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Hi Crime Junkies, I'm your host Ashley Flowers. >> And I'm Britt. And today's story begins
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on a Wednesday evening in May 2020. It's just before 5:30 p.m. and Alicia Cordova is doing her dishes in her
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kitchen when her 5-year-old daughter Capri comes running in from the hallway saying something's wrong with dad. She
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hands mom her iPod touch saying that her and her brother were FaceTiming with their dad, 40-year-old Nick Cordova, but
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then all of a sudden they heard a bang and their dad stopped responding. What Alicia saw and heard on that call has
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haunted her every day for the six years that she's been fighting to get her husband justice. And despite a mounting
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pile of circumstantial evidence that she's collected pointing to who might be responsible for his murder, no arrest or
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charges have ever been made in this case. Now it feels like the only way that this case will ever be solved is if
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we turn up the pressure on Gilbert Police Department. So let's go, Crime Junkies.
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This is the story of Nick Cordova. May 27th, 2020, 17 hours 30 minutes 36 seconds.
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It's at Gilbert Air and Air. >> 911, what's your emergency? This is Scott Air. >> Yes, there's someone I'm on FaceTime
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with my husband. My kids are FaceTiming. Someone came in and started like beating
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him. I think they have an address here. Address. He He's at Gilbert Air and Gilbert Air
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and Gilbert Air. I don't I can't even look at the address right now. I'm freaking out. Is he at work?
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Yes, he's at work. His address is 511 West Guadalupe Road number 13. Okay, 511 West Guadalupe Road? Yes.
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Nick! Is he still there? I I can hear things moving around but I don't hear see anyone. Daphne, can you
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please get out of the room, please, babe. Nick! And you're calling Scottsdale? I'm calling from Scottsdale. We are
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FaceTiming, my kids are FaceTiming him, and then I just heard screaming. I thought it was a joke, and uh someone
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Somebody came in. Okay, this is your husband's work, and is Gilbert there? >> Yes, my husband's work, Gilbert Air.
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It's It's just him and his manager that work there, but someone came in, and I think they're just like beating him.
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I'm pretty sure I saw a gun. I still have him on FaceTime, but I can't see anything. Babe.
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>> Okay, are you hearing anything? I just hear moaning. I don't know if it's him or the manager or someone.
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>> got I've got help on the way, okay? >> Hurry, hurry, hurry. Hurry, hurry, hurry.
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>> Okay. The cops are coming, babe. How many people did you see in there? I didn't see anyone. I just saw like the
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the phone like wrestling around, and then I'm pretty sure I saw a black glove or gun above.
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I didn't hear any shots or anything though. I just I could hear him saying, "What like" yelling, screaming. Someone
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was hitting him. Okay. My kids had the freaking phone, and they saw it. Okay. All right. Who's there?
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Who is that? I'm on the phone. I have police on the phone. Who is that? It's a Who's there?
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Pick up the phone. David who? Dave. Dave, pick up the phone. Got it. What is going on? Where's my husband? I
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have the police on the phone. You don't know who that is? >> Nick? Do you know who this gentleman is?
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He's He's not there? Someone came in. Is he okay? WHAT'S GOING ON? DAVE. Tell me what's
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happening. Who is the guy you're talking to? >> coworker's there, his partner. Oh my
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gosh, is he okay? Dave. Is that his coworker? Dave, tell me what's going on. Is he
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okay? Ma'am, who is Dave? No. Can you please answer my questions? Dave is Dave's partner. Dave's partner
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who just came into the building. I don't know. Okay, I need you to tell me what is
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happening. I've got officers on the way. >> know. He just said, "OH MY GOD." HE GRABBED THE PHONE AND JUST SAID, "Oh my
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god." Dave. Is he okay? IS HE BREATHING? DAVE, ANSWER ME. DAVE, IS HE OKAY? Is he okay?
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Dave, what's going on? At this point, Alicia can't take all of this unraveling through a screen. So,
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keeping the FaceTime going, she tells her kids to get their shoes on and rushes them into the car to drive to
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Nick's office herself. During the 20-minute ride over as she is hauling down the freeway, Alicia is calling her
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mom and then Nick's mom who calls Nick's sister and Nick's nephew, everyone she can think of who needs to know that
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something is wrong. When she finally gets to the offices of Gilbert Air, the HVAC company that Nick owned with his
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partner Dave Sweetman, she parks her car behind some bushes, kind of like away from the building because at this point
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she is thinking that Nick might be hurt and she doesn't want her kids to see that if he comes out beat up or bleeding
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or something. So, she gives them her phone to play on, tells them to stay in the car, that their dad is strong, he's
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going to be fine, and then she beelines it for the building. And that's when she
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sees the crime scene tape and what looks to her like a million police officers everywhere.
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And her first thought is to look around for ambulances. Like if Nick was attacked, they should be taking him to
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the hospital, but there isn't any ambulance in sight. And that's when Alicia starts running. She runs right
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through the yellow tape yelling, "Where is my husband? What happened?" And officers are trying to hold her back,
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but no one is answering her questions. She said she felt like she was standing there for 20 minutes just repeating,
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"What the happened?" And after what feels like a lifetime, finally, an officer pulls her
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aside and delivers one line that will change the trajectory of her life forever.
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"I'm sorry to tell you, your husband's dead." And that's when Alicia just loses it. She just falls to her knees crying
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uncontrollably and all while trying to make sure that her kids can't see her do it. Now,
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officers write in their reports that Alicia is inconsolable and in disbelief of the situation, but even in her state,
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she has the wherewithal to ask one question. "Where is Dave?" Is Dave still alive?
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>> No, yeah, he is, but the way that they encountered Dave, and honestly, the whole scene is really bizarre.
