Mystery at Eagle Creek | Full Episode

foreign [Music] I want people to know that Rhonda wasn't just beautiful bye daddy people always are surprised when they hear this like no you can't be super beautiful like her and be intelligent at the same time I'm like actually she was wicked smart [Music] very in love we planned on getting married in the summer that was my timetable they did look at wedding rings I think she she wanted one that was around 35 000 and I was thinking more fifteen thousand was my range and you and Rhonda did you like to get Outdoors all the time we loved hiking uh we played a lot of frisbee golf so yeah we were Outdoors most of the time we woke up early she opened the drapes and we saw it's a beautiful day okay so we are gonna go hiking one of the things she asked me on the drive over she said uh if anything ever happens to me do you promise to watch our daughter and take care of her and I go what are you talking about she goes I have dreams all the time that I am dead before 25. [Music] did Rhonda ever tell you that she was sensing something bad was going to happen to her she said that he's either going to propose to me or kill me she wasn't happy she just fell out of love with him and they were fighting all the time she had mentioned wanting to take the baby and and leave Steve started pouring down rain and thunder came and so she just started bolting down like at a full Sprint running down the trail and what unfolded before your eyes I don't know how far down it was but she went off the trail a man hiking with Rhonda Casto says that she fell off a cliff last night did she take a step and her feet went out in front of her did she tumble forward what did you see next question [Music] I'm Steve Nichols and in February of 2015 I was charged and arrested for the murder of Rhonda Casto my fiance we're in Hood River Oregon it's been six years one month in 26 days since Rhonda fell off that trail to her death and for the first time Stephen Nichols will enter a formal plea accident or murder murder murder they're from a mother's heart and mind you are certain of that I am a hundred percent certain of that he's evil he's totally evil I think I've just left a path of Destruction I'm Attila the Hun basically going through women [Music] mystery at Eagle Creek continues in 90 seconds [Music] when you have a case where someone's falsely accused you can't really separate yourself from work and home life for defense attorney Mike Arnold Mr Nichols is here with his lawyer representing Stephen Nichols gives new meaning to the phrase full-time job you know while I prefer to be coming home doing farm tours and listening to Wildlife instead I'll be thinking about my closing argument or the next step of the case is we are on the record in Hood River County state of Oregon versus Stephen Wagner Nichols Nichols was arrested for murder in February 2015. accused of pushing his girlfriend Rhonda Casto off this Trail in Oregon six years earlier to that charge would you please not guilty bail was set at two million dollars Nichols would spend the next 14 months in jail awaiting trial I try to just take it one day at a time I read a lot and I play chess but really when it comes down to it I miss my daughter so that's the hardest part but in April 2016 with a trial date nowhere in sight Judge John Olson reduced Nichols bail to 250 thousand dollars Mike Arnold set out on a frantic mission to gather the 10 percent needed in cash to free his client so the farming defense attorney becomes a personal banker people have taken off work to be there to get them out so it sounds like a small price to pay to be there when my client gets to see freedom for the first time in a year so wish us luck but Arnold would need more than luck we can't get the client build out until tomorrow morning he'd need an extra day to arrange for the ankle monitor required for Nichols release Hold On Tight to this and go get some supper the next day is a little unexpected overnight trip in Hood River I want recycled clothes looking for it to get home to my family it's my son's first birthday today presumption of innocence ladies and gentlemen Mike feeds the cash into the bail machine I'm very excited to see Steve for the for the first time outside in the fresh air two more hours and Arnold gets his wish I want to cry actually I'm so happy but it's a Bittersweet victory we will continue to fight until I have proven my innocence still a long fight ahead but now I've got him out with me so we can work on this as a team so this is a big deal but how exactly did Nichols and his attorney end up at this moment it all started 11 years earlier when a stunning 20 year old woman knocked on Nichol's bedroom door at his home just outside Portland Oregon then I turn around and I look at her and my tongue pretty much Hit the Floor up until that point she's the most beautiful woman I have ever seen and she's like hi my name is Rhonda in 2005 Nichols who was 10 years older than Rhonda and recently divorced was working as a day trader I had a three-bedroom condo and the other two rooms were just empty so he decided to get a roommate I first met Stephen Nichols through the internet