish, and I know English, so I know another language. Cool. Good for me. Yay. Anyways, I've always wanted to learn, like, Mandarin or something crazy, though. I think it'd be so cool to be able to just speak? I don't know, I just, I, I think going to another country and being able to speak their language is, is really cool and Babel can help you do that.

[Peyton Moreland]

Learning a language with Babel is all about small steps, big wins and progress. You can actually track and feel. Their bite sized lessons fit easily into your daily routine and are also easy to remember. Just 10 minutes a day is enough to start seeing some real results.

[Garrett Moreland]

Babbel lets you practice real life conversation step by step without the stress. You'll build the confidence to speak up when it matters. From ordering a coffee to chatting with new friends abroad, Peyton has actually used Babbel quite a bit.

[Peyton Moreland]

Yeah, anytime we travel somewhere where Garrett is going to be speaking Spanish, I try to brush up just using Babel a little bit beforehand so that I make sure I can keep up. And it really, it does work. It really helps me keep back up on those Spanish lessons I took in high school.

[Garrett Moreland]

You guys need to check out Babel. So here's a special limited time deal for our listeners right now. Get up to 60% off your Babel subscription at babel.com/husband get up to 60%

[Peyton Moreland]

off at babel.com/housband Spelled B A B B E L.com/husband Rules and restrictions may apply. This message is sponsored by Green Light. Green Light helps keep your family's financial and personal safety from becoming another cautionary tale. Greenlight is a debit card and app for families, but it's more than a money tool. It's a safety net for teaching kids about money while also helping protect them before bad habits, bad actors, or real world risks take hold. And here's the problem. If you hand them cash, it is a total blind spot. If you open a standard bank account, you might see transactions later, but you can't set spending limits or block risky merchants. By the time you spot trouble, the money's already gone. You are always reacting, always playing defense. But Green Light works differently. You get real time notifications the second your child swipes their card. You can set spending controls by store category, see exactly where money is going and it goes beyond money. Parents can get place alerts when kids come and go from school activities and home driving. Safety features help you understand risky behavior behind the wheel. Honestly, money education should be taught at such a young age and it's not. And that is where Green Light comes in.

[Garrett Moreland]

My family uses Green Light. It's amazing. I know a lot of families that use it. My family uses it for my younger siblings. I think teaching the Importance of money and what a dollar means is especially important in today's world. And greenlight is the perfect place to do this. Every day someone is handling money without guidance is a missed opportunity. Start your risk free greenlight trial [e-mail] husband don't wait to teach your kids real world money skills. That's greenlight.com husband to get started greenlight.com

[Peyton Moreland]

husband so police found this text message sent from Nikki to Doug on the 16th. So this is four days before their date night where she disappeared. And it said, quote, yelling at one of her kids this morning and talking about moving out. He is just a baby and filling your hatred. It makes me want to cry all day. Now Doug does apologize to her over text after this. She's obviously alluding to they had a rough morning. He was yelling, lost his patience with a baby. This made her sad. But it's these subtle clues that got police thinking he could be their best potential suspect. Especially because while he was speaking with detectives the day before, they executed a search warrant on the house that he shared with Nikki. And they found a few things that didn't look great for him. While searching their garage, detectives spotted blood on the floor. They also found some on the inside of Nikki's car, specifically in the back seat. And then they discover a pair of Air Jordans that have what appear to be the same tread marks as the footprint they found on Nikki's back. And there was some bloody smudges on the bottom.

[Garrett Moreland]

Okay.

[Peyton Moreland]

Obviously they bag and tag all of this, send it to the lab for confirmation, and eventually the theory becomes maybe Nikki did come home from the bar that night and the two got into an argument at the house. Maybe he put her in her car and took her out to that field where he left her body after killing her, either in the car back at home. Now, shockingly, this theory holds even more weight when the day after executing the search warrant, a neighbor goes to the police and they say, hey, I think I found your crime scene. So this person lives right across the street from the couple. And they tell police they noticed a pool of blood right along the curb in front of their house. They also found a phone charger cord, one that seemed to match what the medical examiner had believed was a murder weapon.

