00:00:00
So, you left with just you and your husband, John, that came? No, Nick. Nick? Yes. Okay. Did you see
00:00:07
him the whole time he was off his tube? Yes, I did. And I could see him. He was over there, and then he came back over,
00:00:14
and then I just heard screaming. [screaming and crying] Does Nick know Nick Harry? Does he ever
00:00:30
carry a weapon with him? He had a knife in his pocket. Well, we got some stuff to work out,
00:00:37
okay? Okay. Cuz it was more than just some injuries. It was a pretty serious event that happened. Call the cops.
00:00:41
Please help us. This guy's a profile, and he won't leave us alone. Yeah, he just started stabbing everyone.
00:00:48
So, how many people got hurt? Uh I was told at least three. A guy just stabbed [music] three people.
00:01:00
A man's intestines are falling out of his spinal cord. On July 30th, 2022, a group of teens
00:01:18
swimming in the Apple River noticed a 52-year-old man allegedly making inappropriate comments towards one of
00:01:24
the females in the group. A physical altercation between the man and the teens ensued. However, things
00:01:34
would quickly turn for the worst because after being pushed over by the teenagers, the man pulls out a knife.
00:01:41
And shortly after getting to his feet, the man goes to attack. Nikolay Miu, the man with the knife,
00:01:50
[music] would go on to take the life of 17-year-old Isaac Schuman and injure four others in the process. One of the
00:01:57
victims, AJ Martin, was cut so bad he had intestines protruding [music] from his body. Panic erupted, blood stained
00:02:05
the river, and witnesses flooded county police with 911 calls. [music] Hello, 911.
00:02:21
[screaming] Hello. Where are you? [music] Yep, we got help coming. Are you there
00:02:47
with them? Yes, we're here. This is our calling 911. We're the answer of the emergency. Hi, I'm at I'm
00:02:57
at Apple River. Um we're on the river and a guy just stabbed three people. A man's intestines
00:03:04
are falling out of his body. Okay, stop stop stop right now. What's going on? Uh I'm on Apple River Apple Apple River
00:03:12
in Wisconsin. Police rushed to the scene, but the damage had already [music] been done and the attacker,
00:03:18
Nikolai, had fled the scene. The race was now on to apprehend [music] Nikolai and determine what caused him to commit
00:03:25
such a horrifying act. This footage has never been seen. Viewer discretion is advised.
00:03:36
I'll pick it this way if you can get this way, sir. Yep. They're doing CPR right now. If we could
00:03:42
launch a boat here and get up there, that'd be awesome. Suspect went under the woods at the initial location, a
00:03:47
quarter mile up river from the 54 bridge. Did he go up on the north south bank? South bank.
00:03:54
He went up right here? They don't know. Okay. No one knows. Okay. That's They said this region. They don't
00:03:59
know exactly where he went. Okay. Are you three all witnesses? Friends of one of the victims or All of
00:04:05
them. All of them? Okay. I I just saw the video that the dude posted. Okay, you haven't You didn't see it in
00:04:11
person happen though? No. Okay. We were floating We caught up to those those that group of kids. Okay.
00:04:17
And the guy was harassing them. Oh, crazy guy. I ran over there to stop it before I was worried they were going to
00:04:21
hurt that guy. Okay. You know, I was worried they were going to gang up on him. She went over there to try and
00:04:27
diffuse it. He punched her. And then started He just started Yeah, he just started stabbing everyone.
00:04:32
And then the other group tried to stop him and and And what did he look like? He was like chubby, this big, 250 lbs,
00:04:38
beer belly. He was wearing a chain. He like He was kind of bald. He was stereotypical sleazy Russian. That's
00:04:44
what he looked like. When I first saw him, he had scuba goggles. Yeah, clear goggles.
00:04:48
Scuba goggles on? Okay. Now that the officers have a clear description of this man, all hands go on
00:04:53
deck to find him immediately. As such, officers send up multiple thermal drones and shut down the area until his
00:05:00
capture. The hunt is on to find this ramped killer. I'll turn around to stop saying up here.
00:05:08
Hey, you guys see any people? Uh start roaming roaming perimeter on this road. Uh 30-year-old 30s-year-old white male
00:05:16
uh black shorts. Do you have a picture? Not yet. I'm waiting on the picture. I'm
00:05:20
white male about 30 years old. I went down to the campground down here at the river. I notified all of them to get off
00:05:26
the river. Okay, what's his name? We uh I don't think we have a name. I don't think we do yet either. Just start
00:05:32
roaming this. However, it wouldn't take long to find Nikolai as a witness noticed him and threatened him with a
00:05:38
baseball bat to wait for officers. A front witness says that the male appears to be wearing a camel-colored shirt.