I was looking for a place a room to rent who turned out to be Rhonda's mother Julia Simmons he can be very charming and you know somebody that's really nice Rhonda's best friend Jessica Colburn wasn't surprised Steven was instantly attracted to Rhonda who was an aspiring model tell me about this that was a part of her modeling portfolio I just love it because she just looks amazing in all of those pictures everything about her was impressive and I just immediately fell in love with her and what were you sensing from Rhonda I felt she was into me too I could tell that she valued intelligence and I've always thought that that's one of my strongest assets I think she was attracted not so much to his looks but to his his uh what he had his condo his money his you know his status soon Rhonda joined her mother Julia in the condo not as a roommate but as Steven's girlfriend Rhonda's younger sister Tessa was just nine years old at the time when I first met Steve he was really fun because I was a little girl he's he was playful you know three years into their relationship Rhonda and Nichols living together but not married became parents did you see your face she's all oh when our daughter was born it meant everything to her she became the focus in the center of her life I loved having a niece I was always over there and she loved playing with jewelry just like Rhonda did she did like her mom she loves jewelry Rhonda loved being a mom but hoped to restart her modeling career she had gained quite a bit of weight from having our daughter she was the heaviest she had ever been and she felt really disgusting so Steven says the couple came up with an adventurous plan to lose weight we made it a pact that we would hike 20 or 25 of the top trails in Oregon we'll just start Crossing them off the list Jessica says Rhonda told her about only one planned hike she was so happy that he was finally planning something in all the years they had been together he had never put any effort into planning anything for her including those plans to get married the proposal never happened things were tough after the baby was born he wasn't around as much I think she held on for longer for the sake of the baby daddy Jessica says Rhonda had grown unhappy and that the relationship had taken a dangerous turn she told me that he had in the recent months been physically abusive to her but Nichols claims just the opposite was true we wouldn't argue at all we were spending a lot of time together so I would think that would be the closest we ever were so when Stephen is telling us that they were planning their future together and everything was great and it was a lovey-dovey relationship is he lying to me he's absolutely lying to you I've witnessed their fights I was on the phone a couple of times when they were in a physical fight actually and Julia claims Rhonda made a chilling statement to her just before the hike she said he's either going to give me a ring or he's going to throw me up a cliff [Music] foreign on March 16 2009 Rhonda and Stephen would set out on that Fitness hike and Rhonda would not live to see the end of the day [Music] bye daddy this is probably the most hiked area in the Columbia River Gorge for several reasons one that the sheer beauty of the hike three months after Stephen Nichols arrest in 2015 his attorney Mike Arnold took his own investigative team up the Eagle Creek Trail where he believes Rhonda Casto slipped and fell to her death inclement weather hits and disaster happens between the physical evidence and the science there won't be much dispute about this being a tragic accident on a dangerous Trail Stephen Nichols says this is how the tragedy unfolded they are heading down the trail Rhonda was in a great mood and jokingly she put a towel around her shoulders and was calling herself Supergirl she broke into a run and according to Nichols at this very Point she slipped on the wet path and fell more than 150 feet to her death that was his story in 2015. I'm not going to comment on that when Nichols was forbidden by his attorney from discussing details of Rhonda's deadly fall with 48 hours until now his only account was the one he gave to police the day of the tragedy again something I'm not going to comment on but in 2017 Stephen Nichols broke that silence either I pushed her she jumped of her own accord or she slipped he sat down and spoke to us about the day Rhonda Casto died let's get in that time machine and go back to March 16th 2009 we woke up early Steven says Rhonda seemed focused on the future as they drove to Eagle Creek Trail she says I desperately need to lose weight because they want to use me as the Maria Sharapova look-alike model I'm like yeah you really do look like her but then Nichols claims Rhonda asked him a startling question completely out of the blue she said uh if anything ever happens to me do you promise to watch our daughter and take care of her and I said of course Steven says the question unnerved him especially since three months earlier he claims Rhonda had demanded he buy life insurance she was adamant about it I said why do you want this life insurance and she goes because I want to leave our daughter