Hell and Gone Murder Line: Nina Ingram Part 1

inherent in cold cases. We remind listeners that everyone has presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing in the podcast is intended to state or imply that anyone who has not been convicted of a crime is guilty of any wrongdoing. Thanks for listening.

said that nothing was wrong, she was just tired. When she left Josh's house between ten thirty and eleven pm, she was driving Josh's pickup truck. Josh later told police they often swapped vehicles. Surveillance camera showed that Nina pulled into her apartment complex a little after ten pm. She got out of her vehicle and walked toward her unit, Unit one on the ground floor of the Law Quad

apartment complex. The officer would later observe from what he saw on camera that as Nina left the vehicle and walked toward her apartment that nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. But the next day, April twenty second, no one heard from Nina. She didn't respond to her boyfriend's text. Josh also tried to call her and left several boys mails, but Nina never replied, and then she didn't show up to give her brother Nelson a ride

to school, which Nina did often. When she failed to show for her shift that day at Walmart that was supposed to start at one pm, her family started to get seriously worried. At around two pm, Nina's other brother, Noah, and his roommate Chad Williams, drove over to Nina's apartment to check on her. They knocked on the door, but Nina didn't answer. Nina had two cats, family members later told police she had a habit of opening the front window just a crack so that the cats could get

some mayor. The window to the right of the front door was open about two to three inches and unlocked, so her brother pushed the window all the way open and crawled into the kitchen. Chad waited outside why Noah unlocked the door and the dead bolt, which were both locked. Seconds later, he heard Noah scream. Chad went in through the now unlocked front door and raced back into Nina's bedroom. He and Noah saw her lying face up on the bed with what Chad described as very visible red scratches

and bruises around her neck. Chad told police he knew immediately that Nina was dead. This case involves a lot of twists, and turns. But we're going to try to figure out was Nina Ingram murdered by a serial killer? Was this a random attack, or was it someone she knew. I'm Catherine Townsend. Over the past five years of making my true crime podcast, Helen Gone, I've learned that there's no such thing as a small town where murder never happens.

I've received hundreds of messages from people all around the country asking for help with an unsolved murder that's affected them, their families, and their communities. If you have a case you'd like me and my team to look into, you can reach out to us at our Helen Gone Murder line at six seven eight seven four four six one four or five. That's six seven eight seven four four six, one four or five. Or you can send us a message on Instagram at Helen gonepod. This is Helen Gone

Murder Line. Immediately after Nina's brother Noah and Chad found Nina's body at around two nineteen pm, Chad called the police. Detectives raised to the scene at the Law Quad apartments. They started taping up the crime scene and canvassing residents, but it was a pretty quiet apartment complex.

of her brothers. Even though her father and other brothers stayed behind in Texas, she stayed in close contact with them. Detectives talked to police at the walmart where Nina worked. They determined she was well liked by most of the staff. A friend of hers named Freddie Hollingsworth told detectives he wondered if Nina could have been targeted by someone she busted for shoplifting, but detectives found that unlikely. Of course,

they wanted to talk to Nina's boyfriend, Josh. Pretty Much everyone said Nina and Josh were very happy together and had a great relationship. A friend of Nina said they'd considered moving in together, and Nina had even talked to one coworker about possibly marrying Josh, though things weren't perfect. Another coworker told police Josh had recently gone through Nina's phone to see who she had been talking to. When detectives interviewed Josh, they asked about the night of Nina's death.

Josh said that on April twenty first, Nina called him from work. She told him she would come by his place afterwards and some food.

And then rushed her as she went into her apartment. When Nina's brother Noah arrived, the door was locked. He specifically told detectives he had to unlock two locks, both the regular door lock and the dead bolt to let

chat in. No signs of struggle Inside Nina's apartment, there seemed to be nothing out of place, but to be fair, the living room was barely sparse, with just a love seat, barstool, bookshelf, and a few other items, so it is possible the killer could have forced Nina inside that apartment and back to her bedroom without necessarily knocking things over. Nina had been brutally strangled, but there were no signs of sexual assault and nothing had been taken from her apartment, at

least nothing obvious. Nina's purse was found near her body. There was five dollars inside that purse, so the motive did not appear to be robbery. There was a cigarette butt found in a flower pot outside. Detective said it appeared to have been there for some time. Nina's keys with her key ring were also found inside the apartment, so we're wondering how did the killer get in, but also how did the killer get back?