00:05:46
Can you bring him back? Okay. I'm sorry, yeah. Yeah, yeah. No, I'm not. You're being detained at this
00:05:51
point, okay? Yes. Do you think this matches what we have? We have a suspect detained. We believe
00:05:56
we have a suspect detained at the scene. No. No weapons, no nothing like that. 36
00:05:59
has a possible suspect detained at 16th and 9th. What's your name? Nick. Nick what? Nick
00:06:05
Mew. Okay. Yeah, I think that's it. He's got a silver tooth. and mattress silver [snorts] block chain
00:06:17
So I guess that's where you're just detained at this point, okay? We'll explain everything in a second here.
00:06:20
the same as well. So there is I'm still coming to merge and I'm just getting through [clears throat] ball one
00:06:25
and I need it The guy with the baseball bat was just responding to the to the sighting.
00:06:32
Can you step out for a second? We just want to check you out. Are you injured at all?
00:06:37
No, other than my butt. They injured and scratched up. injured? Well, from sliding all over the
00:06:43
stones. All the rocks? Yeah. All right. And my hand, I think. I a look at your hand. Yeah.
00:06:49
Now that police have Nikolai apprehended, they can bring him to the station and begin investigating what
00:06:54
happened. However, as Nikolai is about to leave the lake, he says something that would change this investigation
00:07:01
completely. Somebody out here, somebody got stabbed. Um And I give the description. Yes, you do. All right.
00:07:07
Yeah, so we're working through that now. Did you see that fight on the river? I've heard about it. You heard about it?
00:07:13
Yeah, and then I seen people gather around. Okay. All right. And then I went over to
00:07:17
try to see if somebody saw anything, but that's about it. Okay. Our whole group was pretty Yeah,
00:07:24
interested in finding out what happened. Okay. And that's your whole group over there?
00:07:29
Yeah, yeah. Okay. Did you see anybody injured? No. You didn't see anybody injured, no?
00:07:35
Did you see anybody fighting? I I heard people screaming and shouting, yes. Okay.
00:07:40
Screaming in anger or screaming in pain, do you know? Everybody is drunk, so I don't know. I
00:07:47
can't tell the difference, but I would say Just screaming. Okay. Yeah, calling each other names.
00:07:58
You know, that's seen that all day. Right. We've all been drinking a lot. I'm sure they're drunk. I'm sure they're
00:08:07
Kids being kids. Not only does Nikolai completely deny that he was responsible for the stabbings, but he pretends that
00:08:14
no one even got hurt. The video recordings from the stabbing clearly show the attacker's face, [music] as
00:08:21
well as the chain Nikolai is wearing right now. Regardless of what happened during the altercation, the fact that he
00:08:27
feels the need to pretend to be completely innocent will downplay [music] any of his future statements.
00:08:33
Regardless, Nikolai will be transported to the St. Croix Sheriff's Office, where
00:08:37
he will undergo an intense interrogation. But for now, police need to speak [music] with witnesses on scene
00:08:44
to try and better understand the story from the point of view of those who saw it directly.
00:08:49
Can you tell me, I guess, what you saw to the best of your recollection? When we got about 400 yards from here up
00:08:57
there, there was a group small group of kids, they looked like kids. Um [music] this guy was harassing them. We just
00:09:05
They were pointing at him, telling him to get away. Yeah. Two of the girls later later got up out
00:09:11
of there, too. Two of the girls did. They went over and tried to get him away from them.
00:09:16
And he swung over and punched Madison in the face. Okay. And then the other boy hit him back as
00:09:25
soon as he punched her. The guy pulled out a knife and he just started just stabbing people that were around
00:09:31
him. Okay. We were just chilling and then we saw this older guy start harassing these younger teenagers and
00:09:39
we're the type of people to not let that happen cuz they're young. So, we tried to stop him and he punched me in the
00:09:45
face and then went literally crazy because all the guys started tagging because he punched me in the face. So,
00:09:50
he took out a knife and he just started stabbing everybody and that's what happened. Everybody was just
00:09:55
It's all because he punched me in the face. That's literally why everybody just got stabbed.
00:10:00
If if you're thinking by that statement that it's your fault, it most definitely
00:10:04
is not, okay? We were floating down the river. We came We We caught up to a group of kids
00:10:12
sitting in their tubes with an older guy standing over. How old do you think kids
00:10:15
were? The kids were high school kids. High school kids. Isaac was part of that group.
00:10:22
Uh the one that passed away. He was part of that other group. And they were flagging us down telling
00:10:28
us, "Please help us. This guy's a He won't leave us alone." And at first I thought they were joking. He's like,
00:10:34
"No, really. Please help us. Help us. He's being very creepy." But that group of kids, I was worried that they were
00:10:40
all going to gang up on him and something bad was going to happen to him. The 52-year-old guy. I was worried
00:10:47
something was going to happen to him. We just wanted to shoo the guy away. I figured he'd go away if he saw people
00:10:53
intervening. Next Next thing I know, as everyone's running at me, "He stabbed me. He
00:10:58
stabbed me." You know? And I saw the guy get punched and fall down and Who was the other guy? The
00:11:05
Sorry. Well, it's okay. It was Isaac. Okay. I saw him flailing wildly, but I didn't realize he was stabbing everyone.