something in case I die so both Stephen and Rhonda had each taken out a one million dollar policy on the other he planned the whole thing was premeditated the whole thing Rhonda's mother doesn't believe a word of nickel's story saying the insurance was all his idea and that Nichols the day trader had an ulterior motive he had lost a bunch of money the year before he lost like a quarter of a million dollars is the insurance and then four months later she's dead the couple got to the trailhead where Rhonda snapped this photo of Steve later found on her cell phone the weather was excellent actually but Steven says Rhonda was acting strangely I asked her are you okay hiking on this Trail and she goes I used to come up here with a bottle of vodka and a bag of weed she goes I'll be fine so I said okay they hiked up a few miles I remember we kissed for a little bit um I remember she wanted to have sex and I said no like I'm very prim and proper I didn't want to do that then Nichols says Rhonda once again asked him that unsettling question she asked me if anything ever happened to her which would I promise to take care of her daughter but Rhonda may have been thinking about more than their daughter what are you saying Stephen I mean I think anyone with an ounce of intelligence can fill in the blanks um you would have to look into how many times in her past she committed suicide attempted suicide yeah of course attempted I mean Nichols says Rhonda was depressed and shockingly that she had tried to take her own life at least three times before he even met her she's never attempted suicide never he's lying but you know what people that have to make up lies or you know you can obviously tell that they're guilty and there's more Nichols claims that Rhonda had long struggled with a serious drug problem she's never been off drugs since the age of 12. what kind of what kind of drugs everything everything alcohol cocaine all of them marijuana crystal meth all of them heroin but Rhonda's autopsy would show that she only had traces of marijuana as well as prescription drugs for anxiety and depression in her system Jessica Colburn says Rhonda did suffer from postpartum depression she was in therapy and that's why she was on the prescription medications Nichols says they didn't Linger on the trail for long and who decides hey let's head back I was decided by the weather started pouring down rain and thunder came and so she just started bolting down like at a full Sprint running down the trail now I've been on that trail it's a narrow Trail it is right now did you yell at her hey what are you doing stop Walk we're walking down um I don't think I screamed anything at her Nichols says the Steep Trail became slick I hugged the right wall pretty much on the way down this is cascading rain like you can actually just see the water flowing down the trail and so take me to the time of of the Fall what do you remember um that part I'm not going to take you through because she did fall off and I can say I had absolutely nothing to do either directly or indirectly with her falling off but what Nichols seems to be suggesting to 48 hours is that Rhonda may have chosen to go off that Cliff did she tumble forward what did you see um next question it was a large skid mark on the on the path where she had slipped and went off no there's just a footprint just a footprint Steve look at me what you're saying is she jumped she was going down at almost a run pace there's a single footprint you're telling me at the edge of the cliff and she goes over that's a jump I've laid everything out there people can reach whatever conclusion they want [Music] see how prosecutors believe Rhonda fell to her death on Facebook at 48 hours [Music] while not saying it in so many words she did fall off and I can say I had absolutely nothing to do either directly or indirectly with her falling off [Music] Stephen Nichols mind games there's definitely a lot more to the story but I'm not going to say it so manage to drop a bombshell you've led me down a path to believe this was a suicide and I don't think you can look me in the eye and say well Peter you're wrong can you no [Music] suggesting that Rhonda Casto chose to jump to her death from Eagle Creek Trail what was her point in going up there how to say this she knew she wasn't living past the age of 25. she knew that for a reason she just wasn't a happy person and she thought that having our daughter would bring her happiness and it didn't she had a nine month old baby at home that she loved dearly and she loved her family so that's just another one of his lies to take the heat off of himself after Rhonda went off the trail Stephen says he hiked down the deep ravine what'd you do when you got to her well I held her it's the first thing I did when I got there with no cell service to call for help Nichols says he made his way back to the trailhead and dialed 9-1-1 the police never once asked me if it was a suicide they never even brought up suicide I just answered the questions that they asked why didn't you tell them back in the day that suicide was something she was contemplating would it have made a difference do you really