did this every last resource I will find them I will find him I love you I love you I love you I really did I love you this is 35-year-old Doug D Tree at this moment Doug is sitting in interrogation room number two at the Brown County Sheriff's Office in Green Bay Wisconsin as you can see Doug is an emotional wreck he had just learned that a body was found resembling his missing girlfriend Nicole vanderhyden although the identification is not yet confirmed Doug seems to be planning to avenge Nicole little does he know in less than 48 Hours he will become the prime suspect in her disappearance now I'm sure you're wondering how we got here so to bring you up to speed we need to start 3 days earlier on Friday May 20th 2016 Doug dietre and his 31-year-old girlfriend Nicole were out drinking with a group of their friends most notably Greg Matthew and Aaron kolinsky at the end of the night each friend safely made their way home except for a very intoxicated Nicole confused and hung over her boyfriend Doug contacted the Brown County Sheriff's office at 4:30 p.m. the next day Brown County public safety this is teres yes um how do I go about I guess the missing person are you wanting to report a missing person yes okay and who's missing uh it's my girlfriend and she she does live with me and she's never done this before what's her name Nicole sander Heiden and what's your name Doug last name dri d r i e coincidentally authorities also received another disturbing call earlier that afternoon Hy number one what is the address of your emergency we just found human body l in okay person beond help or do I need to give instructions for CPR no it's starting is it a male or a female long but I didn't go near it the call came from a local farmer who discovered a body on his Farmland just off of Hoffman Road in Belleview about 3 mi from Doug in Nicole's house the Body Found appeared to be that of a 30-s something-year-old blonde woman which matched the description of Nicole however due to the state of her body the victim was unrecognizable she had suffered over 240 injuries and was found lying face down and unclothed with a sock on each foot and a pink concert wristband there were also multiple scratches and shoe marks found on her back and on the side of her head upon Discovery her body was swabbed from head to toe for DNA which was sent to the lab for testing since it was not 100% certain that this was Nicole's body authorities were unable to classify her disappearance as a homicide so that same day Brown County Sheriff Sergeant Tracy holbach drove to Doug's home to interview him regarding Nicole's disappearance hi there oh okay hi hi hello hi we here for a missing person's report okay um I'm Mom oh okay I didn't know where we we're going to go here yeah just come okay conveniently Greg was at Doug's house with him the man in the blue shirt is Doug while the man just out of site is Greg Doug went on to explain that he and Nicole had met up with friends at the watering hole for a Steel Panther concert the night before since Doug and Nicole were parents they arranged for a babysitter to stay the evening at their home and look after their six-month-old son Dylan the concert ended at 11:00 p.m. which was around the time that Nicole had apparently seen Doug flirting with another woman while Doug waited in line for the wash room he received multiple messages from Nicole accusing him of being unfaithful and upset Nicole decided to leave Doug behind as she along with their other friends headed to a nearby bar called the Sardine Can when Doug returned from the bathroom he discovered that everybody had left except for Greg he then called Nicole to let her know that the two would meet her at the Sardine Can shortly well I was still at the watering hole and I wondering where she was and cuz we were going to go on to the next place as the show was over um that's when I talked to her and that she was was with a couple of my other friends ring with them okay and I said it be down there shortly and then so she was in the car and you're talking car to car with her you're face or no I was inside and I don't know where they were tting or calling I was actually on the phone I was talking tone yep got it within 15 minutes of this call Nicole decided to leave the Sardine Can by herself surveillance footage showed her leaving at around 11:40 p.m. Aaron kolinsky can be seen following her as they leave our view a conversation between the two takes place as Aaron tries to convince her to stay unfortunately Aaron was unsuccessful and this was the last moment that Nicole was seen on camera after learning that Nicole had stormed off Doug and Greg tried calling her again when she picked up she sounded extremely intoxicated and incoherent you said she was emotional and she was upset was she crying was she hysterical understand you know what she was even saying she didn't believe that I wasn't Doug talking to her okay so she thought that I was Doug and I was trying to explain to her that I was not Doug how long did you talk to her I mean a few minutes and then she hung up okay and then every time we tried to call her again her phone just went to see since they were worried about her wandering around drunk and alone they went up and down the streets looking for her after searching for 30 minutes Doug and Greg arrived at the Sardine Can at 1210 a.m. and were captured on the camera walking inside they proceeded to have a few drinks before leaving just after 2: a.m. Doug told the office officers that Greg dropped him off at home around 2:30 a.m. he stated that after sending the sitter home he eventually went to bed and woke up around 6:30 a.m. to feed the baby he went back to sleep and then woke up again at 10:30 