Nicole Thornhill

Summary

Snapped: Women Who Murder – "Nicole Thornhill"

Podcast by Oxygen
Air Date: May 10, 2026
Episode Focus: The murder of Gerald "Jerry" Jensen in Stuart, Florida, and the subsequent investigation that revealed a shocking familial conspiracy involving his stepdaughter Nicole Thornhill and her boyfriend Chris Tomlinson.

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Main Theme / Purpose

This episode details the disappearance and murder of Jerry Jensen, an electrician and beloved family man whose life took a tragic turn when he became entangled in the tumultuous lives of his wife Kristen, her daughter Nicole Thornhill, and Nicole's boyfriend Chris Tomlinson. Through investigative interviews and chilling confessions, the episode explores family dysfunction, addiction, and the devastating consequences of isolation and misguided loyalty.

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Key Discussion Points & Case Breakdown

The Disappearance and Initial Suspicion

• Kristen Jensen's Concern ([00:43], [02:07]): Jerry's wife Kristen is released from rehab only to find him missing. She reports unusual circumstances—Jerry's keys, phone, clothes, and car are all left behind, and there's a strong smell of bleach at home.
  • Quote: "He was very reliable, so the fact that he wasn't answering his phone... She knew something was very wrong." – Friend/Family Member [00:48]
• Unsettling Homecoming ([03:12], [04:02]): Kristen finds Nicole and Chris, with their newborn, at home. They claim Jerry left after a fight on the phone, but evidence in the apartment (ripped-out doors, bleach smell) suggests something sinister.

Family History & Background

• Jerry Jensen's Life and Vulnerability ([04:41]–[05:47]): Jerry, a former handyman from New York, faced significant hardship after a neck injury led to a painkiller addiction.
• Kristen's Addiction Cycle ([05:47]–[06:46]): Both Kristen and Jerry struggled with addiction, which impacted their family dynamic and particularly her relationship with Nicole.
• Nicole’s Upbringing and Struggles ([06:56]): Nicole describes a chaotic childhood, largely separated from her mother due to addiction.

Nicole & Chris: Relationship and Household Strife

• Nicole and Chris’s Relationship ([08:33]–[09:49]): The two meet online (DeviantArt), fall quickly in love, and decide to live together despite family concerns.
• Trouble Brewing ([10:34]–[11:21]): The couple’s return to Florida, living with Kristen and Jerry, leads to escalating tension as Nicole becomes pregnant and both struggle with unemployment.

The Crime Scene & Growing Suspicion

• Kristen’s Growing Alarm ([12:06]–[14:50]): Initial police response is muted due to Jerry’s history, but Kristen is persistent. Family friend Kevin reveals Jerry had complained about Chris not contributing to the household.

Discovery of the Body

• Body Found in Landfill ([18:39]–[20:20]): A state-wide missing persons alert quickly leads to Jerry’s remains being located in a landfill, identifiable only by tattoos and fingerprints. The autopsy reveals multiple stab wounds and a slashed throat—clear homicide.
  • Quote: "They were able to make a positive identification of Gerald Jensen through a fingerprint." – Detective/Police Official [20:20]

The Investigation Narrows

• Focus on Nicole and Chris ([21:18]–[22:36]): Kristen, ruled out as a suspect, recalls growing friction in the household, particularly between Jerry and Chris.
  • Quote: "How do you like Chris? I don't. What don't you like about him? He's a lazy, inconsiderate brat. I wish Nicole could see it." – Kristen Jensen [21:37]

The Truth Unravels: Confessions & Motives

• Uncovering the Truth ([24:14]–[25:35]): Police records contradict Nicole and Chris's alibi about a late-night phone argument. Nicole breaks down and confesses.

  • Quote: "They started slogging at the hallway." – Nicole Thornhill (Confession) [25:00]

• Murder Plot and Execution ([25:55]–[29:44]):

  • Nicole and Chris felt the household was toxic and initially plotted to drug Jerry to make his death look like a suicide ([27:16], [27:21]). They attempted to poison him with crushed sleeping pills (unsuccessful).
  • While Kristen is in rehab, they ambush Jerry with a samurai sword, with Chris committing the killing ([28:04], [28:31]). Nicole helps clean up and dispose of the body.
    • Quote: "The plan was that Chris and Nicole were going to surprise him, and Chris was going to attack him with a samurai sword." – Friend/Family Member [27:56]
    • Quote: "He believed that he could see auras around people, and he did not think people with a bad aura should be allowed to live in the same world as his child." – Detective [33:03]

• Revealed Motives ([26:38]): Discord over drugs, drinking, finances, and religious differences (Chris and Nicole are Wiccan; Jerry was judgmental).