think Nichols may have had a million reasons to keep suicide a secret if it's a suicide life insurance doesn't pay out so our daughter would have gotten nothing is Steven being self-sacrificing having said nothing about suicide until now even as he stands charged with murder you are willing to essentially take a bullet for that or is he self-serving I think Steve is just throwing all these ideas out to throw people off the fact that he pushed her oh well she killed herself because her she wanted to make a better life for her daughter an investigation into Rhonda's death was immediately launched and a memorial was held Rhonda's family claims that you were not grieving that you seemed unmoved by Rhonda's death the exact opposite I was crying Non-Stop when I'm really really sad I just I closed down that's just the way I deal with pain shortly afterward Stephen moved across the state with his daughter to live with family for about three months after Rhonda died I completely shut down by 2013 four years had gone by and no charges had been filed against nickels he decided to start a new life in a new land so how does a kid from Oregon end up in China I had been there before and I liked China Stephen packed up I would tell on my daughter this is our new life let's make it work and headed here to wushi about 75 miles from Shanghai I decided when I got to China this is a whole fresh start I was like America all the past Stephen got a job teaching English to Chinese businessmen my daughter was absolutely thriving a little over two months and she was fluent in Mandarin she had dance lessons she was taking Taekwondo she was learning to play the piano and Stephen began to thrive too falling in love with Landy Yin Yan she's beautiful of course but she's the deepest funniest person I've ever met Steven says Landy became like a mother to his daughter and I can say this with being with so many American women Chinese women all-inclusive are better Partners sounds so insulting to American women but they just they make better Partners they make better wives and so Stephen decided to make Landy his wife after a year of dating I had actually proposed to her right before I came back to America Stephen flew back to the U.S with his daughter in February 2015 to get married Landy would follow a few days later we were planning on getting married both in America and China to make it official what Stephen didn't know is that the entire time he was out of the country investigators stayed on Rhonda's case and Julia stayed on theirs I kept calling and asking why anything nothing was happening but something did happen in April 2014 a secret grand jury heard evidence and indicted Nichols for the murder of Rhonda Casto so 10 months later when Stephen and his daughter arrived in San Francisco They said something was wrong with my bags it was like it's interesting instead of catching his connecting flight to Oregon Stevens says authorities separated him from his daughter I'm like what is going on here something's fishy and then yeah that's when they arrested me and I could hear my daughter in the other room crying and she goes I want to be back with my dad Stephen would be extradited to Oregon and his daughter would be sent to live with Rhonda's family so I was shocked it's one of those things where you think you're in a dream and you're going to wake up at any time I'm like okay I'm gonna wake up in China my daughter will be nudging me I'll be back to normal but that never happens back in Oregon it was like a dream 40 year old Stephen Nichols was arrested last one that had come true for Rhonda's loved ones and I just I was busted out crying it was amazing I couldn't believe it I was just like after all this time finally foreign state of Oregon versus Stephen Nichols for months following his February 2015 arrest for murder when you're ready Mr Arnold Stephen Nichols faced pre-trial hearings on a slew of issues from evidence to motive the state is present represented by Kerry Rasmussen including whether there should even be a trial since the defense considers Rhonda casto's death an accident both sides called Witnesses was this immediately investigated as a murder no and wanted to become a homicide investigation as opposed to an accidental fall pretty much the next morning I can tell that based on the injuries that she has she she landed predominantly on her legs and her pelvis medical examiner and forensic pathologist Dr Christopher Young says Rhonda's injuries were mostly below the waist the pelvis was essentially shattered the defense argues the location of her injuries indicate Ronda left the trail feet first not tumbling head over heels from a push it's a theory that could support Nichols New suggestion of suicide when you look at the relationship that the defendant then had with Rhonda Casto and notes from a therapist Rhonda had been seen reveal she was depressed but not suicidal from her relationship with Stephen which she described as Loveless what the state has to prove in this case is that the defendant did a criminal act prosecutors hope the judge will allow them to tell jurors about some bad acts and Stephen Nichols troubled past at his upcoming murder trial is something that obviously is titillating and interesting the first one a shocking love triangle involving another of Rhonda's younger sisters Melanie that may have provided a motive for murder do you believe that Stephen was in love with Melanie yes I do Jessica says Rhonda learned that Stephen was having sex with Melanie and did Rhonda ever tell you how young her sister was when she first had sex with Stephen she was 15. 