00:00:06
NARRATOR: In the United
States of America, some of the world's deadliest
criminals are behind bars.
00:00:13
Locked up in a Nebraska
prison is notorious murderer Erica Jenkins. JAKE WASIKOWSKI: Erica Jenkins
is a cold-blooded killer,
00:00:21
whether it was setting up
somebody to get murdered or actually pulling
the trigger herself.
00:00:26
NARRATOR: As Erica
and family members went on a killing
spree, she used her charms to ensnare victims.
00:00:34
LINA HAJI: She lured them
with promises of sex. PAUL LOPEZ: Erica
removed her 0.357
00:00:39
Magnum revolver and shot
Curtis in the back of the head. TEMPERANCE IVORY: What she's
doing to people is not normal.
00:00:45
She's possessed. JAKE WASIKOWSKI:
A 33-year-old mother of three shot to death in the street.
00:00:52
The brutality
of these murders was just so beyond comprehension. NARRATOR: A killer
on the outside, Erica
00:00:59
is just as dangerous in prison. JAKE WASIKOWSKI: Erica
Jenkins tackled and clawed
00:01:04
at a corrections officer. Chunks of her hair
were pulled out. PAUL LOPEZ: With
a broomstick, she
00:01:11
then assaulted one of the COs
by striking him in the head. JAKE WASIKOWSKI: Erica
beat Bordeaux with a steel
00:01:16
padlock inside of a sock. They could hear Erica
say, hey, they should have let me finish that bitch off.
00:01:23
PAUL LOPEZ: She
thrives in chaos. LINA HAJI: She acts
like an absolute rageful, psychopathic maniac.
00:01:33
There's nothing
about Erica that says that she's a human being. [theme music] JAKE WASIKOWSKI: The Nebraska
Correctional Center for Women
00:02:08
is the state's only
security facility that houses adult women. It has about 275 beds
and houses maximum, medium, and
00:02:17
minimum security prisoners. NARRATOR: Harriet Fox
knows the brutal reality of life on the cell
block, having
00:02:26
worked as a correctional
officer for nearly 18 years in male and female jails. HARRIET FOX: Female inmates
were actually harder to deal
00:02:34
with than male inmates. They are more about
control and manipulation. The only one-on-one attack
that I was involved with
00:02:46
was with a female inmate. She tried to strangle me. Female inmates can be as
dangerous and violent as men.
00:02:56
NARRATOR: Held in the Nebraska
Correctional Center, killer Erica Jenkins is
a female inmate that's
00:03:03
as violent as they come. [stirring music] JAKE WASIKOWSKI: Erica
is a danger to anybody
00:03:14
who crosses her, whether
it's an inmate or a corrections officer. If anybody makes her mad,
you don't know if you
00:03:21
could be next on her list. PAUL LOPEZ: Since
she's been in jail, she's committed
multiple assaults,
00:03:26
including on her own cousin. She enjoys violence. She will continue to hurt
people if you put her
00:03:33
in a position where she can. TEMPERANCE IVORY: I
believe that if they released her from prison, she
would wreak havoc on the world.
00:03:44
[stirring music] NARRATOR: Erica Jenkins was
born on February 7, 1990 into a notorious criminal
family in the city of Omaha.
00:04:07
JAKE WASIKOWSKI: My name
is Jake Wasikowski. I was a reporter
in Omaha, where I covered the Erica
Jenkins cases, as well
00:04:12
as all of her family members. The Jenkins family
and the community was perceived as a family that
you didn't want to mess with.
00:04:19
Erica Jenkins grew
up in North Omaha with her siblings, her brother,
as well as her sisters.
00:04:26
Her mother, Lori,
raised them there. Their father had died
when they were younger.
00:04:31
They were raised in poverty. They did what they
could to get by, and oftentimes it meant
committing crimes to do that.
00:04:41
LINA HAJI: Erica Jenkins, being
born into a notorious crime family in Nebraska,
really sets the tone
00:04:48
for the rest of her life
in the sense that she's not going to be disciplined,
so to speak,
00:04:55
if she does something illegal. She's not going to be
nurtured or guided in a pro-social manner
because the entire family
00:05:04
is anti-social. JAKE WASIKOWSKI:
Her brother more or less spent most of his
young adult life
00:05:11
in jail or in prison. This was really a difficult
situation to be brought up in.
00:05:19
NARRATOR: In 2006,
aged just 16, Erica followed firmly
in the family's footsteps
00:05:25
when she was sentenced
to five years in jail for attempted robbery
and possession with intent
00:05:32
to deliver cocaine. LINA HAJI: I think
it's interesting that the Jenkins
family didn't really
00:05:38
discriminate between
the boys and the girls within the family. The girls are expected to be
just as criminally-minded, just
00:05:47
as manipulative, just
as egomaniacal and self-serving as the boys are. But by the time she's 16,
she's already displayed
00:05:56
criminal versatility. And she's got robbery,
she's got drug dealing, she's already been violent.
00:06:01
So this is not
somebody who's just, you know, doing
petty theft to kind of meet their financial needs.