[Garrett Moreland]

It's just crazy to me. Like, it's just crazy to me that people will just kill people, just leave. Like, just disappear in the night.

[Peyton Moreland]

I mean, this is pretty damning. Like, the neighbors, like, I know you were looking over there, but right here on our sidewalk, we Think we found your murder weapon.

[Garrett Moreland]

Like, just. If you, like, just disappear in the night. If you can't handle having a kid and you can't handle being a dad, first of all, embarrassing. Second of all, just leave. Like, just. Just don't kill. Don't kill somebody. Crazy.

[Peyton Moreland]

They also find a few clumps of blonde hair that does seem to be a perfect match with Nikki's. All of this is about 118ft from Doug's front door. So police call him back in for questioning around May 23, two days after Nikki's found dead. And while they aren't ready to charge him with murder, they arrest 35 year old Doug on suspicions of first degree murder. And they hold him on a $1 million bond. And in the meantime, they are waiting for the DNA results on the evidence to come back. Enduring this, he's sitting in jail, okay. On a $1 million bond. He can't pay.

[Garrett Moreland]

Okay.

[Peyton Moreland]

This feels pretty obvious. Like, even friends and family were like, they've not been doing very well. The whole story's a little weird. So they're like, we got our guy. We just need to get an airtight case. And as all this is going on, little details start pointing away from Doug. For example.

[Garrett Moreland]

Shoot. It's not Doug. Yeah, I just ripped Doug a new one and it's not Doug. Why would you let me do that?

[Peyton Moreland]

Well, I will say if you did pay attention to my intro, which I know you weren't. I talked all about how DNA can exonerate wrongfully convicted people.

[Garrett Moreland]

I'm sorry, dude, I'm sorry.

[Peyton Moreland]

But you were busy during the intro also.

[Garrett Moreland]

What? You can't blame me. You kind of seemed like you were a little sketchy, but you're not. So I'm sorry, I apologize.

[Peyton Moreland]

Well, it's not just you. He's in jail.

[Garrett Moreland]

What's that? What's that? Oh, that's true. Yeah.

[Peyton Moreland]

Like, everyone is thinking, he looks sketchy.

[Garrett Moreland]

It's not just you who's the father or how does it go?

[Peyton Moreland]

You are not the father.

[Garrett Moreland]

You are not the father. Yeah, but doesn't he, like. Doesn't. Doesn't he come out and he goes

[Peyton Moreland]

like, people are going to slaughter us that we don't know the name of this show.

[Garrett Moreland]

I know the name of the show.

[Peyton Moreland]

I've never watched it, but I. I

[Garrett Moreland]

know it starts with an M. Mari, is that him?

[Peyton Moreland]

I don't know.

[Garrett Moreland]

You were not the father.

[Peyton Moreland]

And everyone.

[Garrett Moreland]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Peyton Moreland]

Anyways, I've seen one where they say, you are not the father. And she Cheers. Because she didn't want him to be the dad.

[Garrett Moreland]

Oh, yeah, I know.

[Peyton Moreland]

I've seen that one.

[Garrett Moreland]

It's really sad. Yeah, it's really sad. Okay, so who's the killer? Is what I was trying to relate to. But they didn't. Well, keep going.

[Peyton Moreland]

You and police. You and police are trying to watch this TV show because they're like, why are we now seeing stuff that points away from our number one suspect? This it right in front of his house. For example, Doug left his car overnight at the watering hole. He had to go get it the next day. Remember, Greg drove them back. This is something that was confirmed with video footage. So he didn't have a car. They also had data from Nikki's car from an insurance company tracking device called Snapshot. It proved that Nikki's car hadn't been used the night of the murder.

[Garrett Moreland]

So wait, how. How long have you been in jail for? Not super long.

