Latest / NO FILTER / The murder of Chad Entzel [True Crime documentary]

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The murder of Chad Entzel [True Crime documentary] · NO FILTER

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: The evening of January TEWOD twenty twenty, emergency services responded
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: to a house fire outside of Bismarck, North Dakota. Inside,
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: they found forty two year old Chad Encil dead from
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: an apparent suicide. But as more details were uncovered, it
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: became increasingly obvious that there was no suicide. Investigators began
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: piecing together a timeline of events leading up to the murder,
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: and it kept leading back to one person. Hi everyone,
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: I'm Kevin, and this is just Thought Lounge. JTL is
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: the true crime channel that delivers serious, well balanced coverage
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: of the cases that really make you think. Today, we're
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: taking a look at the murder of Chad Encil. This
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: case takes us from a suspiciously staged crime scene, through
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: days of an attempted cover up, as well as many
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: failures to fool law enforcement, destroy evidence, and benefit from
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: the crime. Let's take a look. It was Christmas time
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: for the Enseil family in Bismarck, North Dakota, where they
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: lived in late twenty nineteen. Forty two year old Chad
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: had proposed to Nicki Sue at the wedding reception of
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: a close friend a few years prior. They were married
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: in May twenty sixteen and were raising Nicky's two sons,
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: Marcus and Christopher. Chad had quite a few hobbies. He
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: coached little league, loved amateur race car driving, often played
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: golf and darts, and was part of a bowling league. Nicki,
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: apart from being a busy mother, also loved baking and
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: she ran a catering company. The Enseils rented a house
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: outside of Bismarck, which is in Burley County. On the
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: morning of Thursday, January tewod just before nine am, Nicki
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: began to receive phone calls and texts from a few
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: of Chad's coworkers. He had not turned up to work
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: that morning and he could not be reached. They were
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: growing progressively more concerned. Nicky was at work and had
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: meetings lined up that morning with clients. She did not
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: know where Chad was, and her schedule had her tied
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: up all day. Chad's colleagues contacted the police for a
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: welfare check at the house. When they arrived, they found
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: Chad's truck parked in the drive, but there was no
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: answer at the door. The view inside the house from
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: the front and side windows did not reveal anything concerning,
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: but aside from his vehicle, there was no side of Chad.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: After Nicki finished work for the day, she drove out
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: to the house. When she tried to enter, she was
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: met with a waft of smoke billowing out from inside.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: Nicky called nine to one.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: One might have written in the text message that he
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: didn't come into day and Ivan and I'm putting here
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: to check and I'm walked in and I opened the
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: door and it walked in in the house smokey. I
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: can't get in the door. It's a smoky in the house.
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: Okay, So you see smoking.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: I can see him said, just like our watches black
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: and it's smoking in there. And I can't get in
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: the door.
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: Okay, you see the flames at all?
• 3:18
  Speaker 4: I don't want okay, And you were coming here to
• 3:20
  Speaker 4: check on again.
• 3:21
  Speaker 5: I'm sorry my husband. I've been out for a few days, okay.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: And Mark called them and he didn't come in at all,
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: and Evan and I said, calling him no answers. They
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: tried calling him, no answer, so I said, I was
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: just wanted. They couldn't get away at looks today and
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: I'm cutting out now set him offwards and he can't
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: get in the door and when.
• 3:41
  Speaker 5: I put everything was black like se what I'm sure, nicky, nicky,
• 3:49
  Speaker 5: don't okay y.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: The Bismarck Fire Department were the first to arrive on scene.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: They entered the house and began putting out the flames inside.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: There were two areas where the fire had taken hold.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: The main fire was in the master bedroom, where a
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: mattress was left smoldering and the walls and ceiling melted.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: The wallpaper and paint from the walls. When the smoke
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: cleared in the bedroom, the fire rescue team found Chad Encil.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: He was deceased, unclothed, lying on the floor. Despite the
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: fire damage, there were indications as to what had happened
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: to Chad. A shotgun was located nearby, resting on the bed.
