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A  911 -call leads  to a tangled web of stories to solve a man´s untimely death

In early 2020 ,police are called to what  seems like a typical housefire  but what they discover , is that like in many of  cases we  cover , thins  aren´t alway´s  exactly what they seem to be.

 911-Call

Operator: central dakota communication , how  can i help you?

co-worker: i´m calling to see if you guys´s  could do a welfare check  on one of our employees?

 operator: sure , and the name

 co -worker:   chad  entzel.

 

It´s  january 2nd 2020 in Bismarck  North Dakota.

42 year old chad Entzel hasn´t been heard from in couple of  days.

some co-workers had  actually went out there  that day  ,saw chad´s pickup in the driverway ,knocked on the  door and nobody answered.

When police arrive at the home  there´ss nothing  out of the ordinary

especially  since officers couldn´t really see inside the  house from outside.however hours later another 911 call comes in , this time itf´s from a  frantic Nikki sue entzel. chad´s wife.

Nikki went out there on  january 2nd ,that´s when she called  911 saying that there had been a fire in the home .

When help arrive ,unfortunately it´s  already to late .

chad entzel is found dead in the master  bedroom  of the home .

The bedroom  that  chad had been found in had significant fire damage.

When they  came upon chad´s   body , he was naked and  there was a shotgun not far  from him.

Fast foward to a few days laterWhen an investigator visits the home with Nikki…..

While at the  Entzel residence with Nikki, seargent silbernay step away to take a phone call .

He was told that  chad had been shot twice with  the shotgun.

 Tracy Walder/former FBI special agent: There is so  many  things  that point to this  not being suicide he had been shot once in the shoulder and then the second time in the head , most shotgun  wounds are not survivable on the first shot let alone the second shot also chad had no evidence of inhaling  smoke into his lungs.

 

And authorities find something else that´s suspecious

They found two points of origin of  the fire , one was upstairs one was downstairs 

and there was a propane heather that  had been sitting on the floor in the bedroom, it had been tipped over  .

there was a lot of evidence of a  fire in the furnace and some debris around the furnace .

One of the things that  investigators found was   part of  the cardboard of a  pack of marlboro cigarettes .but neither  nikki and chad smoked.

But hwo would want to kill chad  entzel? Athourities need to ro make sense of his death.

An that´s when they sit down with nikki in the hope she can provide some insight into her husband.

she said  he was  an alcoholic,he drank  all the time and that he was both physically and werbally abusive.

 

Julie rendelman / criminal  defens attorne: keep in mind, Nikki never reported  any abuse to the policey

At one point in the  interview , sergeant  silbernagel change his course and lays his cards on the table.

sgt. siblernagel : chad´s death was not an accident.

Nikki:what? what do you mean?

sgt. siblernagel :nikki, chad was killed.

Nikki: what?

sgt. siblernagel : chad was murdered.it´s not a suicide

Nikki : why would anybody do this ?  ( crying.)

sgt. siblernagel : i don´t know , nikki, but that´s what i want to find out.so …why would that happen to chad?

Nikki : i don´t know.

Is Nikki holding something back ?

 

This case is about to get a whole  lot more complicated.

 

special agent joe arenz: It was kind of something that caught me off guard that she was even going to trhow something like that out there”

 

Just  after New year´s in 2020.authorities in Bismark north dakota  are investigating a possible suicide and suspected accidental fire at the home of  42 year old chad entzel.

when  he was found dead in a back   bedroom in the home  he shared with his wife 39 year old  nikki sue entzel.

However it soon becomes clear,chad didn´t kill himself.

Investigators hope nikki can shed some light on what happened and they´re  curious about  another man in Nikki´s life.

special agent joe arenz:when   we were watching the videos and reviewing  the videos  , Nikki did show up at the house in a white pickup with an  unknown male . at the time we didn´t know  that was .

It was only a little bit later on that it was actually determined that was  earl howard.

She said that  she ran a catering business  out of her home and that Earl just happened to order some  sort of food from her buisness  one day and after that they became friends.

And nikki reveals something else….

That  at the time of chad´s death, she wasn´t even living in the  home with him.