a.m. throughout all of this Nicole was nowhere in sight but Doug assumed that she had slept over at a friend's or at her mother's house as the day went on he became more concerned and at 400 p.m. he placed the 911 call that we heard at the beginning of this video do you suspect any follow play if so why just I don't know I don't suspect it but this the area she walked in I don't definitely don't like okay a Tall Blond walking down the street in the middle of the night that area is not I I I really would want to walk down there myself following this interview Doug was asked to continue the questioning at the Sheriff's Office later that night as he was brought into the interrogation room he immediately broke down in tears um spider M said sure all right let here's your choices all them won't do all right give me a second all right I'll be right back if you had a for food what would you I don't know if the burgering like the chicken sandwich The Original Chicken Sandwich french fries sure okay all right give me a second I'll be right back let make sure this is not lock after regaining his composure Doug was met by by Detective Lee Kingston and detective Brian Slinger who asked Doug to provide his account of the night Nicole went missing once again so yeah I got gra all right dog I didn't introduce myself my name is Lee Kingston I'm a detective of GRE Bay okay okay I was asked to come in and kind of help all because the county was short some people and it has a Green Bay tie with we don't know if she disappeared from the Sardine Can or what exactly okay so um so what we wanted to do is kind of review um a couple of things actually we're going to review what you talked about earlier with with Tracy in an effort to try to connect the dots um let's start with uh what time did did you and uh Nikki leave the house last night I'm like 7:30 qu to 8 I thinking 10:30 and where did you go uh we went to McDonald's and then we went to we just got went through the drivethru quick and then went to the war hole detective Kingston told Doug that they had a warrant to search his home and vehicle and requested that he provide the clothes that he wore on the night Nicole went missing uh the next step is to uh search your house okay uh and her car all right well I understand that could be suspect I understand that you don't have any kind of inj inuries anywhere or anything well I mean like scratch something that would look like you been in a if you want no well played softball on Thursday so that's a little dinged up my knee a little bit but I just got some old Stars that's no that's uh I don't talk about anything fresh any kind of scratches or marks or anything like that is there anything in your when they go search your house is they're going to find any anything in your house that they're going to find that's say you had anything to ABS nothing whatsoever nothing I have nothing to do with this I mean the interrogation would go on for about 3 hours during which the detectives informed Doug of the body discovered in the nearby farmfield um this body that was found okay down the street um I don't think it's been 100% identified as her but there's a lot of similarities need anything else to drink or anything get some fresh air yeah just give us a few minutes and we'll walk you outside [Music] okay was there any other details you guys know how what happened Bly happened no like I said I don't even I don't even know 100% you know at it's her please not just the way they said it on the news I don't know a gruesome Discovery got to be kidding wow that's the newest trip looking for viewers you know yes scared you're scared her back she needs to go back I swear to God the pight who did this did this every last resource I will find them than I will find them I love you I love you I I loved you I really did I love [Music] please all right man I got some bags we're going to go on this room over here to switch out following this interview police searched the couple's home and found a pair of bloody Air Jordans that appeared to match the shoe prints found on the unidentified body they also located blood spatter on the garage floor and in Nicole's vehicle additionally while mowing his lawn a neighbor found suspicious items in his front yard including a charging cord with blood on it and clumps of blonde hair off to the side was a pool of blood this evidence was tested and came back to match Nicole's DNA profile forensic examiners also used Nicole's dental records to confirm that the body at the farm was in fact Nicole her cause of death was noted as ligature strangulation with blunt force trauma to the Head Nicole's bloody clothes purse and cell phone were discovered near a highway off-ramp close to the farm using Nicole's cell phone data combined with the evidence gathered up to this point authorities surmised that Nicole had actually returned home that night and once Doug returned home from the Sardine Can the two got into an altercation which resulted in her death Doug then transported her body to the farm using her own vehicle to support this hypothesis Rebecca M an ex-girlfriend of his told police that Doug had a history of violence we got to fight tackled me and I broke my ankle so I mean which ankle did you break my left where did you tacking we were in his bedroom you're fighting he canot did you go to the hospital now I did which hospital did you go to I think Ur here right over here by um on um right over here but across from Chicago Street over there um and then I had he had to give me two surgeries on my ankles and then I was in the cast for probably two months um there was an incident that that was reported to the Green Bay Police Department that was choking in that particular incident