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: A heater was knocked over on the floor at the
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: end of the bed. This heater was the most likely
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: source of the fire in that room. In the basement,
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: a second fire was discovered burning on top of the furnace.
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: It was put out in less than ten seconds. The
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: cover to the furnace had been removed and was resting
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: propped up on the floor nearby, suggesting it had been
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: dislodged before the fire had started, and not as a
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: result of it. Also, a few feet away on the
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: ground was a torn and empty package of Marlborough's cigarettes.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: Fire marshals noted this piece of rubbish as a potential
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: source of ignition for the basement fire. They also contacted
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: the ATF to check the house for explosives. None were found.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: As other agencies and emergency responders arrived at the scene,
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: the house was searched for any other potential victims. The
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: two boys were thankfully staying with their grandparents for the
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: holidays and nowhere near the home when the fire started.
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: Only Chad Encil was found inside. There was one unfired
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: round left in the shotgun near to Chad. Two empty
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: liquor bottles were also discovered in the room. The heater
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: could have tipped over accidentally onto a potentially flammable mattress.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: At first glance, the evidence pointed to suicide, but further
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: investigation would quickly rule this out as a possibility. Chad
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: was found lying on the floor, but the shotgun was
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: on the bed a few feet away, and an autopsy
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: would reveal not one but two gunshot wounds, an impossibility
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: if they were self inflicted. This meant that the found
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: that remained in the gun had to have been loaded
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: after Chad was shot. The only reason to do so
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: would be if the shooter intended to trick investigators into
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: believing the death was a suicide. The autopsy could not
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: determine whether Chad's blood alcohol level indicated that he had
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: been drinking before he died, As the empty bottles left
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: in the room implied, it seemed that he was deceased
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: for some time before he was discovered, which meant this
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: was difficult to determine. There were no identifiable signs in
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: the autopsy that Chad had been a regular, heavy drinker.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: Was it possible that these bottles were part of the
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: staged scene. The fire on the bed was described as
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: spotty in nature, which was an indication that an ignitable
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: liquid was used to accelerate the blaze at points, and
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: perhaps there had been multiple attempts to get it going.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: That There was also the second blaze in the basement,
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: which had started independent of the one in the bedroom,
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: was deemed far too coincidental. This second fire also supported
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: the theory of a staged scene. The amount of soot
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: in the house was evidence of a fire that was
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: starved for oxygen. The door to the bedroom had been
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: left only partially open, which would have stifled the growing
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: flames inside the room, despite whatever accelerant had been used
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: to start it. Testing was conducted to determine what set
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: the fire alight, but in the meantime, trained dogs indicated
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: the use of an ignitable liquid. Burnley County Sheriff's office
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: called in the state's Bureau of Criminal Investigation to assist,
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: as well as conferring with the FBI and experts at
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: the ATF. Amongst the first steps taken in the investigation
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: involved scouring surveillance footage and cell phone records for the
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: days leading up to the fire. On January two, Chad's
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: cell phone and his iPad had been recovered from the house.
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: Through his correspondence, investigators learned that Chad had been alone
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: in the house for days leading up to his death
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: while his wife, Nikki, was out of town. Text messages
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: from Nikki to Chad beginning the day after Christmas December
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: twenty sixth, lasting through to the thirtieth suggested that Nicki
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: was away for some kind of training for work to
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: better her skills. You always succeed at whatever you do.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: Chad had messaged his wife only days before his death.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: Investigators tracked Chad's last public sighting to the evening of
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: December thirtieth. That night, he was with his bowling league
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: and captured arriving at Midway Lanes at roughly six pm.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: That night, he had an exchange with his wife over
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: text message, joking about bowling a three hundred, a perfect score.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: He was shown at leaving the bowling alley at about
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: twenty minutes past ten. That was the last time Chad
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: was seen alive. The Ensil's rental house was equipped with
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: a security system including surveillance cameras and door sensors. An
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: activity log for the system could also be accessed, which
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: showed the account activity as well as any recordings made
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: by the cameras. At ten fifty pm on December thirtieth,
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: roughly the time when Chad should have been captured by
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: the camera's returning home from the bowling alley, the camera
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: recording was corrupted and the footage was unwatchable. However, censors
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: showed the garage door opening and the system disarming at
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: that time Chad must have returned home. There was no
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: indication that he left the house at any time after this.