00:06:07
This is more than that. NARRATOR: In February
2011, Erica, now 21, was released from prison.
00:06:15
She appeared to stay out of
trouble for the next few years, despite moving back to live
with her criminal family
00:06:22
in Omaha. JAKE WASIKOWSKI: Back
in the early 2010s, Omaha is a vibrant city. It's always been
a safe city to live in.
00:06:29
People know where
the crime happens. It's pretty much
in the poorer neighborhoods
00:06:36
of North Omaha, and sometimes
South Omaha as well. The Jenkins family wasn't
that well-known to the public
00:06:43
until the summer of 2013. [stirring music] NARRATOR: Erica's brother
Nikko was released from prison,
00:06:54
having served nearly 10
years for carjacking, and then for assaults he
committed while in prison.
00:07:00
Just two weeks
later, his freedom would be the catalyst for a
terrifying series of crimes.
00:07:09
JAKE WASIKOWSKI: Nikko
Jenkins needs money, so he enlists the help
of his sisters,
00:07:12
where they then go over
to Christine Bordeaux's house, their cousin, to try to get her
to help them go rob someone.
00:07:19
LINA HAJI: You don't want
to stereotype people, but when you look
at Nikko Jenkins,
00:07:22
he's exactly what you
look like when you think of an intimidating criminal. He has the face tattoos,
he has the muscles,
00:07:28
he has the posturing. And so I think Erica
probably looked up to that and wanted to somehow
get to that level.
00:07:36
She didn't have
a father in her life, so Nikko was probably
her only male role model.
00:07:43
PAUL LOPEZ: He,
his sister Erica, along with Christine
Bordeaux, devised this plan.
00:07:48
Their objective was to locate a
victim that they could rob, and lure that victim
into a location to allow
00:07:57
them to take their money. NARRATOR: Erica, Christine,
and Nikko prepared to put their plan into action.
00:08:08
It was a hot summer's
evening in Omaha, and two men, Jorge Cajiga-Ruiz
and Juan Uribe-Pena
00:08:15
were on a night out. JAKE WASIKOWSKI:
Juan Uribe-Pena was a 26-year-old single
man who was a church-goer.
00:08:26
And his friend, 29-year-old
Jorge Cajiga-Ruiz was married with children. Juan and Jorge were
out to have a good time
00:08:35
at one of the local
clubs in South Omaha. NARRATOR: In the club,
Juan and Jorge met
00:08:40
up with another male friend. While they were there,
the three men met Erica Jenkins
00:08:46
and Christine Bordeaux. PAUL LOPEZ: A plan
was developed to go back to one of their
apartments with the girls
00:08:55
to continue to socialize. Here, the third
subject had left to go buy additional
alcoholic beverages.
00:09:03
At this point, Erica
began to call Nikko. [phone ringing] NARRATOR: Rather
than wait for Juan
00:09:10
and Jorge's friend
to come back, Erica and Christine
persuaded the two men to drive them to a liquor
store to get more alcohol.
00:09:19
JAKE WASIKOWSKI: And so they
all left the apartment, heading to the store. Nikko Jenkins then
follows in a car.
00:09:26
PAUL LOPEZ: They never
made it to the store. Christine Bordeaux gave wrong
directions to the driver.
00:09:33
JAKE WASIKOWSKI:
And then they're seen on surveillance
video pulling into a Spring Lake
park's entrance
00:09:39
where that's a dead end. Once there, in the Spring
Lake parking lot, that's when Nikko signals
Erica and Christine
00:09:47
to get out of the way. He goes in to rob the men,
but he ends up shooting them both in the head.
00:09:54
[ominous music] PAUL LOPEZ: Shortly thereafter,
on CCTV, you only see now one car exiting the park.
00:10:11
LINA HAJI: Erica has
already been convicted of attempted robbery. But what's interesting
about this,
00:10:16
it's not just that she's
escalated to robbery. This is somebody who now
is capable of planning and
00:10:25
calculating crimes in advance. NARRATOR: After
the shooting, the group drove 6 miles across state lines.
00:10:36
They arrived at a motel
in the neighboring city of Council Bluffs. They parked up, and Erica
was spotted at 3:40 AM.
00:10:45
PAUL LOPEZ: She was
in the parking lot attempting to fix one of the tail
lights on her vehicle
00:10:50
when a patrol officer
drove by and thought it to be somewhat suspicious. NARRATOR: The officer
noted Erica's plate,
00:10:59
but carried on his way. A few hours later,
the bodies of Jorge and Juan were discovered.
00:11:10
JAKE WASIKOWSKI: I
remember the morning that they were found vividly. Hearing the news of two men
shot dead in Spring Lake park,
00:11:17
knowing that that's
a place where kids play, people ride their bikes
through there.
00:11:23
That's what was kind
of the shocking value of it. How could these
men be so brutally
00:11:30
shot and killed right in the
parking lot of that park? It's in South Omaha, which is
heavily Hispanic populated.