Investigative Breakthroughs & Further Confession

• Physical Evidence Corroborates Confession ([29:44]–[30:58]): Police recover a sword with blood, pills in drinks, and a Walmart receipt for sleeping pills—purchased after the murder.
• Nicole confesses they also planned to murder Kristen using similar methods during her next relapse ([31:03]–[31:35]).
  • Quote: "Had you ever planned something for your mom? ... Pretty much the same thing." – Nicole Thornhill [31:13]

Arrests, Trials & Sentencing

• Initial Detainment & Shifting Stories ([33:02]–[35:51]): Chris initially claims self-defense, then admits to planning with Nicole.

  • Quote: "In my heart, I felt he was an evil person." – Chris Tomlinson [35:59]

• Nicole Recants ([36:56]–[37:48]): Days after arrest, Nicole attempts to shift full blame to Chris, claiming fear and coercion, though her prior confessions undermine credibility.

• Trials and Sentencing ([39:03]–[41:08]):

  • Chris is found guilty and sentenced to life plus 60 years ([39:23]–[40:07]).
  • Nicole pleads no contest and is sentenced to 50 years after her mother pleads for mercy.
    • Quote: "One of the people who show up and ask for leniency for her is her mother. Kristen looked at her daughter and she said, I believe in you." – Narrator/Expert [40:44]

• Aftermath ([41:08]–[41:55]):

  • The extended family is left devastated, and eventually, before passing in 2020, Kristen and Nicole repair their relationship.
    • Quote: "Nicole finally got to have the relationship with my mom that she always wanted. And vice versa." – Nicole Thornhill [42:04]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "She noticed a really strong smell of bleach in the apartment. Things were broken, thrown all over the place." ([00:54])
• "Both Nicole Thornhill and Chris Thomason weren't getting along with the parents." – Detective/Police Official ([25:35])
• "Jerry didn't understand their Wiccan lifestyle. They really couldn't get through to him." – Narrator/Expert ([26:24])
• "They felt that with their drinking and both of them using prescription drugs, that it wasn't a healthy situation to raise their child in." – Detective ([26:38])
• "Christopher Tomlinson believed that he could judge people on who was good and who was bad...he was going to get rid of him one way or the other." – Detective ([36:04])
• "The way that both Chris and Nicole felt that they had been impacted as children, with parents leaving, that's what they did to their own child." – Friend/Family ([32:31])
• "He paid for that with his life." – Friend or Family Member ([41:27])
• "It doesn't mean that you should [have] been brutally murdered and thrown away like a piece of garbage. I mean, think about that. What could be so bad that anyone would deserve that?" – Detective/Police Official ([41:41])

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [00:43] – Kristen realizes Jerry is missing
• [02:29] – Breakdown of events leading to his disappearance
• [04:41] – Background on Jerry and Kristen
• [10:34] – Nicole and Chris move in with Kristen and Jerry
• [13:08], [14:19] – Police investigate, friend reports household tensions
• [18:39] – Missing persons alert and discovery of body
• [20:20] – Body identified as Jerry Jensen, cause of death revealed
• [24:14] – Phone records debunk Nicole and Chris's alibi
• [24:57], [25:00] – Nicole confesses to the murder
• [26:38] – Motives and toxic household environment described
• [28:04] – Details of the murder attack with a sword
• [29:44], [30:03] – Physical evidence found in apartment
• [31:03] – Nicole admits they also plotted against her mother
• [33:02] – Chris initially denies, then confesses to murder plan
• [35:59] – Chris on his perception of Jerry
• [39:03] – Chris's trial, defense, and conviction
• [40:44] – Kristen pleads for leniency at Nicole's sentencing
• [41:55] – Kristen's death and family's last reconciliation

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Episode Tone & Language

The episode is characterized by a matter-of-fact, investigative tone, blending direct quotes and confessions with reflections on the darkness of addiction, family trauma, and the false promise of acceptance. The chilling calm of the confessions and the matter-of-fact delivery of legal outcomes punctuate the horror of the crime, reinforcing the podcast's signature style of sober, detailed criminal storytelling.

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Conclusion

This episode of Snapped: Women Who Murder provides a deeply unsettling look at how addiction, unresolved trauma, and toxic relationships coalesced into a brutal crime that devastated an entire family. Through revealing interviews, emotional confessions, and concrete police work, the episode highlights both the fragility and resilience of family ties, culminating in an exploration of justice, accountability, and forgiveness.

Transcript

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[Narrator]

A wife left stranded by her husband soon realizes he's gone missing.

[Friend or Family Member]

He was very reliable, so the fact that he wasn't answering his phone. She knew something was very wrong.

[Detective]

She was positive that he just would not have walked out of her life totally. She noticed a really strong smell of bleach in the apartment. Things were broken, thrown all over the place.

[Narrator]

After a body turns up, detectives must look for clues close to home.

[Interviewer/Investigator]

What does that feel like about Mr. Lazy Inconsiderate Brat?

[Detective]

Things weren't great between the four of them in the house.

[Interviewer/Police Officer]

Is there anything you want to say?

[Chris Tomlinson]

In my heart, I feel he was an evil person.

[Narrator]

As evidence emerges and suspects are pressed for answers, the grisly details of a man's final hours come to light.