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So, according to the police file, when a Gilbert police officer arrived, the first thing he saw as he walked up to
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the front door was someone like peeking through the blinds of the office window.
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And as the officer got closer with his weapon at the ready, he heard a man saying through the window, like, "I'm
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Dave. I'm Dave." So, the officer ordered Dave to open the door and come out, but
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instead, Dave barely opens it, hands the officer a bloody gun by the barrel, and
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said, quote, "I'm his partner. That's my gun. I'm sorry. Oh my god." Now, the officer put the gun on the ground
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outside and then tried to open the front door to walk in, but it wouldn't budge.
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>> Is Dave blocking them from coming in? No, Dave's not blocking them. Nick actually was. He He His body was lying
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on the floor on his side with a pool of blood around him, completely unresponsive. And he had blood all over
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his face, and it looked like there was a bullet hole in his left cheek. Now, I don't know what protocol is when you
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need to get inside a crime scene and something at the scene itself is preventing that. Personally, I don't
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know, I might have tried to find another entrance. >> Yeah. This officer though decided to just push
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through the door until Nick's body moved enough for him to squeeze through. And once he's in, he saw a clear sign
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there of a struggle. So, just to give you a picture, when you enter the front door of the office, you
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walk into this little lobby space, and it has like a reception desk. From there, if you go through the first
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doorway on the left, you can get to the office space where Nick and Dave's desks
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were. Now, Nick's desk, when you walk through that entryway, it was the first one beyond the doorway, and Dave's was
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about 12 ft away near the far wall. Now, according to the police report, Nick's desk had been pushed out of place, which
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they can tell from like the indents that were in the carpet. And there are just these things strewn all over the floor,
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like Nick's monitor, there's money, business cards, this black electrical box, a bag of what the report looks like
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contraband. They find a human tooth, a potato with a hole gouged out of one side, and I've
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seen people online actually take to assuming that maybe that potato was like used as a silencer, but that is not
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stated anywhere in the police report. But there are multiple bullet holes around the room. So, there is one above
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the light switch, there's another in the lobby desk, and then the window frame behind Nick's desk has one as well. Now,
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I mentioned money, there is some money by Dave's desk, too. Though his desk itself appears, quote, not to have been
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disrupted by the struggle. But the bottom right drawer is open, and inside of it is an empty handgun case and an
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empty magazine. So, I hate to repeat her question, but I'm going to ask exactly what Alicia asked.
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Where is Dave? Well, while one officer was getting his bearings, Dave was {quote} acting hysterical and pacing
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back and forth. So, I mean right then and there another officer actually detained him and put him in cuffs. And
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it's in that moment that Dave spoke up again. And he said {quote} "I'm his partner. Two guys came in here.
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Two guys came in here. They left. They ran." {end quote} So, Dave's in cuffs. Is he being arrested? No, the officer
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specifically informed Dave that he was not under arrest. He was just being detained for questioning. And right
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there at the scene, Dave is Mirandized. And he gives kind of this hasty interview. And he says basically he was
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at his desk when two Hispanic men wearing green shirts and face masks came into the building trying to sell Nick
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Freon. Which Do you know what Freon is? Yeah, it's used in like older air conditioning units, right? I yes. I did
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not know what Freon was. I had to look it up. But you're totally right. So, it's something that could be common like
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or at least could be common to sell in an HVAC world, right? But what I found out was Gilbert Air definitely didn't
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buy Freon like that. But Dave said that for some reason it looked like Nick knew these guys.
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>> Knew these guys in masks? Well, when I say masks, I thought the same thing, but
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these were COVID masks, not like ski masks. So, like >> happening like May 2020, right?
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>> Exactly. So, I think you can kind of see a face where you could recognize someone. Anyway, Dave says that the men
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said something to Nick and then there was some kind of commotion and then they turned to Dave and started pointing
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their guns at him. So, Dave says he gave them his wallet and gave them the money
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in his pocket, {quote} everything he had, and then the men hit him in the back of the head with what Dave thought
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was one of their guns, and then they fled the scene. Wait, so when was Nick shot then?
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Well, Dave says he doesn't know. Says that he never even heard a gunshot. >> Did they
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>> knock him unconscious? He He doesn't know. He's just like He's just basically
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saying he doesn't remember much after he got hit in the head. Now, aside from Dave, there was no one else in the
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office at the time of the shooting. The office manager who worked there, Lynn, she gets to the scene once she gets word
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about everything that's going on. And she tells police that when she left work that day at around 5:00, only Nick and
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Dave were inside. But, she knows what Alicia and Dave all know. That there are several surveillance
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cameras inside the building, which Dave says should have recorded everything. So, while Gilbert PD sends an analyst to
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the scene to review that footage, an officer escorts Dave to a patrol car so they can do a more formal interview with
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him down at the station. But, right about then comes the first sign that something might be off. Because remember
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how Dave said that he gave the intruders his wallet and his money and his pockets
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and >> Yeah, he said that he gave them everything he had, right? >> Exactly. Well, imagine this officer's surprise
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when he's patting Dave down and finds more than a thousand dollars cash in his front left pocket.
00:12:48
Some cases fade from headlines. Some never made it there to begin with. I'm Ashley Flowers and on my podcast, The
00:12:55
Deck, I tell you the stories of cold cases featured on playing cards distributed in prisons designed to spark
00:13:02
new leads and bring long overdue justice. Because these stories deserve to be heard, and the loved ones of these
00:13:09
victims still deserve answers. Are you ready to be dealt in? Listen to The Deck now, wherever you get your podcasts.
00:13:19
When Dave is confronted with the fact that his story is already crumbling, he clarifies to the officer, "No, they
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didn't take all my money. I only gave the suspects the money in my front right pocket."
