Nikko Jenkins | |
|---|---|
| Born | Nikko Allen Jenkins September 16, 1986 |
| Motive |
|
| Convictions |
|
| Criminal penalty | Four consecutive death sentences, plus 450 years in prison |
| Details | |
| Victims | 4 |
| Date | August 11–21, 2013 |
| Country | United States |
| Location | Omaha, Nebraska |
| Weapons | 12-gauge shotgun Hi-Point carbine |
Date apprehended | August 29, 2013 |
| Imprisoned at | Tecumseh State Correctional Institution |
Nikko Allen Jenkins (sometimes spelled Nicholas on first name; born September 16, 1986) [1] is an American spree killer convicted of four murders, committed in August 2013 over a ten-day period in Omaha, Nebraska. The murders occurred within a month after he had been released from prison after serving 10-and-a-half years of an 18 year sentence for a carjacking and assaults committed in prison. [2] Jenkins was aided by family members in some of the murders and later stated that he had committed the killings at the command of the ancient serpent god Apophis. [3] [4] He was found competent to stand trial, found guilty of the four murders, and was sentenced to death in May 2017.
Jenkins was born in Denver, Colorado to David A. Magee Sr. and Lori Jenkins. [5] He is the second eldest of six siblings. [6] Through his maternal family, Jenkins is of Omaha and African American descent. [7] [8] Lori had her first child at 16 with David, 31 at the time, who had been convicted of manslaughter in 1978, which was later set aside. Jenkins' parents never married and later filed protective orders against each other. David Magee later entered a relationship with Lori's cousin, Ida Levering; both alleged domestic violence by him. [7] [6]
Starting from an early age, Jenkins had a lengthy history of mental health and behavioral issues. In 1993, while attending Highland Elementary School in Omaha, then-7-year-old Jenkins was temporarily removed from the custody of his mother after he brought a loaded .25 caliber handgun to school. At age 11, Jenkins was accused of theft, subsequently admitting to stealing on three occasions. He began skipping school around the same time, leading to placement in a group home in Papillion, Nebraska. He frequently assaulted other children and was forced to leave the home in February 1998, following an incident in which Jenkins whipped another child with a clothes hanger. [1]
Throughout his teens, Jenkins switched custody between his parents and a state-run youth detention center, beginning after Jenkins, aged 12, attacked someone with a knife. Following a series of escapes, Jenkins had his probation revoked and in August 2001, he was sent to Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Center - Kearney. In 2002, he was returned to his family, with Jenkins' father reporting his son for threatening him with a shotgun shortly after. The same year, Jenkins committed two armed carjackings and in 2003, aged 16, [9] he was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment. [1] [10]
In 2009, his father died while Jenkins was imprisoned. [6] That same year, Nikko Jenkins and Erica Jenkins, his sister who was also imprisoned at the time, were granted furlough with corrections officers to accompany them to their grandmother's funeral. During the funeral, after a guard uncuffed one of Jenkins's hands so he could use the restroom, Jenkins and his sister attacked the guard but were both restrained. [11] Jenkins was later charged for participating in a prison riot and disciplined on several other occasions for attacking other inmates, prison tattooing, gang activity, and crafting a shiv from a toilet brush. [1]
In 2010, following Jenkins' attack on a correctional officer, Jenkins first made claims of having mental illness after making an insanity plea. During talks with a psychiatrist at Douglas County Correctional Center, Jenkins placed blame for his issues on childhood abuse and claimed to hear "voices from Egyptian gods". The psychiatrist concluded Jenkins had antisocial personality disorder and was feigning psychotic symptoms, noting that Jenkins would "escalate his descriptions" when questioned. [1] A different psychiatrist testified at Jenkins' later murder trial and said that he believed Jenkins' claims of psychosis because he had already told him in 2011 of plans to kill people. [12] On July 30, 2013, Jenkins was released from prison. [13]
At about 5:01 a.m. on August 11, 2013, a patrol officer discovered two bodies in a white Ford pickup truck parked near a city swimming pool at 18th and F St, in Spring Lake Park. [14] The two victims, identified as Juan Uribe-Pena and Jorge C. Cajiga-Ruiz, had each been shot once in the head by a shotgun, and their pockets turned inside out. They were lured to meet two women for a sexual encounter. [15]
