A Young Mom's Deadly Night Out: Nicole VanderHeyden

On Prime Crime. I'm here for a missing person's report. A night out for a mother of three ends in tragedy. Her injuries were brutal. It was so bad that they couldn't idea her. But identifying a killer. When I interview someone, what I want to do is give them the opportunity to talk. Becomes a complicated task. Thank you guys. So nobody, that's your elevator? You're an elevator guy who doesn't cost you for murder. That's what you're going to walk off this door of it. As we move from one suspect. Right now, I'm going to be taking you in custody. To another. So obviously you're not your handcuffs, right? Which means you're arrested. Hey there, everybody. I'm Jesse Weber and welcome to Prime Crime, where we break down some of the most compelling and memorable true crime cases. Back in 2016, a woman goes out for the evening to have some fun. But the night takes a very dark turn. This is the case that you may think is easy to solve. But as we're about to show you, the answers are sometimes not right in front of you. From County Public Safety? Yes. How do I go about, I guess, missing person? In May 2016, out in Green Bay, Wisconsin, a 911 phone call begins a new case. Who's missing? It's my girlfriend, and she does live with me, and she's never done this before. What's her name? Nicole Vanderhiden. Nicole Vanderhiden was a mother of three, was a substitute teacher, and was described by most of the people in her life as someone who really enjoyed life. She was described as someone who had a zest for life, enjoyed the outdoors, and a holistic lifestyle. And what's your name? Dougie. My name's Eatree. Eatree. Doug and Nikki had been in a relationship. They had been in a relationship for some time. They had had a child together. Officer Shield arrived at Berkeley Road on May 21, 2016. Completing a missing person's report. Hi there. Hi. Is Doug here? Oh, okay. Hi. Hi. Hi. Hi. Time becomes critical in a missing person's case. And one of the first things investigators need to do is to understand the sequence of events leading up to a disappearance. What's going on? I haven't seen, I've always seen her from her since last night. I'd say like, look. And I, yeah. Nicole Vanderhiden was with her boyfriend, Doug Dietree, and they were out with a group of friends. We were actually on the west side of the water pool. I was on my way down there. She was gone at the starting camp with some other friends. Mine. Actually, we had a, what does it call, the sandwater or is a concert there. And that was over with. And I'd spoke with her and she was already on fire with my friends. Headed down to the starting camp where we were all going to go out. During the evening, they had a disagreement and became separated. My friend Aaron saw her choose upset and walking away down salt on maple street. So before you even got down to the starting camp, he texted you that she just stormed off. Salt on maple street. He talked to her in the car and she was all mad. Who's he? Doug. Okay. What was she mad about? I don't know. She said I was talking to you with a girl who I had no idea. Were you guys drinking? Yes. Doug's intoxicated and Nicole's intoxicated. Obviously, alcohol is a contributing factor. You're not making the best decisions because we're not thinking and acting the same way. I was still at the water pool and wondering where she was. We were going to go onto the next place as the show was over. That's why I talked to her and she was with a couple of my other friends right with them. That was actually on the phone. Did you call her? She called you. I called her. She was angry at Doug because she thought that he was flirting with other people that night. There wasn't a seamless relationship between the two. There had been some static in the relationship. Some arguments historically. We had actually talked to her. I was called her on the way down. You actually talked to her. She was mad. She was vlogging. She was trying to get her to tell us where she was. I thought maybe if I was talking to her, that said her Doug. That means she would let me know where she was and let us come pick her up. So she's not just wandering the streets. Yeah. She didn't believe that I wasn't talking to her. Then she hung up. Okay. And then every time we tried to call her again, her phone just went to town. Nicky went to the sardine can and Doug did not. At least not right away. And that's where law enforcement kind of ran into a little bit of a dead end because the last video that they had of Nicky was leaving the sardine can and they didn't know where she went next. Did you see her walking? No. We drove up and down the streets for a while, trying to find her. And then we went back to the sardine can thinking maybe she walked back there. And then we asked people around the sardine can if they had seen her. What time did you guys get home? To 30 maybe. Doug then went home and relieved the babysitter and took care of his child. And he reported that he was hungover the next day and assumed that she had been as well. So while he was concerned that she hadn't shown up, he wasn't so concerned at that point to make a missing person's report or alert authorities. It wasn't until some time later that he actually did report her missing to the