00:11:38
The South Omaha community
reacted with shock. NARRATOR: As the police went to
inform the victims' loved ones,
00:11:46
Erica Jenkins was already
eyeing up her next victim. [ominous music] LINA HAJI:
If your brother goes ahead
00:11:57
and murders two people
in front of you, you would think that would
absolutely traumatize you or
00:12:02
scare you, or have you
screaming and running and looking for refuge
or guidance, or
00:12:07
maybe even calling the police. On the contrary,
what it ends up doing is giving Erica a taste, not
just for witnessing murder,
00:12:16
but now she wants
to commit murder. NARRATOR: Erica had set her
sights on 22-year-old Curtis
00:12:24
Bradford, who
came from the same neighborhood of North Omaha. TEMPERANCE IVORY:
My name is Temperance,
00:12:33
and I am Curtis's
foster sister. We grew up pretty rough. Both of our mothers were
on drugs, which ultimately led
00:12:41
to us being in foster care. NARRATOR: When they were young,
Temperance and her brother
00:12:48
were placed with
the same foster family as Curtis Bradford. TEMPERANCE IVORY: We always
were close because we only
00:12:56
had each other to lean on. We were the foster kids
of somebody else's family, you know, so we really
stuck out like a sore thumb.
00:13:03
We lived in a home
where our foster mother idolized her biological kids. NARRATOR: The first time
Temperance became aware
00:13:12
of Erica Jenkins was
when they were kids. TEMPERANCE IVORY: We went
to middle school together.
00:13:18
She was the type
of girl that you just wanted to stay away from. Always bullying people.
00:13:24
She just seemed like
the high school bully. She was the type of girl
that I was glad I didn't have
00:13:29
any classes with, you know. She just screams drama. Her energy is
just very demonic.
00:13:35
[ominous music] NARRATOR: Temperance
and Curtis also face dramas in their local neighborhood.
00:13:49
TEMPERANCE IVORY:
24th and Camden was the street that we were from. It was also a gang territory.
00:13:56
And it was neighbors
to multiple gang territories, so we grew up in a very
rough neighborhood.
00:14:03
Curtis started to get
into his adolescence. I think he started to position
himself to be down the street
00:14:09
with the guys. Eventually, he joined the gang. And I think that Curtis
wanted to belong somewhere.
00:14:17
He wanted to be
a part of the crew. NARRATOR: In 2009, aged 18,
Curtis was convicted of robbery
00:14:26
and given a sentence
of five years. It was while he
was in prison he met Nikko Jenkins, Erica's
brother, for the first time.
00:14:39
TEMPERANCE IVORY: Him
and Nikko became friends. From my understanding,
Nikko gave
00:14:43
Curtis a certain protection. Nikko was allied to him
while he was in jail. NARRATOR: When Curtis
Bradford was released
00:14:55
from prison aged 22,
he was determined to make a fresh start
and enrolled in school.
00:15:03
JAKE WASIKOWSKI: Once Curtis
was released from prison, he really wanted
to better himself
00:15:06
and not end up back
in that situation. TEMPERANCE IVORY: Curtis didn't
smoke, he didn't do drugs,
00:15:12
and he didn't drink. NARRATOR: Now that
Curtis was out of prison, Temperance wanted
to make up for lost time.
00:15:19
TEMPERANCE IVORY: Honestly,
we spent every day together, just about-- even when I moved all
the way across town,
00:15:24
I would still come
to the neighborhood every day. Curtis was the person that drew
everybody to our neighborhood.
00:15:32
It was like a family. And Curtis was the glue. But where we're from,
most of the time
00:15:40
when people try to make
it out, that's when the devil comes and strikes. NARRATOR: Curtis had been
out of prison for six months
00:15:48
when Nikko Jenkins
was released. TEMPERANCE IVORY: Curtis was
very excited about Nikko.
00:15:54
He really thought that
he was his friend. NARRATOR: Curtis met up with
Nikko Jenkins on his return.
00:16:02
But Nikko's sister, Erica, was
far less welcoming of Curtis. She didn't really know him,
but knew of his previous
00:16:10
gang affiliation. JAKE WASIKOWSKI:
Erica Jenkins did not like Curtis Bradford
because he was
00:16:15
part of the Camden block gang. She had suspected
somebody from Camden block had actually shot up
her house previously.
00:16:23
TEMPERANCE IVORY:
Something happened to where they shot up
Erica's mom's house, and Curtis knew nothing about
it because he was, of course,
00:16:29
incarcerated at the time. But he was guilty
by association. PAUL LOPEZ: Erica was offended
that her brother Nikko allowed
00:16:40
Curtis into their house. TEMPERANCE IVORY:
Once Erica made it known that she was
in disgust of Curtis
00:16:47
being around Nikko,
I think that's when she used her influence
to convince him that Curtis was a liability.
00:16:57
And it wasn't really
about the beef, it was just about her wanting
to make a name for herself.
00:17:02
She wanted to be
what you consider a Nebraska hood legend. And she thought that
she could achieve
00:17:10
that by taking Curtis out. I don't think Curtis had a clue
that she was setting him up.