00:11:11
And next thing I know, I have "I'm dying. You I can't breathe. You got to You know?"
00:11:17
And I tried to get her in a tube so we could float her down and get her off and And it was just utter chaos from that
00:11:23
point. Based on what witnesses are saying, Nikolai was inappropriately approaching
00:11:28
a group of minors in the lake, was noticed by another group doing these things and was confronted by the teens
00:11:34
causing him to stab anyone who tried attacking him. But, this is only coming from the side of the victim's friends.
00:11:40
Nikolai's friends and family on the other hand would seem to have a completely different recollection of
00:11:46
what went down. Who'd you come with personally? Just me and my husband over here and we met all of them over here.
00:11:53
Okay. At any point in time did any member of your group ever leave your group? Yes, my husband.
00:11:59
Um Ariel lost his phone. Okay. So, he was look trying to find it and he had it in
00:12:05
one of those floaty things, but he thought maybe water got in it, so he put on he brought scuba stuff with like and
00:12:11
he put that on and he was down in the water looking for it. Did you see him the whole time he was
00:12:15
off his tube? Yes, I did. Okay. What was he doing while he's off his tube? He was he was looking. Yeah.
00:12:23
And then this group of guys I don't know how many was on these tubes saw all of them get off their tubes and
00:12:32
they started hitting him. Okay. All right. And what happened after that? We I I yelled and and then I just heard
00:12:41
screaming. And Nick and these guys all came back. They were on the other side and we were
00:12:47
on this side of the river. Yeah. All I heard is somebody got hurt, but I don't know how. I don't I don't know
00:12:53
anything about that. I just heard someone was hurt. Does Nick normally carry does he ever carry a weapon with
00:12:58
him? He had a knife in his pocket. Not a very big one and he said those guys grabbed
00:13:04
it from him. The people he was fighting with? Yep. They grabbed it and he said they they swung it at him and he grabbed
00:13:12
their hand and moved it away. Okay. when they went I didn't see it. That's what he told me. Okay.
00:13:19
And then they went they kept saying was they called me a and they started hitting me and he said
00:13:24
all I did was try and look for this phone. All right. Okay. [snorts] Well, yeah, there was a few people hurt,
00:13:31
but we got some stuff to work out, okay? Obviously, you with the group, being Nick's wife or
00:13:37
wife, and everybody else, you guys aren't going to be able to leave for a little bit, okay? Until we get the okay.
00:13:42
Okay. Cuz it was more than just some injuries. It was pretty serious event that happened. Otherwise, you wouldn't
00:13:46
see people showing up in tactical green, right? Right. Okay. Nikolai's friends and wife claim
00:13:51
he was spontaneously attacked, and that Nick's knife was grabbed by the teens, and that he was even threatened with the
00:13:56
knife. The phone recording shows Nikolai was ganged up six to one when initially
00:14:01
confronted, turning to 13 people against one shortly after, helping to authenticate those claims. This
00:14:08
complicated things for detectives. The side against Nick claims he's a pedophile and went on a rampage after
00:14:14
being called out. The side with Nick claims he was attacked by the teens and didn't see him doing anything
00:14:21
predatorial. It's clear, based off the phone recording, that Nick did indeed commit the stabbings. However, his
00:14:27
reasoning is uncertain. If the detectives determine the teens unnecessarily attacked Nick, then he
00:14:32
could plead self-defense and most likely win. But, if detectives can determine Nick acted erratically after being
00:14:39
exposed for approaching a group of minors, then self-defense is less plausible and he'd be facing murder
00:14:45
charges. In order to solve this mystery, detectives decide to conduct interviews
00:14:50
with every prominent witness that was at the scene the day of the stabbings. However, as the case would unfold,
00:14:57
detectives would unravel disturbing secrets from both parties, leading to one of the most twisted conclusions in
00:15:04
the history of policing. Police began by talking to Ashley, who was on the scene
00:15:10
during the stabbings. So, yeah, I'm I'm just kind of trying to follow up on the craziness that happened out there.