police. Is it normal for her to sleep off being angry at you? Somewhere else? Is that normal? No. Even when she's been upset with me, so will maintain contact. We had had text messages from that night that were very indicative that there was issues. She told you where she was at, but she was definitely upset at that time. Thinking maybe she saw you talk to somebody. She had sent me a text saying that. That she was upset with me. Can I see the text? Why is she calling your abuser? I don't know. As we learn more into the case, the relationship maybe wasn't what it seemed between Nikki and Doug. Doug had allegations of abuse against him in the past. The fighting that had happened before obviously was of concern to law enforcement. Investigators then bring Doug in for more questioning. What I didn't leave the watering hole that I didn't leave. I'm guessing all of them are trying to send them a little after. I was pretty intoxicated at that point. The first person we are going to look at is the significant other. They're the closest to the person. A lot of times they're the easiest to eliminate, depending on their alibi and the evidence that we see. How long do you think you've drove around looking for before you went from a certain tool? I've been out of time. I didn't know. This whole time you're driving around looking for what you either calling and or texting her. Yeah. I'm looking at body language. How's the person reacting? What do you think happened? Where do you think you may have gone? You know what I mean? I don't know. She doesn't know what I think she might want to another bar. A lot of times I'm going to ask questions that I already know the answer to. To see if they are being truthful or find any type of deceit. At some point this morning you woke up and must have been kind of freaking out unless she wasn't home yet. Yeah. It's always hard to judge people, especially when they're going through something traumatic. My initial read from it was it just seemed like somewhat of a lack of emotion to some extent. Do you have any kind of think about getting out and going looking for her? Well, that's when Greg was like, "Get away Greg." And he said, "Can you give me a ride into my car?" I had a lot of dealings. I had asked my parents to come over and watch them in this time period. I get more and more worried talking to people and not finding any answers. Investigators put their attention on D-Tree, particularly since he didn't report Nicole missing until the following afternoon. Is the one responsible for Nicole's disappearance? So Friday was the last time I heard the info left for your residence? Yeah, you were out and driven all the way through again? This case is about to change when police receive another 911 phone call. For our county number one, what is the address for your emergency room? It's just about by the corner of Bellevue and is that all we have in order to cross. We found a human body laying in some weeds. We're clear in a field here and we just run across it. There's a farmer that had been picking rocks in a field with his family and they had discovered a body in the field that was kind of in the woods. When we return, what happened to Nicole Vanderhiden? The answers may not be what you think. You know that many kind of injuries, anywhere or anything? I mean like scratches, something that would look like a bad one, like, you know what, no. Would you consider Nicky to be a scrapper or a fighter? No, I mean, she wore tears to hold her own on that. In 2016, Green Bay Wisconsin authorities are trying to find out what happened to Nicole Van der Heiden, a mother and teacher. They questioned her boyfriend and father of one of her kids, Douglas Dietri, who had been out with Nicole the night of her disappearance, but separated from her when the two began to argue. However, the day after she went missing, police receive a startling call. Is the person beyond help or do I need to give instructions for CPR? No, it's down the health. It's 30 p.m. Is it a male or a female? It's got long hair. This body that was fallen on the street. I don't think it's been 100% identified as her, but there's a lot of similarities. There's some physical description, height, lawn, belly button ring. In a tragic turn of events, that body was positively identified as Nicole Van der Heiden. She had suffered from strangulation and blunt force trauma to the head, and there was indication of sexual assault. It was so bad that they couldn't ID her. They had to formally identify her through dental records. She had bruises all over her body. I believe it was over 200 different bruises. What happened? Oh, I don't know. That's what we're trying to figure out. An off-duty deputy found a bunch of clothing that was just on the side of the road, and that happened to be her personal belongings. Some of her clothes may be a purse discarded right there on the highway, near where her body was found. It was near her house. The suspect in this case committed these horrific crimes, chokes her, and then is probably in panic mode, realizing that I need to at least distance some of these evidence from the body. You haven't talked air yet. We're working on it. Why are you still concerned that we talk to air? The last person I've seen there, I know, I want to know where