00:17:20
NARRATOR: With
Nikko on the side, Erica set her plan
in motion by getting her brother to ask Curtis
to go on a job with him.
00:17:32
JAKE WASIKOWSKI: On the night
of August 18, 2013, Curtis Bradford agreed
to go with Nikko Jenkins
00:17:37
to perform a lick, to go
out and rob some people. When you're in the situation
in North Omaha struggling
00:17:44
to make ends meet,
he ultimately had to fall into that
situation again to try to do anything
he could to make
00:17:51
sure that he could get by. TEMPERANCE IVORY: This
was his friend from jail, so he didn't want
to disappoint.
00:17:57
I remember seeing him down
the street with Nikko. They were dressed in black. I didn't question it at all.
00:18:04
I just thought he was just
going out with his friends, spending time with
his friends, you know.
00:18:10
NARRATOR: Nikko and Curtis
were joined by Erica Jenkins. Curtis was likely unaware
that the brother and
00:18:18
sister duo were involved
in a double homicide just days earlier. JAKE WASIKOWSKI: Erica, m and
Curtis, just before midnight,
00:18:26
they jumped into a car
and went to the area of 18th and Clark streets. Nikko told all of them
to take batteries
00:18:32
out of their cell
phones so they couldn't be tracked by police. After that, Erica, Nikko,
and Curtis Bradford
00:18:39
hopped out of the vehicle. PAUL LOPEZ: Nikko was using
a sawed-off 12-gauge shotgun.
00:18:47
Erica was carrying a 0.357
Magnum revolver, and Curtis chose a 9-millimeter rifle.
00:18:56
Once they were out
of sight, Erica removed her 0.357 Magnum
revolver and shot Curtis
00:19:02
in the back of the head. Almost instantly after
that, Nikko also shot Curtis in the back of the head,
except with a 12-gauge shotgun.
00:19:14
[ominous music] JAKE WASIKOWSKI: Nikko
ran back to the car while Erica searched
for Bradford's rifle
00:19:22
under the weight of his body. She grabbed the gun covered
in brain matter and blood,
00:19:27
and jumped back into the front
passenger seat of the vehicle. LINA HAJI: This is where
there's a change in the family
00:19:34
dynamic because Nikko has
this big, bad reputation, and Nikko is known
as a horrible, violent killer.
00:19:41
But Erica is just
as bad, if not worse. Erica is good at this. She's good at manipulating.
00:19:47
She's good at lying. She's good at having people
do what she wants them to do. And so she sets up
this fake robbery,
00:19:54
and then both her
and her brother shoot Curtis in the head. And this is her first kill.
00:20:00
So now, who's in charge? Is it Nikko or is it Erica? Because Erica had her brother
basically kill his own friend.
00:20:08
Curtis is disposable
because Erica says so. What does friendship
mean to the Jenkins?
00:20:13
[scoffs] Nothing. TEMPERANCE IVORY: That
night when I went to sleep, I had the worst nightmare.
00:20:22
I had the worst nightmare. And I just remember waking up
to my foster mom calling me
00:20:28
and telling me
that he was gone. And I knew that that dream had
something to do with his death.
00:20:38
We were devastated. PAUL LOPEZ: The next
morning, Curtis's body was discovered
in a seated position
00:20:48
with his head between his legs. JAKE WASIKOWSKI:
Investigators then found a spent shotgun
shell, known as a deer slug,
00:20:57
in the soil next to the body. NARRATOR: Police took
the shell away for examination.
00:21:07
JAKE WASIKOWSKI:
All we knew was that there was a murder
in South Omaha with two
00:21:11
Hispanic males
and a murder in North Omaha with an African-American
male found shot dead.
00:21:17
Police hadn't put
together or figured out that these murders were
connected in any way,
00:21:22
so a lot of people
in the other parts of Omaha where these murders were
happening weren't too worried.
00:21:29
It wasn't until days
later when another killing happened that everybody
started to panic.
00:21:39
NARRATOR: It was approaching
2:00 AM at an intersection in Northwest Omaha. PAUL LOPEZ: Nikko Jenkins
pulled a young lady out
00:21:48
of her SUV who was
driving home from work and proceeded to shoot her
four times before stealing
00:21:57
and speeding off in her SUV. NARRATOR: His victim was
33-year-old Andrea Kruger,
00:22:04
who was driving home from her
job as a bartender in the early hours of the morning.
00:22:09
JAKE WASIKOWSKI: This is
where the panic really set in for the entire city. It wasn't just South
Omaha or North Omaha.
00:22:17
This is a mother of three
in a well-off part of Omaha, found just completely
discarded, shot in the face,
00:22:25
and just left
in the middle of the road. NARRATOR: As all of the victims
were gunned down and
00:22:30
left for dead out
in the open, police now believe the three
recent shootings in the city
00:22:35
were linked. And it seemed anybody
could be a target. JAKE WASIKOWSKI: The killing
of this mother of three
00:22:41
is really what forced Omaha
Police and investigators to track down whoever did
this, because these killings
00:22:47
were now becoming random. They were crossing
geographical, racial, and economic lines.