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: At just past one am that same night, now December thirty, first,
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: the censor for the garage door to the Encil house
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: again recorded that it had opened. Whoever had done so
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: entered the house with Chad inside. At two fifty six am,
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: the door was closed. There was no further activity that night.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: The next morning, Nicki Sue Ensel gave her husband's work
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: a call. She said that he was unwell so he
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: would not be making it in that day, but she
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: had not spent the previous night at home with him.
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: Nicki Sue had been staying at a home tell Nicki
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: was the central person of interest after her husband was found,
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: she was brought in for questioning. The home security system
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: showed multiple attempts under her account to access and disable
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: the cameras into privacy mode. These adjustments were made only
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: hours before the system managed to nonetheless record Nicki visiting
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: the house. Whatever adjustments she had tried to make did
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: not work, and when she arrived at the house she
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: was not alone. With her was a male acquaintance, someone
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: she described to police as a family friend, named Earl
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: Roy Howard. Amongst the first questions that the sheriff's team
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: had for Nicki related to her relationship with this man. Earl,
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: forty one years old and a Canadian from Bellwood, Ontario,
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: was just a friend. He was a project manager who
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: was traveling to Bismarck to scope potential pieces of work.
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: Although Nicki insisted that her relationship with Earl was innocent,
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: she also made it clear that her marriage was in trouble.
• 11:08
  Speaker 6: Who is who is your friend? And who's I mean
• 11:18
  Speaker 6: a neighbor or something or what.
• 11:21
  Speaker 7: The area or or did and do to repeat Casimarian,
• 11:29
  Speaker 7: hanging out and became friends with us and everything else and.
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: Be friends and what did you kids?
• 11:46
  Speaker 8: He said.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: Nikki told the deputy Burley County Sheriff that her husband, Chad,
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: would hurt her. She claimed that her husband had a
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: whiskey drinking problem and could turn violent. He called it
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: his drinking game. She said in support of this story
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: were her final text to him on the day he
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: was found dead. Are you playing your drinking game? She asked,
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: receiving no response. Through on and off sobbing, she spoke
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: of her troubled marriage and more recently, arguments they held
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: over a broken furnace Nicki explained that in the dead
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: of winter, with no heat, she had no choice but
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: to leave the house and stay at a hotel. The
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: same furnace that was allegedly not working was the one
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: found a light by firefighters. After calming Niki down, the
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: deputy explained that he knew how Chad does, but not why.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: He believed that Nicky was in a position to fill
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: in the missing pieces.
• 13:07
  Speaker 9: I'm gonna say that Chad's death was not an accident, right,
• 13:15
  Speaker 9: m hmmm, based off all the information that I've gathered,
• 13:21
  Speaker 9: Chad's death was not an accident.
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: I don't understand we know how this happened, and Nicki,
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: I think you know how to. I know that's why
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: you don't happened.
• 13:53
  Speaker 9: Chad did not die in the fire, kay, m hmm.
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: Chand was killed by a gunshot. He was killed by
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: a fire.
• 14:13
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: The tenor of the discussion then shifted when BCI Special
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: Agent Joe Arenz entered the room.
• 14:23
  Speaker 6: Hior of Criminal Investigations.
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: And.
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: To this point, Nicki had spent hours responding to questions
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: as a confused, mistreated, and distraught widow. Security cameras at
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: the Staybridge hotel where Nicki had checked in days before
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: the murder showed her with family friend Earl Howard. The
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: two were staying in one room together, registered under his name.
