0:00

What's up, you guys? I'm Andrea. And

0:03

I'm Hailey. And you're listening

0:05

to Inhuman, a true crime

0:07

podcast. Welcome back, everybody.

0:30

Boy, do I have a crazy

0:32

ass case for y'all today. All right.

0:36

That is all I'm going to say. And

0:38

then I'm just going to just dive right

0:40

into it. Okay. Sounds good.

0:44

Nico Koleas, a Northbrook, Illinois native,

0:46

was a senior at the University

0:48

of Rochester in New York back

0:51

in December of 2015. While

0:55

pursuing a degree in business, Nico

0:57

also dedicated time to playing football

0:59

for the university's team, the Yellow

1:01

Jackets. That

1:03

sounds like a familiar name. Yeah,

1:06

I know. I was thinking that too. This show,

1:08

Yellow Jackets, if you guys haven't

1:10

seen it, go watch it. It's freaking crazy.

1:13

Especially when you learn a little bit more

1:15

about this case, there's going to be some

1:18

other weird similarities, sort of. Okay. On

1:23

December 4th, Nico decided to

1:25

accompany his teammate, Ani. And

1:28

for privacy purposes, I'm not going

1:30

to share the rest of his name just

1:32

because he has chosen not to be

1:34

in the spotlight with this. So

1:38

I'll just refer to him as Ani. And

1:40

they were planning to go into the

1:42

city to meet two young women who

1:44

promised them a night of fun and

1:46

partying. So they're near, you know, New

1:49

York City, I guess. And

1:51

they were going to go, like, have a

1:53

good time, get it in, you know. Okay.

1:57

Little did they know that a student was in

1:59

the spotlight. seemingly innocent decision would

2:01

plunge them into a living nightmare

2:03

that would leave a permanent mark

2:05

on their lives forever. Oh

2:08

my gosh. Growing

2:10

up, Nico was part of a very close knit family.

2:13

Being one of four boys, you can

2:15

imagine their family life was pretty energetic

2:17

and busy. Yep,

2:20

that would be a lot. Yeah, that's a

2:22

lot. A lot of testosterone going on there. As

2:26

a kid, Nico loved playing piano and

2:29

football and he was quite good at

2:31

both. He knew

2:33

one day he wanted to attend a school

2:35

that would allow him to display both his

2:37

talents and the

2:40

University of Rochester proved to be the

2:42

perfect fit. U

2:44

of R had a Division III

2:46

football team and also offered classes

2:48

at the renowned Eastman School of

2:50

Music, their prestigious music school. Wow.

2:55

In 2012, he began his college

2:57

journey at the University. Now

3:00

we're going to fast forward a little bit

3:02

into Nico's junior year. And

3:05

that year, the school recruited a

3:07

young man named Isaiah Smith. And

3:11

Isaiah was a gifted freshman linebacker from

3:13

the Bronx. According

3:15

to Nico, Smith's arrival changed the game

3:18

for their team. Smith

3:21

possessed the ideal combination of both size

3:23

and speed. But

3:25

according to many players of the team, Smith

3:27

grew a reputation for

3:30

wanting to be the big

3:32

drug dealer on campus. Why?

3:37

Those two things are not... It's

3:41

like one or the other. It doesn't make sense. Pick

3:43

a path, buddy. Yeah. Because

3:45

you're going to ultimately ruin a

3:48

good thing by choosing

3:50

this destructive path. I

3:52

don't get it. He sounds like

3:55

he could have gone pro, honestly. Wow. That's...

3:58

It's just so sad because it's like... It's

4:00

just something, you know, ruined.

4:04

Yeah, just frivolous, like just careless.

4:06

And I don't understand it.

4:08

Yeah. Nico

4:11

stated, quote, that's

4:13

what he really took pride in more than

4:15

his exceptional athletics, which was shocking to me.