[Friend or Family Member]

They were going to surprise him and attack him with a samurai sword.

[Interviewer/Police Officer]

A sword.

[Detective]

He thought he could judge people on who was good and who was bad and they were going to get rid of him one way or the other.

[Narrator]

The small town of Stuart, Florida isn't known as a dangerous place to live. But just after 8pm on April 21, 2008, police receive an emergency call from 47 year old Kristen Jensen, who's concerned something has happened to her husband. Gerald Old

[Detective or Police Official]

we learned from Kristin that she was in the V8 hospital to detox off of substances. She made arrangements for her husband Jerry to pick her up. Sunday the 20th was the last time she spoke to him and she was due to be discharged the next day, the 21st. However, when she was discharged she kept calling his cell phone and it kept going to voicemail.

[Friend or Family Member]

Kristin was initially alarmed because Jerry was very reliable. He was never even late. So the fact that he wasn't answering his phone, Kristen knew something was very wrong.

[Detective or Police Official]

She was able to make arrangements with the VA to actually have a shuttle transfer her back to her residence.

[Narrator]

Kristen tells police when she got home around 5:30pm Jerry was still nowhere to be found. But she does find her daughter Nicole, with her boyfriend Chris, and their newborn baby, who have been living with them.

[Detective]

Kristen had been told by both Nicole and Chris Tomlinson that Jerry had gotten into a fight with somebody on the phone, like around 10:30 at night. And it was on his cell phone and they were afraid he was going to wake the baby.

[Narrator or Expert Commentator]

They went to the library so that they could log into the WI fi and when they came back home with the baby, Jerry was gone.

[Narrator]

Kristen says it seemed possible Jerry had simply forgotten to pick her up until she noticed something concern.

[Detective]

Anything that he would have taken with him was still there. And especially with his car being there, his keys being there, his clothes being there, his phone was there. She didn't feel it was normal for him just to walk away. Kristin said she noticed a really strong smell of bleach in the apartment, which she thought was unusual. Also, the bedroom no longer had a door, but the bathroom did.

[Prosecutor or Legal Official]

And so she called the police and reported him missing and said, you know, he wouldn't do this, he wouldn't go away, and, you know, where is he?

[Narrator or Expert Commentator]

At this point, she is more convinced than ever that something bad has happened to Jerry.

[Narrator]

Jerry Jensen was born on November 6, 1959. He spent his younger years in Albany, New York.

[Friend or Family Member]

He came from a large family with seven siblings, and then he moved down to Florida. Jerry made his living as an electrician and as a very talented handyman. Friends and family described Jerry as extremely fun loving. He loved music, particularly the Rolling Stones. He actually had the band's famous logo tattooed on his chest.

[Narrator]

Jerry married, but the relationship didn't last. He was settling into life as a divorcee when he suffered a major setback.

[Nicole Thornhill]

Jerry had an accident and broke his neck.

[Friend or Family Member]

The recovery was very difficult, and he became more reliant on painkillers.

[Nicole Thornhill]

It was a cycle of going through rehab, being clean for some time, stumbling going through rehab.

[Narrator]

It was around that time he met Kristen Thornhill, a divorced mother of three who also struggled with addiction.

[Nicole Thornhill]

My mom, she was in the Marines at one point and got hurt. And I think that might have been where part of her addiction to pain pills set in. And then she was on disability all of my life.

[Narrator]

The two began dating and decided to get clean together when I was very young.

[Nicole Thornhill]

My mom and Jerry had a bit of a touch and go relationship and both struggled with addiction, but they seemed to figure it out along the way, I guess, and ended up getting married, kind of one of those Moments of, I'm gonna be okay with this because you seem okay.

[Narrator]

But despite Kristen's attempted recovery, the instability at home had left its mark, especially on her oldest daughter, Nicole.

[Nicole Thornhill]

Growing up, things were very chaotic. I was young enough that I didn't really understand what was going on, but my sister did. She didn't get to live with my mom for very long. My dad got to have us on weekends. He came to drop us off and my mom wasn't home. Eventually, child services came and picked us up and put us back with my dad.

[Narrator or Expert Commentator]

Nicole hadn't grown up with her mother. As a matter of fact, Kristin's addiction issues led her to be estranged from Nicole for a large part of her childhood.

[Narrator]

Four years after Kristin and Jerry's wedding, Nicole reached out to her mother to reconnect.

[Nicole Thornhill]

When Nicole was turning 18, graduation was coming, my dad lost his job. And so because of that, we weren't able to get a house that we were supposed to move into. My dad told me I was gonna go live with my aunt and uncle. And so Nicole not really having anywhere to go, my mom let her go live with her and Jerry. My sister's relationship with my mom had always been a little bit rocky, but Nicole just loved my mom. Any opportunity she got, she just wanted to go stay with my mom growing up.

[Narrator]

Shortly after Nicole moved in, she met Chris Tomlinson on a social networking site devoted to artists.