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>> But that's not what everything I have means. >> not. And how much cash is this guy
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keeping in like all the pockets of his pants? I think that would have been a great follow-up
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question to ask, but I don't see that being asked in the records that I have. So, Dave gets driven down to the station
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and just after 7:00 p.m., that's when he's interviewed. And his story now is this. It was a robbery gone wrong. Dave
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says that he was getting ready to leave work when the crime took place. So, he says he sees Nick on the phone as he's
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walking towards the exit, waves, gives him a fist bump as bros are known to do. >> Naturally. But then when Dave got to the
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front door, he realized that he had like forgotten a bill on his desk or something. So, he turned around and then
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just as he started looking for this thing on his desk, he heard the front door chime. And then he looked up and
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saw the two men. One of them, he says, approached Nick with what looked like a box of Freon and then the yelling and
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fighting started. David looked up from his desk, saw one of the men coming toward him with a gun pointed at him,
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and then Dave says that the man told him to get on the ground and give him his money, which Dave did. Kind of. He kind
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of. And then the man hits Dave on the head, which he says might have knocked him unconscious because then he really
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doesn't remember anything after that. And listen, officers do find that Dave has a cut on his right hand and and on
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the right side of his head. So, then Dave had to have been unconscious when Nick was shot. Well,
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except his story keeps going. And now he says that he heard Nick in a struggle and then he also heard a loud bang, but
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that he didn't see anything because all of his focus was on the guy that was robbing him.
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And he says he really came to again when he heard Alicia yelling for Nick through
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the FaceTime call. He could see and hear Alicia, but he wasn't sure if she could see or hear
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him. So, holding the phone, Dave walked out to the lobby where he found Nick shot and bleeding. He says he put the
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phone down to check Nick for signs of life, but got nothing. And that's when he says he went back to his desk to get
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his handgun and check for suspects in the rest of the building. And when he got back to the lobby, that's when first
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responders arrived and he handed them his now bloody gun through the crack of the door. Now, Dave says he didn't
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notice anything distinguishable about the suspects who robbed him, other than the fact that one's gun was {quote} big
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and black and it made him follow the suspects orders. And what's Dave's gun look like? It's a 9 mm SIG SAUER that he
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says he got a month ago as a result of this child custody issue he was having with the woman who
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I guess he had previously had an affair with this woman. They had a child. We tried reaching out to her. She declined
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to speak with us because the custody battle that he {quote} got this gun for was actually still ongoing.
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>> Like now, like 6 years later? Yes, still in in the custody battle 6 years later.
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Now, Dave says that he always kept his gun in that desk drawer and he has never fired it, not even today. But that day
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in the office, he had chambered a round while he was checking the place for suspects. Okay. So,
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you mentioned it before, I have to bring it up. Just give it to me. What's on the surveillance videos?
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Because like they should be able to tell us if his story is like lines up with that, right?
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>> One would think because there are surveillance cameras basically all over this building. The lobby's got one, the
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warehouse, even the outside. The one place that doesn't have a camera is the office space where according to Dave the
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struggle took place. Why? I don't know. We asked Alicia, Nick's wife, and she said she had no
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idea. But even she thought it was kind of odd that's the one place that didn't have a camera. But listen, the cameras
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that do exist might be able to confirm some things. Officers at the crime scene start reviewing the tapes like within
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hours of being called to the scene. And they mostly do corroborate Dave's story.
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Two suspects entered the building. One was holding a box of Freon, but they're actually on this footage able to see
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that the box was empty. It had some kind of panel cut out of it and they were using it to conceal the gun when they
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first came in. And they see that there is some kind of commotion and yelling that can be heard
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off camera, presumably in the office. And then Nick is seen running out of the office into the lobby toward the front
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door, and that's where he ends up getting shot. Can you see the shooter? You can. Because he shoots Nick in the
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lobby right in view of the cameras. Officers also note that right after the shooting, they can hear Dave saying,
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"Help me." off camera. Now the outdoor camera then shows these two suspects like leaving, driving away from the
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scene right at 5:31 p.m. And they are in a red and silver Ford F-150. It has no front license plate, of course. And I
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asked like what year it was. It looks like it was like pre-2003. So a little bit older for the time. And
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there is faded paint on the roof of it. I just don't know the exact year, but this is like an older
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older model. So, based on these videos, Dave was telling the truth. Yeah, at this point
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investigators write in the file that after seeing the surveillance footage, they no longer suspect Dave in the
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homicide. However, quote, "His involvement remains unclear." End quote. >> Meaning
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what? They did not elaborate. I mean, I'm assuming they don't believe that he shot the gun, but maybe they are not
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eliminating the possibility that he was involved in some other way. Which like makes sense, right? Like why else would
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you lie about the money in your pocket? Like there's just like that's weird, right? Yes.
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I have left something out. So, there is another red flag, too. When Alicia was first told that her husband was dead,
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she didn't just ask, "Where's Dave?" Her full sentence to police was, "Where's Dave? He probably had something
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to do with this." When she was able to be interviewed that day on the scene, she elaborated on why
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that was her first thought. And when our reporter Nicole Kagan spoke to Alicia this year, she gave us the full
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backstory. So, everything I'm about to say comes directly from her and from police documents. She said that a few
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years before all of this, back in 2017, Nick's passion was personal training, but he had been doing HVAC work for a
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while and decided around that time that he wanted to be his own boss, like run his own company.
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So, it felt like perfect timing when that year this guy named Frank, who Nick used to go riding like in the dunes
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with, told him that he owned half of this successful company called Gilbert Air, but he was burnt out and he was
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looking to sell his share for actually super cheap. Hm, super successful, but super cheap.