4:19

Smith boasted about having connections in New York

4:21

City and how he could easily acquire any

4:23

kind of drug that anyone might need. While

4:27

his transactions with fellow players

4:29

usually proceeded without any hitches,

4:32

over time, Smith started to gain

4:34

the reputation for

4:36

his tendency to rip people

4:38

off. So

4:41

you're doing bad business. That's

4:43

not really going to gain you this

4:45

big drug dealer on campus. Yeah.

4:49

You know? Like if you really want

4:51

that reputation, then like do

4:53

it right. Yeah. As

4:56

awful as that sounds. Yeah. Like

4:58

that's not going to lead to your

5:00

success. Yeah. Anyone with

5:02

like half a brain cell knows that you're

5:05

not going to get very far if you rip people

5:07

off. I don't know. You get a bad

5:09

reputation. People are not going to want to come to you and get

5:12

their, you know, fix or whatever. So I don't

5:14

know. I don't know what I don't know what

5:16

he was thinking. And

5:19

I further don't know what he's thinking

5:21

with this next, this next section, because

5:24

on the afternoon of November 28th, 2015,

5:27

following the conclusion of the Yellow Jackets

5:29

season, security footage documented

5:31

a series of events involving

5:33

Smith. So

5:35

first, Smith was seen jogging

5:38

across a bridge that linked

5:40

the university campus to a

5:43

student apartment complex called

5:46

Brooks Crossing. So like

5:48

typical and I'm sure

5:50

the University of Purdue that you went to

5:52

Haley had this, but it wouldn't

5:54

be like proper dorms

5:56

on campus, but it would be

5:59

like apartment complex. complexes in

6:01

the surrounding area that were either owned by the school

6:03

or like known to Rent

6:05

only to students. Yeah, and at

6:09

Purdue we actually had a whole issue

6:11

because they Basically Purdue had like and

6:13

I don't know if it still has it but when

6:15

I was there it had like this not

6:17

so great reputation for not having enough dorms

6:19

for The amount of

6:21

like students that wanted to live on campus

6:23

because yeah required to live for one

6:26

year But then after that you didn't

6:28

have to but people liked living on

6:30

campus So they kept living on campus and

6:32

then there wasn't enough there weren't enough dorms

6:34

for incoming freshmen It

6:36

didn't happen to me Thankfully, but they basically

6:38

had to utilize some of the

6:40

apartments in town that weren't technically

6:43

owned by the university but

6:45

the university like rented them for

6:48

students for like quote-unquote dorms

6:50

and so yes, I totally understand that

6:52

type of That

6:55

type of living So

6:57

basically this is what that was but it was actually

7:01

Under ownership of the university. So they

7:03

did actually own the apartment complexes that

7:05

were rented to the students. Okay So

7:09

when Smith reached the complex

7:11

he was seen on the

7:13

security footage Interacting with

7:16

three individuals near a particular

7:18

building What we later learn

7:20

is that Smith was at the

7:23

apartment building doing an alleged drug

7:25

transaction With three

7:27

other individuals so not the three individuals

7:29

that he was seen speaking with but

7:31

three other Individuals and these individuals have

7:34

not ever been named in any sources.