On August 19, around 7 a.m., the body of Curtis Bradford was found outside a detached garage at 18th and Clark Street by a man returning home from a night shift at a convenience store. [16] Investigators arrived to find one revolver wound and one shotgun slug wound in the back of Bradford's head. It was later revealed that Bradford and Jenkins had met in prison and posed for a Facebook photo within 24 hours of Bradfords murder. [17] It is believed that Nikko and Erica lured Bradford out by telling him that they wanted to do a robbery with him before shooting him in the back of the head. It is also believed that Erica wanted him dead because his friends previously shot at her house. [18]
Jenkins' fourth and final victim, Andrea Kruger, a mother of three, 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 St., with four 9mm gunshot wounds, two to the face, one to the neck, and one to the shoulder/back. [19] Kruger had been returning home after a bartending shift near 178th, and Pacific Street Surveillance footage showed her locking up the Deja Vu Lounge at 1:47 a.m. At 6:30 that evening, Kruger's gold 2012 Chevrolet Traverse SUV was found abandoned 12 miles (19 km) away in an alley at 43rd and Charles Street. [20] 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. [21]
| No. | Date | Name | Age | Crime scene | Method | Relation | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | August 11, 2013 | Juan Uribe-Pena | 26 | Pick-up truck by swimming pool at Spring Lake Park, near 18th & F St | Shot in head | None | [14] |
| 2 | August 11, 2013 | Jorge C. Cajiga-Ruiz | 29 | Pick-up truck by swimming pool at Spring Lake Park, near 18th & F St | Shot in hand, which penetrated to the head | None | [14] |
| 3 | August 19, 2013 | Curtis Bradford | 22 | Near 18th & Clark St, outside detached garage | Shot twice in back of head | Met in prison | [16] |
| 4 | August 21, 2013 | Andrea Kruger | 33 | 168th St near Fort St, middle of road | Multiple shots to face, neck and shoulder/back | None | [20] |
On August 29, 2013, Jenkins was arrested on an unrelated terroristic threats charge. By then, the 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 (Brenneke Classic Magnum 12-gauge, commonly known as "deer slugs") that had been used to commit the killings. [17] [15] Additional footage had been pulled from cameras along the route to Kruger's abandoned SUV. [21] [22] On the evening of September 3, Jenkins confessed to all four murders during a rambling 8-hour interview. Jenkins told police that the acts were sacrifices to Apophis, a deity in the ancient Egyptian religion. [15] He was charged with four counts of murder following the confession. [17]
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' kingdom with "animalistic savage brutality." [23]
On February 19, 2014, Jenkins filed a federal lawsuit seeking $24.5 million from the State of Nebraska for wrongful release and stating that his claims of hearing voices from Apophis were repeatedly ignored. Jenkins claimed that his problems were caused by mental illness. He alleged that he had a family history for mental illness and that a doctor at Tecumseh State Prison had diagnosed him with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, though Jenkins affirmed that he was opposed to taking medication. In the six-page handwritten filing, he stated that being kept in solitary confinement augmented his schizophrenia and blamed corrections officials for the four killings. [24] Several of Jenkins' former psychiatrists were in disagreement over whether Jenkins was competent to stand trial and discussed the remaining possibility of either schizophrenia or psychopathy, although there was a general consensus that the defendant could still stand trial even if a mental disorder was recognized. [25]
After being declared competent to stand trial (Jenkins scored 68 on an administered IQ test), [26] the proceedings against Jenkins commenced. Upon his request, Jenkins was allowed to represent himself at trial under the guidance of advisory attorneys. [27] Throughout the trial, Jenkins maintained that he acts under the command of Apophis. [4] His courtroom antics included speaking in tongues, howling, and laughing as prosecutors recounted the details of his victims' deaths. [3] On April 16, 2014, Judge Peter Bataillon found Nikko Jenkins guilty of all four murders. [3] Throughout his trial and imprisonments, Jenkins also engaged in self mutilation numerous times, including on his face, tongue, and groin areas that required numerous stitches. [28]