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Feels like a red flag to me. And well, there was a red flag that Frank was pretty upfront about. He told Nick that
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he had a co-owner who was basically like the money guy while he ran the business,
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but this co-owner, Dave Sweetman, was a quote shady POS, and so that's why Frank
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wanted to get out. Shady how? He didn't really specify, but if you look up Dave's records, you'll see charges for
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assault, disorderly conduct, a bunch of driving infractions, fraud, and trespassing among other things. Now,
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Alicia and Nick didn't know these specifics, but regardless, Nick was the kind of guy who
00:21:18
loved rising to a challenge. It's something that was like instilled in him from childhood, being raised by a single
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mom who had him when she was just 16. Nick's grandma and grandpa actually helped raise him, and when his mom later
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had two other children with men who were not the most present, Nick sort of took
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on the father figure role to raise them. So, Nick chose to see this as a golden opportunity. He got another one of his
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friends to buy in, too, so they would each own 25% of the company, while Dave Sweetman would keep the remaining 50.
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But less than a week before the deal was going to be signed, Nick's friend dropped out. Said that he just got this
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weird feeling. >> A weird feeling about Dave? No, not what he said. Just a weird feeling that he
00:22:03
was worried about the business not succeeding, and he didn't think that he could make a big leap like that. It's a
00:22:09
It's a big deal. >> Mhm. But this wasn't for Nick, and he wasn't going to let this be a deal
00:22:13
breaker. Remember, the guy liked a challenge. So, he just decided to do it on his own. Alicia, though, she was more
00:22:21
wary of Dave. But Nick managed to convince her that everything was going to be okay, great, even. He was over the
00:22:28
moon to have something that was his, and seeing how excited he was, how could Alicia not support him? So, the deal was
00:22:36
done, and Nick took an ownership stake in 2018. And at first, everything did seem good.
00:22:43
Alicia said that Nick very much kept his like business and personal lives separate. For 2018 and 2019, she barely
00:22:50
even met Dave, only ever was around him like three times. Things seemed to be going smoothly. But then, about 6 months
00:22:58
before Nick would be killed, things started unraveling. Out of nowhere, Nick came home one night and told Alicia, "I
00:23:06
know it sounds crazy, but I'm telling you, I feel like someone's been watching me." Which at the time, Alicia said that
00:23:13
she just kind of brushed off because like it it just sounded so absurd. And she just tried to comfort Nick, reassure
00:23:19
him that like everything was fine. But then Alicia tells police that 3 months after that, in March of 2020, Nick told
00:23:26
her that Dave took $30,000 out of their company account, which he had never done
00:23:32
before. And when Nick asked him about it, Dave said that he had this debt that he had to pay, but he would replace it
00:23:39
before payroll was due. And that's when Nick told Alicia, like, "I think I need to get out of this business with this
00:23:44
guy. I don't know what I got myself into." And he told her that he thought Dave was doing something possibly
00:23:51
illegal with the other companies that he owned. And like he's like, "I don't know
00:23:54
what's happening, but like I don't want any part of whatever it is." Now, Alicia
00:23:58
said Nick's stress level went through the roof at this point, but it only got worse come April. When Dave not only
00:24:06
doesn't pay back the money that he already took, but he takes out another $15,000 from the company. Then in May,
00:24:13
Nick told Alicia again, "I just can't shake this feeling that somebody is watching me." And then what he said next
00:24:21
came out as a joke, but there's nothing funny about it now. She told police that
00:24:27
he was worried Dave would quote, "Hire a hit man to take him out so Dave could collect the insurance money." End quote.
00:24:35
What insurance money? Alicia had the same question when Nick said that. Like, "What do you mean insurance money?"
00:24:42
>> Yeah. And that is when Nick first told her that at some point Dave told him that to protect the business, like for
00:24:52
each of them, Dave and Nick should take out life insurance policies against each
00:24:57
other. >> And is that something that Dave had when the previous owner, that Frank guy, was
00:25:01
there? No, but not for a lack of trying. According to the police file, Dave repeatedly tried to get this Frank guy
00:25:08
to do the same thing, but Frank refused, telling Dave that he wanted to be worth
00:25:12
more alive than dead. Good advice. >> Especially when you have a shifty business partner. Now, hearing about
00:25:20
this policy at the time, I mean, it really shook Alicia because she said Nick was not a
00:25:25
warrior. He never seemed to get stressed about anything. But after he told her that he was just like tossing and
00:25:32
turning in bed the whole night. So, by the time Memorial Day weekend came around, Nick was in dire need of a
00:25:39
reset. So, the Cordova family decided that they were going to take a camping trip
00:25:43
together. According to Alicia, when they got back on Monday night, she and the kids begged Nick to just take the next
00:25:50
day off so they could just like keep this family time going. I imagine that it probably felt like this great
00:25:55
reprieve, right? And he did, which made Wednesday Nick's first day back in the office after that long weekend. And that
00:26:03
is the day that he would be killed. So, what did the office manager have to say about Dave? I mean, she's there on the
00:26:10
scene by the time they're hearing this from Alicia, right? >> They talked to her on the scene when she
00:26:14
arrives, too, and Lynn is her name, and she told police that her and Dave didn't
00:26:18
get along, but she did say something strange. She said that like recently he had been acting strange. Like he started
00:26:25
coming into the office more frequently and being more like friendly to her, though he would mostly just ask about
00:26:31
money. Lynn said that he seemed, quote unquote, obsessed with money, and she would hear him yelling at Nick about it.
00:26:38
And here's the really interesting thing that she added when she was talking to police. So, the day before the shooting,
00:26:45
that would have been Tuesday, May 26th. This is the Tuesday after Memorial Day weekend. Now, Nick was supposed to be in
00:26:52
the office that day, but as we know, he makes this last-minute decision to stay home with his family.