They did find something in a dumpster outside, a single glove. They tested a hair on that glove and found that it didn't match Nina's DNA and they were unable to find a match for it. Detectives noticed a footprint that seemed to be out of place against the back of the front door. They saw a scuff mark about thirty one inches from the bottom of that door, but they were unable to find more footprints from the interior in

the front kitchen. In the report, it stated that was possibly because there were layers of dust and cat hair on the kitchen floor, which made it difficult to get any imprints. Did Nina's assailant kick the door shut behind him, or could that have been a random print from some time before this. Detectives had no idea that surveillance footage in Nina's apartment complex showed her arriving home in Josh's

white pickup truck just before ten fifteen pm. However, according to the police report, the quality of the footage was so poor detectives couldn't really identify any other vehicles in the parking lot during that crucial time period. The detectives did ask the FBI to enhance a couple of images, but there's no indication that that led to anything. When Nina got out of her car, it appeared on that surveillance tape that she was alone, but the surveillance footage

did not reach her apartment door. One thing that Josh said about his and Nina's last night together was that she seemed to be in a little bit of a quiet mood that night, and several other people she saw that day said she was acting like something might be wrong. Josh also told detectives before Nina left his house that night,

she used his computer to communicate with someone. He did not know who that person was, so police got search warrants for both Josh and Nina's computers, a Compact Presario twenty one hundred laptop.

killer a stranger or someone she knew. There were a lot of men in Nina's orbit, male friends, co workers, and people who passed through the store every day, her friends told detectives. Because Nina was an attractive woman and she was a nice person, she got hit on a lot. Police talked to a census worker named Jianne Marillo. She had talked to Nina at her door on April nineteenth. Janne said before she talked to her, she had seen a tall, white, slender man with dark hair go into

the apartment with Nina. She said the guy stayed in the back bedroom while she and Nina spoke. The census worker also said that every day that she was at that apartment complex, Nina's window was cracked open, and every time there was a cat sitting at the window. It's not clear whether or not police ever identified who this man was at Nina's apartment complex.

At the same time, some people who knew Nina described her as a loner. Police talked to her professors at school. They said that she was friendly, she would interact in class, but they said she didn't seem to have one particular friend or group of friends, that she mostly stayed to herself. At work, it was the same story. She was friendly and professional, but also no nonsense. We talked to Nina's cousin, Danielle, and she said Nina was a little bit misunderstood that way.

It wasn't that she was standoffish, she was just a little bit shy. Danielle said that Nina genuinely cared about people and she was a very good listener.

more formally. The co worker told investigators he made some kind of comment about her looking good that day and asking why she didn't dress like that every day. Nina said something about not wanting to be hassled. She didn't want people to ask her out. She just wanted to do her job. The coworker, by the way, was not the one who made the comments to Nina.

was homicide. The medical examiner, doctor Charles Kocis, said that Nina was strangled with some type of ligature, something between one sixteenth and one eighth of an inch wide. The autopsy provided a few more clues. Whatever happened inside that apartment, it seemed to have been a violent struggle. Nina was five feet nine inches tall and weigh one hundred and fifty one pounds, so depending on how large her killer was,

this might not have been an easy fight. By the time her body was found, rigor mortis had left the body and there was marked lividity. Police believed her killer murdered her on the bed and then left her there, and the time of death was consistent from when Nina got home on the night of the twenty first. Police

believed her body had not been moved since then. The autopsy noted Nina had several scratches on the front of her neck, and scratches around the mouth and chin, mostly on the left side of her face, and distinct ligature grooves on both sides of her neck. One rumor that started going around after the murder was that Nina's throat had been slit. This was not true, but it was one that was repeated by people for years. I'm guessing that rumor might have started because of those marks that

were found on Nina's neck at the crime scene. Chat said that they looked like cuts. According to the autopsy report, Nina had another heavy abrasion just below her left ear, and there were two more abrasions on her chest near the clavicle. Those two big bruises on her clavicle were unexplained. This is just a guess on my part. I think it is possible that Nina's killer could have sat on