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: The cameras at the house also revealed Nicki and Earl's
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: activities together. Just before seven pm, the night that Chad
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: was at the Bowling Alley, Nicki and Earl visited the house.
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: Over about an hour and a half. The two of
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: them carried laundry baskets of items, as well as piles
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: of clothing and other objects from the house and into
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: Earl's truck. Further footage showed repeated trips to and from
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: Earl's white pickup truck into the hotel carrying the many
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: bundles of items taken from the Encil House.
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: Oh house with me grass of suthin.
• 15:36
  Speaker 10: So what a Chad thin could be going and staying
• 15:39
  Speaker 10: in a hotel room with Earl.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: Investigators clearly believed that Nicki and Earl were carrying on
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: an affair, but more importantly, they had cleared out items
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: from the house with the knowledge that a fire would
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: shortly break out on the property, likely because one or
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: both of them was responsible for setting it. But the
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: house visit that the investigators were more interested in took
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: place later that night at one am, when Chad would
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: have been at the house and not heard from again after.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: At first, Nicki told the deputy that she had left
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: the hotel with Earl late that night, but only to
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: go see Christmas lights. Eventually, she admitted to going to
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: the house. She needed to locate some of her medication,
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: she said. Just before leaving, however, Nicki accessed the security
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: system remotely and placed the cameras in privacy mode. They
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: would not be able to capture what was about to
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: happen at the house. Why had she and Earle returned
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: to the house at that time of night and what
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: had occurred between them and Chad during that time?
• 16:45
  Speaker 10: Something happened at that time, And whether you stepped out
• 16:50
  Speaker 10: in the garage stayed out in the kitchen, something happened
• 16:53
  Speaker 10: in that house that led to Chad.
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: Dying. Do I think you were probably standing there? No,
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: I don't know, but I think that I think that
• 17:05
  Speaker 3: you were.
• 17:06
  Speaker 10: You were there, You were on that property at the
• 17:09
  Speaker 10: time when it happened.
• 17:12
  Speaker 7: I don't know what happened.
• 17:16
  Speaker 10: So you went out there and got some stuff while
• 17:18
  Speaker 10: Chatter's bowling. Right then you went back out there in
• 17:21
  Speaker 10: the early morning hours, like ten after one, and again
• 17:25
  Speaker 10: we're looking at it, and you had been out, you
• 17:28
  Speaker 10: had been on the camera system switching it to privacy more,
• 17:35
  Speaker 10: which just didn't for some reason, did not work.
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: I don't know why it didn't work.
• 17:39
  Speaker 10: It didn't work. And then you guys show up out there.
• 17:43
  Speaker 10: You're there for an hour and forty minutes, right, I.
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: Know you've said that.
• 17:54
  Speaker 10: Then you come back three hours later.
• 18:00
  Speaker 3: I get that. I know that.
• 18:05
  Speaker 10: It doesn't make any sense to mean that you were
• 18:07
  Speaker 10: there for an hour or forty minutes and couldn't figre
• 18:09
  Speaker 10: out where those patches were. But then you can go
• 18:11
  Speaker 10: out at six thirty the morning, when you had no
• 18:13
  Speaker 10: sleep at all, if you just knew where they were,
• 18:18
  Speaker 10: they weren't there.
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: Nicky's patches, her medication, which she claimed to be unsuccessfully
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: looking for at one am, and then returned to the
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: house to search for again at six thirty am, were
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: found sitting in plane view on the shelving unit at
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: the end of the kitchen counter when emergency services entered
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: the home to put out the house fire. In a
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: bizarre twist, nearly six hours into the interview, Nicki began
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: adding some elements to her story. There was now a
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: new person being introduced, a mystery man that she claimed
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: had been in the house with them that night. He
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: had emerged from the basement and called her husband Hunt. Also,
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: according to Nicki, Chad had again ambling problem. Perhaps all
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: of these sudden revelations will explain everything.