these his stories are going. So basically what we know right now is where you've told us. Now, investigators focus more on detrey. Did you do anything to cause her to go missing? No. Not at all. I'm just trying to be in a f***ing tone. The next step in this is to search your house and her car. What I understand then, so there was a search warrant written for your house. Okay. And they're headed over there and all of us search your house. Okay. In these types of situations, the person that's closest to them, they have the most again. When they go search your house, is there anything in there that they're going to find that's going to save you at anything that's absolutely not whatsoever? However, law enforcement does find something at the home that detrey shared with Vander Heiden. There was blood found in the garage. There was a footprint or a shoe print found on the coal that looked similar to the tread of a sneaker that was found within the residence. There was also what appeared to be blood on that sneaker. There is actually a neighbor that had been cutting his grass and he had hit something with his lawnmower. They had found a parade cord that was believed to be one of the murder weapons. When you put that all together, ultimately the crime scene was right there in front of their house. There was a slammer on the tank weight on Monday, May 23rd, something contact with Doug Nietzsche at his family's residence. Okay, here's the deal, Doug. Right now I'm going to be taking you in a custody, we handcuffing you, I'll explain all that to you in a bit, and transplanting you down to the sheriff's apartment. Okay. Be cooperative with me and we'll roll it that way. Wow. Okay. Alright. forensic evidence, the fighting and failing to call 9-1-1 for hours after Nicole's disappearance all lead to authorities arresting Douglas Dietri. At one point in the investigation, law enforcement interviewed Dietri's friend, Greg Matthew. We were trying to determine if you're really, truly trying to help us or if there's something on this. Doug is providing a story. Matthew had been with Dietri on the night that Nicole was killed, but he's adamant he played no role in what happened. Whatever the issue was with Doug and Nicole that night, I don't think that it was pre-plant. I don't want anything to do with something that was malicious. Not only do I not think that Doug wanted this to occur, but I especially don't think that you wanted this to occur. Honestly, I had absolutely, absolutely nothing to do with what? What did you have nothing to do with anything to do with you? What did you have nothing to do with you? Do it. Not with you, Nikki. Again, after she left the water, well, I absolutely did not see her again. The evidence shows that your friend, Doug, had involvement in her murder. There's no doubt about it. I tried and tell you guys as much as I can. I've been thinking about this timeline for the last 70 drawers. Can you tell me what you could possibly think that we would have fallen out of solos so it caused Doug to be with us? I would hope that you wouldn't have been able to find anything in his house because I would imagine I would hope that you had nothing to do with this. And that's when Matthew has had enough. I never sang it again, I let the host, well, Dallas with the baby, sir, was still there. Who can vouch for you for the 16 minutes before you showed up and make contact with Dallas? Who can vouch for where you were if your phone is dead? Thank you guys. So nobody. That's your elevator. Your elevator guy is a costee from her. That's what you're going to walk up the door with. When you are starting to choose me of being involved in this in any way, and they don't really hear you being involved as you are, you're telling me if it will make you feel better if you told us the truth, I have been telling you the truth. Doug disclosing nothing to me. He is kept in his innocence every single time I have talked to him. So if he isn't a costee for murder, then he's being friends. If that was involved in something like this, would you tell you if he had any involvement in it? And he better not be. If he told me he had any involvement in it, I would tell you guys immediately. That is an interesting question. Do authorities have the right person in custody? Did Douglas Dietrich kill Nicole Vanderheiden? When we return, a new player comes into the mix. How does this, I don't know, I don't know what you're going to call it, but I'll kind of explain it to you once we get out there. Because you requested an attorney, we obviously were respecting that. That's where I was advised. So I got my great family, the very concerned that I know what the truth is. How does this work at the attorney? It's your right to request an attorney. How do I even determine which one I wanted or anything like that? Wisconsin man Douglas Dietrich is arrested in connection with the murder of his live-in girlfriend Nicole Vanderheiden. The night of her disappearance, she had fought with Dietrich and the forensic evidence indicates she was killed outside their home. While it may appear police have their man, not so fast, there's something that Dietrich had been wearing that would ultimately save his life. Investigators noticed right away that Doug was wearing a Fitbit during their