[Nicole Thornhill]

When my sister was a teenager, she was just very sad, so she turned to art and she found a website called DeviantArt and so she would post all of her artwork on there.

[Narrator or Expert Commentator]

Christopher Tomlinson was in his early 20s and into Gothic, very dark kind of art. And that spoke to Nicole and she was the one who actually reached out to him.

[Family Member of Chris Tomlinson]

My son met Nicole Thornhill online while he was in the army stationed in Germany, and instant fall in love and we're trying to talk him out. You don't know this girl, you haven't even met her, but he said he loved her.

[Narrator]

But Chris and Nicole's online relationship grew stronger during his deployment. So when he returned to the states, they were eager to be together.

[Friend or Family Member]

Chris was now stateside in California. However, Nicole was in Florida living with Kristen and Jerry. In late 2006, Chris decides to go meet Nicole for the first time.

[Nicole Thornhill]

Chris came to see her for two weeks. He was very outgoing and was very showy.

[Narrator]

Just eight months after meeting online, 18 year old Nicole announced she was moving back to California with 23 year old Chris.

[Friend or Family Member]

Jerry and Kristin wanted to support her and decided not to stand in her way.

[Narrator]

In California, the couple struggled to make ends meet. And their financial troubles only got worse.

[Friend or Family Member]

Nicole called Gerry and Kristen to give them surprising news that she is pregnant and that she's due the following March.

[Nicole Thornhill]

Nicole was 18 and unmarried and didn't know what to do. They ran out of money and didn't have anywhere else to go.

[Friend or Family Member]

Kristin and Jerry say, absolutely, come live with us, move back to Florida. And that's what Nicole and Chris decide to do when they first move in. Everything's going well. But as, as soon as the baby is getting closer to arriving, tensions start to rise.

[Narrator]

Although Kristen was overjoyed by the birth of her grandchild, that happiness was short lived. Six weeks later, a relapse landed Kristen back in a rehabilitation center for four days.

[Detective]

Jerry would visit her every day while she was there and they were planning on him picking her up. So when she was released and he didn't show up, that's when she decided to call the police department.

[Narrator]

Since Jerry has been missing for less than 24 hours, police aren't convinced a missing persons report is necessary.

[Prosecutor or Legal Official]

You know, typically when a grown person disappears, they don't jump right in unless there's some real fishy circumstances.

[Detective]

The police department did an attempt to locate, which is usually for an adult that just can't be found. There was no reason to think there was any foul play. They just couldn't be found. At that time, Kristen was very adamant that something bad had to have happened to Gerald. She was positive that he just would not have walked out of her life totally.

[Friend or Family Member]

Jerry's keys were right there on the counter. His favorite pair of jeans that he always wore out were still there. His shoes, everything was there. Something was very wrong.

[Narrator]

Coming up. Evidence suggests Kristen's suspicions may be correct.

[Detective]

The apartment had been, in their words, ransacked.

[Narrator]

And a statewide search comes to a gruesome end.

[Detective or Police Official]

They found what they believe to be traces of blood.

[Narrator]

Police in Stuart, Florida, have been on the lookout for 48 year old Jerry Jensen since his wife Kristen reported him missing more than 48 hours ago. According to his stepdaughter and her boyfriend, Jerry disappeared shortly after having a heated exchange over the phone. On the night of April 20, police

[Friend or Family Member]

canvassed the apartment complex, but this really didn't turn up much.

[Narrator or Expert Commentator]

Police investigating missing persons cases with people who have substance abuse problems, they will consider the fact that sometimes substance abuse situations manifest with people being gone for days at a time while they're going on a binge.

[Narrator]

In an attempt to determine whether Jerry started using again, officers ask Kristen, who Jerry may have confided in. She suggests they speak with a man named Kevin, one of Jerry's closest friends.

[Friend or Family Member]

Kevin had actually spoken with Jerry just the day before he went missing, and there was nothing that seemed off. He had no plans to leave town.

[Narrator]

According to investigators, Kevin said the only problem in Jerry's life was his living situation.

[Friend or Family Member]

Kevin tells police that Kristen and Jerry had been under a lot of stress, and this stress was mostly caused by Nicole's boyfriend, Chris Tomlinson, who had just moved in with them. Jerry told Kevin that Chris was unemployed. He wasn't really making an effort to take care of Nicole or the baby as a father.

[Narrator or Expert Commentator]

Jerry and Kristen didn't have a lot of disposable income. They were both living on fixed incomes with disability, and so they weren't in a position to have two, let alone three, more mouths to feed.

[Friend or Family Member]

Kevin actually felt that all this stress with Chris is what actually led to Kristen's relapse.

[Narrator]

Police wonder if the stress caused Jerry to relapse as well. When police follow up with Kristen on April 25, she admits Jerry had started taking some pain medication again.

[Detective]

He did have a prescription for them, but sometimes he would get them from a friend of his if he couldn't get his prescription filled or if he ran out.