15 years old yes in fact just after his arrest for murder Stephen was indicted on two counts of third degree rape and three counts of third degree sodomy for allegedly having sexual relations with an underage Melanie back in 2005. he did rape my daughter and I didn't want to believe it in October 2016 while awaiting his murder trial you agreed to plead guilty to two counts of sexual abuse with Melanie Casto and you signed your name under this statement I had sexual intercourse with Melanie Casto twice Stephen insists his admission was false did you have sex with her no I'm like well can I take a plea and then just say Obviously it never happened and I was told later nope in order to pass the sex offender treatment you have to admit that if those statements were made even though he'd be a registered sex offender the law would allow Stephen to still fight and regain custody of his daughter who is in the care of the state I became desperate I wanted my daughter back he'll be amazed at what you're willing to sign to stay out of prison but investigators believe there really was a relationship between Stephen and Melanie one that continued on and off for four years right up to that fateful last hike just a few hours before her death Ronda who had learned of the affair sent this text to her sister I don't know what to say besides he's a piece of he used you to hurt me I won't let him screw us up again when you need me I am waiting this Rhonda sounds like somebody that doesn't care much at all about you she's angry with you does sound like she's angry I have no idea why she sent those but Julia says she knows why she loved her sister she knew that Steve was trying to drive a wedge between them and she I guess she figured it all out and realized what he was doing on the night of Rhonda casto's death the defendant didn't run to where his daughter was didn't run to his parents the first person to whom he went was Melanie Melanie Casto and it's not the only allegation Nichols has faced involving a minor less than six months after Rhonda's death he was charged with five counts of sex abuse for allegedly touching a 13 year old girl on the buttocks he claims that didn't happen but something else did you sent sexually suggestive texts to her and a selfie with your shirt off and you agreed to a plea deal in this yeah that was definitely I was in the wrong on that one um in terms of sending the photo that was no kidding yeah that's terrible it's disgusting it is Nichols pleaded guilty to one count of sexual harassment I have been emotionally abusive at times to people but I've never physically hurt anyone prosecutors don't agree and want a jury to see this picture taken by Rhonda showing red marks left from an alleged physical encounter with Nichols right before they went on their hike they had they had a little scuffle on the stairs and he put some bruises on her back and she took pictures of them in the mirror and there are allegations of another physical assault of a woman with Eerie similarities to what Nichols stands accused of now allegations made by his ex-wife he did try to push his wife over a balcony in China in November 2003 Stephen was still married to his ex an American woman and living in China for the first time when his spouse accused him of trying to suffocate her and throw her over the railing of their eighth floor apartment we were both holding on to each other's clothing and we were both yelling Nichols denies the claim and was not charged with a crime in China but Oregon court documents show a witness confirmed Nichol's ex-wife's account [Music] as Nichols awaits trial in the death of Rhonda Casto he has some pleasant distraction my Chinese fiancee Landy is arriving here in about an hour I'm nervous I'm excited visits from his fiancee hello today I had my first court appearance the case was involving my daughter at our request Stephen Nichols has kept a video diary while out on bail Blue Sky many many bigotries including Landy hiking to that fateful spot on Eagle Creek Trail and it was dangerous and on the eve of his trial we're at the top of Spencer Butte in Eugene love the hike this is one of the happiest days of my life a defiant nickels is convinced there will be many more happy days ahead I had nothing to do with Rhonda casto's death [Music] foreign nothing to do with Rhonda Castle's death you didn't push her no what is it what is it what is it so you you're telling us you're completely innocent of these charges yes [Music] oh there's a smile in May 2017 following several hearings about what evidence could be used against Stephen Nichols which would include his plea to having sex with Melanie it looked like his true day in court was finally on the horizon and then I got a call from