Nicole Vanderheyden's Case Summary

In this day and age, we as humans are surrounded by technology. We use smartphones to interact with the world, we have watches that connect to those phones, and our phones link up to our thermostats, our wallets, our home security system, and even our vehicles. Technology has been woven into our daily lives. Technology played a key role in this case, presented on Dateline by Lester Holt and Andrea Canning. The episode, titled “Silent Witness”(S2018 E51118), outlines the sexual assault and murder of Nicole Vanderheyden. In this case, data collected from the suspect’s (Steve Burch) cell phone placed him at the scene of the crime, and data obtained from another suspect’s (Douglass Detrie) fitness tracker exonerated him from being anywhere near

the scene. Despite his attempt to absolve himself, the evidence presented clearly placed Steve Burch as the sole actor in the murder of Nicole Vanderheyden, due to all the data collected through various devices.
The crime began the evening of May 20, 2016.

Nicole Vanderheyden and long term boyfriend, Douglas Detrie went to a concert with several of Douglas’ friends at a local bar in Green Bay. After the concert, Vanderheyden and Detrie’s friends moved on to a second bar “The Sardine Can,” but Detrie remained at the first bar. While at “The Sardine Can,” Vanderheyden sent multiple texts to Detrie, asking where he was. Detrie was not responding to her calls and texts, and Vanderheyden was growing visibly frustrated. Noticing this, Detrie’s friend Angela, who was with Vanderheyden af the time, offered to calm him for Vanderheyden. When Angela called, Detrie picked up immediately. This caused Vanderheyden to snap, and she immediately left “The Sardine Can.” Fearing for her safety, Detrie's friends pursued her outside, and tried to bring her back in with them, but she was adamant about leaving the bar. Vanderheyden was not seen for the rest of the evening. Detrie returned home later that evening, at around 3 AM, to their babysitter, Dallas. Noticing that he was alone, Dallas questioned Detrie about Vanderheyden's whereabouts, but he could not provide her an answer. Dallas noted that Detrie's demeanor was suspicious. After this exchange, Dallas left, and after checking on his children, Detrie went to sleep. Early the next morning, Tommy Vandehey and Jacob Vincent found a naked woman's body, in a nearby field that they were planting in. They immediately told Tommy's grandfather, who then

called the police. Brown County detectives quickly arrived on the scene and began their investigation.
Upon arrival to the scene, the detectives were struggling to find leads. They noticed that the woman was apparently strangled, that there were some signs of a struggle present, and that there were what appeared to be stomp marks on her body. While detectives were investigating, a missing persons report was put it by none other than Douglas Detrie, reporting that his girlfriend, Nicole Vanderheyden, had gone missing. Although detectives could not know for sure at the time, they suspected that the woman lying in the field was that same Nicole Vanderheyden. As they continued their search, they discovered the woman's clothes along the side of the road, covered in blood. Along with the clothes, the detectives found a lanyard, with an identification card belonging to Vanderheyden. The detectives’ suspicion continued to rise. Following their search of the scene, detectives brought Detrie and Vanderheyden’s other friends in for questioning. From Detrie they heard more of the same. With very few leads to go off of, the detectives requested to search Detrie’s home. What they found there was disturbing. They discovered what appeared to be blood drops on the garage floor, and various blood stains inside Vanderheyden's vehicle. They also found what appeared to be drag marks along the garage floor. Inside the house, they found bloody tissues in the bathroom garbage can, and a sweater with blood stains all over. The search team also noted that the home smelled of cleaning solution. Found outside the home was what appeared to be a cell phone charging cable, covered in blood. Also near the bloodstained cables were large bloodstains on the road. Along with this stream of physical evidence, detectives continued to interview Detrie's ex-girlfriends, who all reported that Detrie was controlling and at times, abusive. Detectives also searched Detrie's text messages. His text messages with Vanderheyden showed mistrust. In her texts, Vanderheyden appeared to assume that Detrie was cheating on her. Detrie also sent messages to his mother, stating that his relationship with Vanderheyden was deteriorating, and that he planned on parting ways with her. All of this evidence together led the detectives to believe they had probable cause to arrest Detrie for committing the crime. Even though the evidence was substantial, the officers did not wait for the DNA results to come back. Instead, they chose to take the evidence at face value and arrest Detrie immediately, on May 23, just two days after the initial crime. Detrie was compliant with the arrest, but he continued to tell officers that he did not murder Vanderheyden. Eventually, the DNA tests returned, and the results were shocking. Results showed that the blood found in the garage was not human, but animal. Detrie was a hunter, and the blood in the garage was from a turkey he hunted and brought home weeks prior. The evidence found pertaining to the car was also ruled out, since Vanderheyden's vehicle was equipped with a tracker from her insurance company, and the tracker read that the car remained in their garage the night of the crime. The bloodstained tissues turned out to be covered in Nicole's sister's blood, who lived with Nicole and Douglas. She had had a nosebleed nights prior. The bloodstained sweater was also hers. The bloodstained cable also had no trace of Detrie's DNA, and Detrie's DNA was not found anywhere on Vanderheyden's body or clothing. There was DNA present on her body and the weapon, but it was not conclusive enough to return a match. At this point, Detrie was effectively absolved of the crime, and he was released, after spending 18 days in jail. Stuck and without a lead, the case quieted down.
After 10 slow weeks, detectives finally caught a lead.

On the victim’s sock, forensic scientists found trace evidence substantial enough to be ran through the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS). The DNA was ran, and the results showed that the DNA belonged to a new man, Steve Burch. Burch had recently moved to Green Bay from Virginia, and at the time he was living with his childhood friend, Ed Jackson and his wife Linda. When the detectives looked into Burch’s history, they discovered that he was charged in a previous homicide case, from 1998. The case made it to trial, but ultimately Burch was acquitted of the crime. Apart from this, Burch was also suspected in a traffic incident that occurred shortly after Vanderheyden's murder. A Chevy Blazer, belonging to Ed and Linda Jackson, was found crashed in a Green Bay parking lot. No driver was present with the vehicle at the time of the incident, and although Burch was suspected, he was never charged. However, Burch’s cell phone was found with the vehicle, and after learning this, the detectives acquired the cellphone and searched it. They did not find anything substantial at first, but the cell phone gave them access to Burch’s Gmail, which subsequently provided them with access to Burch’s Google Dashboard, which tracks precise location data of the user. The detectives used this data to determine where Burch was the night of Vanderheyden's murder. The data showed the detectives that Burch was at a nearby bar that evening that

Vanderheyden was murdered. From the bar, the data showed Burch moving on to his home, and then to Vanderheyden’s home, and then later on to the field, and back to his home. This data placed Burch at every location the crime occurred at. Along with all this location data, the phone search also revealed that Burch had been using his phone to search for information regarding the murder. After discovering all of this information, detectives decided they had probable cause, and brought Burch into custody. During his questioning, the detectives noted that Burch was unusually calm, and he refused to speak. He simply asked for a lawyer. Burch was eventually charged and his case headed to court.