| Nikko A. Jenkins |
Booking photo |
| Born |
September 16, 1986
Omaha, Nebraska, United States |
| Residence |
Nebraska Department of Correctional Services (NDCS) Prison in Lincoln, Nebraska (as of March 2016)[1] |
| Criminal penalty |
Death |
|
| Conviction(s) |
4 counts of 1st degree murder (April 16, 2014)[2] |
| Killings |
| Victims |
4 |
| Country |
United States |
| State(s) |
Nebraska |
| Weapons |
12-gauge shotgun[3] |
|
Date apprehended |
August 30, 2013 |
Nikko Allen Jenkins[4] is an American spree killer, convicted of committing four murders in Omaha, Nebraska in August 2013. The murders occurred within a month after he had been released from prison after serving 10 1⁄2 years of the 21 years to which he had been sentenced for a carjacking committed at age 15 and for assaults committed in prison.[5]
Jenkins stated that he had committed the killings at the command of the ancient serpent godApophis.[2][6] He was found competent to stand trial, found guilty of the four murders, and, in May 2017, sentenced to death.
Early years[edit]
Jenkins spent much of his life leading up to the murder spree behind bars.[7] He first entered thesystem at age 7 after bringing a loaded .25 caliberhandgun to his elementary school. At age 11, Jenkins was kicked out of a group home for repetitive violence, and stopped regularly attending school. He had committed multiple assaults, including one knife assault, by age 12. In 2003, after spending time in a youth detention facility, Jenkins was sent to prison for two armed carjackings. While incarcerated, he was charged twice: for his part in a 2006 prison riot, as well as for assaulting a prison guard while on a furlough for his grandmother's funeral.[7][8]
Murders[edit]
About 5 a.m. on the morning of August 11, 2013, a patrol officer discovered two bodies in a white Ford pick-up truck parked near a city swimming pool at 18th and F Streets, in Spring Lake Park.[9] Both Juan Uribe-Pena and Jorge C. Cajiga-Ruiz had been shot in the head, their pockets turned inside out.[10] The random double-murder began Jenkins' spree, less than two weeks after his release from prison on July 30.
On August 19, around 7 a.m., the body of Curtis Bradford was found outside a detached garage at 18th and Clark Streets, by a man returning home from a night shift at a convenience store.[11]Investigators arrived to find two bullet wounds in Bradford's back. It was later revealed that Bradford and Jenkins had posed for a Facebook photo posted the day before.[3] Bradford would be the only victim familiar to Jenkins.
Jenkins' fourth and final victim, Andrea Kruger, was discovered on August 21, at about 2:15 a.m., by a deputy sheriff responding to a shots-fired call. Her body was found lying in the road at 168th and Fort Streets, with multiple bullet wounds. Kruger had been returning home after a bartending shift near 178th and Pacific Streets. Surveillance footage showed her locking up the Deja Vu Lounge at 1:47 a.m. Kruger's gold 2012 Chevrolet Traverse SUV was found abandoned 12 miles (19 km) away, in an alley at 43rd and Charles Streets, at 6:30 that evening.[12] Later that week, a news conference was held by Douglas County Sheriff Tim Dunning, in which he stated that investigators believed the SUV had been abandoned roughly 2.5 hours after being stolen, and that a "feeble attempt" had been made at setting the vehicle's interior ablaze.[13]
Victims[edit]
|
Date |
Name |
Age |
Race |
Crime scene |
Method |
Relation |
| 1 |
August 11, 2013 |
Juan Uribe-Pena[9] |
26 |
Hispanic |
Pick-up truck by swimming pool at Spring Lake Park, near 18th & F St |
shot in head |
none |
| 2 |
August 11, 2013 |
Jorge C. Cajiga-Ruiz[9] |
29 |
Hispanic |
Pick-up truck by swimming pool at Spring Lake Park, near 18th & F St |
shot in head |
none |
| 3 |
August 19, 2013 |
Curtis Bradford[11] |
22 |
Black |
Near 18th & Clark St, outside detached garage |
shot in head |
met in prison |
| 4 |
August 21, 2013 |
Andrea Kruger[12] |
33 |
White |
168th St near Fort St, middle of road |
multiple shots |
none |
On August 30, 2013, Nikko Jenkins was arrested on an unrelated terroristic threats charge. But by then, evidence against him had mounted—investigators had the image of a female associate on surveillance footage at a local gun outlet buying the kind of distinctive ammunition (BrennekeClassic Magnum 12-gauge, commonly known as "deer slugs") that had been used to commit the killings.[3][10] Additional footage had been pulled from cameras along the route to Kruger's abandoned SUV.[13][14] On the evening of September 3, Jenkins confessed to all four murders during a rambling 8-hour interview, attributing the acts as a sacrifice to Apophis.[10] He was charged with four counts of murder following the confession.[3]
In handwritten letters dated November 3, 2013, submitted to the Omaha World Herald, prosecutors, and a judge, Jenkins said he wished to plead guilty to all counts in the four slayings, and that he would protect Apophis's kingdom with "animalistic savage brutality".[15]
On February 19, 2014, Jenkins filed a federal lawsuit seeking $24.5 million from the State of Nebraska for wrongfully releasing him from prison, stating that his claims of hearing voices from Apophis were repeatedly ignored. In the six-page handwritten filing, he stated that being kept in solitary confinement augmented his schizophrenia. He blamed corrections officials for the four killings.[16]
Jenkins claimed that his problems were caused by mental illness, and that he hadschizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The judge ordered a psychiatric evaluation; the psychiatrist concluded that Jenkins had antisocial personality disorder and was faking psychotic symptoms.[17]
After being declared competent to stand trial,[18] the proceedings against Jenkins commenced. On his request, Jenkins was allowed to represent himself at trial, under the guidance of advisory attorneys.[19] Throughout the trial, Jenkins maintained that he acts under the command of Apophis.[6] His courtroom antics included speaking in tongues, howling, and laughing as prosecutors recounted the details of his victims' deaths.[2]
On April 16, Judge Peter Bataillon found Nikko Jenkins guilty of all four murders.[2]
Jenkins was initially scheduled to be sentenced on August 11, 2014. The date was delayed indefinitely following a hearing held to determine whether he was capable of understanding thedeath penalty proceedings against him.[20] On July 29, Judge Bataillon ordered Jenkins to be housed at the Lincoln Regional Center psychiatric hospital until doctors were satisfied with his condition.[21] Officials at the Regional Center refused to house Jenkins due to inadequate security,[22] but doctors agreed to treat him at a Lincoln prison.[23]
In May 2017, Jenkins was sentenced to death by a three-judge panel. He was also sentenced to several hundred years in prison, as a provision against the possibility of the death sentence's being vacated.[24]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikko_Jenkins