00:26:59
But apparently, that whole day, Dave kept asking Lynn over and over, like, "Where's Nick? When's Nick going to get
00:27:05
in? When's he getting back?" And she just said that Dave kept like pacing back and forth and leaving the office
00:27:10
for like short periods of time. And she tells police that when Dave came in to work the day of the shooting, he was
00:27:17
quieter than usual, and he wasn't joking around like he usually did. And at one point in the day, he and Nick closed the
00:27:25
door to their office, and it sounded like they were having an argument. But Lynn was listening to the radio, so she
00:27:31
couldn't hear exactly what it was that they were saying. Now, I have to mention, officers weren't just asking
00:27:37
Lynn about Dave. They also asked her about Alicia and Nick's relationship. And Lynn says that she wished her and
00:27:44
her husband had a relationship like theirs. She said that Nick was giving and kind, and she didn't know a single
00:27:50
person who didn't like him. And this is a common theme, by the way. Another employee says that everybody
00:27:57
loved Nick, and he never saw him get angry or even like raise his voice once at work. And by the way, if it wasn't
00:28:03
already clear what kind of guy Nick was, Alicia said that she and at least 50 other people stayed at the crime scene
00:28:10
that whole first night refusing to leave until Nick was brought out. They waited
00:28:15
in the parking lot until the sun came up. And that whole time, Alicia was still asking officers where Dave was and
00:28:24
telling them that she believed he was responsible for Nick's death. But once they reviewed the surveillance footage,
00:28:30
they told her that he wasn't the one who killed Nick, that he was released, and that there was nothing they could do.
00:28:36
What do you mean there's nothing you can do? I mean, no one's proven to me that he wasn't involved. Just because there
00:28:42
are two other guys can't mean he's cleared. I mean, they're only hours in at this point. Plus, Alicia literally
00:28:49
told them Nick was worried about Dave hiring a hit man. These are the exact reasons that Alicia is frustrated. She
00:28:57
doesn't understand why nothing more can be done and why no one seems to be giving her like an adequate explanation.
00:29:04
So, over the course of like 12 hours or so, she pleads with them, throwing out everything she knows about the insurance
00:29:12
stuff and suggesting a hit for hire until around 6:00 a.m. when Nick is finally wheeled out of the office in a
00:29:19
body bag. Officers give Alicia his keys and his wallet, which by the way, his wallet
00:29:26
still has money in it, but they tell her that they have to take his wedding ring
00:29:31
to test for DNA. Why just his wedding ring? >> I was just going to say, we asked
00:29:36
Alicia, she doesn't know why. I'm assuming that they collected maybe things that they thought would be the
00:29:40
most likely to have like a salient DNA on it and maybe it was clear like the wallet wasn't touched or something. I
00:29:45
don't really know. Which would make the robbery theory even harder to buy. >> 100%. So, Nick is taken away and
00:29:54
regardless of what the police were telling Alicia about Dave and the surveillance video,
00:30:00
I mean, at that point she's terrified. So, she immediately goes to the Scottsdale police station to file a
00:30:05
restraining order against Dave. But, since Dave hadn't actually been charged with any wrongdoing at that
00:30:11
point, she's told that like she doesn't really have any grounds for that. However, hearing the circumstances of
00:30:17
her husband's death and you know, hearing why she's scared, detectives do tell her that actually keeping a line
00:30:24
open with Dave might be helpful. Maybe Dave will communicate with her, say something to her that changes things or
00:30:31
conflicts with his original story. And listen, this guy's instincts, whoever told her this, like they weren't far off
00:30:37
because three days later, Dave does reach out to her. Not to talk about the case, but to ask if he can help with
00:30:44
funeral arrangements. But Alicia is in no place to try and like use this and play detective right now. Like she can't
00:30:51
even stomach the guy. Especially not offering to help with the funeral of her husband who she is like suspicious he
00:30:57
may have had killed. So, Alicia declines. And in fact, she tells Dave, "It honestly be best if you don't attend
00:31:03
the funeral at all." At this point, Alicia and her children are staying with her cousin. And then after that, with
00:31:10
Nick's cousins. Then after that, Nick's cousins and friends like take turns sleeping on her couch with a gun at the
00:31:16
ready. Because Alicia is still terrified of someone coming after her and her children. She doesn't know when she'll
00:31:23
ever feel safe again, but she definitely doesn't right in the aftermath when whoever was behind Nick's murder is just
00:31:30
out there. So, what are Gilbert police doing to find those men on the video footage? Well, starting on the morning
00:31:38
that Nick's body was removed from the building, they did begin like canvassing the neighborhood. But it seems like the
00:31:44
only real lead that they get is like figuring out that it was that red and silver truck. So, they spend over a week
00:31:51
searching not only for the truck itself, which was again like I said this older two-toned red and silver extended cab
00:31:57
Ford F-150, but they are also going to all of the surrounding businesses looking for
00:32:03
witnesses or additional surveillance cameras that may have captured the people or the truck. And they actually
00:32:10
did end up hitting Payless at the AM PM about 2 minutes down the road from the office. Not only does the convenience
00:32:18
store have surveillance footage of the truck in question, they also have surveillance footage of one of the men
00:32:26
who was inside of it. On June 12th, just over 2 weeks after the shooting, Gilbert PD releases the
00:32:36
footage from the AM PM to the public to see if anyone can identify the mystery man who they say was in the passenger
00:32:43
seat of this vehicle that they're looking for in connection to this case. >> Wait, when is the footage from? So, the
00:32:50
footage that they get is from the day of the shooting. Actually, just literal minutes after the shooting based on the