00:15:16
How are you doing? Uh pretty good. So, you were out there with a group of friends for the day? Yes. And we were
00:15:22
just going down the river and then we saw this um older man harassing these teenage boys. So, Maddie said, "Hey, get
00:15:30
away. Get out of their faces. Just move along." And all of a sudden he punched her in the face. She went down. And I
00:15:38
were slowly walking up there and then said, "Dad, I just got stabbed. He has a knife. He just stabbed me." And then
00:15:44
that's when I turned and looked at guts were all over. He was holding onto them. And then that's when I was like go
00:15:52
call 911. And I was trying to get back. Just started calling everyone and whatnot. Telling everyone to get out of
00:15:57
the river and everything like that. Yeah, everything just happened so fast. Yeah. So, he was harassing them and then
00:16:04
you said he was messing with their tubes? Yeah, he was trying to like pull apart their tubes. And that was the
00:16:09
first contact you had with that other group? Yes. So, then you know, you asked that that other group if they need help
00:16:15
and they said that you know, he was harassing them, messing with their tubes and then what happened next? Um that's
00:16:20
when um Maddie went up to the group. Maddie went up to the old guy said, "Hey, get out of here, you know, stop
00:16:28
messing with these boys. They're only teenagers." Like I don't know what started him off to wanting to punch her
00:16:34
in the face. But that's when when he punched her in the face, she slipped, fell in the
00:16:41
water. That's when everybody surrounded him saying, "Don't hit a woman. Just get
00:16:45
out of here." and everything like that. That's when I'm slowly walking towards Maddie to see if she was okay. Okay. And
00:16:51
everything like that. Ashley's story doesn't quite line up with the other witnesses' claims or the speculation
00:16:56
that Nikolai was doing anything that could classify him as a pedophile. She claims he was harassing a group of male
00:17:03
teens and when Maddie approached him to stop, she was punched in the face. This is what caused the group to
00:17:10
confront and push Nikolai, not because of the predatorial theories. Regardless, punching Maddie for what seems like no
00:17:17
reason at all is not only assault of a minor but degrading to any defense Nikolai can make in trial. Next,
00:17:24
detectives speak to Emma who shared the gruesome and horrifying details of watching the stabbings happen in real
00:17:30
time. Paul, if you want you can just take me that day and Yeah. tell me everything.
00:17:37
It was a day I'll never ever forget, honestly. And so we had our music playing and we
00:17:43
hear arguing. So, you know, we're not paying attention to like that. We can't be there for that. And so we
00:17:47
turn around and that's when my brother Larry on he was like, "Sis, Sis, you seeing this?" I'm like,
00:17:54
"Seeing what?" So then that's when we all get off of the raft. And so we stop it cuz the current was pulling us. So
00:17:59
then that's when I see a guy just stab some poor boy in the stomach and go straight down.
00:18:06
Um and then that's when I saw him trying to put his intestines back in his stomach. He was trying to still
00:18:12
processing what was happening. Everybody was screaming around. The people who were trying to grab the knife from the
00:18:17
man. It was like a lady and three other maybe teens. Um she was dead and she floated down the river. That's when she
00:18:24
floated to us and we put her on our raft and was holding her insides in cuz she was still just bleeding out and crying.
00:18:31
And so then that's when I got my phone out the plastic bag and called the police and it's like, "Hey, how are we
00:18:36
going to stop this?" Um but then the other people rushed to go help him, the guy who had his intestines out. And
00:18:42
another person was trying to grab the knife from the guy but still two other people got stabbed after that. Well, as
00:18:47
we got to the grassed area and we were helping the girl, we were keeping her calm. I was on the phone with the police
00:18:52
at that time trying to give them the location of where we were on the river. The
00:18:58
owner of Apple River and his workers, the people who worked at the river, they were coming down and trying to climb
00:19:05
down from the area and asking us what was happening. And we told them what we saw and the weapon
00:19:11
that we saw there, too, and he vanished fairly quickly. I don't think he was running, but, you know, with all the
00:19:17
commotion, we were more concerned about all the blood and the water and intestines floating and other people who
00:19:22
were severely bleeding. And so, then at that point, it was really just let's help the people who were hurt instead of
00:19:28
going to chase after the guy. Who saw the knife? At what point did you see a knife? Was there already chaos and
00:19:33
people that were injured? I saw the knife. Well, yeah, I saw the knife once it was um put into the male's
00:19:39
body. [music] He went in, and went down, and then that's when the intestines fell out. He
00:19:45
pulled the knife out. I saw people trying to swing and grab the knife or stop him, and that's when he just went
00:19:50
[music] and stabbed everybody. Okay, he was just poking people. And so, the the first male that you saw injured was one
00:19:57
with the stomach injury. Yes. Yeah, he did walk up first, and I think he must have saw the knife first
00:20:03
cuz he did walk up to the hospital, but I understand if he did see a knife here coming at a group of teenagers, I could
00:20:09
understand that. Did you see the other people wounded? I mean, like, did you see the physical action that the other
00:20:16
male did to wound the other people? Yeah, three of them I think. It was three of them. Three of them I
00:20:21
did see. They were also all the people who tried to [music] stop, put his hands out, don't do this,
00:20:26
and he just I just stabbed everybody who was in his way. Can you describe when the other people
00:20:32
were stabbed a little bit more? Do you have any more detail there on that? First, it
00:20:39
I did see the other guy swing. So, the one who was not as injured, he did like sort of swing at him, but that is when
00:20:46
he missed, he didn't hit him, and the guy did come around, and and then same for the girl, she like
00:20:51
came up and like tried to push him, but wasn't successful, didn't have enough reach, and he went right for her side,
00:20:58
right here, or one of these sides on the side right here, and stabbed her in the
00:21:01
stomach. And she was trying to walk away, and then she just dropped in the water and then we had a few a few
00:21:09
two. Based on both Ashley and Emma's story, Nikolai is painted as a cold-blooded killer who went on a
00:21:16
rampage after being confronted and stabbed anyone he could reach. But it seems Emma might have a bias in her
00:21:22
retelling of events. She recounts any attacks on Nikolai in an almost defeated way as if she's ashamed to admit the
00:21:29
story was rather double-edged at times. The teens were without a doubt wrong to some degree. It was unnecessary to gang
00:21:37
up on Nikolai so heavily and attack him helplessly while he fell to the ground. But was this enough reason to stab five
00:21:44
people in self-defense? The detectives will need to find more evidence to accurately figure this out. So with this
00:21:50
in mind, detectives take a different approach and interview Amanda, Nikolai's coworker, who went to the Apple River
00:21:57
alongside the same group [music] as Nikolai. I'll just start. It's my understanding
00:22:01
that you were coworkers with Nick. Yes, he works in the other building. Okay. And how long have you known Nick?