[Narrator or Expert Commentator]

But she found his prescription drugs, and there were still some pills in the bottle. This was a clear sign that he wasn't leaving to go find more drugs.

[Narrator]

Another thing uncovered during her search of the home left Kristen certain of foul play.

[Detective]

Kristen said the only things missing was the comforter off their bed and Jerry. But the bathroom door was broken. The apartment had been, in their words, ransacked. Things were broken, thrown all over the place.

[Narrator]

Kristin says when she asked Nicole and Chris what happened, they said they found the apartment that way. When they came home from the library,

[Narrator or Expert Commentator]

they thought that this is something that Jerry had done in a fit of rage based on whatever phone call he was on.

[Detective]

She said that her and Christopher went ahead and tried to clean up the house as best as they could because she knew her mother was coming home the next day and didn't want her mom to be upset with the mess.

[Friend or Family Member]

This new information leads Kristen to think that whomever Jerry may have been on the fight with on the phone could be the person that came over to the apartment and maybe assaulted him or even kidnapped him.

[Detective]

She just had a gut feeling something bad had happened to him.

[Narrator]

Police release Kristin, requesting that she keep in touch with any additional information, since Jerry is an adult who has been missing for less Than a week. Investigators keep can't take any serious steps until additional evidence surfaces.

[Narrator or Expert Commentator]

Unless police see some sort of foul play involved. Police are usually very guarded and measured about how they investigate missing persons cases. Another thing to add in Jerry's case Is Jerry's history of substance abuse.

[Detective or Police Official]

The wife was having a hard time with the way the police department was handling the case. She started calling supervisors and the supervisors started contacting the criminal investigations division to make sure that this case was going to be assigned.

[Detective]

My sergeant decided that the investigative unit would look into it and was able to put together. It's called a locator poster. And we used to put them out for missing people. So it had his description on it like height, weight, body piercings, tattoos, that type of stuff. And it goes out statewide.

[Friend or Family Member]

The case gets elevated where a full blown missing persons report and a notification to all state agencies is released. Essentially everybody in the state of florida Is on a lookout.

[Detective]

It wasn't more than an hour or two after that poster went out, I got a call from the palm beach county sheriff's office Telling me they believed they found Gerald Jensen in a landfill.

[Narrator]

By April 25, 2008. Less than a week has passed Since Jerry Jensen was reported missing from his south Florida home. But police in west palm beach county think they might have found him after responding to a 911 call.

[Interviewer/Investigator]

911, where's your emergency? Calling from the fallid waste authority, Palm beach county road. And we believe we have found a body in our Class 1 landfill. They're not 100% sure it is, but they don't want to contaminate anything.

[Prosecutor or Legal Official]

The man who found it drives a bulldozer, and he was looking around and he saw an arm.

[Detective]

The body was not in great shape when they found him. The machinery there at the landfill that turns the garbage has big spikes on the tires and it tends to tear things up.

[Narrator or Expert Commentator]

It was going to be impossible for investigators to identify it through facial features or dental records.

[Narrator]

Fortunately, the body still has some distinguishing marks.

[Detective]

They were able to see some tattoos, and the tattoos that they saw Match the ones on my poster. So they sent the body found to the medical examiner's office and tried to do a fingerprint comparison.

[Detective or Police Official]

They were able to make a positive identification of Gerald jensen Through a fingerprint.

[Narrator]

The medical examiner is also able to determine the cause of death.

[Detective or Police Official]

We learned that Gerald Jensen's body had been stabbed multiple times and that his throat was slit. So therefore it was deemed to be a homicide.

[Detective]

Two of the detectives went back to speak with Kristen and Nicole and Chris and just see if they could figure out any more information.

[Narrator]

Investigators begin by speaking with Jerry's wife, Kristen.

[Detective]

We did break the news to her that Gerald was deceased and that he'd been found in Palm beach county. She took it very hard and was very upset and hysterical at that point in time.

[Narrator]

Since Kristen was in rehab at the time of Jerry's death, she is directly ruled out as a suspect. Now investigators point their questions toward the other members of the household.

[Detective]

Kristin admitted that the things weren't great between the four of them in the house.

[Interviewer/Investigator]

How do you like Chris? I don't. What don't you like about him? He's a lazy, inconsiderate brat. I wish Nicole could see it. If she can't.

[Nicole Thornhill]

Chris didn't do anything. He wouldn't get a job. He sat and played video games all day. And every time my mom would nag Chris, my sister would go to Chris. Defense.

[Narrator]

Kristen tells detectives she even suspects Chris might be awol.

[Interviewer/Investigator]

He supposedly just got out of the army, and he came straight here, and he can't show me his DD214. You don't believe him? Not at all.

[Detective or Police Official]

She did not believe that he was discharged from the army. She kept requesting his DD214 discharge papers, and he would not provide it to her.

[Family Member of Chris Tomlinson]

You're supposed to go through the debriefing and all that? He said no. He left. He was to go to Texas and either be arrested or kicked out of the army. Fortunately, they kicked him out with no jail time or any of that.