her or pressed their knees down onto her chest. The medical examiner noted she had petikia or hemorrhaging in her eyes, face, left leg, and left arm that were consistent with strangulation or asphyxia. Particial hemorrhaging was also present on the interior throat, muscles, and larynx. In addition, her hyoid bone was damaged. There were no defensive wounds on Nina's hands and no trauma to any part of the body except the neck, chest, and face. The contents of her stomach were consistent with

her last meal from Taco Bell. More and more in investigators were thinking Nina came home and right when she was at her door, or right after she came inside, the killer pounced. Her cell phone was found still in her pocket, so she never had a chance to even try to call for help. The attack must have come as a complete shock, and detective still had.

a match to anyone in the DNA database. So, along with no murder weapon, police still didn't have a motive. It did not appear that Nina had been sexually assaulted. She was found fully clothed, wearing a blue Royals T shirt, jeans, and a jogging suit jacket. She had her broad and underwear on. They appeared to have been undisturbed. There was semen found in Nina's vagina, but the fluids were found to have been a mixture of her DNA and Josh's DNA.

He told the investigators they had consensual sex the night before when she stayed over at his place. Again, there were no signs of sexual assault or of trauma to her vaginal area. There was no blood or semen found rectley or orally. Investigators also found no blood or semen on her t shirt, jean jacket, shoes, bra or underwear. They tested other items, including the bedding, the bed and her miniblinds for blooder semen, but found no trace on

any of them either. Detectives did find some hairs inside the apartment, but forensic testing showed they were all either Nina's hairs or her cat's hairs. Detectives were canvassing the apartment complex because maybe her killer didn't rush her inside the apartment. Maybe it was someone she knew and they knocked on the door and she let them in. Did her killer lock the door behind themselves, because if so, that would presumably mean they would need a key. Police

obviously considered this possibility. They were trying to figure out who had keys to Nina Ingram's apartment. On April twenty third, the day after Nina's body was found, police talked to the management company for the apartment complex, Mansfield Properties. They found out that the maintenance worker for that complex was a thirty one year old man named Billy Gray. They went to his house and he voluntarily agreed to come

to the Fville Police Department for an interview. They asked Billy about service request for Nina's apartment apartment number one. Billy Gray said he had been to that apartment complex in recent weeks to make repairs to apartments number five and number forty two. Apartment five, by the way, was Nina's upstairs neighbor, but he said he did not remember

making any repairs in apartment number one. He said all repairs were documented by the property management company and that before repairs were made they had to fill out work orders. They also kept a record of problems that were reported by tenants. Billy said on April fourteenth, he checked out the law Quad Master keys to make some repairs in the complex. Billy Gray showed detectives the place where the master keys were kept at the Garden Park apartment shop.

He also voluntarily gave DNA samples. Police searched Billy's residence after he gave his consent. They found nothing of evidentiary value, so he was also cleared. When detectives talked to the manager of Mansfield Properties, he also said something else that I found interesting. He said that Nina's unit, apartment number one had been rented to a construction company for two months and then it sat vacant for a month before Nina moved in. Police got the name of the guy

who rented the apartment for the company. His name was Henry Jordan Junior. They apparently did more investigating into the company and its records, but they didn't see to find any leads there. They found one glove in that dumpster outside Nina's apartment, but the DNA on the glove was never identified, another dead end. The investigation seemed to stall, but in twenty twelve, six years after Nina Ingram was murdered,

someone was arrested. Nina's family laid her arrest in a pastel high neck dress, probably to camouflage the ligature marks on her neck. Over the years, her mother, Judy Ingram, spoke out about the devastating loss of her daughter. She encouraged people to keep Nina's memory alive. She wrote a book about Nina's life and death called The Brightest Star.

In two thousand and nine, Nina's mom told a local news station quote, I know it's been three years, but I'm not giving up in any way, shape or form. I know someone out there knows something, and that person needs to come forward.

to figure out as this investigation goes forward. Danielle, Nina's cousin, said she grieves for the life that Nina lost.

Six years passed with no big breaks, and then in April twenty twelve, after the new detective was assigned to the case, suddenly there was an arrest of someone who no one with knowledge of the case had ever heard of, a man named Rico Cone. How Rico Cone got onto the police radar is very controversial.