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: I'm just trying to wrap my head around this, obviously,
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: I mean, why did you never tell me this before?
• 19:11
  Speaker 6: That would have told me so much more So that's
• 19:14
  Speaker 6: why I don't understand why now.
• 19:21
  Speaker 3: There is there is I understand dignity, but there's nothing
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: dignity about what happened to Chad.
• 19:27
  Speaker 11: But that's that's what I want you to have dignity too,
• 19:36
  Speaker 11: Chen steep in death with Canny.
• 19:40
  Speaker 3: That was another thing. Why didn't you tell me that.
• 19:51
  Speaker 6: This isn't.
• 19:53
  Speaker 3: This isn't making sense to me? How would you know
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: this guy? How would you not mention that he was there?
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: Where she described the mystery man, and, with the assistance
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: of her interviewers, she attempted to gauge the man's height. Finally,
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: after many hours and many contradictions, a version of what
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: may have happened to Chad began to emerge. Nicki said
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: that she left the house that night and waited in
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: the vehicle outside while Earle remained in the house for
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: several minutes. During this time, she heard a gunshot ring
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: out from inside. Moments later, Earle joined her in the
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: vehicle and informed her that Chad was dead. They drove
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: back to the hotel together. Nicki provided a written confession
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: containing these details. Then, upon further contemplation, she thought better
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: of providing this statement and attempted to destroy it.
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: You don't have to be like that oltbolic.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: On December twenty sixth, when Nicki texted her husband that
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: she was at work, receipts and security footage revealed that
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: Nicki had actually just caught a one way flight to Minneapolis.
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: Over the next two days, as she continued to text
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: her husband about work training, Nicki made her way back
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: to Bismarck by road, but she did not return home. Instead,
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: Nicki checked into the Staybridge hotel with Earl Howard, whom
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: she had met in Minneapolis. Messaging history between the two
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: going back months, revealed a romantic affair which had progressed
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: to exchanging messages about a house purchase. Nicki and Earle
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: were scoping large expensive properties in Austin, Texas. She had
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: even arranged a couple of job interviews in the area
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: over the coming weeks in preparation for the move, and
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: there were other plans in the works. On the day
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: after her flight, Nikki contacted Home Site Insurance to take
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: out a renter's insurance policy on her home with her
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: name as the sole beneficiary. This policy would pay out
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: up to twenty six thousand dollars if the contents in
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: the home were damaged or destroyed. She also sought additional
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: coverage for all of the jewelry that Chad had purchased
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: for her over the years. This was a conservative amount
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: of coverage compared to the life insurance policy that she
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: held for Chad, which totaled over five hundred thousand dollars.
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: So would you say that twenty thousand dollars is enough
• 22:35
  Speaker 2: to replace your personal belongings? Oh, I'm a there, I
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: have like five thousand dollars in this jewelry.
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: Okay, you had jewelry praise or was it purchased recently?
• 22:53
  Speaker 5: It was.
• 22:53
  Speaker 8: I had my wedding ring of praise and I had
• 22:56
  Speaker 8: the praise to him.
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: I've had you know, I've boughten other stuff recently, and
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: I have copies of everything because I always good this
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: to one jewelry store.
• 23:03
  Speaker 5: I would buy from one.
• 23:04
  Speaker 12: Daily store period.
• 23:05
  Speaker 10: Okay, so.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: I always buy this in one jewelry star, and I
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: have copies of everything or all.
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: The appraisals stated within the last three years yep.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: On January first, the day after Chad was shot and
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: a date before he was found, Nicky and Earl visited
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: the jewelry store where Chad had shopped There, they collected
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: the sales receipts for pairs of earrings, rings, and a
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: wedding set. Then, on January third, the day after her
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: husband was discovered, Nicki placed a claim for the renter's
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: insurance and extended coverage of her other items. A few
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: days after that, she contacted Chad's employer to inquire about
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: potential payouts from them, as well as placing her claim
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: for the life insurance money. Nicki sue and was arrested
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: on January seventh and charged with conspiracy to commit murder,
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: conspiracy to commit arson, and conspiracy to tamper with physical evidence.