00:22:54
NARRATOR: Andrea
Kruger's car was found abandoned 12 miles away. CCTV collected from the route
the stolen vehicle took
00:23:03
from the murder site
to where it ended up revealed the driver
to be Nikko Jenkins.
00:23:09
The ballistics
report had also come back on the shotgun shell found
by Curtis Bradford's body.
00:23:16
PAUL LOPEZ: Further
investigation revealed that that particular
brand of shotgun shell
00:23:21
was only sold at one
store in the area. Transaction records, as well
as surveillance footage
00:23:30
pointed directly
to Lori Jenkins, the mother of Nikko and Erica. NARRATOR: Lori Jenkins had
bought the shotgun shells,
00:23:41
as well as the 9-millimeter
ammunition used by her son and daughter in the killings
of Jorge Cajiga-Ruiz,
00:23:48
Juan Uribe-Pena, Curtis
Bradford, and Andrea Kruger. JAKE WASIKOWSKI:
Bradford's family
00:23:55
told detectives that Curtis was
with Nikko Jenkins the night he was murdered. There was even a photo
posted online of Curtis and
00:24:02
Nikko throwing up gang signs. TEMPERANCE IVORY: The night
that they set him up, his last picture that he
ever took was with Nikko,
00:24:09
and they were celebrating. They looked like they
were having a good time. And Nikko was in the clothes
that he murdered him in.
00:24:18
NARRATOR: Police attention
intensified on members of the Jenkins family. JAKE WASIKOWSKI: After
the Northwest Omaha killing,
00:24:25
this is the first
time we actually hear the Jenkins family name
throughout the Omaha
00:24:29
metro area. First off, Erica's brother
is brought in, Nikko Jenkins. He's the one that's plastered
all over everybody's
00:24:36
television screen, with
tattoos all over his face. But then, individually,
the family members
00:24:42
are brought
in on unrelated charges so investigators could
put together their case.
00:24:48
NARRATOR: Erica Jenkins was
arrested on August 29, 2013. Brought to Douglas
County jail, she
00:24:56
proved to be a dangerous
prisoner from the get go. PAUL LOPEZ: Allegedly,
while in the booking area,
00:25:03
Erica assaulted an inmate,
28-year-old Jermaine Stuart. She did so by placing him
in a headlock and punching him.
00:25:14
NARRATOR: Erica was
restrained and put in a cell. HARRIET FOX: It is
more common for attacks
00:25:21
to happen in the booking
area of the facilities because lots of times, they
come in under the influence
00:25:27
of drugs or alcohol. NARRATOR: The charges
for the assault were dropped after
contrasting testimonies,
00:25:34
and a judge said Erica
had bigger fish to fry. Investigators were building
evidence for her involvement
00:25:41
in the robbery that led to the
murder of Jorge Cajiga-Ruiz and Juan Uribe-Pena. The third man who was
at the apartment that night,
00:25:50
identified two women fitting
the description of Erica and her cousin Christine
Bordeaux as being there.
00:25:56
PAUL LOPEZ: After
numerous search warrants, detectives were able to
retrieve Erica's phone records.
00:26:03
JAKE WASIKOWSKI: Erica
Jenkins made calls to her brother that was
confirmed by pinging
00:26:07
cell phone towers in the area. PAUL LOPEZ: Placing
Erica in the apartment just before the homicides.
00:26:16
NARRATOR: The most
damning evidence of all came when one of the family
broke under interrogation.
00:26:23
JAKE WASIKOWSKI: Nikko
and Erica's cousin, Christine Bordeaux, was the one
who started talking to police
00:26:27
and revealing all that had
happened during their killing spree in the summer of 2013.
00:26:33
NARRATOR: Erica was
charged first for her part in facilitating
the initial robbery that
00:26:38
turned into the murder of Jorge
and Juan in Spring Lake Park. She pleaded not guilty
in her own style.
00:26:47
JAKE WASIKOWSKI: So when Erica
was arraigned and charged, she was belligerent,
yelling at the judge.
00:26:50
She overturned
the lectern right in front of the judge's bench. She also hit and kicked one of
the officers that was escorting
00:26:58
her out of the courtroom. LINA HAJI: I think
Erica truly believes that she does not have
to face the consequences
00:27:06
of her actions. And because she's
such an egomaniac, she believes that everything
is everybody else's fault.
00:27:12
When Erica goes
on to plead not guilty, she's probably doing
this for a few reasons.
00:27:16
I think, number one, it will
prolong the court process. She gets more attention, she
gets to disrupt more people,
00:27:25
she gets more
of the court's resources. This is making it
all about Erica. She knows very well
that she's guilty.
00:27:32
But why would she plead guilty? She gets to be
the character in the drama, and that's all that she wants.
00:27:40
NARRATOR: The court case
for Erica's robbery charges came in September 2014. Her cousin, Christine Bordeaux,
testified against her.