7:36

So I'm gonna try to keep them Separate

7:39

as possible. It gets kind of confusing But

7:41

there's three individuals that he was working with

7:44

and then three under the individuals. He was

7:46

doing the transaction with okay So

7:49

the unit that Smith entered was not

7:51

his own but he was aware that

7:53

the tenants that did live there Hit

7:56

a spare key inside a fire

7:58

extinguisher box Okay,

8:00

so he just helped

8:03

himself right on into that apartment and

8:07

He gave the individuals that were there

8:09

for the drug deal, you

8:11

know the impression that they were gonna finalize the

8:13

drug deal but instead

8:15

the three men who were lying

8:18

in wait outside burst in and

8:21

Assaulted the dealers with pepper spray

8:23

and hammers before robbing them of

8:25

four pounds of marijuana. Oh My

8:28

god, so the intent was

8:30

just to rob them. Yeah,

8:32

that's right. Yep. Wow, and

8:35

that's a lot of Marijuana

8:37

has a lot of weed. Yeah, that's

8:39

a lot of money. Yeah Scary

8:44

sketchy and scary and once you get involved

8:46

in that and start getting tangled up in

8:48

that like now these people are gonna Have

8:50

a vendetta against you and then like maybe

8:53

their Supplier is

8:55

gonna you know, like I really

8:57

yeah trickles upward. Yeah Downward,

9:00

but you know, yeah, no, I Yeah,

9:03

it's that's just getting

9:05

messy. Yeah real messy

9:07

real messy And one

9:10

of the craziest aspects of this was that

9:12

the three unidentifier Unidentified

9:16

attackers also struck

9:18

Smith with minimal force with the

9:20

hammer So he was

9:23

trying to make it look like he wasn't even involved

9:25

so he set him up and then played the victim

9:28

Whoo. Yeah So

9:31

surveillance footage captured some of the individuals

9:33

emerging from the apartment building with bandages

9:35

made from their own Clothing

9:37

in an effort to stop the bleeding from

9:40

the hammer wounds on their heads then

9:43

Smith masqueraded as

9:45

another casualty and accompanied

9:47

the injured men to the hospital so

9:50

naturally Police were

9:52

alerted to what the fuck is

9:55

going on at the hospital and

9:57

when they arrived Smith was

10:00

But he did eventually confess that he had broken

10:02

to the apartment because he knew that his friend

10:04

who lived there would not be home and that

10:06

he did not have permission to be there. So

10:10

he didn't really, at first,

10:13

he wasn't really forthcoming as to why they

10:15

were there. Okay. But

10:18

eventually, yeah, eventually he

10:20

did tell them that

10:22

the three men that attacks

10:25

them, he set them up and he

10:27

set them up to rob them. Okay. So

10:44

police collected enough evidence to

10:46

charge Smith with burglary, robbery,

10:48

and assault, and he

10:50

was arrested, but he spent very little

10:53

time in jail. According

10:55

to documents, the assistant football coach

10:57

signed a $15,000 bond to Bill

10:59

Smith out. Okay.

11:03

So did he not have any drugs in his possession

11:06

then? Like in his actual possession? No. No.

11:10

Okay. The three men that

11:13

left, the three initial men, the three

11:15

men that attacked, they were seen getting

11:18

into a black sedan and departing

11:20

from the parking lot. And

11:22

they had it all. They had it. And of

11:25

course, I don't think that he gave up their

11:27

names or anything. Well, I mean,

11:29

honestly, that was probably the smartest thing he did. Yeah.

11:33

You're not going to go to jail forever and then you're going to get

11:35

out and if you give up their names, you're screwed.

11:37

Yeah, you're definitely screwed. And

11:40

then like the whole, the school getting involved

11:43

and billing him out, I don't know. That

11:45

just gives me like really bad, like

11:48

it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I feel

11:50

like that's going on. But

11:52

I also understand politics and that

11:55

kind of thing. And He's

11:57

the star football player and like, let's.

11:59

yeah see now get him off that

12:01

he can win as the championship or

12:03

whatever the fuck in our know. Honestly,

12:05

Not that surprising. Yeah. So.

12:10

Back to the evening of

12:12

December for on ie excitedly

12:14

share with Nico his online

12:16

encounter with a young woman

12:18

name's Stephanie Hughes and Stephanie

12:20

was with her. Fran and

12:22

the girls basically wanted to

12:24

meet up with Nico and

12:26

Arnie and attend a house

12:29

party. So. Nico,

12:31

you know he adjusts. Got

12:33

out of his football season,

12:35

he was eager to socialize

12:37

and unwind, and he. Agreed.

12:40

To go might no question that seem like an

12:42

innocent thing. Does. He. Was

12:44

arrived on his apartment and

12:46

she was driving a blue

12:49

Dodge dart and she was

12:51

accompanied by her friend Leah.

12:53

Gagliardi. Upon.