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: Earl Howard was also arrested on the same charges two
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: days later. In Michigan at the US Canada border as
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: he attempted to drive home to Bellwood, a small town
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: about one hundred kilometers west of Toronto. Neither Nicki nor
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: Earle was charged with murder because ballistic experts were unable
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: to determine which one of them had pulled the trigger.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: There were a series of delays bringing the case to trial. First,
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: Earl Howard sought a trial separate from Nicky, arguing that
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: her criminal history, which included acts of financial fraud, showed
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: that she was independently capable of what was being charged,
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: murder for insurance money. He did not want to be
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: associated with her prior bad acts, but this request was denied.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: The two were to stand trial together. Coronavirus caused delay,
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: but another setback came in Autumn twenty twenty one. As
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: jury selection was meant to begin, news came that Earl
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: Howard had decided to accept a plea deal. He was
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: given a fifty year sentence with twenty five years withheld
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: in exchange for pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit murder, arson,
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: attempted arson, and conspiracy to tamper with evidence. He was
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: also placed on the prosecution's witness list for the pending
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: trial of his former flame, Nicki Sue. At the beginning
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: of twenty twenty two, Nicky's public defender filed a request
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: to withdraw from the case, citing a breakdown in communication
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: between himself and the defendant. The details of what transpired
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: are hidden by attorney client privilege, but this request was approved.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: It was again only weeks before the new trial was
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: meant to commence.
• 25:58
  Speaker 4: At this point, I know we're late in and I
• 26:00
  Speaker 4: wouldn't be filing a motion to withdraw if I didn't
• 26:03
  Speaker 4: feel was absolutely necessary at this point. But there's been
• 26:06
  Speaker 4: a breakdown in the attorney client relationship at this point,
• 26:09
  Speaker 4: which I believe leaves me no option but to withdraw.
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: It was late September twenty twenty two before another date
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: was set. This time, the trial began in earnest. Earl
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: Howard's bank statement showed the purchase of a gas welding
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: torchkit from a prax Air at the cost of over
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: three hundred dollars the day before the murder. It was
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: months later that investigators would connect this purchase to a
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: photo they had taken of the interior of the Enseil
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: family garage. This photo showed the top of the torchkit.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: Investigators returned to the property and confiscated the torch kit
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: as evidence. The tanks in the kit, containing highly flammable
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: and potentially explosive liquid, were empty. Investigators linked at the
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: liquid to the one identified as igniting the mattress next
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: to chad Encil. It was further established that the cigarette
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: package noted only feet away from the furnace fire matched
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: the brand found in Earl's pickup truck and was a
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: possible ignition source for that fire. Nicki continued to point
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: the finger at Earl as the person who pulled the
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: trigger and started the fires. She also continued to argue
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: that Chad had been a violent drunk and that she
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: had suffered as his wife. In her opening statement, prosecutor
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: Julie Anne Lawyer provided a thorough and damning timeline of
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: the crime. She showed images of Nicki and Earle on
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: the road together as a couple. She showed their movement
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: to and from the hotel where they shared Earl's room.
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: She outlined how they failed. Attempts to disable the ensil's
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: security system at the house were immediately followed by multiple
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: visits by the scheming couple, first to save Nicki's belongings
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: from the planned fire, later that night to commit them,
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: then again the next morning to reignite the blaze that
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: had failed to stay alike. The state argued that Nikki
• 28:07
  Speaker 1: called Chad in sick that morning to allow for more
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: time for the fire to take hold.
• 28:13
  Speaker 8: That's the first thing she told them. There was something
• 28:14
  Speaker 8: wrong with the furnace that wasn't working. She and Chad
• 28:18
  Speaker 8: had argued about that, and she had left. Now keep
• 28:21
  Speaker 8: in mind, January second, twenty twenty, was on a Thursday.
