Suvechha Sarkar
Nicole Danielle VanderHeyden, lovingly known as Nikki, was a dutiful mother and a beloved daughter. However, her beautiful life came to a tragic end in May 2016, when she was brutally killed in Green Bay, Wisconsin. It marked the beginning of a complex investigation that revealed unexpected twists. CBS’ ’48 Hours: The Fitbit Alibi’ delves deeper into the investigation, exploring how modern technology played a crucial role in uncovering the truth. It also features interviews with her loved ones and the officials who eventually helped serve justice.
Nicole VanderHeyden’s Remains Were Found in a Farmland in Wisconsin
Nicole Danielle Meyer, lovingly known as Nikki, was born on March 29, 1985, in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Growing up, she was surrounded by the love and support of her parents, Vicki and Steve Meyer, sister Heather, and brothers Brent and Brandon. Nicole was known for her vibrant spirit and her warm nature. After graduating from Denmark High School in 2003, she pursued higher education at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree with a double major in science and education in 2010. Nicole then stepped into her professional life and worked as a Substitute Teacher in the public school system of the Green Bay area for six years.
Upon reaching adulthood, she found love and tied the knot, ultimately welcoming two children, Mikayla and Tyler, into the world. However, the marriage didn’t work out. She moved on and found a second chance at love with her boyfriend, Douglas Detrie, AKA Doug. Eventually, they became parents to a son they named Dylan. Nicole’s life often revolved around her children, and she was living with Doug. However, her life turned upside down on May 21, 2016. The previous night, she and Doug had hired a babysitter and made a last-minute plan to attend a concert. They later went partying with Doug’s friends, and she decided to hop off to another bar with them. Doug was supposed to join her there, but when he didn’t arrive, she called him around 11-11:30 pm. When her calls went unanswered, she left the bar.
On hearing about it, Doug and one of his friends searched for Nicole before returning home around 3 am. On May 21, he called 911 around 4:30 pm to report that Nicole didn’t return home last night. Earlier that day, authorities were alerted by a farmer who spotted a young lady in a farmland around 3 miles from her home. When officials arrived, they reportedly found the woman dead without any clothes on except her socks and a pink wristband. They noticed she had blunt force trauma on the side of her face, and the extent of her injuries made her identification difficult. However, when police received a description from Doug during his report, they identified her as Nicole. The autopsy found injuries consistent with sexual assault and determined her cause of death to be ligature strangulation combined with blunt-force trauma to the head.
Initial Investigation Brought Suspicions on Nicole’s Boyfriend
Following the discovery, detectives brought Doug in for questioning. He reportedly informed them that he and his friend had looked for Nicole driving around for about 30-40 minutes before returning to the bar around 2:30 am. He continued that he came home, fell asleep around 3 am, and didn’t wake up until after 6 am, except for occasionally checking on their son. Meanwhile, police executed a search warrant at their home and discovered blood on the garage floor and in Nicole’s car, specifically on the headboard, backseat, and the side of the vehicle. Furthermore, they found a pair of Air Jordans with blood smudges under them in the garage. They noted that the shoe print appeared to match the ones that the medical examiner found on Nicole’s back.
On the neighbor’s yard, across Nicole and Doug’s home, investigators found a large amount of blood, a cord, and blonde hair like Nicole’s. As they began searching the nearby area where they found her remains, they discovered her clothing items, cell phone, and purse scattered along a highway, around 2 miles from the scene. Based on the collective evidence, Doug was arrested and taken into custody on May 23, 2016, but he was not charged. Approximately 18 days later, he was released from custody since there was insufficient evidence against him. When the lab results came back, it revealed that the blood in the garage was not human, and the blood in the vehicle was not a match to Nicole’s. Moreover, the DNA results under the left shoe were inconclusive, and the right shoe had no blood.
Massive DNA and Technological Evidence Helped Catch Nicole’s Killer
Doug reportedly provided his Fitbit band to the detectives, which he wore on the night of Nicole’s murder. The band’s data showed he barely moved that night except for a few steps around the house, proving his version of events. Medical examiners collected DNA from Nicole’s clothing, and it revealed DNA from an unknown man. A breakthrough came in August 2016 when the DNA collected from her sock was entered into the database. It was a match for George Steven Burch, who moved from Virginia to Green Bay in March 2016. A car, which his friend lent to him, was involved in a hit-and-run car accident, and hence, the police data quickly led detectives to his home. They continued to track his movement and examined his cell phone, which he had consented to access during the hit-and-run case.
Forensic experts tracked George’s GPS location from his Google Dashboard. They discovered that on that fateful night, he was in a bar half a mile from the one Nicole was in. The data reportedly tracked him leaving the bar around 2:30 am and driving to her home, where he stayed for one hour. Following that, his location was at the farmfield where Nicole’s remains were found. He came back around 4:30 am to his home and went out fishing the following morning. Based on the evidence, he was arrested on September 7, 2016, and charged with first-degree intentional homicide. The jury trial of George began on February 19, 2018. During his testimony in the trial, he reportedly claimed that he met Nicole that fateful night, and they went to her house.
George alleged that he and Nicole were across the street from her residence, having an intimate moment, when Doug knocked him out. He further claimed that when he became conscious, he saw Nicole lying on the pavement, and Doug allegedly asked him at gunpoint to dispose of her remains. After deliberation, the jury found George guilty of first-degree intentional homicide on March 1, 2018. He was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole on May 4, 2018. Although he appealed his murder conviction following the trial, the Wisconsin Supreme Court denied it in June 2021. As of writing, George is serving his time at Fox Lake Correctional Institution in Fox Lake, Wisconsin.