00:32:56
timestamps. And listen, I got to say this is close to if not the clearest image of a
00:33:04
suspect's face I have ever seen from surveillance footage in a case. Like anyone who knows this guy would be able
00:33:11
to recognize him instantaneously, which makes it so wild to me that they're not putting it out to the public until June
00:33:19
12th. But, in the footage, here is what we see. So, this truck in question pulls up
00:33:26
to a pump at the gas station literally 2 minutes after the shooting. Then, there is a guy who police describe
00:33:34
as about 5 ft 8 with a heavy set build, wearing a dark colored t-shirt, blue jeans, and dark colored boots that gets
00:33:41
out of the truck and walks through the gas station parking lot up to the door of the AM/PM, and then enters the store
00:33:48
at 5:33 p.m. He goes to the counter where we get this direct shot of his face from a camera that must be like
00:33:55
over the counter somewhere. Now, he talks briefly with the clerk, and then he goes out, fills his tank before the
00:34:01
truck pulls out at 5:36, and all we know is that it drives northbound. >> I mean, do we know what he said to the
00:34:08
clerk? Nothing important. Um the they talked to the clerk and they said that this guy was like a
00:34:13
non-conversationalist, just like you know, 10 bucks on pump seven kind of guy. And he, of course, paid cash, and
00:34:20
they're like, "Listen, I probably at this point couldn't even pick the guy out of a lineup." So,
00:34:24
is this a third guy, or did the shooters change clothes cuz they weren't wearing
00:34:28
those like bright green shirts in the video from the business? >> No, you're right. They they don't think,
00:34:32
at least from I can tell, they don't think this is a third man. They think whoever this is took off the mask and
00:34:37
either removed the bright green shirt or like switched outfits or whatever. But this is the guy that they're looking
00:34:42
for, or one of them. Now, Alicia, Lynn, and other employees at Gilbert Air all are shown this gas
00:34:49
station footage, but no one recognizes this guy. Not even Dave? He tells Alicia that he didn't know him either. If tips
00:34:58
come in from the public about who this man is, Alicia is never told about it. And I can't tell you about it because
00:35:05
that info about the surveillance footage, that is the last piece of information that comes validated from
00:35:11
the police file. Everything else in the file is redacted. Like we're talking over 200 pages of just blacked out
00:35:19
everything. I mean, do they give Alicia any updates? Well, early on in the investigation,
00:35:25
Alicia said that there was one Gilbert like PD detective who she met with every couple of weeks who seemed really
00:35:31
invested in the case. He gave her a full case update around the one year mark through this like PowerPoint
00:35:38
presentation, and she felt hopeful. Like maybe the wait would be worth it, and all of the months of waiting and fear
00:35:46
were going to like lead to something because this guy promises her that arrests are going to be made. But then,
00:35:53
in a story that has become all too familiar, two weeks after that meeting, she basically gets a call notifying her
00:36:01
that that guy's off the case. The new detective says that the original guy got moved down to patrol, and when
00:36:07
she asks if like that happened willingly, the new detective was basically like, "Yeah, you know, like
00:36:13
sometimes being a detective can just take a toll on people, and it's not uncommon for people to have to take a
00:36:18
break." But Alicia has always suspected that the demotion was because maybe that first
00:36:24
guy, that that one detective who showed her the PowerPoint, maybe that guy told her too much. Or worse, maybe he screwed
00:36:32
something up with Nick's case. Now, we did reach out to Gilbert PD for comment, and they said that they are still
00:36:37
actively investigating, but cannot disclose further information at this time. So, wait, did did they look into Dave
00:36:45
Moore and like all all the insurance stuff? Like, did he get a payout when Nick died?
00:36:52
So, as far as I can tell from the file, police did a follow-up interview with Dave Sweetman and even his girlfriend,
00:36:59
Susan, and that was in August of 2020. I have no idea what came of that. As for the insurance stuff,
00:37:06
that would go on for years. It started though, just 5 days after the shooting. That is when Dave texted Alicia this
00:37:14
string of messages about signing some documents for the claim. And Alicia, who lost her husband 5 days
00:37:23
ago >> in in front of Dave. Yeah, who is worried that he was killed for insurance
00:37:28
money, was like, "No." Maybe like, not now. >> "How about you let me bury my husband
00:37:34
first and then I'll figure all of this out." But Dave comes back to her and he's
00:37:39
like, "Okay, but like, just so you know, you should be getting around like $500,000."
00:37:46
Now, Alicia, she didn't know anything about these policies, but in her mind, she's thinking like, "Okay, like the
00:37:51
policy pays out to the business. Nick owned half of the business, so it must have been a million-dollar policy,
00:37:57
right? Split 50/50. Makes sense." But, just to confirm, she decided to go checking through Nick's emails. And
00:38:05
that's when she found out that there was another policy. And both policies together would pay out not $1 million,
00:38:14
but $8 million. >> What? So, Alicia refuses to sign the documents, which according to her does
00:38:24
not sit well with Dave. He goes off on her about how she's like making this so difficult and that it's really Nick's
00:38:31
fault for not having mapped everything out for her. And that's when Alicia had had enough. She gets a lawyer of her own
00:38:37
and decides to push back. Now they find an agreement that Nick signed when he bought into the business,
00:38:43
which stated that in the event of a death everything would be split 50/50. So like 6 months after the shooting,
00:38:50
Alicia's lawyer is like, "Okay, listen. Now that we have this, you can sign the documents and then we can file this
00:38:56
claim. Done and done, right?" Wrong. As soon as they filed, they get a call from the insurance company that's
00:39:04
confused. Because they say, quote, "We already got your signed documents." >> Mhm.