• 28:24
  Speaker 8: She indicated she'd left the home on the sad Sunday
• 28:27
  Speaker 8: or Monday before, which would have been December twenty ninth
• 28:29
  Speaker 8: or December thirtieth of twenty nineteen, because she's got medical conditions.
• 28:34
  Speaker 8: The first wasn't working, the house was to hold. She
• 28:36
  Speaker 8: couldn't stay there, so she left. They came back to
• 28:41
  Speaker 8: the house on December thirty first, twenty nineteen, at approximately
• 28:44
  Speaker 8: one o'clock in the morning. Door sensors tell us that,
• 28:48
  Speaker 8: and they left at approximately three o'clock in the morning.
• 28:51
  Speaker 8: The last time anyone saw Chad and Soul alive was
• 28:54
  Speaker 8: leaving Bowling on December thirtieth, twenty nineteen, at approximately ten
• 28:57
  Speaker 8: thirty pm. Between one and three am on December thirty first,
• 29:03
  Speaker 8: twenty nineteen, Chad un sold a shot twice with a
• 29:06
  Speaker 8: shotgun and left dead in.
• 29:09
  Speaker 5: The home.
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: With a fire started.
• 29:15
  Speaker 8: When they wake up December thirty first, there's no news
• 29:17
  Speaker 8: of a fire, you know on Bismarck.
• 29:20
  Speaker 3: That's good news.
• 29:20
  Speaker 8: It's all over the headlines house fire and Bismarck. There
• 29:23
  Speaker 8: was nothing like that. So at approximately six thirty in
• 29:27
  Speaker 8: the morning on December thirty first, they went back to
• 29:29
  Speaker 8: the house. The house wasn't third down, so they repositioned
• 29:33
  Speaker 8: appropate year and that he goes to work and calls
• 29:36
  Speaker 8: Chad and stick to work, buying them some more time.
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: Door censers of a home show that they.
• 29:41
  Speaker 8: Were at the house at least one more time trying
• 29:44
  Speaker 8: to start that fire. The house still hadn't caught fire,
• 29:47
  Speaker 8: so again the fire.
• 29:49
  Speaker 3: Was started on the furnace.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: It was further offered by two furnace technicians that there
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: was little to nothing actually wrong with the furnace that
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: was found on fire.
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: That the tank was actually shut off. The manual shut
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: off was actually turned off by somebody, So were you
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: able to open it back up and get it working again.
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: Yes, The defense had little to work with aside from
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: pointing the finger back at Earl Howard. Family members and
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: other witnesses who had known Chad well insisted that he
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: was non violent and only drank socially. Chad was not
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: the type of person who sought confrontation or escalated disputes.
• 30:29
  Speaker 12: Do you know Chad Ansel?
• 30:30
  Speaker 9: Yes?
• 30:31
  Speaker 3: How do you know him?
• 30:32
  Speaker 8: Him and I were married for seventeen years. Did he
• 30:37
  Speaker 8: ever drink to excess?
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: No?
• 30:39
  Speaker 12: Did you ever see him intoxicated?
• 30:42
  Speaker 8: Maybe once a year at a Christmas party.
• 30:46
  Speaker 12: Did you ever see him get violent when he drink?
• 30:48
  Speaker 7: No?
• 30:49
  Speaker 3: Did you ever see him violent at all?
• 30:51
  Speaker 5: No?
• 30:53
  Speaker 12: You really haven't seen him in five years, correct, Mary
• 31:02
  Speaker 12: jo him for seventeen.
• 31:04
  Speaker 3: People can change in five years. Maybe, I don't believe
• 31:10
  Speaker 3: to that extent.
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: Well, for the questions, Nikki Sue did not take the stand.
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: If she had, her past criminal history, which was never introduced,
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: would have come out in court. The defense deferred their
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: opening statement and called no witnesses. In his closing argument,
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: defense attorney Thomas Glass put forward one central contention. There
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: were two individuals charged with conspiring to murder Chad Encil
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: and set the house on fire. So where was Earl
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: Howard and why had he not taken the stand for
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: the prosecution.