was there any other choking besides that particular in that in but that was at my house in the upper right 700 South IR it probably was or baby C there's two addresses got um he yeah he was he was choking me he put the sheet from my bed into my mou like as much as he could until I could bre so I so I wouldn't scream him okay CU a school across the street called the Blue cuz I heard him screaming okay we broke up I went out with my friend Brian and then we were drinking so we were closer to his house so we just went back to his house um so we were at his house and we were like in his room or the living room or whatever but there was a window right you know by us well I don't remember what we we were talking about something and um the next day Doug was messaging me and saying you know basically repeating what we had been talking about inside of his house and I was like well how do you know that so I thought he was like listening on my phone or you know like he had something set up or he could listen to what I was doing all the time um it was winter at that time though so I um my friend Brian is pide with that he I told him to look on the side of his house and sure not the tracks so do was sitting right outside of my friend's window because I was there and he found me because he off my own do you think Doug is uh capable of hurting or killing someone do thinks he can get away with anything you guys have any this eye-opening information was later supported by Nicole's younger sister Heather Meyer who shared some revealing details about her sister's rocky relationship with Doug you said there a relationship with Rocky when when what do you know about that or when did that start that you became beginning okay and and so he's controlling and um he gets mad when she doesn't return his calls or texts yeah and also there was a couple times where he basically I mean since the baby was born hasn't really been there as a father he'll just go out and drink all night long and not come home and when my sister she tells me this is her side of the story but when my sister asked where were you he got mad and said it's done your [ __ ] business would she had any medication for depression she tried she couldn't do it it made her go crazier when you say crazier what does that mean she just couldn't handle it she was scared too I think she was scared to seek help why do you think that I don't know no um I just think she was felt really stuck in the relationship and she didn't want another failed relationship with a child and then I don't know my mom said that 2 weeks ago she told him her that he's been beating her she asked has he ever hit you and she said yeah and my mom said you need to come live with the golden and she didn't the statements from Rebecca and Heather solidified the detectives beliefs that Doug was in fact the perpetrator so just 3 days after Nicole's death Doug was arrested and transported to the county jail while officers worked to file murder charges against [Applause] him why don't we step out yeah we want um right now I'm going to be taking you into custody be handcuffing you I I'll explain all that to you in a bit um and transporting you down to the Sheriff's Department okay okay just be cooperative with me and we'll roll it that way wow okay all right um I'm going to get you down there and we'll we'll talk down there and I'll kind of explain to you what's going on um I'm I'm I'm a decent guy okay I'm I'm a decent guy too I get that I'm sure you are um you seem like a real nice guy now because you requested an attorney we obviously are respecting that and um just going directly to jail whereas otherwise we would have brought you to the chairi department and try speaking you or interviewing you um whatever so you know if later down the road you decide you want to talk to me then you have advised so I mean I get my family they're very concerned I know what the truth is and that's what un advised for you with Doug now in custody detectives wanted to make sure that all of the bases were covered so they needed to rule out his friend and possible accomplice Greg so they brought Greg in for more questioning they began with the basics getting him to re-explain the events of that night from his own perspective this time they seem to have some qualms with Greg's timeline and I'm going to tell you that your timeline seems so abundantly rehearsed and and you know the reason why I know that is because it's nowhere near what you told the officers the first time and the second time it's just not I know I hadn't flept in my 50 hours they woke me up you know I just woke up and they're asking me questions so when I was thinking about that I was a little hazy you know they just woke me up so let me tell you this one of the craziest moments of my entire life would you be willing to provide consent for a DNA standard I already did did all that already Yes I already consented they took swabs out of my mouth Yes I did that on Saturday when I came to pick up my car provided sent consent for your phone as well already yes I did and my car yes all three you know we really we really believe that um whatever the issue was with Doug and Nicole that night I don't think that it was pre-planned I don't think it was something that was malicious I don't think I I really think that Nicole is out of control that night she was highly intoxicated definitely and she put herself in a in a position of vulnerability you know she was she was acting the fool I mean no doubt about it I just okay can't imagine here I'm going to tell you that there's no doubt in anybody's mind that the evidence shows that your friend Doug had involvement in her murder there's no doubt about it okay after the watering