00:27:53
JAKE WASIKOWSKI:
Ultimately, Erica was found guilty of two felony
counts of robbery in connection
00:27:57
to the deaths of Juan
Uribe-Pena and Jorge Cajiga-Ruiz. [stirring music] NARRATOR: Awaiting sentencing
for these convictions,
00:28:12
Erica was held
in Douglas County jail. HARRIET FOX: Jail
separated female and male.
00:28:19
When women are arrested
and incarcerated, they go to an all-women's
facility. They stay there while
they're going to trial.
00:28:29
And if they get convicted
of a crime where they get sentenced
to a lot of time, then they get
transferred to prison.
00:28:38
In my experience,
the female jail was not as violent
as the male facility, but women can be violent.
00:28:47
NARRATOR: Erica
Jenkins continued to be a dangerous prisoner. JAKE WASIKOWSKI:
In the Douglas County jail
00:28:55
where she was being held,
Erica got permission to sweep out her cell with a broom.
00:29:02
PAUL LOPEZ: She swept near
where two correctional officers were with her back to them.
00:29:06
Now completely unprovoked, she
then assaulted one of the COs by striking him in the head,
injuring his forehead area.
00:29:15
During the struggle,
the second correctional officer also injured his knee. NARRATOR: The officers
eventually
00:29:21
managed to restrain Jenkins. PAUL LOPEZ: The correctional
officers were injured, however,
00:29:27
they didn't require medical
attention after the incident. LINA HAJI: Most people who end
up institutionalized, or end up
00:29:36
in jail or prison,
have an awareness that they are now
under the authority of the jail and the prison.
00:29:43
They might not like it,
but generally, inmates will do what they're
told to do because there
00:29:48
are consequences for that. Erica doesn't seem to fit
into that category. It seems almost
as if Erica is appalled
00:29:56
that she's incarcerated. That people are
telling her what to do, that she has
to clean her cell,
00:30:02
that she has to now adhere
to rules and regulations. She's incapable or absolutely
unwilling to take directives
00:30:08
from another human being. So for her to lash
out and attack correctional
officers with a broom
00:30:14
is completely
in character for her. It's your fault that
I'm incarcerated. My life is a living hell
because I'm incarcerated.
00:30:20
So I'm going to make your life
a living hell as well. NARRATOR: Two days
after the attack,
00:30:29
Erica Jenkins was back
in court to receive sentencing for her robbery convictions.
00:30:35
She was now also
charged with two counts of assault of the correctional
officers and use
00:30:41
of a deadly weapon. JAKE WASIKOWSKI:
Erica laughed when the judge arraigned her on
these assault charges, saying,
00:30:47
a broom can be deadly? as she chuckled. HARRIET FOX: Erica's comment
was mocking, but in my opinion,
00:30:55
anything can be considered
a deadly weapon, including a hand. NARRATOR: For Erica's
role in the robbery and
00:31:02
double homicide, the judge
went heavy on the punishment, giving her 30 to 50
years imprisonment.
00:31:12
JAKE WASIKOWSKI: When
Erica Jenkins was sentenced for robbing Juan
and Jorge, she said
00:31:16
that she felt like
she was being targeted and she was made
an example of because she
00:31:20
was the first of her family
to be sentenced in court. Erica said it's a cover
up, and that's what it is.
00:31:29
LINA HAJI: She's literally
incapable, or unwilling rather, to look at herself and take
accountability for her actions.
00:31:35
So when she has these
outbursts in court and blames the judge
for her sentence, it's because that's
who she is as a person.
00:31:43
She's going to say, the judge
is the messed up person for handing down the sentence.
00:31:48
She's incapable
or unwilling to see beyond that, to look at her
role in anything at all.
00:31:57
NARRATOR: Jenkins was sent
back to Douglas County jail, where she continued
to be a clear and
00:32:03
present danger to staff. JAKE WASIKOWSKI:
In September of 2014, Erica Jenkins
tackled and clawed
00:32:12
at a Douglas County
corrections officer because the officer had
told her that her recreation
00:32:17
time was over. The officer got
various scratches on parts of her face and head,
and even chunks of her hair
00:32:23
were pulled out. NARRATOR: This latest offense
against a correctional officer was added to Erica Jenkins'
already lengthy charge sheet.
00:32:34
On April 16, 2014,
her brother Nikko pled no contest
to the charges against him and was convicted
of four murders,
00:32:43
including that
of Curtis Bradford. He was sentenced to death. Erica's trial for her part in
the murder of Curtis Bradford
00:32:52
came the year after. [ominous music] JAKE WASIKOWSKI: The trial and
the murder of Curtis Bradford
00:33:03
was held here at the Douglas
County District Court. And it began in the start
of January 2015.
00:33:08
The feeling was very tense. I mean, you have Erica's
family there, as well as Curtis Bradford's
family, all
00:33:14
in the courtroom on each half. TEMPERANCE IVORY:
It really hit home when Curtis got murdered
because, like I said,
00:33:20
he was the one that
kept everybody together. You could tell, like,
the weeks after he died,
00:33:26
the neighborhood was so dry. Everybody was so sad. Curtis had a lot of friends. And just six months
of being out of jail,
00:33:35
he made the biggest impact
in everybody's life. NARRATOR: The trial did
not start well for Erica
00:33:42
when her sisters, Lori
Sayles and Melonie Jenkins, testified that Erica
admitted shooting Curtis.