00:39:11
What do you mean they already got her signed documents? Alicia has no idea what they're talking about. She's like,
00:39:16
"This is the first time I've ever signed anything. If you have signed documents,
00:39:20
somebody forged my signature." And the company's first question is, "Well, do you know of anybody that would
00:39:27
want to do that?" I mean, I have some thoughts. >> Alicia can think of only one person.
00:39:33
Dave not so sweetman, which is what she has taken to calling him by that point. >> So what does this mean for Alicia? Can
00:39:40
she Can she still get her half of the money? Well, so what what ends up happening is she files a police report
00:39:45
claiming that Dave forged her signature, but weeks later she's told that there's
00:39:50
not enough evidence to charge him. And even though she has that document stating that she's meant to get half of
00:39:57
the insurance payouts, there are loads of other documents with stipulations that her lawyers and Dave's lawyers like
00:40:04
just cannot seem to get on the same page about. So after three more years of legal back and forth in 2024, Alicia and
00:40:14
Dave finally get everything settled out of court and each receives an undisclosed payout.
00:40:22
So, while all of that was going on, was Gilbert Air still like in business and operating?
00:40:30
>> Gilbert Air ran out of money like nine months after Nick's death and they had
00:40:34
to end up closing. Even though there was supposedly an $8 million payout to the business when Nick died. Yeah, I don't
00:40:41
know what Dave did with the money that he got or like if it got tied up at some point. But for some reason it doesn't
00:40:46
seem like it was used to keep that business operational. The one that Nick and now his family owned half of.
00:40:54
Instead, Alicia says that you know, when it after Gilbert Air closes down, Dave took the client list and started a new
00:41:00
business called Arizona Family Air that the Cordovas have no stake in and he continues to run it out of his house.
00:41:07
Continues like like to this day? >> To this very day. We called the company for comment, but
00:41:13
as of this recording, we have not heard back. Dave and his girlfriend Susan didn't
00:41:18
respond to us either. Though Dave did tell Fox 10 Phoenix back in 2024 that Nick's case was {quote} the most
00:41:25
traumatic ordeal he's experienced. {end quote} Over the years, Nick's case starts
00:41:32
cycling through different detectives. Alicia continues trying to meet with whoever is on the case every few months,
00:41:38
but it's just so hard for her to believe them when she keeps hearing the same thing. We're rechecking things. We're
00:41:45
relooking through evidence. But each time nothing happens. To this day, she's still never been
00:41:50
given a copy of his autopsy and we couldn't obtain it through public records requests either. Authorities
00:41:56
have also never released any kind of results related to firearms or firearm testing. Like, I don't know what kind of
00:42:03
gun was used in the shooting still. And I don't know if they ever confirmed Dave's story that the gun he handed over
00:42:09
to them had never been and I was >> to say, if they haven't released what kind of gun was used on Nick, they don't
00:42:13
know that it was like we don't know that it wasn't. >> Right. According to the police file, I
00:42:18
know they got some lab results back in July of 2020. Now, what items were tested and where? Can't tell you. That
00:42:27
is all redacted and they have never shared that information with Alicia. The only unredacted part says that the
00:42:34
only DNA profiles on the physical evidence collected belongs to either Nick or Dave.
00:42:41
But the thing to remember is without context, that could mean nothing. They both worked in that office. So, if items
00:42:47
were tested that are like regularly used by both of them, like that doesn't mean
00:42:51
anything. Yeah, and even without someone else's DNA, like I keep thinking about the guy on the
00:42:58
surveillance footage. Like, how have they not identified him? >> I know. I know. Alicia cannot help but
00:43:05
wonder. Like the only thing she can think of, I should say, is like every She thinks
00:43:09
like every time this case is handed to someone else, maybe things are like slipping through the cracks.
00:43:13
>> of telephone. Yeah, and like she told us that there have been specific case details that she's mentioned while like
00:43:18
speaking with detectives and they've been like, "Oh, we didn't know that." Which is like not the thing you want to
00:43:22
hear from the guy in charge of solving your husband's case. And listen, people all over the internet have been quick to
00:43:28
call out Gilbert PD for all sorts of things, alleging corruption and dirty police work. Just look up the Gilbert
00:43:35
Goons case if you want to get an idea. There is no proof of anything like that that we know of. But I can say that the
00:43:42
department is extremely protective of their public records. And this is not the first case of theirs that we've even
00:43:49
covered. I mean, you know, a couple of months ago we released an episode on the 2022 shooting of Rachel Hansen. And her
00:43:55
family expressed the same frustrations that Alicia has with Gilbert PD. And what's more, in February of 2026, this
00:44:03
article came out in the Arizona Republic by Marisa Dominguez saying that the Arizona Attorney General's office is
00:44:12
reviewing claims that the town of Gilbert may have illegally destroyed or withheld police records, which is an
00:44:19
allegation that could have huge implications for unresolved cases in the community
00:44:25
like Nick's. >> Yeah. Now, as of this recording, the Attorney General's review has not confirmed any
00:44:31
illegal destruction tied specifically to any of these cases. And Gilbert PD has denied all allegations of destroying or
00:44:38
withholding records. But trust that we will be following this very closely. But this experience that she and others
00:44:46
have had with Gilbert PD is one of the many reasons that Alicia began asking the department if she could see the
00:44:53
surveillance footage from Gilbert Air herself. They say no to her a couple of times,
00:44:58
but Alicia was not playing around. She put in a formal records request, hired a lawyer, and in an absolutely shocking
00:45:06
turn of events, the PD actually agreed to let her see it. So, in March of 2025, she went into the
00:45:14
station with Nick's mom, and together they sit down and watch this video. And Alicia notices a number of things on the
00:45:23
footage police have that were not included in the report. She told us that right before the shooting, when Dave was
00:45:30
getting ready to leave the office, he went to the front door and like peeked through the blinds.