hole that night I have never I never saw nikk again I I I never saw her again after the watering hole that night I never you understand that even if your phone runs out of battery or even if it's turned off that's not let me finish what I'm trying to say that'll exonerate me from having any well well it actually puts you actually I think I'm ready to leave you guys I wanted to help you but you're trying to play this game and accuse me of something I had absolutely nothing to do with who can vouch for you for the 60 minutes before you showed up and made contact with Dallas who can vou you for that what is the 60 Minutes 1 hour I'm asking for a 1 hour period of time who can vouch for where you were if your phone is dead thank you guys so nobody that's your Alibi I nobody that's your Alibi your Alibi is the guy that's the goting for murder the timeline your Alibi is the guy that's in custody for murder that's what you're going to walk out this door with it takes 30 minutes to get to Doug's house maybe 25 minutes we get there at 2:40 there isn't a dis hour of time that you're talking talking about I mean it's just unbelievable if I ever thought that Doug was capable of doing something like this he would never have been a friend of mine in the first place if I ever found out that he did something like this he would never be a friend he's never heard a woman before and you don't know this no you know Rebecca I know Becky yes oh yeah she told me today he broke her leg and she covered for him kind of a big deal I know she made that claim so it shocks you that Doug would do anything so then so then she's a liar when she made that claim she is a little crazy who who broke Rebecca's leg she fell down the stairs supposedly I know and you buy that tell me this why didn't the police arrest dug for that because she filed the police report and they decided that she was not is that what told you I mean that's what I thought happened that's yes I mean is that what doug told you that is what he told me would you be surprised if he didn't tell you the truth I mean would that surprise you no it wouldn't so it would not surprise you it wouldn't surprise me if he kept it private and lied to me about that yes so don't let your friend paint you into a corner here when you get all the information you will see that I nothing we're getting information from Doug and when and he knows I had nothing to do with the two doesn't mean he has to say that all right guys I tried I tried to have a conversation with you following this interview police inspected the surveillance footage from the bars as well as Greg's cell phone location data Greg's timeline could not be disproven over the next few weeks further forensic testing and evidence Gathering continued underway suddenly on June 10th just 16 days after his arrest Doug was released from jail after 3 weeks behind bars on accusations he murdered his girlfriend Douglas dietry was released from jail earlier today because of lack of evidence you'll remember he was arrested for Alle ly murdering Nicole vanderheiden last month but he was never formally charged her body was found in a Belleview field NBC 26 says Marissa dcand was in the courtroom today and she joins us now with more Yep Cassandra Brown County DA Dave Lay says the state has been able to keep dri in jail because of probable cause found in May but after further investigation they decided they didn't have enough evidence at this time to prove him guilty Beyond a reasonable doubt he's not under any bail conditions at this time so he's not under any uh restrictions he certainly doesn't plan on on uh you know getting out of the area he wants to remain in the area uh and see that Justice is done soon after Doug's arrest the detectives were met with a handful of conflicting evidence initially it was suggested that Doug transported Nicole's body using her vehicle but it was later confirmed that her vehicle did not leave the garage the weekend she was killed they also received the results from the forensic lab which contained a few surprises the blood stains found in Nicole's vehicle came back to match Michaela Nicole's daughter and the blood found on the garage floor and on Doug's shoe was actually from a turkey a byproduct of a recent hunting trip and finally the swabs taken from Nicole's body the day that she was discovered did not match Doug instead they came back to match a foreign DNA profile there was really no physical evidence linking Doug to the crime scene or Nicole's body hence why he was released and never charged the question now became who did this foreign profile actually belong to after running the DNA through a nationwide database known as codus the system came back with a match to a Virginia man named George Steven bur 38-year-old George Burch is nicknamed Big Country due to his stature of 6'7 and weight of 270 lb George had a colorful criminal history spanning back to 2001 the most notable incident would be an arrest in connection to a murder where George was ultimately acquitted following a trial he also had five unrelated criminal convictions that forced him to remain in the state of Virginia however at the time of Nicole's death he was actively violating his conditions living in a Green Bay home that belonged to a couple named Linda and Edward Jackson according to the Jacksons George was going through a divorce and needed a place to stay it turns out that George was also being investigated by the Green Bay Police Department he was a suspect in a hit-and run incident involving a Chevy Trailblazer that was reported stolen by Edward Jackson when the vehicle was located the front seat had been set on fire this incident happened days after Nicole's death implying that if George