Nicole Pietz stays on the middle of a Seattle case that also attracts shut consideration. Nicole Pietz, a 32-year-old health government, vanished in January 2006 and was discovered strangled in a wooded space 9 days later. Years of labor adopted earlier than an arrest and a verdict.
Dateline: Secrets and techniques Uncovered revisits the case in Secrets and techniques in Seattle (season 5, episode 7), first aired in 2018. Oxygen lists a re-air on Friday, September 19 at 12:00 am ET.
Nicole Pietz case timeline
Nicole Pietz was reported lacking on January 28, 2006, after she failed to seem for a deliberate dinner the earlier night time. 9 days later, a passerby discovered her physique within the brush close to Des Moines Memorial Drive. The health worker dominated the reason for dying as strangulation.
Additionally learn: The true story behind Alisa Mathewson’s case forward of 48 Hours
Detectives documented {that a} dental night time guard was nonetheless in place and famous clear soles, which urged the physique had been carried into the location slightly than walked in. These particulars function prominently within the episode’s early recap.
Investigators examined her Volkswagen Jetta and cellphone information tied to her quantity. A 21-second name from her telephone to a health club entrance desk was traced by cell-tower information to a small space that included her husband’s office. In keeping with Seattle PI, the tower hit supported a timeline inserting the telephone close to the health club after she was already lacking.
As reported by Seattle PI, undigested Taco Time meals famous within the post-mortem urged an earlier time of dying, seemingly the night time earlier than she was reported lacking. Seattle PI outlined how that meal timing narrowed the window and fueled suspicion in regards to the house timeline.
Nicole Pietz case investigation and trial
For years, the case remained open as a chilly case unit reworked leads. In March 2012, King County deputies arrested David Pietz on a second-degree homicide cost tied to his spouse’s dying. He pleaded not responsible, and the case went to trial the following yr. Seattle PI reported the arrest and the charging principle based mostly on circumstantial proof.
At trial in 2013, prosecutors cited telephone information, contact DNA from widespread contact factors in her automobile (such because the steering wheel and gearshift), and testimony about conduct in the course of the marriage.
The state additionally launched testimony that Nicole’s drink had been spiked with ecstasy earlier than her dying, some extent that drew sharp remark from the choose at sentencing, as reported by The Seattle Instances. The protection argued relapse and harassed the shortage of direct eyewitness proof.
Jurors deliberated for a couple of day and a half earlier than returning a responsible verdict on second-degree homicide. In keeping with ABC Information, prosecutors instructed jurors the case was a set of small components that shaped a bigger image; the protection referred to as it purely circumstantial.
Choose Michael Hayden later imposed a sentence of 18 years and 4 months, the highest finish beneath state pointers. The sentencing courtroom cited the way of dying and post-offense conduct in explaining the time period. The Seattle Instances reported the sentence and the choose’s remarks.
The CBS Information program 48 Hours additionally chronicled the household’s lengthy push with detectives and the courtroom final result. CBS Information described the five-week trial and the swift verdict that adopted the weekend break in deliberations.
How Dateline: Secrets and techniques Uncovered frames Nicole Pietz
Dateline: Secrets and techniques Uncovered – Secrets and techniques in Seattle maps the search, the gradual construct of the case, and the courtroom outcome. Interviews embrace relations and investigators, with this system labeling disputed factors as alleged the place wanted. The format emphasizes the timeline and the proof path slightly than hypothesis.
Oxygen lists a reair of Dateline: Secrets and techniques Uncovered – Secrets and techniques in Seattle on Friday, September 19 at 12:00 am ET. Dateline: Secrets and techniques Uncovered may also be streamed on fuboTV, YouTube TV, and Oxygen.
Additionally learn: Luke Homan’s case – An in depth case overview in regards to the 2006 homicide forward of Smiley Face Killers: The Hunt for Justice
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Edited by Preethika Vijayakumar