00:45:37
And you can see the red and silver truck pulling up on the outdoor camera as he does this. And then he walks back into
00:45:45
the office. And Alicia is literally like in the police department. I mean, can you imagine? She's like viewing this
00:45:50
footage, and she's like, "Guys, pause the tape." That's like the way she says. And she's like, "Isn't that enough right
00:45:56
there? Why would he be peeking through the blinds unless he was like expecting somebody?"
00:46:02
>> Yeah, and his story is that he went back into the office because he forgot something, right?
00:46:06
>> That's what he told police, which like whatever, maybe. But like, tell me, how
00:46:10
many times have you like peeked out of the blinds before you leave the office at night?
00:46:14
>> Only if I was waiting for someone. >> Yeah. And as Alicia continues watching,
00:46:19
she sees the two men arrive in their bright colored shirts, masks, and she sees that they have gloves on.
00:46:26
>> Which explains the lack of suspect DNA at the scene. >> Yes, and she says that they're wearing
00:46:31
these like big construction hats, too. Now, she says one guy is tall and slender, the other is a like chubbier.
00:46:38
>> And I'm assuming that's the one that's caught on the tape. That's my >> guess, yeah. And then, of course,
00:46:43
everything happening in the office we know is off camera, but guess what? She says there's audio. Alicia says that she
00:46:51
can hear Nick on the phone with her kids, and then all of a sudden, you can hear a commotion and Nick just yelling
00:46:58
for help. And what about Dave? She says she doesn't hear Dave saying anything. And then all of a sudden, like Nick
00:47:05
comes into view, he's like running through the lobby, and she says that he was really close to the door when the
00:47:11
suspect comes up behind him and just execution-style shoots him once in the back of the head, causing him to fall to
00:47:17
the ground. And that was it. I can't believe she had to watch that. >> I can't believe they let her watch that.
00:47:23
Because like to her, I mean, not only is it like traumatic, but like it just confirms everything
00:47:30
that she's been feeling. >> this just makes her more suspicious of Dave, who to this day still has not been
00:47:36
charged or even named publicly as a person of interest or a suspect in this case.
00:47:41
>> Which I how? I mean, from the jump, the PD ruled him out as the shooter from the surveillance
00:47:46
footage, and according to Alicia, they never had been able to find a paper trail between him and the two suspects.
00:47:52
Okay, but what's the cash situation though? Like, where did the $45,000 go that he took out from the company
00:47:58
before all this happened? Like, can we trace where that went or where every penny of the insurance payout went?
00:48:05
Like, you're not writing checks to hit men, right? >> Right. This is like I would be looking
00:48:09
for missing money. Also, I don't understand how they can say that like, oh, like we can't find a paper trail
00:48:14
between the two suspects when it's like, you don't know who the two suspects are.
00:48:18
Like, Right. The paper trail could lead you to them. Like, >> Yeah. To me, in order to rule out a
00:48:23
connection definitively, you would have to dig deep into this man, right? Like, do a financial audit almost.
00:48:31
>> forensic accountants for a reason. Not like you have to do more than one follow-up interview, which is like I see
00:48:37
a follow-up interview. Again, lots of redacted stuff in the file, and I don't know what are in those pages. There are
00:48:42
over 200 of them, remember? But even 200 pages, it doesn't feel like enough if they were to have investigated
00:48:50
Dave or even his like past financial crimes. I forgot about those. Like, he had a a history of like scammy [ __ ]
00:48:58
Like, fraud and stuff. Like, yes, please dig into those. >> Yes, someone's past can tell you a lot
00:49:04
about them, which is why we felt it necessary to look into Dave's past to tell this story.
00:49:10
>> Always go a layer deeper. And listen, what our reporter Nicole found sent us headfirst down a rabbit hole that we
00:49:18
could have never seen coming. You see, it turns out nearly 7 years before Nick was shot, someone else close to Dave
00:49:27
died under mysterious circumstances. Now, this wasn't mentioned in the police report or online news coverage of Nick's
00:49:34
case at all. In fact, there is no media coverage of this other case at all. And that other case
00:49:42
is the death of Laura Sweetman, Dave's wife. What? What we found needs an entire
00:49:51
episode of its own. So, Crime Junkies, come back next Monday to hear Laura Sweetman's story. Or, you
00:49:59
can listen to it right now if you're in the fan club. And if you're not a member
00:50:03
of the Crime Junkie fan club, now is the perfect time because now through April 14th, you can join the Crime Junkie fan
00:50:09
club for free. So, check out the link in our show notes to get your first month on us.
00:50:15
Listen, make no mistake, Alicia isn't going away. She feels like it's up to her to keep Nick's story alive, and she
00:50:22
does every press interview she can. She posts on TikTok. She continues meeting with the police department, and she'll
00:50:29
keep it all going until the people who killed Nick are finally behind bars. So, if you have any information about
00:50:36
the 2020 death of Nicholas Nick Cordova in Gilbert, Arizona, you can reach out to the Gilbert Police Department at
00:50:43
480-503-6500. Or, if you prefer to remain anonymous, you can reach out to Silent Witness at
00:50:51
480-948-6377. The posted reward for information is now up to $20,000. And as always, you can
00:50:59
reach out to us by emailing [email protected]. You can find all the source material for
00:51:05
this episode on our website crimejunkie.com. And you can follow us on Instagram @crimejunkiepodcast.
00:51:10
We'll be back next week with Laura Sweetman's story, but don't forget, you can listen right now by joining the
00:51:16
Crime Junkie fan club. Link's in the show notes.