Carrie Rasmussen the prosecutor and she slowly told me the news about him taking a plea to Julia's shock and horror there had been a settlement conference with the prosecution and the defense agreeing to allow Nichols to plead guilty to lesser charges I started to cry I got really upset I just said I was screaming on the phone to Carrie no no you can't do this please don't don't plead out but prosecutors knew their case against Nichols could fail for years the District Attorney's office has believed that Mr Nichols is responsible for the death of Rhonda Casto but this case is not about belief it's about the facts that can be presented to a jury at trial what is your plea to the charge of criminally negligent homicide guilty and to the charge of coercion guilty and people take pleas for all sorts of reasons most of the time innocent people plead guilty in order to gain an advantage or meet a goal in this case this is Mr Nichols purchasing Insurance there's now a zero percent chance that Steve goes to prison for murder that a jury gets it wrong Nichols was given credit for time served while awaiting trial he remains on parole for three years his ankle monitor was removed and his days behind bars are over this plea deal is it justice to you no it's not Justice I felt like it happened out of nowhere I'm still completely blown away by the the decision that was made in this you destroyed my whole family still firmly believing Nichols is a murderer Rhonda's mother Julia was allowed to address the court I don't see how you could do that I could take a mother away from their child like that by killing her that's just horrible Steve I'll just bide my time and wait until you screw up or when you die because I know you're going to go to hell for what you did Nichols claims he took the deal for just one reason time was running out to regain custody of his daughter if I waited over a year to go to trial I probably had a zero percent chance there's some problems with the juvenile court system that the longer you wait the harder it is to get a child returned a parent but having now admitted to inappropriate behavior with a 13 year old girl pleading to having sex with Rhonda's underage sister and playing a role in Rhonda's death Nichols chances of regaining custody of his daughter are in Jeopardy I think I've just left a path of destruction basically going through women unable to leave Oregon until his parole expires in 2020 Stephen broke up with his fiancee who had returned to China I'm alone about 99 of the time I never go out I have nobody then for the second time in our 48 Hours interview Nichols brings up the topic of suicide but this time he's not speaking about Rhonda if I don't have my daughter then it's pretty much game over for me I'm checking out so you're saying you'll take your own life um I hate all the suicide questions um I'm not going to answer that but like I said I if I don't get my daughter back I'm done I'll just say that yeah right I doubt that he's too narcissistic egotistical sociopath there's no way he would take his own life he's just said that to get sympathy and if your granddaughter were to be placed back into his custody what do you think would happen she would not be a normal child she would be emotionally and mentally abused and possibly physical and then just when we thought this story had come to an end our interview with Nichols took a turn into the surreal [Music] I'm trying to think of a way to think of this for the first time he talks about what may have happened in Rhonda's last moments of life that day in 2009 comparing her to a wounded soldier let's say you're in a war situation and you're with your buddy and I don't know he takes a land mine or grenade or something you're 100 certain this guy's gonna die remember Nichols climbed down 150 feet to where Rhonda's broken body lay [Music] was she alive when you got to her an hour and that's the part I'm not going into is Stephen Nichols about to admit something did you put Ronda out of misery that day let me ask you if you shoot your War buddy because you see how much pain he's in is that murder what do you say I say no of course not so to me that's a Justified I don't want to say homicide but I mean technically it is homicide but it's Justified as of that point you are putting someone out of their misery that essentially has zero chance of survival and is that what you did that's course that's not what I'm saying I'm just saying well you brought this up you brought up this whole it seems a dangerous word game Nichols stood on the Cliff's Edge then took a step back a final twist in a tragedy where only Nichols knows the real ending solve hypothetical because I'm telling people you know think think outside the box like there's always other options there [Music] foreign [Music] they killed Fabio trap here for another Fab style Friday Fabio was fabulous I love it we call them the knock knock burglars it was like a Twist and a nightmare I'm like you sure CBS News original reporting [Music]

Channel: 48 Hours

Views: 5,731,832

Keywords: 48 hours, cbs news

Id: fYY9KnNxWNU

Length: 43min 3sec (2583 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 17 2023