Page 12 - Inside Nick News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> the cause of death was essentially lack of oxygen. he may well have gone into the water unconscious. ultimately, though, it was drowning that caused the end. >> the manner of nick's death was ruled a homicide. investigators were now looking for a killer. thank you daddy. military families are uniquely thankful for many things, the legacy of usaa auto insurance can be one of them. if you're a current or former military member or their family, get an auto insurance quote and see why 92% of our members plan to stay for life. sunny or bubbly? cozy or cool? "meow" or "woof"? wheels or wheeeels? ...

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 driver's 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 he had gone down there. >> later, he called his parents' answering machine and left a message. >> i'm on my way home. i had a litt...

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 nick's 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 18-year-old kid having an $850,000 life insurance policy is a little bit unusual. >> nick's family...

Miles per hour. nick's glasses were found in the car. and investigators wanted to know if nick had been wearing them when the crash occurred. so they created a styrofoam facsimile of nick's head. >> i weighted the styrofoam head so that it was approximately the same weight as nick's head would have been in that same situation. >> they put an identical pair of glasses on the model to simulate the force of impact. it was attached to a pendulum. >> based on a potential energy formula, mass times gravity times height, i lifted the head that given height, allowed it to swing down and it collided wi...

Insurance. >> it was clear the change of beneficiary forms were in nick howard's 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 nick's 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 nick howard and crashed his car into the river. >> it was a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle and we had 999 pieces. >> all they needed was that one final ...