was the driver in the hit and run he may have intentionally set the vehicle on fire in an attempt to cover up any evidence of the murder on September 7th 2016 George was brought into the station to be questioned about Nicole he denied any involvement and said that he was at a bar named Richard craniums about half a mile from the Sardine Can George Steve want stand up for me I'm just going to check your pockets one more time and I'll see the handcuffs off you you don't have anything on you no pocket knives or anything oh sir sure they TR opponent by now but we're a little repetive I completely understand it's your safety check Wells and yours better you're not made for Comfort unfortunately um here's a soda you smoke or anything yeah you have my cigarettes what kind of ss I can get you some new PS New Ports I'll grab you some new PS thank you sir give me a couple minutes I got a few things I got to grab but I'll get you some sigs actually right now yes sir thank you okay so before I speak to you any further about my investigation I want to read Jim Rand rights and see if you're willing to talk to me okay the reason you're here is into uh in reference to homicide investigation into Nicole Vander heid it okay so is this something that you want to talk to me about I'm sir about that you don't want to talk to me about that so if I read your Miranda rites you don't you don't want to talk to me for a lawyer okay after asking for a lawyer he refused to say anything more to the detectives but he wasn't home free just yet his cell phone had already been obtained during the hit and- run investigation and when reviewing the location data it told a story of its own on the night that Nicole was killed this data showed that George left craniums at 2:30 a.m. he then arrived near Nicole's home 31 minutes later at 3:01 a.m. he remained there for about an hour and left at 3:52 a.m. following his departure he drove to the farm field where Nicole's body was found and then to the highway off-ramp where police discovered her clothing he then returned home to the Jackson's Residence at about 4:22 a.m. hours later George and Edward went fishing photos from the Excursion showed George smiling wide with a fresh catch in his hands N9 days after his interview George Burch was charged with the first-degree murder of Nicole vanderhyden he pled not guilty new developments tonight in the case against a man accused of murdering Nicole vanderhyden Today George Burch police pleaded not guilty to first degree intentional homicide charges investigators say DNA evidence from her clothing and GPS coordinates on his cell phone TI Burch to the crime you'll recall Vander heiden's body was found in a field in Belleview back in May his trial began on February 19th 2018 during the trial Doug became a key component to both the prosecution and defense's arguments the defense introduced him as a viable alternative suspect but the prosecution asserted that Doug was thoroughly investigated and had zero involvement in Nicole's murder when Doug was called To The Stand prosecutor David Lacy pushed this notion by highlighting the important data extracted from Doug's Fitbit watch Doug was wearing said watch throughout the night of Nicole's disappearance and the activity recorded on it corroborated his timeline Doug when was the last time that you personally saw Nikki alive it was I I think it was right after the show I don't even really recall I think it was right when we were going to the bathroom and said I was going to the bathroom and just a little going to the bathroom and see you with 10 minutes whatever you know and it's the last time we saw her do you recall if uh prior to uh to your arrest if you had a Fitbit device that you owned yes do you know were you wearing that device on May 20th into May the 21st yes I was were you wearing it when you were at the watering hole that night yes I was did you wear it to bed that night yes I did were you wearing it in the morning the next day yes were you wearing it when you were talking to law enforcement on the afternoon of the 21st and also in the early morning hours of the 22nd yeah I wore all the way up until I I think they maybe take it off when I was getting arrested or booked into the jail during the time period that you owned that device did you check that app relatively regularly yeah pretty much on a daily basis one or two times a day at least and did you um were able to make any determination about how accurate it was with respect to the step counting yeah it just it just seemed to be accurate you have absolutely any involvement in Nikki's disappearance or death uh no I did not thank you no further questions at this time during his cross-examination defense attorney Scott steans reinforced their stance that Doug could have murdered Nicole they claimed that he had the motive to commit the murder and pointed to his alleged history of domestic abuse Stein also presented a series of text messages that Doug sent to his mom in the days before Nicole's murder but 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 do you remember that um I remember you know I think I sent something on the lines of that and I was having a you know little Downer day or whatever and um I just said that to my mom with not truly meaning it I guess this wasn't the only compelling conversation found on Doug's phone he also had a strange exchange of text messages with the babysitter Dallas on the days following Nicole's disappearance and you stayed in contact with Dallas too because she was concerned I believe I spoke with her a time or two after um on Sunday maybe I I I don't know was talking to a lot of people and people were calling me she said what happened Doug and you said I don't