initial investigation. The data showed that Doug was not mobile at the time that Nicole had gone missing and her body was disposed of in a nearby area. It showed that Doug was at his residence during the time that Nicole had been missing. As part of another piece of essentially an alibi, there was a progressive snapshot on Nikki's car. The vehicle had not moved. A lot of the evidence initially pointed to him, but it was ultimately a red herring because when they later investigated the blood that was found in his home and on the sneaker, it wasn't actually Nicole's blood. Doug had gone turkey hunting sometime before her disappearance. There was no physical evidence linking Doug to Nicole's disappearance or to her death. With that, Dietrich is cleared as a suspect. aspect and is released after his arrest. So the question becomes again, who killed Nicole Vanderhiden? A closer look at the forensics from Nicole's crime scene takes investigators in a new direction. When they found her body in the field, she was wearing one sock. DNA was found on that lone piece of clothing on her body. The DNA that was found on Nicole's sock was run through the system. And it was later revealed to be identified as belonging to George Birch. George, Steve, I'm going to take you back some more time and I'll steal a handcuffs up here. You don't have anything, and I need no pocket names or anything. George, Stephen Birch, a then 38-year-old, who moved from Virginia to Green Bay, Wisconsin. So I thought I ambled six, six, seven, two, 60, roughly. Once Birch's DNA came up, law enforcement did surveillance and watched Birch and followed his movements. And they later realized that he had been involved in a hit-and-run accident. He said that he hadn't been involved, and he said that his phone data would ultimately prove that he wasn't involved in that hit-and-run. So he had given consent to search his phone. What's your phone number? Oh, [bleep] Google Dashboard was used to find out exactly where Birch was located, and it uses cell phone tower data. And so Birch's phone was in front of Nicole's residence at one point, and then later where her body was ultimately recovered. His data points placed him in all these key points where they had found that key evidence where they had found the closed dumped on the highway. So all of a sudden, they were able to pinpoint the George was in all of those locations. So obviously, you're caught in your handcuffs, right? The reason you're here is reference to a homicide investigation into Nicole Vaynerhagen. So is this something that you want to talk to me about? You don't want to talk to me about that. So I'll have to read you to Miranda Rates. You don't want to talk to me. So I'm just for a lawyer. And after Birch is arrested, investigators conduct another test. George, do you ever meet from afar with her gear splinter? It's part of this investigation. We have a search warrant. It's time for a judge for Jill to be allowed to bring back with yourself for your DNA. So I ask you to cooperate with the process. Basically, what I do is just do a swab in a greener cheek on each side, you open it up for me. Birch's DNA profile match swabs taken from the victim's ankles, right wrist, right forearm, right hand fingernail clippings, left arm, left palm, and non-sperm vaginal and cervical swabs. Additionally, testing showed that Birch's DNA was found on the court that was ultimately used to kill Nicole. Despite the fact that George's DNA was found on Nicole's body, he consistently denied that he had anything to do with her murder. Birch is charged with the murder of Nicole Van der Heiden. Do authorities have the right man this time? And what does Birch say happened? When we return, his unforgettable testimony from trial. Did you put her in the vehicle? Eventually, yes, sir. I was advised to shut the door, and then I was advised to get in the vehicle. You say you were advised by this individual. What was their demeanor like? The right name, pretty much forceful. Let me know that this is what I want you to do, and you're going to do it. [MUSIC PLAYING] What's going to happen now is I'm going to call for a squat. You're going to be transported to the jail. I will give you a business car to mind and go with you. And if you change your mind at any time that you wish to speak to me, you will have the evidence to do that. It's February 2018 out in Green Bay, Wisconsin. A televised trial is beginning in the 2016 murder of mother of three and teacher, Nicole Van der Heiden, whose body was found in a field after a night out when she separated from her friends and boyfriend. Prosecutors say a stranger, George Birch, brutally killed Van der Heiden after meeting her earlier that evening. Who has been proven to have been with Nikki in the last hours of her life? Who's DNA is on her sock? The sock he left behind on her battered body. He's with her in her last moments. The Google Dashboard. Who's with Nikki at the four key areas of Brown County? The defendant's phone continues to track him. Continues to place him. He continues to implicate him. It puts him on a murder scene on Berkeley. It places the defendant at the field on Hoffman, where he dumps her body. His phone tracks him to where he disposes of her clothing and her personal belongings. The