12:55

Entering the vehicle it became very evident

12:57

that both the girls were already quite

12:59

intoxicated which I mean I guess it

13:01

and really like bothering them that much

13:03

as a salon. the car with them

13:06

and like went with them re I

13:08

it was apparent that you know they

13:10

add actually had liquor bottles in the

13:12

car with them. They are like I

13:14

guess taken flags either. Say

13:17

now, let's not do that. was the

13:19

up. Nico.

13:22

Would later recall how as they

13:24

pass over the bridge he noticed

13:26

that the neighborhood started to look

13:28

unsafe. So.

13:30

Gradually a sense of nervousness.

13:33

Nervousness. Crap. Then. Within

13:35

a few minutes the group arrives at

13:38

a two story house pulling into the

13:40

driveway. Hughes and

13:42

Giggly Audio Guide and Nico and On

13:44

a through the side door. Setting.

13:47

Inside a strong stench of

13:49

urine and feces had their

13:52

senses a move my good

13:54

as yeah. And. this

13:56

how flake i will share photos

13:58

iron or instagram in our Facebook.

14:00

I'm gonna look it up. Disgusting. Yeah.

14:03

But honestly, like I feel like

14:05

I've partied in houses similar. Maybe

14:07

not this bad, but similar, you

14:09

know, kind of like it. I

14:12

was not. I

14:15

was not the type of person to do that.

14:17

Like you've been in college, most of the houses

14:19

that I would go to, I like either

14:22

knew the people or like new

14:24

people who knew the people and honestly, I didn't

14:27

go to that many. But I can also

14:29

imagine, and I'm just

14:35

thinking about some of the houses I did

14:37

go to and like, if

14:40

those gross me out, I can't imagine this.

14:42

Oh gosh. Yes. I'm looking at some of the pictures.

14:45

Yeah. Pretty, pretty horrific and

14:47

like, yeah. I mean,

14:49

you go to a house party, like you don't

14:51

know what you're gonna get. You're just like trying

14:53

to drink and have fun. And most of the

14:55

time, you don't even like look around. I don't

14:57

know. I'm the type of person I look around

14:59

like that. Yeah. I'm not using that toilet. Right.

15:01

I'm gonna go outside like, nope. But you're just like,

15:03

that's not what you're there for. So it's just like,

15:06

whatever. You just, it is what you get.

15:08

Go with your friends. They're like, let's go to a party. And

15:10

you're like, okay. Yeah. Yeah. So

15:14

they go inside and they take

15:16

a seat on the leather couch that's in the

15:18

living room and Nico's

15:21

discomfort was immediately heightened

15:24

when several masked figures emerged

15:26

from different rooms with

15:29

baseball bats, pipes, knives,

15:32

and guns. Oh my

15:34

God. Yeah. So

15:36

Nico reacted quickly and he

15:38

jumped up and made a

15:40

mad dash towards the front

15:42

door. But one

15:45

of the men pulled out a 22 caliber

15:48

and shot him in

15:51

the leg. And this

15:53

bullet fractured Nico's femur,

15:55

which he had just

15:58

had surgery on recently. due

16:00

to a football injury. So that

16:02

makes me think the person knew

16:05

that he had

16:07

had that surgery. Maybe but

16:09

I mean, that's a good

16:12

theory. But I don't think that that's actually like why

16:14

I think it was just like, Oh, that's

16:16

where it just happened. Yeah. Okay, like stop

16:18

him from running. He actually ended up shooting

16:20

him twice. But Nico was unaware that he

16:22

had been shot twice. Oh, wow.

16:25

Yeah. So after

16:28

this, Nico was hit in the head

16:30

with a baseball bat and forcibly taken

16:32

into the bathroom where oni

16:34

had already been subdued. They

16:38

then duct taped his arms and

16:40

legs to a folding chair that

16:42

had been placed into the disgusting

16:45

shower. Okay, that's the

16:47

photo that I saw. Yeah, it's

16:49

pretty bad. It's like people

16:51

lived here, but it was like kind of

16:54

like a squatter house. I'm thinking more so

16:56

like the house you go to

16:58

to like party smoke weed and then maybe go

17:00

back to your own house after you're done

17:02

like binge whatever binging

17:04

whatever. That's so nasty.