know she hit her head I don't recall saying anything about her hitting her head at all you told Dallas I don't know she hit her head I do not recall that sir I don't know she hit her head and odd thing to say given Nicole's injuries anyway the defense also questioned Doug as to why he waited so long for notifying anybody of Nicole's disappearance and then you testified that you woke up the next morning when was that um I don't know the exact time but I think it it was between like 600 and 7 like 6:30 I'm guessing so roughly that's eight hours since you had saw Nikki according to your testimony yeah that would be I think it was about I'm guessing around 11 o'clock that I had last seen her you did not call the police at 6:30 no you did not call Nicole's sister at 6:0 6:30 no you did not call Nicole's mother at 6:30 uh no I did not you didn't call any of your friends at 6:30 uh no I did not you didn't call your parents nope you didn't call your brother no I did not you just went back to bed yeah I was tired I was hung over and I just I was had a crying baby and took care of him and fed him and went back to bed right away and you knew where Nikki was at that time uh no I did not did you search for Nikki on foot or by vehicle uh no I did not still didn't call the police I did not at that time no because you knew you didn't have to uh I don't know what you're I mean I was starting to get uh concerned and you know you know because I figured she was out if she stayed out late that you know she was probably going to sleep in as well and probably feeling it similar to me hung over and tired you know that she was was going to you know sleep it off that we had a lot to drink that night you finally called police around 4:30 does that sound correct yes and that's 17 hours since you last saw her that yeah I think so yep and then you made sure that before police arrived you took a shower yeah yep you wanted to hide any proof that you were involved in her murder so you took a shower before the police came I don't think Mr sus asked a question about the last six or seven these have all been testimony from the defense after planting seeds of doubt in the jury's mind the defense's cross-examination came to an end it was now time to speak to the man on trial George in a bold decision George ended up taking the stand this was his chance to tell his version of the story after refusing to provide any details during his police interview his recollection of events from that night were quite dramatic he described standing at the bar at Richard craniums when he noticed a fairly attractive blonde woman standing next to to him how how were you acting towards her I was flirting and how was she acting towards you same somewhat the same pretty much um starting back and forth with each other so you guys left together yes sir I invited her back to my place she gave you the impression that she agreed to that yes sir she walked to my vehicle I opened the passenger door she got in the passenger door I shut the door went around to the driver's side and got in my Glazer were you still driving at this point yes sir and where was she she was in the passenger seat front passenger seat yes sir why did she have you pull over on the right do you know um I don't know why she picked that that exact spot to pull over no sir did you have the impression you had arrived at her residence yes sir did you go in her residence no sir why not um she said there was a light on it she thought the babysitter was still up so you never went inside the residence no sir I've never been in the residence she had you pull over on the side of the road the right side of the road yes sir how did you get into the back seat I got out of the driver's side and walked around to the back passenger do you remember how she got in the back seat I don't remember if she got out and hopped in the back or she just climbed over just as they started to have intercourse in the back seat George described getting suddenly knocked unconscious after someone hit him on the head with a gun so um at that point everything was going smoothly yes sir you were having intercourse with her yes sir what ended up happening um the next thing that I remember apart from us having intercourse was literally waking up on the ground outside the truck laying in the like grass curb area I looked down and I'm laying on the ground and my pants are around my ankles literally and I'm trying to was little groggy trying to you know kind of put two two together what the hell was going on could you tell if it was a man or a woman at that point um from The Voice um from the rough outline of the person behind me from what I could tell um and I perceived it to be a man he was then told by the gunman to sit next to the back bumper of the Blazer as he moved he noticed that Nicole was dead by the time you were told to move towards the back of the Blazer had you had a chance to take in your surroundings um pretty much so um the close immediate area once my attention got to that area I looked closer and I realized that it was the cola there the first thing I was coherent to me that I could hear them say was look what the [ __ ] you made me do do you know who that individual is now now now I do who was it it was Doug dri he was then held at gunpoint and forced to help Doug transport and dispose of her body while disposing of her body at the farm George claimed that he seized an opportunity to overpower Doug and Escape he then discarded Nicole's belongings while driving home George did you murder Nicole vanderheiden no sir definitely not do you know who did Doug D prosecutor Lacy challenged George's Story the lack of injuries on Doug and the absence of George's blood at the scene where he