The murder of JoAnn Nichols
Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County, New York · 1985
Overview
JoAnn Nichols, 55, taught first grade at Gayhead Elementary School in Hopewell Junction, New York, and lived with her husband James in the Town of Poughkeepsie. She taught her last day before the winter break on December 20, 1985. The next day she missed a hair appointment and was reported missing. James told detectives he had last seen her when he left for work that morning and had found a typed note at home; her locked car was found at a nearby shopping center on December 22. The couple's only child had drowned three years earlier, and a detective said the note showed depression but was not a suicide letter. James later said she telephoned on Christmas Eve; police could not confirm the call and said he described it to them differently. Police reviewed the file every year and said James, who let detectives into the house at first, grew guarded; he was never ruled out. He died of natural causes in the house on December 27, 2012, aged 82. No relative claimed him, so Dutchess County buried him and hired a contractor to clear the house. On June 28, 2013 the contractor found a sealed plastic container behind a false wall in the basement. The medical examiner identified JoAnn by dental records: she had been struck in the head, her hands tied, her body wrapped in a sheet and plastic. Police reopened the case and said it was now safe to call James Nichols a suspect. He was never charged, because he was already dead.
How it was solved
In December 1985 Town of Poughkeepsie detectives had James Nichols's account: his wife had left a typed note, he had found her locked car at a shopping center the day after she vanished, and she had telephoned on Christmas Eve. A detective lieutenant told the Poughkeepsie Journal there was no evidence of foul play and that four detectives were on the case full time; months later a detective said the note showed a degree of depression but was not a suicide letter. Police could not confirm the Christmas Eve call, and said Nichols described it to them differently than he did to a reporter. The file stayed open and, the police chief said, was reviewed every year. Detectives Captain Paul Lecomte said Nichols let investigators into the home over the years and was open to questions for a while, then became reluctant and guarded; he was never ruled out. On December 27, 2012 neighbors who had not seen him for days called police, who found him dead inside at 82 of natural causes, the house packed with hoarded items and garbage. No relative claimed the body or the estate, so the county's commissioner of finance was appointed temporary administrator, the county buried him, and a contractor was hired to clear the house. On Friday, June 28, 2013 the contractor found a false wall in the basement and, behind it, a sealed plastic container large enough to hold a body. Dutchess County Medical Examiner Dr. Kari Reiber removed the remains and on Monday, July 1 matched them to dental records police had on file. She found the body skeletonized and consistent with a death about thirty years earlier, wrapped in a sheet and a plastic bag, tied with rope and placed in a fetal position, and ruled the death a homicide by blunt force trauma to the head; the sealed enclosure, she said, might have meant there was no odor even over a long time. Police reopened the case, sent new evidence to the laboratory, and Lecomte said it was now safe to say James Nichols was a suspect. Chief Thomas Mauro said the investigation would continue through further examination of the case and the new forensic evidence. The July 2013 reporting records no later official finding, and no one could be charged.
Sources
- Remains in wall identified as New York woman missing since 1985 (July 2, 2013)
“Nichols told detectives he last saw his wife when he left for work at IBM that morning, and that he found a typed note when he got home. There was speculation that JoAnn Nichols was despondent over their only child's drowning death three years earlier, when he was 25.”
- Skeleton in wall opens cold case (July 2, 2013)
“Nichols told police he found his wife's locked car Dec. 22, 1985, at a nearby shopping center. Then-Detective Lt. Charles Mittelstaedt told the paper there was no evidence of foul play. He said four detectives were working the case full time.”
- Remains of missing woman found in wall after husband's passing (July 2, 2013)
“A detective told the Journal a few months later that the note indicated a 'degree of depression, but it's not what I'd consider a suicide letter.' Even so, police searched nearby rivers but found no trace of the missing woman.”
- Remains in wall ID'd as missing NY woman (July 2, 2013)
“James Nichols died of natural causes last December at the age of 82. Authorities say a contractor cleaning hoarded items and debris out of the Nichols home in Poughkeepsie on Friday found the bones in a sealed container behind a false basement wall.”
- Missing woman's body found 28 years later, behind false wall (July 2, 2013)
“The Town of Poughkeepsie Police Department said it has not closed the case and will continue to examine the new forensic evidence. “It’s now safe to say James Nichols is a suspect in this case,” said police Capt. Paul LeComte.”
- 'Missing' wife found behind fake wall in home 28 years later (July 2013)
“Nichols, a 55-year-old former first-grade teacher at Gayhead Elementary School in Hopewell Junction New York, was reported missing on Dec. 21, 1985, by her husband, James Nichols.”
- Grisly Discovery In Poughkeepsie Basement Reheats Cold Case (July 2, 2013)
“Town of Poughkeepsie Police Captain Paul Lecomte said the missing teacher's husband had invited detectives into the home over the years and for a while was open to police questions.”
- Body confirmed to be woman missing since 1985 in Poughkeepsie (July 2013)
“Reiber said the body was skeletonized. Her state is consistent with having died about 30 years ago.”
- Missing teacher's body found in wall (July 3, 2013)
“Her body was discovered wrapped in a sheet and plastic bag, tied with rope and placed in a foetal position inside a plastic container that was found in a false wall, said Kari Reiber, the county's medical examiner.”
- Missing N.Y. woman's body found in house wall, 28 years later (July 2, 2013)
“Police said she apparently died from blunt trauma to her head. James Nichols' body was not claimed after his death.”