[Interviewer/Investigator]

How did Jerry get along with Chris? He didn't at all. They barely spoke. What about with the baby? How's he as a father? He's good. Is he protective of the baby?

[Interviewer/Police Officer]

Mm.

[Detective]

How did Nicole get along with Jerry?

[Interviewer/Investigator]

She was calling Jerry dad, and things were just great. And then all of a sudden, Chris shows up. Okay. Yeah. She doesn't want to call him dad anymore.

[Narrator]

Investigators then asked Kristen what she thinks happened to Jerry. Nicole and Chris told her Jerry had been on an angry phone call that evening. She still believes whoever was on that call came looking to settle the score.

[Interviewer/Investigator]

He went. Ran to the bedroom to hide or something, and they kicked the door down and beat the out of him. Okay. Did I get any idea who he was talking to? I still can't figure out how to cut him out.

[Detective]

While I was starting my interviews, Detective Gerwin was working on getting a search warrant for the records for Gerald's cell phone. And the search warrant came back with a list of calls and times Jerry

[Prosecutor or Legal Official]

Wasn't on the phone that night. That was a lie.

[Narrator]

Armed with this information, detectives bring Nicole and Chris in for questioning. They start with Nicole.

[Detective]

We asked her several times how positive she was. The time of the fight was around 10:30. The fact that it was on a cell phone, not a house phone, that they went to the local library. And she was very adamant that she was correct. Once we informed her that that could not possibly have happened because that phone hadn't been used, I asked her if there was anything more that she wanted to tell me, and she blurted out the whole story.

[Narrator]

Coming up, a shocking confession.

[Nicole Thornhill (Confession)]

They started slogging at the hallway.

[Prosecutor or Legal Official]

That had to be so terrifying way to die. Someone coming at you with a sword in a confined space. He didn't deserve that.

[Narrator]

After Nicole Thornhill discovers that investigators know she and her boyfriend haven't told the truth, she agrees to come clean about what really happened.

[Detective or Police Official]

Both Nicole Thornhill and Chris Thomason weren't getting along with the parents.

[Detective]

She pretty much confirmed the same thing that Kristen had told me that things were tough between the four of them, and she was worried with it because they had a baby in the house. What was going to happen next?

[Narrator]

According to Nicole, one of their issues was their religious differences.

[Detective]

I asked her what her religion was, and she told me that she was new to the Wiccan religion. But Christopher had been in it his whole life, and he was considered a high priest.

[Narrator]

Wicca is a modern pagan movement often associated with witchcraft. Something Jerry couldn't accept.

[Narrator or Expert Commentator]

Jerry didn't understand their Wiccan lifestyle. They really couldn't get through to him.

[Narrator]

But Chris and Nicole felt the Jensen's behavior left no room for judgment.

[Detective]

They felt that with their drinking and both of them using prescription drugs, that it wasn't a healthy situation to raise their child in.

[Narrator]

Nicole says that ultimately the household became extremely toxic, and she and Chris started to consider drastic measures.

[Detective]

Money may have played a factor in their decision, but she said that just made things a little easier when they weren't there.

[Interviewer/Police Officer]

When did you two start talking about wanting to get rid of him? Was it days, Weeks?

[Nicole Thornhill (Confession)]

Too late?

[Narrator]

Nicole says their first plan involved drugging him.

[Nicole Thornhill (Confession)]

I mentioned knocking him out with sleeping pills, making it look like a suicide. Cause they both do so much drugs. We went to Walmart and he bought some those weird generic sleeping pills.

[Interviewer/Police Officer]

So you guys never saw an effect when you put the pills in the drinks.

[Nicole Thornhill (Confession)]

Nothing happened.

[Narrator]

When that didn't work, they resorted to a more brutal method. And Kristen's time away at rehab provided the Perfect opportunity.

[Friend or Family Member]

The plan was that Chris and Nicole were going to surprise him, and Chris was going to attack him with a samurai sword that he kept in the house.

[Detective]

Christopher decided they were going to stay up all night and attack Gerald when he woke up first thing in the morning. So Nicole said about six, at seven o', clock, they could hear him moving around. And Christopher told her to take the baby and go outside for a walk.

[Narrator]

Nicole says when she returned, Chris told her Jerry was dead.

[Prosecutor or Legal Official]

Tomlinson said he came out of the room with the sword, confronted him, stabbed

[Detective]

him in the front, the sword,

[Interviewer/Police Officer]

the wall to there. Okay.

[Interviewer/Investigator]

Did he tell you how many times he stabbed him?

[Nicole Thornhill (Confession)]

I think he said three. I think he ended up running him

[Interviewer/Police Officer]

into the bathroom door.

[Nicole Thornhill (Confession)]

I shot the broken door and pulled the ear and out of his body, and I had to look away.

[Interviewer/Investigator]

Okay,

[Interviewer/Police Officer]

where's the knife that Chris used Under the bed.