was supposedly hit on the head contradicted George's claims Lacy presented an alternative narrative he argued that it was actually George Who assaulted Nicole what really happened was you drove Nicole home 20 M away from where you lived fully expecting that you were going to have sex right that was your expectation you were going to have sex that's why you're driving her home right um I was hoping that we would um it was leading from what had happened before and way we had spoke it seemed like that's what was going to happen when you get there and 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 no sir not at all 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 a direction back to her home none of that is true well how do you know you were out cold when Nikki was assaulted cuz you said I did it George vehemently denied Lacy's accusations but the eyes don't lie many have speculated that this rageful moment is a glipse into George's true character following these testimonies it was now time for the closing arguments the prosecution Came Out Swinging reminding the jury that George is the only person confirmed to be with Nicole during her final moments this is clearly a hun it case we told you at the start of this case that the evidence would form a path and that path would lead you to the truth and lead you to finding Justice for Nicole you need only to follow that path and we ask you to apply your intelligence your common sense and your reason and when you do so you'll find it then it's guilty who has been proven to have been with Nikki in the last hours of her life on May 2 2st 2016 in those early morning hours who has been proven unequivocally to have been with her in her last moments what does the independent scientific and Technical evidence tell us on that point what does it show whose DNA is on her sock the sock he left behind on her battered body the crime lab leads us to the defendant with that hip he's with her in her last moments their explanation is ridiculous it's insulting your intelligence he tries to make you believe this encounter was consensual as far as sexual activity killing her is not enough he seeks to defame her her life's gone so let's go after her reputation Nikki did not give up easily she showed her spirit through the end Nikki did not go gently into the night allow Nicole to guide you on the path to find the truth which will lead you to the clear conclusion that George Burch is guilty of this murder beyond all reasonable doubt we ask you to return a verdict of guilty for firste intial hom as prosecutor Mary carrian Mays finished her presentation defense attorney Lee scart got ready to attack their case he reminded the jury that Doug and Nicole were fighting that night and that Doug absolutely could have murdered her now when the state talked to you about the motive that George Burch would have that's completely fabricated it's brought out of thin air you didn't hear any evidence to provide a reason why George would commit it so they had to make it up you heard strong reasons why Doug dietry would commit this crime remember what she was telling Doug dri as their fight was just beginning the state says you can't believe Mr bur's testimony you can't believe his story they called it outlandish they said it challeng your education and your intelligence they called it ridiculous those are their words the prosecutor came up here and told you that just because of the story sounds ridiculous or sounds unbelievable doesn't mean it is and I ask that you focus on all the evidence in this case that you don't continuously ignore that the state arrested Doug dri and there's a fullscale investigation into Doug dri we've seen the evidence we've seen him testified he had the motive the opportunity and the connection to this crime as we sit here right now you are literally surrounded by doubt you are surrounded by reasonable doubt that's why you must return a verdict of not guilty as the closing arguments wrapped up the jury was sent to deliberation the deliberation lasted a mere 3 hours and on March 1st 2018 George received his verdict the verdict reads as follows we the jury find the defendant George Steven Burch guilty of first-degree intentional homicide is charged in the information it is signed by our foreperson and dated this first day of March 2018 during his sentencing judge zakowski went on to describe the crime as the most heinous in brown County's history it's hard to wrap that concept around when you could brutally murder this woman drop the body off in a field and then hours later go on a boat and be smiling like nothing happened like you didn't have a care in the world how can we explain that that isn't human when I think about the fact that George bur came to Wisconsin and the Le and less than six months left a trail of death and destruction that is unacceptable what chance did he give Nikki scars that have been INF did run very deep this monster Birch doesn't deserve to live let alone be eligible for PR that will be the vehicle that the court will use to ensure that you spend the rest of your life in prison life without PR to ensure that the punishment fits the crime George Burch received the maximum sentence life in prison without the possibility of parole as expected he immediately appealed his conviction the Supreme Court dismissed his Appeal on June 29th 2021 George Steven Burch is currently serving his life sentence at the secure program facility in Wisconsin he has no conscience no soul he shows No Remorse he should be made accountable for all the emotional injuries this was no accident he is a predator plain and simple he has no human worthy qualities I would call him an animal but I would be insulting the animal kingdom