00:22:09
Uh we used started hanging out probably when his wife retired. Okay, so his wife used to work
00:22:15
here? Sandra or Sandy? Sandy, yep. She was a supervisor in the other building. I'll say 3 years. 3 years is when you
00:22:23
kind of started normally Yeah. hanging out. Yeah, lots of coworkers come over and she didn't invite coworkers over and
00:22:31
everybody's friends with him and everybody everybody's shocked. Right. So about Nick, your friendship with him,
00:22:39
what what do you know about him? Can you just kind of describe him, what do you know about him, his story, where he came
00:22:44
from, his history, what his likes are? Romania. Um he's just an outdoorsman, likes to
00:22:51
fish and being with fishing and just being outside and quiet. Just calm. Doesn't like a lot of
00:23:00
noise and chaos and but yeah, he's just a very calm, caring guy who would help whenever we needed help
00:23:10
with something that would break down, he'd come over and to fix it or help Ernest to fix
00:23:16
something and just always helping out, always helping people. Yeah. Can you kind of just describe the
00:23:23
day from there? Yeah, we just got there and we got everybody together and went and got our
00:23:29
stuff and we started setting up the tubes and just got in and started going. And then Sandy
00:23:39
kind of looked and said Nick's Nick's in trouble, Nick's in trouble. And I was still sitting and they Nick's
00:23:46
in trouble, somebody help him, somebody help. And then I got up. I'm looking. I never
00:23:51
saw Nick down there. I never saw any of our group down there. And I never saw Nick down there and I'm
00:23:59
just looking and just see people just going every which way. I didn't see any blood or anything.
00:24:05
And I just I'm like, what's going on? Is a big fight going on? And then I I was handed a phone. I think Tatiana called
00:24:13
the police. But she handed me the phone. And I'm like, there's something going on. We're at the Apple River and there's
00:24:18
something happening. There's a fight. There's I don't know what's going on. And I think I was repeating myself. And
00:24:24
then she hung up. And after that, Nick came back. And I just looked at him and I'm like,
00:24:31
what happened? He's like they called me a file. They took my snorkel. They attacked me. They threw me
00:24:38
on the ground and were assaulting attacking me. And I'm like I thought there was some kind of fight
00:24:45
going on and maybe he kind of bumped into them. I did see the kid on the on the side. I thought maybe he knocked his
00:24:53
head or maybe got water in him. I didn't know anything about the stabbing or anything at that time.
00:25:00
He just He looked like kind of stunned and shocked. And then he I think he sat down. He
00:25:06
didn't say another word. He didn't say nothing, and everybody's just like looking around.
00:25:11
I see the police. The police are here. So, let's just wait and see. Maybe they want to talk to Nick because he was part
00:25:17
of the the thing. If I knew If I knew then what I know now, we would not have gone down that river.
00:25:29
I would've been like, "You Something happened. You've got to go." If I saw something really
00:25:37
If I thought that he did something or I saw it, I'd be like, "What do you You got to go. You got to"
00:25:42
And I thought he would even like stop and say, "Hey, something happened. I have to go." I
00:25:48
would think he would've said something like that. And And we're all there, and it's
00:25:56
it's terrible for us cuz now we're getting all this crap. People I don't know. I got a phone call
00:26:04
this morning, and it was nobody on the line. It's I'm We're all scared. This is an important
00:26:12
interview for detectives. Someone from Nikolai's group, shocked and disgusted by his actions that day, not only has
00:26:19
everyone who witnessed the scene that day painted him out to be a monster, but his own co-worker has, too. Police now
00:26:26
have a mountain of evidence against Nikolai, but decide to talk to one final person, Larion, who reveals what
00:26:33
actually happened leading up to the stabbing. Is there anything else you can think of
00:26:38
about, um, you know, what you saw? Like, you know, some things that would be important to us is like,
00:26:44
you know, like, uh, if you saw who pushed the guy, if you saw anyone else with the knife, if you saw anything like
00:26:51
that. Well, the the One of the boys who got stabbed, he was telling us that the dude he was
00:26:58
on came up to them and asked them for like pictures like um explicit pictures. And
00:27:05
and I'm like I'm like what? And then y'all got to fighting and I guess they got to fighting. He said yeah then they
00:27:10
got to stabbing them. So And he asked them for or this is one of the guy who's got [music] actually
00:27:16
got stabbed. Okay. got stabbed. He said that the That's what That's what happened. The dude was
00:27:21
asking them for explicit pictures of the girls that they was with. So I I guess from there it was like what you
00:27:29
doing? They got to altercation. They must have put their hands on him and then he retaliated by by slashing them.