[Peyton Moreland]

Not super long. Okay, but he is being held with, I mean, million dollar bond. He's not going to pay.

[Garrett Moreland]

He did it. Yeah.

[Peyton Moreland]

So if he. If his car is on surveillance footage at the watering hole all night and her car is not moved, according to the tracking device, how did Doug kill her and then go drop her body off in a field? How did he kill her in front of the neighbor's house and then drop her body off in a field three miles away without a car? Police are like, what did you. Like, okay. This is when police are like, okay, well, maybe Doug's friend Greg came back, drove Doug home. Maybe Doug then killed her and called Greg, and Greg came back and was an accessory. But when they look at the location data from his phone, he's at home. It lines up with the story both he and Doug are giving police.

[Garrett Moreland]

Who did it? No, tell me. With some random person.

[Peyton Moreland]

Well, okay. Police are like, ah, this isn't looking good. Like, how are we gonna approach this at trial? How did he move the body? And then they discover one giant piece of evidence that pretty much proves Doug's telling the truth. This is when they get into his Fitbit. Okay, now remember, we're back in.

[Garrett Moreland]

Yes.

[Peyton Moreland]

We're not. He's rocking a Fitbit. Doug was wearing it the night Nikki disappeared. A Fitbit tracks your movements entirely. Specifically that he'd only walked about 12 steps between 2:45am and then 6:30am when he got up to feed his baby. So according to his story, he went to sleep at 3. And we know Dallas left the house. Nikki wasn't there. There wasn't that much time between the two and then 6:30am when he feeds the baby. And in between that time, it continued registering his data. It still tracked his heart rate, which showed he didn't just take it off in between that and then put it back on to secure an alibi. He was wearing it the whole time. Which means there is no way he could have killed his girlfriend and moved her body in 12 steps in between the time he falls asleep and Dallas leaves.

[Garrett Moreland]

So he didn't kill his girlfriend, and he now doesn't have a girlfriend.

[Peyton Moreland]

And he's sitting in prison, and he's

[Garrett Moreland]

now a single dad sitting in prison.

[Peyton Moreland]

And this is something that becomes even more apparent 18 days after his arrest when the DNA results finally come back and show the blood that was found in their garage was from a turkey he had hunted and butchered recently. And the blood inside Nikki's car, it wasn't hers. It was from one of her kids. And the shoes, the shoes that they were like, there's blood smudges and it matches. It wasn't even blood on them after all. And apparently it wasn't a match for the print on Nikki's body either. They just looked similar.

[Garrett Moreland]

Is this a cold case?

[Peyton Moreland]

So Doug is a free man. He's released from jail. Obviously his name's cleared. And detectives are at a complete loss as to what happened here. Again, what I said at the beginning, if they did not have modern day technology to the Fitbit surveillance camera, he

[Garrett Moreland]

might have been DNA convicted.

[Peyton Moreland]

He is a perfect suspect. I mean, when you're just basing it solely off of circumstantial evidence, which is

[Garrett Moreland]

why I don't love people going. I mean, there's times. But, yeah, doing life in prison off of circumstantial evidence can be hard.

[Peyton Moreland]

So they're at a loss. But they do have one thing. The blood and the hair that was found in front of Doug and Nikki's house, kind of by the neighbor's house that the neighbor reported it does belong to Nikki. So this is their crime scene. Plus, there's a partial DNA belonging to an unidentified male that was pulled from Nikki's clothes and the cord that was found at the crime scene. So now people realize, okay, Nikki was killed in front of her house that night, probably before Doug and Greg even got there.

[Garrett Moreland]

Okay, yeah.

[Peyton Moreland]

How did she get there? From the bar? Which is kind of devastating if you think about the reality of this, that she's gonna die right in front of her house and then her boyfriend's gonna come home and then get put in prison for her murder, and then it's not him.

[Garrett Moreland]

That's insane.