strongest evidence against Birch was the physical DNA and the phone data that showed the location of the phone or by extension him on the night that Nicole was missing. I also see law enforcement and the district attorney making sure that their case is airtight so that it makes it through an appeals process and that the appeal was denied. The prosecution called Douglas Dietri. Nicole's boyfriend and father of their son, who at one point was actually a suspect in her murder until forensic and digital evidence cleared him, including the use of his Fitbit that tracked his steps. - I watched you with Dylan and her other kids. - She was a very good mother. That's one part I liked a lot about her was just how caring and she did everything that the kids needed and taught them well. - Doug was one of the lead prosecution witnesses. He seemed to be honest. He seemed to deliver with integrity and he did not appear to be overly prepared. How would you describe your relationship with Nikki? - It was very good for a lot of it. We did have a little arguments here and there but boys had plans for future and everything like that. We had talked about marriage and everything like that. - He admitted when he didn't know certain facts and he also conceded negative points. The arguments between he and Nicole text messages between the two of them and all of these concessions of negative points helps to show Doug's honesty. - Did you have absolutely any involvement in Nikki's disappearance or death? - No, I did not. - I think that the state wanted to paint their relationship and Doug's initial direct testimony was that they had a very good relationship. He had testified about how he envisioned them walking down the aisle together from the defense perspective. We were pointing the finger at him. The fact show you that Doug Dietrich committed this crime. Justice for Nicole is not going to be delivered by a wrongful conviction of George Birch. Doug Dietrich had the motive, the opportunity, and the connection. - Across examination during the trial was trying to get into that they had been fighting, that the relationship maybe wasn't what it seemed between Nikki and Doug. It was showing that maybe that there was issues between them. - In May of 2016, were you closer to breaking up with Nikki or closer to Mary, Nikki? - I would say, I mean, in between, there was, you know, we had some arguments about a few minor things. - How about when you told her, I'm very seriously thinking about telling Nikki and the kids they have to move. I'm not cut out for this life one bit. - I was having a, you know, a little downer day or whatever, and just said that to my mom with not truly meaning it, I guess. - I think the first day, well, we were able to paint that he had the motive. - When did you start receiving the text messages from Nikki? - What text messages are you referring to? - The messages that Nikki sent to you where she started, so what (beep) you with? And then when she said (beep) you abuse of (beep) those text messages. The second day was more effective of really getting our theory. My cross started to focus of just all the opportunities, all the red flags that were raised of there was something to miss here. Nikki was not home. You didn't call police right away because he already knew where she was. He had committed the crime. - So roughly, that's eight hours since you had saw Nikki. You did not call the police at 630? - No. - You did not call Nicole's sister at 630? - No. - You did not call Nicole's mother at 630? - No, I did not. - You just went back to bed? - Yeah, I was tired, I was hungover. - And then you woke up again around 11? - Yeah, I think approximately 11 o'clock. - And now it had been 12 hours since you had last seen Nikki. She still wasn't home for a day. - No, she was not. - Did you search for Nikki on foot or by vehicle? - No, I did not. - Still didn't call the police. - I did not at that time, no. - 'Cause you knew you didn't have to. - I don't know what you're, I mean, I was starting to get concerned. - But then, something major happens during the trial. Something that could change whether the jury finds George Birch guilty. Birch himself decides to testify. - That's always his choice and his call in terms of George's case, part of a pretrial motion to point the finger at an accused dog of committing this crime, was that a lot of the story was coming from George himself just explaining what he had gone through. - And it's that story that kept viewers glued to their screens. - Roughly a little bit after 11, I went to what you're kind of head down the street, set high to like a lot of the usuals at the movie. I asked me how I was doing, everything like that. When I went to the bar. - At some point when you were there, did you end up meeting someone who you now know is Nicole Vanderhide? - Yes, sir. - We learned that she went to Richard Craniums, which is another bar right down the road in the Broadway district here in Green Bay, where she eventually met George Birch. - I noticed it was fairly attractive, blood moment standing next to me. I started talking to her just in conversation. She was by herself. - Did she give you any indication that she was actively in a relationship? - Not that I could tell, no, sir. - How were you acting towards her? - I