Jenkins was initially scheduled to be sentenced on August 11, 2014, but the date was delayed indefinitely following a hearing held to determine his competency in understanding the death penalty proceedings against him. [29] On July 29, Judge Bataillon ordered Jenkins to be housed at the Lincoln Regional Center psychiatric hospital until doctors were satisfied with his condition. [30] Officials at the Regional Center refused to house Jenkins due to inadequate security, but doctors agreed to treat him at a Lincoln prison. [31] [32] While in custody, Jenkins continued to engage in self-harm and in addition to cutting, he attempted to hang himself in January 2016 and in February, he swallowed at least seven keys stolen from a correctional officer, requiring surgery. [33]
In May 2017, Jenkins was sentenced to death by a three-judge panel. He was also sentenced to an additional 450 years on weapons charges connected with the murders. [34] On April 20, 2020, after filing a federal case arguing against the death penalty based off his competency and mental status, the US Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal, upholding the conviction and sentence. [35]
Six of Jenkins's family members were captured in late August 2013 in connection with the spree killings. [36] They included three of Jenkins' siblings. [6]
Erica Jenkins, Nikko Jenkins' sister, was sentenced to life in prison for also shooting Bradford in January 2015. While in custody, she changed her name to Elluminati Egoddess Enikko Prestige. [37] An additional 20 to 40 years were added to the sentence following a 2019 assault on her cousin, who was also convicted in the murders, [38] for a total of 163 to 247 years imprisonment along with the life sentence. She was given another 20 years in prison for another assault case at Nebraska Correctional Center for Women in 2024. [39]
Lori Jenkins, Nikko Jenkins' mother, received two concurrent 10 year sentences in a federal prison as an accessory to murder for illegally purchasing the ammunition used in the murders in July 2014. [40] An additional minimum of five years was added to the sentence in April 2015. [41]
Christine Bordeaux, a cousin of the Jenkinses', was sentenced to 20 years for robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery in connection with the murders in March 2016. She was also assaulted by Erica Jenkins while they were being held in the same cell. Erica was armed with a bike lock contained in a sock. [38] Bordeaux became eligible for parole in September 2023. [42]
Warren Levering, Nikko Jenkins' uncle, was sentenced to 40 years in prison for his role in the murder of Andrea Kruger in February 2016. [43] He had pleaded no contest as part of a plea deal, which gave him 20 years each as an acessory to murder and for attempted robbery. [44]
In May 2024, Jenkins' legal team filed a motion with the Douglas County District Court, asking for $50,000 to pay a mitigation specialist to examine Jenkins. The lawyers cited a recent incident in which Jenkins cut his neck open to remove a non-existent tumor as proof of a mental decline. [45] In September of the same year, Jenkins requested a new trial, with his lawyers claiming that he had had a poor legal defense, who had not advised him on alternatives such as an insanity plea or invoking Jenkins' low IQ to prevent a death sentence. Jenkins himself had told the judge at the time that he denied these options because he was "smarter than that". The families of victims Curtis Bradford and Andrea Kruger criticised the legal team and called Jenkins an attention seeker, pointing out he had made similar requests in the prior years. [46]
In March 2025, Jenkins asked Nebraska to set an execution date for him. Less than a month later, Jenkins retracted the request and said he wanted to continue his appeals. During the same court date, the court declined the previously requested funding for a mental health examination. [47] Talks about Jenkins' mental state and intellectual capacity were renewed and as of October 2025, the Douglas County District Court was reassessing if an examination and new IQ tests were necessary. [48]
He claimed that "command voices" clouded his memory of the killings. He said he remembered that the voices matched tattooed phrases on his face. "Kill them, destroy them, attack them," he said, translating the words.
Jenkins has maintained that he acts under the command of Opophis [sic], whom he calls an Egyptian serpent god.
{{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)High-resolution security cameras also helped solve the case, said Dunning, who previously acknowledged that at least one image of Kruger's stolen sport utility vehicle was captured on a surveillance tape.
In those, Jenkins claimed to be ruled by an Egyptian serpent demon named "Ahpophis" [sic] and warned that he would protect the kingdom with "animalistic savage brutality."