00:27:37
This claim [music] backs up why he was being called a file on the phone recording. If this is true, then the
00:27:43
story makes a whole lot more sense. Nikolai approached the females asking for explicit photos. The females being
00:27:49
mostly underage declined and Maddie confronted Nikolai on the matter potentially putting her hands on him in
00:27:55
the process. That's when he punched Maddie in the face and all hell broke loose. A man then punched Nikolai
00:28:01
knocking him down prompting him to stab anyone who tried to approach him again. A common opinion stated in unrecorded
00:28:08
interviews was that Nikolai allegedly thought the teens on the tubes stole his missing phone which prompted him to
00:28:14
attack the teens. This is largely confirmed in the phone recording as well. As we can see Nikolai searching
00:28:19
around the area and pushing the group's tubes around. Detectives would go on to interview countless more witnesses all
00:28:25
with the same general story. Nikolai harassed the group of teens and when confronted went on a cold-blooded
00:28:31
rampage. But still people lie. Those who were friends with anyone injured at the
00:28:36
scene would obviously remain biased towards the side against Nikolai and could keep out any information that
00:28:42
didn't get caught on the phone recording. So with that they sit Nikolai himself down and prepare to confront
00:28:48
Nikolai on the piles of evidence they've racked up against him [music] and determine whether or not all of these
00:28:53
stories are true. And and I understand you're married to Andy. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Is she okay? She is. Yeah, she I
00:29:00
did talk to her. I talked to her for quite a while. I brought her to get dry clothes. Where is she? Where is she?
00:29:06
She is with her husband Andy. Pinky? My puppy? She's headed home to take care of the dog.
00:29:13
So, I would like to ask questions about what you did today, what happened, you know, like how you how you guys got to
00:29:19
be in the Apple River today, and then like what your day was like. All I can say is it was a really bad It was
00:29:25
self-defense. Self-defense is allowed for people. They came on to me. Self-defense and they produced two
00:29:32
weapons. One I took from them. This would be the start of Nikolai's string of lies during this interview. Nikolai
00:29:38
did bring the knife he used to stab the victims. He brought it specifically so he could cut rope while on the river.
00:29:44
After the stabbings, Nikolai threw the knife into the river, which was later retrieved. That's the only thing I can
00:29:50
tell. And they were they hit me and they were on top of me and that's I don't remember anything after that. I just
00:29:57
remember I ran away. I ran away to my to my group There were actually people coming over from my group to see
00:30:04
what was going on. I said, "Nothing, nothing, nothing. Just get back." And and they kept asking and I said,
00:30:09
"Nothing, nothing." I didn't explain to them anything because I was I was I was so fearful. I didn't know what these
00:30:15
people would be doing to us. I've never been in a situation like this where people produce weapons and they
00:30:22
were saying they were calling um Don't I I don't remember, but they said, "Don't run away Don't don't run from us.
00:30:31
Don't do this. You're a You're a dish." And Yes, they were People are drunk or you're That's the
00:30:40
The thing I remember in my mind is if I'm should you be drinking? Should you be drinking alcohol and and
00:30:49
doing what you're doing to people that you don't even know, attacking them? And I said
00:30:54
if if I'm you shouldn't be having alcohol. You know? And and they took my I was snorkeling, so they took my snorkel
00:31:04
away. They threw it in the water. [music] They grabbed my pants. One wanted to pull my pants down and I grabbed onto
00:31:10
him. And I don't know who that kid was, but he produced He had a knife on him. And then there
00:31:17
was another knife, a longer knife. Looked like a kitchen knife. This is true. There was in fact an additional
00:31:24
knife at the scene. It's unclear if that knife was pulled out at any point during
00:31:27
the altercation, but at no point was the knife used to stab anyone. And I don't know what happened to either one of
00:31:32
them. I just know that I I when the kid attacked me, I took that from him. The kitchen knife or the other
00:31:38
one? No, the small the smaller knife. Okay, what did that knife look like? Do you remember?
00:31:42
really remember. But it was smaller? Smaller, yes. So that's all I How did you get to be by them? Or who
00:31:51
are these people? So I I had lost his phone. Okay. Phone was in the floor. What are those bags that
00:31:56
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And everyone had one, but his phone was in the floor there, so he says, "Well, let's go look
00:32:01
for it." So I put put my snorkel on and I looked and these guys found something and
00:32:06
they're talking about it. And then I said, "Okay This group of people? These were the people.