[Peyton Moreland]

Put in jail? I said prison. He doesn't go to prison. He's just in jail. Detectives start pulling surveillance footage. Basically, anything that leads from that area where the bars were to home doesn't get them anywhere. They're starting to hit dead ends and are worrying this case might run cold if nothing turns up soon. But then In August of 2016, three months after Nikki's death, they get some good news. One of the socks Nikki was wearing has enough DNA to run through the national database, and they get a hit. Okay, it belongs to someone from the State of Virginia, 38 year old George Burch. Now, George had just moved from Virginia to the Green Bay area two months before Nikki's death in March of 2016. And this is a guy who could stand out in a crowd. He was 6 foot 7, 270 pounds. It's not someone who would really blend in. And the police definitely took notice of that. So now that they have his name and his DNA on her socks, they start looking into his history. They find that back on June 8, just a week or so after Nikki's death, George was questioned by the sheriff's department, but it was for something else. They believed he was involved in a hit and run accident with a stolen vehicle and that he then tried to burn that car in a fire. But George denied the accusations, saying he was at a bar, texting with a woman on the evening in question would happily give the police his phone to prove it. The police then say, hey, it actually just be a lot easier if we can just download the contents on your phone rather than like take a bunch of screenshots. We can just like do a mass download. Is that okay? According to the police, he says yes. Again, this is questioning a week after for something else. Yeah, they even have him sign a bunch of consent forms. Now, unfortunately, they never did prove it. It was George who, if he was guilty of the crimes involving the stone vehicle and burning it. But when those DNA results come back in August of 2016 and they get George's name and they're like, hey, wait a second. We actually have George's entire phone history in our systems from the week after this murder. We should use that to our advantage now that his DNA is linked to Nikki's case. See, George had Google dashboard on his phone, which actually shows them not just what cell towers he pinged, but every wi fi hotspot the phone encountered, as well as more exact GPS coordinates for specific Dates and times.

[Garrett Moreland]

Okay, there's a lot. There's a lot going on here.

[Peyton Moreland]

And when they look at the early hours of May 21, when Nikki disappeared, they realize he was really close to where she was. His night had started a half a mile away from where she was last seen, at a bar called Richard Craniums. This is about a 12 minute walk to the sardine can, or from the sardine can. It says he then went to his house from 2:32 to 2:38am and then his phone put him at her home or right outside of it.

[Garrett Moreland]

Okay, so why, like, why her? Just wrong place, wrong time, Just like insane or.

[Peyton Moreland]

Yeah, I'll tell you what. Police come up with his phone, says he was right outside her house, where we know the crime happened for about an hour from 301 to 3:53am Then he was at that field where her body was later discovered. That was from 3:58am to about 402am and by 405am he was right near where her items were later discovered on the side of Highway 172. And then he was back at home by 4:22am now, in the days after this, his phone showed he had searched the Internet over 60 times for news stories about Nikki's death. And maybe one of the most disturbing parts about all of this is this is not the first time he's accused of murder. Back in 1998, he stood trial for shooting and killing a gang leader named Joey White. He was found not guilty on all charges due to lack of evidence. Police are basically armed with all of this explosive evidence against him, including DNA. Police are ready to arrest George for Nikki's murder on September 7, 2016. And then finally, two years later, in February of 2018, his case goes to trial. George even took the stand in his own defense. But the story he told was shocking. He tried to put the heat back on the one person who had already taken enough.

[Garrett Moreland]

Doug.

[Peyton Moreland]

Doug.

[Garrett Moreland]

Dang. Doug just got drugged through the wringer.

[Peyton Moreland]

So George claims this night he met Nikki at the bar Roger Craniums. She had left Sardine Bar and walked to Roger and then met George and the two started flirting. He offered her a ride back to her house and said that was when the two actually ended up having sex in his car outside the house, which is why his phone's there. But then he says Doug, who's home at this time, comes out with a gun. So from the time she's at the bar with George, Doug goes to with Greg to sardine cans, waits for her. Then goes home, gets home, goes to bed, Dallas and Greg leaves, and he's outside with Nikki. And then Doug comes out with a gun. George claims Doug hit him over the head and knocked him unconscious. And the next thing he remembered was waking up on the ground outside of his truck and that Nikki was dead. He said then at gunpoint, Doug forced him to drive to the field to help him get rid of Nikki's body, which explains the car. And after that, George claimed he fought Doug off, got back into his truck, and Doug was forced to walk home where his six month old was sleeping in his crib alone.