Prior to  chad  and  so being kiilled ,nikki had made several reports indicating that  there were something wrong with   the firnace ,

because the furnace  wasn´t working, it was winter time, she had told chad that she was just going to stay at the hotel.

Yet it wasn´t  just where  she was staying that´s  important but hwo she was with.

Nikki denies law enforcement that thay  had any type of intimate  relationship but the surveillance footage,shows them being at least one point  intimate kissing  each other.

Nikki is  not providing a clear picture of  what happened and that´s   when investigators  make a change.

 

 Agt. Arenz: I just  at that point had  decided that it´s  probably time  having me going  in there and see if i can make some head way  out of this”

Chad was in a bowling  leauge .december  30th 2019 chad had left in the early evening to go to the bowling alley.

During that time Nikki came to ther residence, she initially denied that  she had been out here at that time  until  Agt. Arenz  confronted her .

Agt. Arenz: i know  you´ve been  talking to him and told him some things .some of that  i can tell you right now is not true. tell me what happened when you guys were  out there .it is on video.

Tracy wilder/former  FBI special agent: there´s several entries into the home  but  what´s interesting is that  the security cameras are actually such a  privacy mode  , wich is really only something that nikki  sue could have done.

There was information that , she didn´t know that we knew such as the camera system  actually recording when she thought she had disabled the recording function on it.

Nikki and Earl  visit the home several  times that night.but why?

Agt. Arenz:  she said that the first time when she was there with  Earl  while chad was at the bowling alley it was to get some things because she wasn´t going to be  staying there.

 

chad  got home,before  midnight

about 1, am on december 31st , Nikki and  Earl went back to the residence. chad was there at that point. nikki and  Earl was there for an hour and 40 minutes.

Nikki  didn´t look for her patches for an  hour and 40 minutes while chad sat there drinking.

She said she couldn´t find  her medications so she said she went back to  the hotel. 

 

Agt. Arenz:  then at 6.30  in the morning she  now realized  her medication would be in the bathroom  so  then her and Earl went back out there and she said she snuck in to the house while chad was sleeping and just went into the bathroom and got the medication.  Prior to me walking in there  she  was  lying about everything  that she saying.

 

Could  it be   someone else?

In early 2020 a north  dakota women says  she came home to find her house on fire with  her husband dead inside .

What police come to learn is that chad  entzel had actually been shot to death and the fire was likely an attempt to cover up the murder.

Police narrow in on  his wife Nikki sue entzel and  the relationship she had with another man .Earl howard 

Officials believe the pair conspired  to kill chad together.

however, Nikki claims she dosen´t know what happened even reverting back to investigators  original  theory of suicide .

Then  Nikki shares something completely unexpected.

Nikki:   there wass somebody  else in the house.

Agt. Arenz:   she acctually tried to draw a  picture of this person and  it was  essentially a stick figure with hair.a couple minutes of that ,she  acknowledged that she had made that all up

Julie rendelman / criminal  defens attorney : she finally admits that it was  earl howard that was involved in terms of the death of  her husband while she waited in the  vehicle.

 

Nikki:i said, ” what happened?”

Agt Arenz: and what did earl say?

Nikki: hegoes , “he´s not alive.”

 

Julie rendelman / criminal  defens attorney : the only evidence  you have  of Earl howard actually being the one who pulled  the trigger is nikki saying that earl howard is  the one that pulled the trigger.

 

Nikki: he goes ,” we argued in the back  backroom .we  were arguing with the gun. and  he said it went off . he said  he didn´t know the gun was loaded.

 

sgt. siblernagel : who came back to set  the  fire?

 

Nikki: Earl did.

 

Agt. Arenz:  she tried to manipulate the  security system we know that  nikki  was at that  residence numerous times around the time that  chad was killed .Nikki really couldn´t  keep  a straight story at all,when you took everyting together it was pretty clear that nikki was  very involved  in this crime.

 

Nicky sue Entzel is officially taken into  custody .

Both she and Earl face charges of conspiracy to commit murder arson an d tampering with evidence.

A couple  days later , she reaches out to investigators to talk.