00:33:50
TEMPERANCE IVORY: I didn't
really know the details. I didn't know that she was
ahead of the operation,
00:33:55
you know. So, initially, my focus was on
Nikko, until the details were spilled that she was
the reason why he got killed
00:34:03
and she set it up. JAKE WASIKOWSKI: It was
very difficult to sit with the family of the victims
throughout any of these trials,
00:34:13
and especially with Curtis
Bradford's mother in this one. Her son getting out of prison,
trying to not go back
00:34:21
there, but finding himself
in another bad situation. Ends up being killed
execution style--
00:34:29
not only once shot,
but twice shot. PAUL LOPEZ: It was learned
in the investigation
00:34:38
that Erica bragged
about killing Bradford. While she was bragging, Curtis
was laying dead in a pool
00:34:47
of his own blood. JAKE WASIKOWSKI:
The brutality of these crimes, seeing a person
that had been shot
00:34:54
in the head with
a sawed-off shotgun, is not pleasant at all. It is terrible
that family members
00:35:00
are having to sit
through this and see these crime scene photos. It was something I could
never imagine as a father
00:35:07
that a mother could go through
having to learn of somebody manipulating her son into
thinking that they're going
00:35:15
to go commit a crime to help,
you know, get some money, and then him having his
head blown off almost.
00:35:21
And then leaving him there,
pulling his hood over his head so nobody can see it.
00:35:26
And somebody's going to have
to find him in this state that he was in, crouched
behind a garage.
00:35:31
It's something no mother
should have to go through. NARRATOR: In court,
Erica Jenkins' behavior
00:35:38
only added to the pain
for Curtis's family. JAKE WASIKOWSKI:
The atmosphere was very tense
00:35:43
because you never knew
what Erica Jenkins was going to do next. She's always very
loud, very defiant.
00:35:49
One time during
questioning, she was even arguing back
and forth with a prosecutor
00:35:54
who wouldn't back down. It was very
confrontational every time she was either sitting
at the defense table
00:36:00
or on the witness stand. Erica tried to control court
proceedings, which can't happen
00:36:07
when you're the defendant. The judge having to shout
her down multiple times to get her to quiet
so the court could proceed.
00:36:15
NARRATOR: Erica's
antics certainly didn't convince the jury. JAKE WASIKOWSKI: It only
took the jury four hours
00:36:23
to find Erica Jenkins guilty
of first degree murder, use of a deadly weapon, and
possession of a deadly weapon.
00:36:30
Erica Jenkins is sentenced
to life in prison for the murder
of Curtis Bradford, plus 40 to 50 years extra
for each weapons charge.
00:36:37
She wasn't at her sentencing. She hung up
the phone immediately after she found out her fate.
00:36:44
LINA HAJI: What's interesting
is that during her sentencing, Erica denies having ever
known Curtis Bradford.
00:36:48
She says, I don't know him. I've never killed him. And then she inserts
in there, I'm a human being.
00:36:53
Which I find quite
interesting because, is she trying
to convince the court, or is she trying
to convince herself?
00:36:58
Because there's
nothing about Erica that says that
she's a human being. She acts like an absolute
rageful, psychopathic maniac.
00:37:08
I mean, she can shoot
a man in the head and still completely believe
that that's not her fault.
00:37:15
TEMPERANCE IVORY: As far
as the conviction, I felt like justice was
served when it came to Nikko.
00:37:20
Ultimately,
the state of Nebraska brought back the death
penalty, and Nikko got four
00:37:25
counts of the death penalty. I felt like justice
was not served with Erica because I
felt like she deserved
00:37:31
the same fate as Nikko. She had a major part in this. And she did just
as much dirt as he did.
00:37:38
And, obviously, her
being incarcerated hasn't stopped her from trying
to hurt people and harm people.
00:37:47
NARRATOR: After her
murder conviction, Jenkins was sent to the
Nebraska Correctional Center
00:37:52
for Women. It's unlikely staff
at Douglas County Jail were sorry to see her go with
her three previous attacks
00:38:02
against officers there. On June 1, 2015,
she was eventually handed another
seven years in total
00:38:09
on her sentence
for these assaults. In her new prison,
Jenkins remained an intimidating presence.
00:38:19
HARRIET FOX: There
are the hierarchy in female institutions, but it
differs from male institutions.
00:38:25
Females tend to be
on the hierarchy for the length of sentences and popularity. Male inmates are more
involved with gang politics.
00:38:38
Female inmates are more
attention-seeking and needy. LINA HAJI: This is definitely
the case with Erica.
00:38:46
Because as soon as Erica
is locked up, she decides, I'm going to face
incarceration not in a "quiet,
00:38:52
put my head down and do
my time" kind of way. She comes in there beating
on her chest, letting everybody
00:38:58
know, I'm in charge, I'm
in control, I'm dangerous, I'm violent, and you're
going to respect me.