was slurring. - And how was she acting towards you? - Same, somewhat the same, pretty much, starting back and forth with each other. - He had met Nicky, they had talked, they had hit it off. He didn't know who she was, but he was attracted to her and they were gonna go back to his house. And ultimately, the people that he was living with were awake, so he didn't want to go in there at all. Nicky had brought him back to her house. - Did you go in her residence? - No, sir. She said there was a light on it. She thought that babysitter was still up. - What happened after that? - Started fooling around, messing around a little bit. Started kissing. - Did you guys stay in the front seat? - No, sir. - Where'd you go? - The back seat. Did you have intercourse? - Eventually, yes. Would you describe this as, I guess, gentle intercourse? - No, sir. - Police testified that Birch's DNA was found on Nicole's body and that there was non-spirmed DNA that was found suggesting that there was a sexual encounter, but not conclusive, whether it was consensual or rape. He claims that he had a consensual sexual relationship with her in the back of the vehicle. They both were largely nude in the middle of the street in front of her residence, which her family members found that would be difficult to believe knowing Nicole. - That's when this story takes a shocking turn. - What ended up happening? - The next thing that I remember apart from us having intercourse was literally waking up on the ground outside the truck, laying in the grass, curberia. I didn't know what was going on. I looked down and I'm laying on the ground and my pants are around my ankles literally behind me, something kind of, wouldn't they hit me but nudged me, then made me aware that I was not the only person there. - Did you hear anything? - The first thing I heard was don't even think about it. - I saw what looked like a man standing with a fire on his hand. It was fairly dark. I saw someone who looked like a hooded sweatshirt, couldn't really see me faces or just glimpse. - As they were becoming intimate, suddenly he was hit with something. And when he started to come to, he had noticed that there was somebody that he didn't know had a gun. He didn't know where he was. He didn't know what was happening other than he was terrified for his life. - I was instructed to move to the back end of the vehicle and notice someone or something laying in the back behind the truck or behind the blazer and I realized that it was the coal laying there. Did you know if she was alive or dead at that point? - I didn't know if she was alive. There was a lot of blood. I was pretty much instructed or told to pick her up. - Did you? - Reluctantly, yes. - Were you able to tell whether she was alive or dead? - I wasn't certain, but it definitely didn't look like she was. So once you picked her up, what happened? - I was instructed to carry her and put her in the vehicle. - It truly was a fantastic story, but Georgia's story from that night also really did fit the evidence in a way. It explained why he was at these places, why his DNA was where it was. - It was pretty much instructed to go around the back of the vehicle, around to my driver's side. When I got in the driver's seat, he had got in the passenger seat behind me and shut the door. Because I just remember I was told directions on which way to go and where to turn. - This person with a gun forced him to put Nicky's body in his vehicle because he was the person driving. This person brought him to a field to essentially drop off Nicky's body when they had thrown the body where it was found in the field. It was kind of in a, there was a steep incline. He was able just to make a break for it because he thought he was gonna be killed. - That's when I turned and everything I had, I lunged at him and pushed him as hard as I possibly could. He stumbled backwards, I broke for it, I hauled ass to my car. Did you get back on the payroll? - Yes sir. - Where he came from, you didn't talk to police, you didn't let them know anything. So he was scared, he was terrified as what he said. That's why he never called police. - Do you ever see this individual's face? - The best physical image of this face was when I left in my rearview mirror when I first started driving. - Did you know who that individual was? - Never seen him before in my life. - Do you know who that individual is now? - Who's that beetroot? - The defense attorney was their whole theory in this trial was that Doug did it. The best evidence that would steer away from Birch was that he lacked a motive. We do know that Nicole and Doug actually had an argument that night. And typically domestic situations, domestic anger, jealousy, those usually fuel these types of interactions that result in untimely death. - Our biggest hurdle I think was trying to explain to the jury that even if it's a fantastic or an unbelievable story, that doesn't mean that it didn't happen. And if it was reasonably possible, they're supposed to return a verdict of McElty. - But before the jury would have the opportunity to decide, the prosecution had some questions for Birch. - In your version of the events, if you're assaulted, you're held at gunpoint, carried the mangled body of a woman to her final resting place. And the