 

 Nikki:i told earl, i said ” just  want this  to be done with .i don´t  want  to deal with this anymore . he said  that , ” creeps  that beats women …don´t  deserve to live.”

Lt .Olson : we dont have time to sit here..and listen to your lies anymore. this is your last shot.

 Nikki:  all i wanted was  to get out.i just wanted  to leave.

2020 bismarck North dakota  an investigation into the stage suicide of  death of chad entzel  , led local authorities to unexpected suspects. 

His wife nikki sue entzel and her new lover earl howard

officials theorize that nikki and earl  conspired to kill the 42 year old and set his house on fire.

Nikki is arrested while officials begin the search  for Earl

After she ´s taken into custody she opens up a  little bit more about what  she says happened.

 

Nikki: i was sitting in the car and i heard  the gunshot. he said he needed… the house to burn down so then there would   be no evidence.

 

Agt. Arenz: we had the cigarette   pack down by the furnace, that was the same brand that Earl smokes and nobody else in the home smoked.

Sgt. Silbernagel:  who came up  with  this  whole scenario?

Nikki:Earl did.

Tracy walder /former FBI special agent: they didn´t have enough evidence  to actually get that murder charge but  they  had plenty  of evidence on  arson evidence tampering and then conspiracy to commit murder.

Earl is captured at the canadian border,however  unlike Nikki Earl howard, makes a life- changing choice.

Agt. Arenz:  Earl did eventually plead guilty  to his charges so  he avoided a trial

Julie rendelman / criminal  defens attorney : got  25 years  ,he´s up for parole maybe arouind 20  to 21  years.

Then in september 2022 it was time for nikki sue entzel to go on trial for conspiring to  kill her husband and cover up his murder.

Prosecutors pointed  to what they believed was  her motive . Money.

 

Nikki: my name is nikki entzel… and i am calling…to get a  quote for renters insurance.

 

 She took out a renter´s polic and then she also had a life insurance that she was beneficiary of that  was  for about six  hundred thousand dollars.

 

 agent: so the twenty 20,000.dollar uh, in coverage  for personal  property… also includes 4, 000 dollar  for loss of use.in case you ´re displaced  from your home due to a covered claim such as a fire.

Julie rendelman / criminal  defens attorney :it´s never a good look for a suspect to take out any type of insurance policy ,only days befor the person  that you will eventually be accused  of  killing is then  killed.

 

Tracy walder /former FBI special agent: she  immediately made calls  upon his death to try to draw from those life insurance policies .

Nikki:our home caught on fire and my husband was in there.

agent: you lost your husband dear?

 nikki:( crying  ) yeah   , in the house  last night…they found him., the firemen did.

 

Entzel´s attorney highlighted  a glaring deficit in the prosecution´s  case.

Julie rendelman / criminal  defens attorney : the defense harped  on one thing. that the jury had not  heard from Earl howard. their position was well earl howard would know  everything that happened. earl howard pled guilty,why is he not in this courtroom?

 

The case is handed over to the jury  and after two hours of deliberation they  came to a decision as to nikki sue  entzel future.

 

As  to the charge ofconspiracy to commit murder we find the defendent nikki sue  melissa entzel guilty.”

 

Agt. Arenz:   the case was so strong against nikki, that i  would have actually  been suprised had it not come out that way.

sentence  

Nikki sue  entzel was sentenced to life in prison with  the possibility of parol .but have all the question  to this story been  answered ?

 

Julie rendelman / criminal  defens attorney :unfortunately i don´t think we ever gonna know hwo the actual person is that pulled the trigger.  and the reason we wont´know that is because there´s only three people that know.

 

Tracy walder /former FBI special agent: i personally don´t believe that nikki was the sole person  hwo did this .i  believe she was the mastermind but i acctually thing that it was probably Earl. um   who pulled the trigger. that doesn´t  absolve nikkie sue  of any guilt.she´s the one who put this kind of crime in motion 

We may  never really know what  happened in that house  on that cold december night and there´s apparently one  person who would like to know what happened  as well .  Nikki sue Entzel, thats right.in a media interview that aired .she knowledged that her stories  haven´t always  aligned, but she still  denies her involvement in the crime.