00:32:09
there. I went over and I said, "Did you guys find the phone? And if you did, can
00:32:14
[clears throat] I see it? Can I identify it?" And they started calling me names.
00:32:17
They got off of their tubes. They came at me. So I I said, "All I need And they're calling me all kinds of
00:32:24
names, insulting me for being in the water with the with a snorkel. And I said, "All I want, guys, did you find
00:32:31
the phone?" And I saw they had a they had found something. It seems rather ridiculous
00:32:37
that Nick would be called such specific things if he confronted them as kindly as he says he did. It's very clear he's
00:32:43
leaving something out of his story. Keep in mind at this point Nick has no idea the entire altercation was recorded, so
00:32:50
he likely thinks these stories being completely innocent seem plausible. They were looking desperately for my disco
00:32:57
and I know somebody found it, but I thought it was that group. They they came to me and they they grabbed my
00:33:02
snowboard and they threw it in the water. Well, the water was so fast it went under. So, I went out after it and
00:33:08
they started another group of mostly girls came over from from the other side yelling at me
00:33:14
and calling me sir and and something like that. And I I went back. I went I actually after
00:33:21
[clears throat] the distance of them, I didn't even I didn't even know I didn't even know what happened. Again, another
00:33:26
flat-out lie. The phone recording clearly shows Nick was the initial aggressor when he started pushing the
00:33:31
teens off their tubes. I didn't know that they they attacked me and I had I was in self-defense. I went into
00:33:37
self-defense mode and then I went over to my my group of people. That was it. And they asked me what happened and I
00:33:43
wouldn't tell them. I said I can't tell you. I let me calm down. Okay. I was I was
00:33:49
shocked, so nobody on that knew exactly what happened. The only thing they said said was you know somebody got
00:33:57
in an argument over there like Yep, let's just let's just leave that alone. Don't don't don't
00:34:04
don't go over there. And I said did you guys find something? And I thought they did.
00:34:09
And I I I know they did because they're hiding something from me. And and then I
00:34:13
went over there and they grabbed my snowboard, they threw it down, they they started they got off their their tubes,
00:34:19
they came after me, they pushed me, one of them hit me and then there was a girl
00:34:23
that came from here and hit me in the back of my head. And I was about right there. He said
00:34:29
right here? Yes, when she hit me, yeah. So, that's when the the female hit you? Yeah.
00:34:34
I mean, I feared for my life. To tell you the truth, when they started hitting me and and and putting
00:34:40
pointing a knife at me, and then another kid pointing a knife, I thought that was
00:34:44
it for me. Luckily, I took it from from the one of the young kids, and I think that's my
00:34:50
strong back. What did you do with it? I don't even know. Okay. I don't know. Absolutely, I don't know. Nikolay's
00:34:56
defense becomes extremely hard to believe when he constantly lies about the incident. Again, the knife used was
00:35:03
his. He did not take it from anyone. He pulled it from his own pocket and used it to stab five people. He threw it into
00:35:09
the lake in the hopes he could cover the incident up completely. Proof of this is
00:35:13
in his talks with police while being arrested, where he pretended he wasn't even near the scene of the crime. I
00:35:18
don't know how he got it back. I have absolutely no idea. Did you hit him? [clears throat] Like, did it did the
00:35:23
knife make contact with him? That I don't remember. He was so close. And one had it in his hand, so I took his hand,
00:35:29
and I bent and I [music] poked him with with his own hand. And then I I took it from his hand, and then I I went and
00:35:36
swung like this. So, I don't know who I hit. I just know I just know that I took the knife from from one of the
00:35:43
kids. The other one, I don't know what happened to him. I I didn't get hit. Um did you have a knife No. No,
00:35:49
absolutely Okay. But you have one with you today, right? The what? A knife to cut. How did that
00:35:56
I think it's in my car. Okay. Yeah. I think Did you drive it? Did you drive? Okay. Yeah.
00:36:02
Okay. So, um I I don't even know uh where it's at, to tell you the truth. Uh it may be
00:36:08
in one of the bags we had with us. It may have been in in um I I don't know. It maybe I left it put
00:36:14
it back in the car. Cuz I went back with a bunch of I had straps. I didn't want to pay for straps.
00:36:21
But this is the thing, is And why did they say "I don't want you to have straps"? They told me they said, "Yeah,
00:36:26
you have straps. You're a kid over there. You have straps, no problem." But they they the spring is free. So I said,
00:36:31
"Okay, I'll take the spring." You know, and then I took the straps back. So it was straps and puncture the Yeah.
00:36:38
[music] So I took I had a whole bag of straps that I took back to my car. Okay. And so
00:36:42
maybe the knife was the strap? Uh probably. Did Did you have any cuts or marks on
00:36:52
you? Have you had a chance to like look at your No. or photo or Yeah. Yeah, somebody was
00:36:57
telling me that I'm bleeding from my ear, from my left [music] ear. Who told you that?
00:37:01
Uh I think it was Amy. They said, "Nick, you're bleeding from your left [music] ear."
