Page 8 - Inside Nick News Today

The jury. >> photogrammetry was the key element and it was used to solve the case. without photogrammetry this case would have gone unsolved. a car runs off the highway into a river. yet the driver is nowhere to be found. for answers, investigators recreated the crash and the evidence revealed a plan almost 20 years in the making. the result of a deadly obsession that ended in tragedy. nick howard was just 18 years old, fresh out of high school and working in his fathers car repair business....

Out over the desk. as if he was working on the life insurance. >> it was clear the change of beneficiary forms were in nick howards handwriting and were not forgeries. it appeared that nick and ralph marcus planned to defraud the insurance company. >> they had hatched a plan to fake nicks death, collect the insurance proceeds, and take the money down to south america or some location to live off of it. >> but this was all speculation. investigators had no proof of the scam or that marcus killed ...

>> the howard family called police to report nick missing. the search began at the restaurant where nick had stopped the night before. it was on a treacherous road that ran parallel to the sacramento river. >> you make a mistake and drift off of the roadway, youre liable to go to the bottom of the levee. on one side, its a river. on the other side, its a 30-foot drop. >> asleep or intoxicated or not paying attention, theres a good chance you could end up in the water. >> and thats where they fou...

Holding the throttle open, which was remarkable by its uniqueness. never seen it before or have never seen it since. >> the cap was marked with a "v". it was the top to the valvoline motor oil bottle in the trunk. >> the bottle cap was a big indicator right off the bat, the car had been rigged. something wasnt right. >> the bottle cap would be put in there in lieu of a person to hold the gas pedal in position so the vehicle could be operated without a driver. >> to see what effect the bottle cap...

Company of $850,000. on the night of the murder, prosecutors believe marcus and nick met on the dock to plan the car crash. either nick tried to back out or marcus had planned to kill him all along. at some point, marcus strangled him until he was unconscious, then threw him into the river where he drowned. he kept nicks glasses, bent them in half, and threw them on the floor of nicks car to make it appear nick was in the car when it crashed. marcus opened the windows, used the cap from his moto...

Crashed into the river at 15 miles per hour. there was far less damage to the test glasses than the ones found in the car. >> my conclusion was nicks head did not collide with the steering wheel in the car. >> this proved the glasses had been planted. and if nick hadnt been in the car during the crash, then there was still the possibility he was alive. >> we were a little emotional. well, very emotional but, you know, kind of on pins and needles. >> of course you pray for the best. but i think t...

We were pretty surprised when we did not. >> nicks broken glasses were on the floor of his car. and the side windows were open. >> i was still hoping that we would find him alive. i was hoping that he had swam out of the car and had been injured and didnt know who he was and that we were going to find him. >> the way the car went in, the fact that he got out, none of it made sense. >> inside nicks car, investigators found a greasy film on the dashboard and upholstery. >> it was kind of a light w...

From the forensic evidence, investigators now knew that nick howard was not in his car when it crashed into the sacramento river. and nick had been strangled and dumped in the river at another time. in a search for suspects, investigators first questioned who would benefit from nicks death and learned that nick had several large life insurance policies. >> we found a life insurance policy that had an accidental death benefit rider on there, making the life insurance policy worth $850,000. now, a...

>> we had a deal with nick that he was welcome to stay at home, but he had to work or go to school. he had to be doing something with his life. he was starting to get a little bit lackadaisical about that. >> nick was a night person and often stayed out late with friends. on a february night in 1997, nick stopped by a local restaurant to pick up his drivers license he had left there earlier. but the restaurant was closed so he left a note for the owner. >> it was in his handwriting. we knew that...