[Prosecutor or Legal Official]

It had to be so terrifying way to die, knowing that, you know, someone coming at you with a sword in a confined space. He didn't deserve that.

[Detective]

Nicole said that they then took a tarp and wrapped Gerald's body in it and then wrapped him in the comforter from her mother's bed and put him in the bathtub so they could clean up the mess in the bathroom and the hallway. They bagged everything up, then drove it over to the dumpster on site and threw everything in the dumpster.

[Narrator]

Detectives are immediately sent to the apartment to confirm Nicole's claims.

[Detective or Police Official]

The detectives found a set of swords that were underneath the bed. They've found what they believed to be traces of blood on the sword.

[Narrator]

Investigators also find evidence in the kitchen of the couple's earlier attempt to drug Jerry.

[Detective or Police Official]

I opened up the cabinet and saw a bottle of tequila. I could see the bottom had white powder, soot in the bottom with a little bit of blue color to it. These were the pills that were crushed up. I opened up the refrigerator and found a half gallon of partially consumed milk. I could see blue sit in the bottom, which was also indicative of the sleeping pills. So those were collected for evidence.

[Detective]

While the crime scene unit was searching the house, they did find a Walmart receipt.

[Detective or Police Official]

What was interesting about the receipt, it showed that the sleeping pills were purchased on April 22, the day after the murder.

[Narrator]

Detectives confront Nicole with the new evidence.

[Interviewer/Police Officer]

You had told us that the two of you had been planning something for Jerry. Had you ever planned something for your mom?

[Nicole Thornhill (Confession)]

Yes.

[Interviewer/Police Officer]

Would it be. What was that?

[Nicole Thornhill (Confession)]

Pretty much the same thing.

[Interviewer/Police Officer]

The same thing. How

[Nicole Thornhill (Confession)]

to get rid of her.

[Narrator]

Nicole Thornhill has just Confessed. She and her boyfriend conspired to murder. Murder her stepfather, and they intended to kill her mother. Next.

[Interviewer/Police Officer]

Faith. How were you going to do with her?

[Nicole Thornhill (Confession)]

I wanted to do the sleeping pills because she had just done it so many times before trying to kill herself. She tried to do it in front of me.

[Interviewer/Police Officer]

Why'd you want to get rid of her?

[Nicole Thornhill (Confession)]

I can't stand her anymore.

[Friend or Family Member]

According to to her and Chris beliefs, anyone who used drugs was not a good person and couldn't be around them. And they also didn't want them around the baby.

[Nicole Thornhill (Confession)]

What's gonna happen to me?

[Interviewer/Police Officer]

You're gonna go to jail. Okay? You're being charged with first degree murder.

[Nicole Thornhill (Confession)]

Will I ever be able to see Chris again?

[Interviewer/Police Officer]

I doubt it.

[Nicole Thornhill (Confession)]

What about my baby?

[Friend or Family Member]

The way that both Chris and Nicole felt that they had been impacted as children, with parents leaving, that's what they did to their own child. Their baby's life is now essentially changed forever.

[Narrator]

After they're finished questioning Nicole, investigators sit down with Chris, who was being held in a separate room, unaware of Nicole's confession. Chris is sticking to a very different story.

[Detective]

I asked him how he felt about Gerald. He didn't like the way Gerald acted by yelling and fighting and drinking and the drugs. I asked Christopher about the Wiccan aspect of it, and he told me that he was a high priest. He believed that he could see auras around people, and he did not think people with a bad aura should be allowed to live in the same world as his child.

[Narrator]

When investigators tell Chris they found Jerry's body, he acts surprised.

[Interviewer/Police Officer]

He was found in a landfill in Palm Beach County. How does that make you feel?

[Chris Tomlinson]

That really sucks. I don't wish anybody did, even if they are the biggest ass in the world.

[Interviewer/Police Officer]

Hey. Did you do anything to him?

[Interviewer/Investigator]

No. You have no idea how he got in that landfill?

[Narrator]

No. But Chris changes his tune when he learns about Nicole's confession.

[Interviewer/Police Officer]

He was killed in that apartment. There's no question, and we're gonna be able to prove that. Now, how it's portrayed is up to you. I'd like to know what your side of the story is, Chris.

[Nicole Thornhill (Confession)]

What happened?

[Chris Tomlinson]

Can I get some water?

[Interviewer/Police Officer]

Sure.

[Detective]

We got him a drink. And then after he told us that, yes, there had been a fight, but it was self defense.

[Interviewer/Police Officer]

When did this happen?

[Chris Tomlinson]

Early morning. Got to the kitchen, getting breakfast, to go to the bedroom, and he came out and started yelling, tell. Like he was ready to fight, which has happened more than once. I instinctively grabbed the weapon, and, you know, he lunged at me, and I Kicked him back into the hallway. And I tried to run out the door and he grabbed me and just. I lost it.

[Interviewer/Police Officer]

You lost it? What do you mean? You gotta describe that for us.