00:37:07
And I went like this and I went in the water and I cleaned it and I don't see any. Right. I I really I
00:37:12
don't know if you see any cuts but I don't I don't I don't. Yeah, but I don't know where that
00:37:16
where I was bleeding from my ear. This is a smart tactic used by the detective. By getting Nick to confirm he had no
00:37:22
injuries, the prosecution can use this as evidence to rule out self-defense. Nick claims Amy told him his ear was
00:37:29
bleeding but says himself that he didn't notice any blood. In addition, it takes
00:37:33
him seconds to recall who told him his ear was bleeding, meaning he could have just made the scenario up altogether.
00:37:41
Um [music] but Amy saw blood? I think she said, "You're bleeding from your ear, Nick."
00:37:51
And then I cleaned it and I said, "Look, there is nothing." Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know
00:37:57
if it was blood or if it was weeds [snorts] she saw. I have no idea. [music] We were like
00:38:04
She was on the other side and I was just Yeah, so she's over here, right? She's over here, yeah, right here. Oh, so
00:38:09
she's close to you. Amy's over here close to the shore? Yeah. Okay. with the natural right here.
00:38:14
And I was over here somewhere in the middle of this. [music] Okay. And you got back in And tube then?
00:38:20
What I happening? back in my own two feet. Okay. Notice how Nick feels the need to provide a
00:38:25
detailed description on this claim from Amy, but not for anything else. This is a common defense mechanism used by
00:38:31
someone lying. When they feel as though their claims aren't being taken as truth, they try and depict the scenario
00:38:36
in as much detail as possible to make it seem more authentic. Okay, so you took the smaller knife. From one of them. And
00:38:43
is that the one that you said that you kind of went Yes. Oh, I I was I was I was going like
00:38:47
this. I wanted I wanted out. You were coming at me. They were punching me and they they were
00:38:52
uh circling me and they they came really close. They were pushing me in the water. I didn't even know if I was
00:38:57
holding it right. I just grabbed it from him because he tried to poke me with it.
00:39:01
I feared for my life. Sounds like I was very shocked. I was extremely shocked. Is this you?
00:39:07
Yes. What do you think was happening at that time? They were doing they were fighting me.
00:39:12
They they pointed the knife at me. They pointed the knife at me. Nick thinks this photo will actually help his case,
00:39:17
but he's in for a rude awakening. Did you see anyone take this picture of you? No, God, no. I was I was actually very
00:39:24
very scared. I was very scared. I didn't know what to think. I didn't know what they
00:39:29
were doing and why. I mean, I understand they were drunk, but you guys got that drunk. We all get
00:39:35
drunk. We don't do that kind of stuff, especially at a family gathering like this. Family outing.
00:39:40
We don't do that kind of stuff. But I was very Do you see? I was very very scared. I didn't know what was going to
00:39:46
happen next. So, what happened? Can you tell me what happened? Yeah. Um [music] Four people went to the hospital with
00:39:59
injuries. Oh my god. And all of them were treated and released. I don't know. Not a very remorseful reaction for
00:40:06
someone who's just learned he killed someone and injured four others. It's almost like he fully knew that he
00:40:11
critically injured multiple people. I don't know any of their names and I don't know any genders, so I I don't
00:40:17
know Was that because they fought each other, or is that the I don't know. I don't know what
00:40:21
their injuries are. I I just I was with Sandy the whole time, and then when I kind of turned Sandy over to Ernesto and
00:40:27
Amy, then I came here. I I have no idea what their injuries were. Oh my god. Oh my god.
00:40:34
[clears throat] What other pictures did they give you or me? Just that one. That's the only one I
00:40:45
have. [music] No, my whole life they've done the two. Well, I don't I don't know if that's the
00:40:52
case. Because people have the right to defend themselves. I know, but this is Well,
00:40:57
this is Wisconsin. This is Wisconsin. Okay. They continue on. I I I usually know that people that
00:41:06
defend themselves, they end up being accused of being this and being that. Well, I think if you'd asked me what I
00:41:16
would have done, Yeah, I would I don't know. Yeah, you don't know. I don't know. I would have been scared
00:41:21
shitless, I can tell you that. Why don't you call that many people and try to pull your pants down and hit you and
00:41:26
yeah. And you would do do both at knives on them. They didn't find any of those two
00:41:32
knives? I I don't know. I don't know, but we're looking. And you know, that we're looking before it gets dark out.
00:41:38
Um I'm glad that Cassidy took that kid's knife. He would have stabbed me. He was not there to scare me. He was
00:41:46
there to harm me. Again, notice how every time a knife gets brought up, Nick feels the need to
00:41:51
elaborately explain that he took the knife and whoever had it was trying to hurt him. This is all a deflection
00:41:57
tactic to try and make his lie seem less suspicious. Nick would take blood vitals, and the interview would
00:42:02
conclude. But notice his difference in tone between the start and the end of the interrogation. Clearly, he feels
00:42:08
like something went wrong.