00:39:04
Erica was the bully
back in high school, and now she's
the bully in prison. Nothing's changed, you
know, just the settings.
00:39:11
Nobody is off
limits when it comes to Erica's rage and violence. NARRATOR: Jenkins' cousin,
Christine Bordeaux,
00:39:21
was also at the Nebraska
Correctional Center, serving 20 years for her
role in the crimes.
00:39:27
There was an unexpected
family reunion when construction
at the prison meant inmates had to change cells.
00:39:35
JAKE WASIKOWSKI:
Erica's cousin, Christine Bordeaux,
who testified against Erica
in trial years before,
00:39:40
was put in the same
cell as Erica. HARRIET FOX: In my experience,
this does not happen.
00:39:48
Typically,
if somebody testifies against another
person, they are not placed in the same cell.
00:39:54
NARRATOR: It only took
three days to prove why this was a grave mistake. Erica Jenkins was not prepared
to let bygones be bygones.
00:40:03
JAKE WASIKOWSKI:
Jenkins enlisted the help of another inmate
on September 24 of 2016,
00:40:08
and they sat around
and waited for Bordeaux. PAUL LOPEZ: Erica
and the inmate helping her followed
Christine into the shower
00:40:18
and made sure she was alone. At that point, Erica began
violently assaulting Christine
00:40:26
with a padlock that had
been placed in a sock, striking her several times. And the inmate who
was assisting her
00:40:36
was kicking Christine. Erica made sure after
the attack to tell Christine, if anybody asks
or inquires as to how
00:40:46
she received the injuries,
to tell them she simply fell. [ominous music] JAKE WASIKOWSKI:
An inmate alerted a guard
00:40:56
to the condition of Bordeaux. The guards then
found her in her bed with her face in a towel.
00:41:01
She was responding
incoherently to the guard, but Erica told the guard
that Christine was fine.
00:41:09
Bordeaux was then
transported to the hospital. That's when they found that
she had multiple contusions
00:41:14
to her face and arms. She had a fractured finger,
she had fractured nasal bones,
00:41:19
and a concussion. When Bordeaux was
moved to another cell, they could hear Erica
say, hey, they should have
00:41:25
let me finish that bitch off. A judge added 20
to 40 more years on top of her original sentence
for the attack on her cousin.
00:41:35
NARRATOR: Multiple members
of the Jenkins family were imprisoned for their part
in the murder and
00:41:40
robbery spree of 2013,
along with Nikko, Erica, and Christine. Erica's mother,
Lori, was given 10
00:41:49
years for buying the ammunition
used in the four homicides. JAKE WASIKOWSKI: These killings
changed the family members
00:41:56
of the victims' lives forever. They were so random,
and yet they were committed in some
of the most brutal fashions
00:42:04
that we've ever seen in Omaha. And it's had a lasting
impact on this community. I don't think a single
person in Omaha
00:42:12
has forgotten
the Jenkins family name. NARRATOR: In 2021,
Erica Jenkins herself tried to leave her
name behind when
00:42:22
she officially changed
it to Elluminati Egoddess Enikko Prestige. TEMPERANCE IVORY: Honestly, who
thinks of something like that?
00:42:31
I mean, I guess she
has the time to come up with stuff like that. LINA HAJI: These are very
grandiose narcissistic names--
00:42:38
Elluminati Egoddess
Enikko Prestige. It's just, hi, I'm here, I'm
not getting enough attention.
00:42:44
And so I'm going
to need attention all the time, even when
you're just calling my name.
00:42:50
NARRATOR: She may
have changed her name, but Erica Jenkins couldn't
change her nature.
00:42:57
JAKE WASIKOWSKI: In 2024, Erica
Jenkins was convicted of second degree assault
on a 41-year-old individual
00:43:03
while incarcerated
at the Nebraska Correctional Center for Women. Erica Jenkins is a very violent
and evil person who shouldn't
00:43:11
be let out of prison. She played a role in helping
people get murdered, also being a murderer herself.
00:43:17
And she showed no remorse,
never saying that she was sorry for what she did. She's also continued to assault
people while in custody,
00:43:25
so she should never be let out. HARRIET FOX: Inmates
like Erica Jenkins should be housed in the maximum
security housing.
00:43:33
These inmates are
usually housed alone. It appears nothing will
stop Erica attacking others.
00:43:41
LINA HAJI: Erica
very much displays traits of narcissistic
personality disorder,
00:43:45
if not the full-blown
diagnosis. I think Erica Jenkins is
a particular kind of evil
00:43:51
because she absolutely
doesn't care that she's evil. She embraces that she's evil.
00:43:58
TEMPERANCE IVORY: There are
demons walking this Earth. And I believe that she is
possessed by one of them.
00:44:04
PAUL LOPEZ: You don't
reason with certain people. You don't reason with
animals or monsters.
00:44:11
You cage them. [ominous music] [theme music]