[Garrett Moreland]

She just blamed Doug, basically.

[Peyton Moreland]

It's a ridiculous tell, one that couldn't be taken seriously at all. Mostly because we have the Fitbit. Yeah, we have. The Fitbit proved George's story was a lie because he didn't take it off and he was sleeping. So instead, prosecutors paint a different picture. That night, an angry Nikki did walk to Richard Craniums after leaving her friends at the Sardine Can. And there she did meet George. And after they spent some time together at the bar, he did offer her a ride home. Then once he pulled up in front of her house, he sexually assaulted her, likely strangling her with a phone cord.

[Garrett Moreland]

Insane, okay?

[Peyton Moreland]

She then fell out of the vehicle. It escalates outside on the neighbor's side, he continues to stomp on her back. Her head ends up killing her. This is the story that obviously rings true to the jury. On March 1, 2018, 44 year old George Birch was found guilty of first degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Since then, George has tried to appeal his sentence, claiming the police violated his fourth amendment rights when searching his phone for Nikki's case.

[Garrett Moreland]

Okay, dude.

[Peyton Moreland]

He also argued that evidence from Doug's Fitbit should not have been allowed at trial because there was no expert to analyze the technology's reliability. The Supreme Court disagreed. They rejected his appeal in 2021. But perhaps one silver lining in this case that I started it off with is an innocent man didn't take the fall. Because of these new technologies, modern day crime solving, if you will, the right person is behind bars. George Birch can't hurt anyone else.

[Garrett Moreland]

Killing someone is just nuts. It's crazy to like, not kill someone out of. It's just crazy to murder somebody for no reason.

[Peyton Moreland]

And here's the thing, we can't blame you for pointing the finger.

[Garrett Moreland]

I feel bad. Sorry, Doug.

[Peyton Moreland]

Well, you. You can't blame you, because in a typical case, this actually does make sense. Like Most, they. They found blood in the garage. They found blood in the car.

[Garrett Moreland]

Yeah.

[Peyton Moreland]

But they found the crime scene in front of his house.

[Garrett Moreland]

Yeah, it turned out to be Turkey, so.

[Peyton Moreland]

Yeah, but it's like. I mean, it's. It almost feels like a CSI episode where it's like all the evidence just points to someone, and then there's just this random coincidence where it's not them. That's almost what it feels like. And thankfully, because of these technologies, they were able to get the right person. And while some may argue that technology can be invasive and it definitely can be used against us, there is one thing that helps me sleep at night, and it's that most of my devices, if I'm not doing anything wrong, should have my back. And they offer indiscriminate proof should I ever find myself in an unthinkable situation. Doug had his Fitbit. And that is the story of Nicole Vanderhayden.

[Garrett Moreland]

It's crazy. I just also sucked just now. I mean, this was a. I guess a while ago, but just having to raise a kid on your own now.

[Peyton Moreland]

Yeah. When this wasn't even what he saw for his life. Like, every single eyewitness came forward was like, he does not want to be a dad.

[Garrett Moreland]

I'm sure it's different now.

[Peyton Moreland]

Well, I know, but I'm just saying, like, yeah, it. Now it's even harder because he's going to do it alone for sure.

[Garrett Moreland]

It's crazy. Yeah, it's. She's dead. That's just crazy. It's sad and, like, okay, got a

[Peyton Moreland]

ride home from the wrong person, just

[Garrett Moreland]

got killed for no reason.

[Peyton Moreland]

All right, you guys, that was our episode for this week, and we will see you next time with another one. I love it and I hate it. Goodbye, Ra.