• 31:45
  Speaker 3: It's to stating that.
• 31:47
  Speaker 13: He is not here.
• 31:48
  Speaker 3: Why have you seen where He's going to say there
• 31:52
  Speaker 3: was no plan in the murder Chad, I don't know.
• 31:57
  Speaker 3: How would you know it was that during the interview?
• 31:59
  Speaker 6: If you tell law enforcement that Earl stated there less
• 32:03
  Speaker 6: you know the better, that doesn't sound like a plan
• 32:05
  Speaker 6: in her.
• 32:06
  Speaker 3: Agreement to me.
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: It is possible that the state deemed Earl Howard's testimony
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: against his ex lover as unnecessary and the question of
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: who actually pulled the trigger introduced some ambiguity, but the
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: state had built a strong, in detailed timeline based on
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: cell phone data, security camera footage, censors, insurance policies, and
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: Nicki Sue's own lies to law enforcement dur her grief period.
• 32:31
  Speaker 8: Remember how she's crying sorry at silver Nagel and reaching
• 32:36
  Speaker 8: out to him and looking for comfort and saying how
• 32:38
  Speaker 8: much she misses Chad and she.
• 32:39
  Speaker 3: Just wants him back.
• 32:41
  Speaker 8: Remember the horribly abuse of alcohol and husband that she
• 32:43
  Speaker 8: doesn't want to be around, that she avoids home, or
• 32:46
  Speaker 8: she just misses him and wants him back so bad.
• 32:49
  Speaker 8: On January fourth, two days after he's found a seat,
• 32:51
  Speaker 8: at eleven forty two pm, Nicki forwards an email to
• 32:54
  Speaker 8: Earl about houses she received better for sale. The plan
• 32:58
  Speaker 8: consisted of shoot in Chad, starting the house on fire
• 33:03
  Speaker 8: to destroy any evidence to collect on the insurance, and
• 33:07
  Speaker 8: to stage the scene and remove evidence to make it
• 33:10
  Speaker 8: look like a suicide so that one the evidence would
• 33:13
  Speaker 8: be destroyed and law enforcement wouldn't know what happened, and
• 33:16
  Speaker 8: two so that they could live happily ever after.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: In Texas, they called forty four witnesses in total. It
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: took the jury about two hours to return a verdict
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: on all counts.
• 33:31
  Speaker 12: As to the charge of conspiracy to commit murdered, we
• 33:34
  Speaker 12: find the defendant, Nikki Sue Melissa Imseol guilty conspiracy to
• 33:39
  Speaker 12: commit arson. As to the charge of conspiracy to commit arson,
• 33:44
  Speaker 12: we find the defendant Niki Sue Melissa Insol guilty conspiracy
• 33:49
  Speaker 12: to tamper with physical evidence.
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: Judge Douglas Barr ordered a pre sentenced investigation report to
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: be created, which will outline any considerations that should impact
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: on the severity of Nicky's sentence. As of this video's publication.
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: A sentencing hearing has not been set.
• 34:16
  Speaker 13: Very kind, didn't have a bad word to say about anybody,
• 34:21
  Speaker 13: always willing to give a helping hand. I mean, really,
• 34:25
  Speaker 13: he was.
• 34:25
  Speaker 4: My first friend.
• 34:29
  Speaker 13: We grew up together a lot, just him an eye.
• 34:31
  Speaker 13: So just hearing some of those things that came out
• 34:36
  Speaker 13: was just heartbreaking, knowing that they were not true.
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: And that was the story of the murder of Chad
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: Enseil and the conviction of his wife, Nicki and her
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: lover Earle. Thanks so much for watching. I'm Kevin. This
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: is just thought lounge and I'll see in the next one.
• 35:00
  Speaker 3: The US staple reser