next day, you're going fishing with your buddy, with a smile on your face and not a care in the world. - It was a pre-planned event, sir. And I wouldn't say not a care in the world. - He was very self-assured and thought that he would be able to explain away this situation. When you look at the actual testimony, he testifies relatively well. - Isn't it true that you didn't tell law enforcement about this 'cause you didn't think anybody was gonna leave this story? - No, sir, not at all. - You thought that this was a perfectly logical, reasonable story that anybody would believe. It's the truth. So rather than just beating you or killing you in the middle of the street, he decided to enlist you a total stranger to help him dispose of the body of his girlfriend. I don't know what his plans were. - You know, I thought undirected, he did really well. And then when the district attorney was cross-examining him, there's a part where the prosecutors specifically was getting loud and getting hostile on cross-examination in a professional, appropriate way. And George's response was equally hostile. - It becomes clear that Nikki isn't going to have sex with you. When she attempts to go into her house and leave your vehicle, that's when your mood changes, right? - No, sir. - That's when things get aggressive, don't they? - Not at all. - That's when you grab that cord and strangle her, don't you? - That's when Nikki gets slammed on the ground repeatedly when she's trying to run toward her house. When those blood stains lead in the direction back to her home. - None of that is true. - Well, how do you know? You were out cold when Nikki was assaulted. - 'Cause you said I did it. - I think you could argue, well, he's under the most stressful time in his life. So you can't blame him for that, but that's one moment that it was just like, you felt it in your throat a little bit of like, oh, I wish that wouldn't have happened. - Nikki was strangled. She had a fractured jaw, correct? - I don't know, sir. That's what the medical examiner said. - You saw her injuries. - As you said, through court to see the defensive injuries to her hands, to her feet, to her palms, to her fingernails, that she fought for her life, right? - According to what the doctor said, yes. - You'll have the jury believe that Doug Dietri sat there and did all of these things to his girlfriend while you were just cold on the lawn hanging out. - I wasn't hanging out, I had been knocked out from behind, sir, when I didn't know anyone was behind me. - Actually, you didn't say you were knocked out from behind, you didn't remember what happened. - You were having sex and the next thing you knew, you woke up on the ground, right? - It made me leave me to believe that I had been knocked out because I didn't pass out from standing there and then you only recalled just maybe a small little bump on the back of your head. I remember being painful in the back of my head. Not even a bump because that Jackson would have seen that. I'm six foot seven so it's hard for someone to see the top of my head. When they're sitting on a boat within 10 feet from you all afternoon that I don't know sir what he saw. Two theories, one decision. After three hours of deliberations the jury decided if George Birch was in fact Nicole Van Der Heiden's killer. State of Wisconsin versus George Stephen Birch. We the jury find the defendant George Stephen Birch guilty of first degree intentional homicide is charged in the information. You felt the tension. Everybody was there that had been watching in terms of Nikki's family, Doug's family, people that were familiar with George and his story. So once they read the guilty verdict you just heard it was just emotion. It was pure emotion. The jury's verdict was not terribly surprising. His story did not line up with the evidence and his story was allied by things that are very difficult to argue with namely DNA and geolocation data. George Birch was sentenced to life in prison without parole. It's devastating. You have children that no longer have their mother around. Very rarely does just a complete stranger walk in and murder someone. And a lot of times they're sloppy and there's evidence that really will zone in and pinpoint who committed the crime. I think law enforcement in this case did an excellent job. They used the technology piece, they used the DNA piece to put all this together. That's going to give you the best chance of getting that conviction that you want. Now the story did an end there because Birch appealed this case arguing against how certain evidence was used in his trial like the Fitbit data. But in the end the Supreme Court of Wisconsin upheld his conviction. What matters most in this case though is not Birch, it's Nicole. Her family and loved ones have spoken so passionately about her and you can really understand who she was and what she meant to those around her. I do want to leave you though with one quote. It happened during Birch's sentencing where Douglas Dietrich's mother Diane made a statement and she said quote, "Go home today, hug your loved ones, tell them you love them, show them you love them." That's all we have for you here on Prime Crime. Thank you so much for joining us as always and until next time, stay safe. [Music] (upbeat music)