[Chris Tomlinson]

I just turned around and tried to break out of it and ended up stabbing him.

[Detective]

He changed his story several times as to how he happened to have the sword in his possession, where the fight occurred, who hit whom first, and we then told him that we did not believe that's the way the story occurred. And eventually he came around and told us that they had planned the poisoning first. And eventually they decided that if Kristen was out of the way at the VA rehab, then they could attack and kill Gerald.

[Interviewer/Police Officer]

Is there anything you want to say or you can think that we haven't asked you, that you think needs to go on the record?

[Chris Tomlinson]

In my heart, I felt he was an evil person.

[Detective]

Christopher Tomlinson believed that he could judge people on who was good and who was bad. Once he had made that decision that Gerald was bad, he was going to get rid of him one way or the other.

[Narrator]

Chris and Nicole are both arrested for the murder of Jerry Jensen.

[Family Member of Chris Tomlinson]

I got on the computer and, you know, Googling Nicole's name, Christopher's name, and this stuff came up and I'm like, I am in such disbelief that my son did this.

[Narrator]

With two confessions and a list of evidence, prosecutors feel this will be an open and shut case. But six days after the arrests, Nicole makes it much more complicated.

[Detective or Police Official]

Cole Thornhill was trying to reach out to the Stork Police Department because she wanted to speak to a detective to tell the real story.

[Narrator]

Nicole Thornhill has implicated herself and her boyfriend, Chris Tomlinson, in a plot to murder both of her parents. But now that she's been arrested, she changes her statement.

[Prosecutor or Legal Official]

At this point, she's figured out after being in jail for a week that she's in a lot of trouble. And so now she's trying to put it all on Tomlinson and she's claiming that she was scared of him and that he was controlling and that she only helped because he made her help. And it just contradicted a lot of the things that she'd already said beforehand.

[Legal Expert or Prosecutor]

The problem is she. She wasn't even there when the murder occurred. But planning and doing something that would aid at her sis prior to the murder could be sufficient and lead you to be just as guilty as if you committed the murder yourself.

[Narrator]

A grand jury agrees. They indict both Nicole and Chris for first degree murder.

[Prosecutor or Legal Official]

We added adulterating a food or drug, which is punishable way up to 30 years in prison. We added attempted murder of Kristin on to both of them.

[Narrator]

A judge rules Chris and Nicole are to be tried separately, but Nicole chooses not to face a jury.

[Legal Expert or Prosecutor]

What Nicole Thornhill did was in effect enter a no contest plea whereby she did not admit to any of this information. She just acknowledged that evidence was sufficient to convict.

[Narrator]

The deal does not require her to testify against Chris.

[Prosecutor or Legal Official]

We didn't call her as a witness. We didn't think that she would be credible because she'd given so many different statements.

[Narrator]

On May 18, 2010, the trial for Chris Tomlinson begins.

[Prosecutor or Legal Official]

The best argument the defense had was that it was self defense. They couldn't dispute that their guy did it because he admitted to it. But why did you bring a sword into the hallway if you weren't planning to attack him? It was just another one of those inconsistencies that didn't match up to his story.

[Narrator]

The jury takes only three hours to reach a verdict.

[Narrator or Expert Commentator]

On May 20, 2010, the jury finds Christopher Tomlinson guilty of first degree murder. Two counts of attempted murder against both Jerry and Kristen. In Florida, convictions for first degree murder come with an automatic life sentence. So the judge immediately sentenced Christopher to life in prison, plus another 60 years.

[Family Member of Chris Tomlinson]

Christopher, to this day still has not told me, in his words, why. And I look at Christopher, you can have all this, but you got involved with Nicole and the army messed you up. So all of those combined, he snapped and he can never come back from it.

[Narrator]

When Nicole is sentenced a month later, there is a surprising character witness.

[Narrator or Expert Commentator]

One of the people who show up and ask for leniency for her is her mother. Kristen looked at her daughter and she said, I believe in you.

[Nicole Thornhill]

My mom continued to be there for my sister because she knew something was wrong. And my mom continued to fight for my sister.

[Narrator or Expert Commentator]

After hearing from Kristen, the judge did not sentence Nicole to life in prison, but gave her what is almost the equivalent of a life sentence. He sentenced her to 50 years.

[Friend or Family Member]

Justice was served. However, this will never bring back Jerry, who had done nothing wrong except try to take in two people that were in need of help. And he paid for that with his life.

[Detective or Police Official]

You know, everybody has their demons. Everybody has their past. It doesn't mean that you should been brutally murdered and thrown away like a piece of garbage. I mean, think about that. What could be so bad that anyone would deserve that?

[Narrator]

Kristin Jensen died in 2020. But before her death, she and her daughter managed to make amends.

[Nicole Thornhill]

Nicole finally got to have the relationship with my mom that she always wanted. And vice versa. My mom struggled with her grief and pain over what happened with my sister, but they had a great relationship. Eventually.

[Nicole Thornhill (Confession)]

Sat.