17:06

I know it's really bad.

17:08

The captors

17:11

then took Nico's phone wallet and

17:13

keys to ensure that he could

17:15

not get away or call for

17:18

help. Oh my God.

17:20

I know it's so sick. Like I

17:22

don't even know what else to say. I'm so stressed out

17:24

right now. Oh, it is

17:26

very sure. And it's not an April Fool's joke. So you're

17:30

gonna be yeah, it's gonna be very stressful and

17:33

it is it really happened. Oh

17:35

my gosh. Okay. For

17:37

the next 40 plus hours,

17:39

Nico endured the most horrific

17:42

things between

17:44

the nine kidnappers Nico was beaten

17:46

with a hedge trimmer, a

17:48

bat and a pipe. They

17:51

drenched him in lighter fluid threatening to set

17:53

him on fire. They threatened

17:56

to sever his toes with the hedge clippers

17:58

and they actually did. did like clip

18:01

in between his toes like

18:04

trying to scare him but he

18:06

was you know injured. This

18:08

was after him getting shot in

18:11

the leg. Yeah. Yeah.

18:13

He's like covered in his own blood and

18:16

they're continuing to torture him. Wow.

18:18

Okay. Yeah. They

18:21

repeatedly put a gun in his mouth threatening

18:24

to kill him. They

18:26

smashed light bulbs against his head

18:29

with such velocity. He had fragments

18:31

of glass lodged into his eardrum

18:33

and his skull. Oh

18:36

my. My mouth

18:38

is my jaws on the floor. Like

18:41

yeah. It's absolutely

18:43

horrific. How can humans do that

18:45

to other humans? How

18:47

can he endure all of this? That's

18:49

my thing. Like yeah. He is a

18:51

trooper. He is a badass

18:53

because I don't know man. I

18:55

think I've been done. I think after maybe

18:58

being shot in the femur like that's

19:00

dangerous. That's like instant death if you

19:02

hit that big artery.

19:05

Yeah. During

19:07

the assault Nico could

19:09

hear other assailants

19:12

talking laughing and

19:15

he could smell them smoking

19:17

weed. So they're just like casually just

19:19

having the best old time in other rooms

19:21

of the house while he is literally you

19:25

know suffering from this immense pain. And I

19:27

know that there's people out there like this

19:29

but the fact that like nine of them

19:31

found each other and were like we're going

19:33

to do this and we're going to have

19:35

fun and like nobody's going to be weirded

19:37

out by it. That's just yeah. Scary. Like

19:40

how are you that okay with this

19:43

happening? And I will say that

19:45

some of the captors

19:48

some of the people that were involved

19:50

in this I mean they were under

19:52

the influence of drugs and alcohol. Not

19:54

that that gives them like

19:57

a pass but they were not. And

20:01

they obviously didn't have self-esteem to be

20:03

in this situation to begin with. So

20:05

they just didn't care about themselves. So

20:08

how could they care about another individual?

20:10

You know what I mean? I mean, that makes

20:12

sense. I mean, you'd almost

20:14

have to be to not be freaked

20:16

out by this. But then again, there

20:19

are people that are like that. They

20:21

are. And some of these people, I think they

20:23

thoroughly enjoyed what they did. Wow.

20:27

So to add insult to injury,

20:29

the captors also recorded parts of

20:31

their attack on Niko. And

20:34

in one part of the video, you can hear one

20:36

of the men say, quote, this

20:38

is what an

20:40

N word is going to do when

20:42

they want to take four pounds from

20:45

an N word. This

20:47

right here. Then

20:49

the man is seen in the video

20:51

jabbing Niko with the hedge clippers. I

20:55

don't even know how to respond to that. Yeah,

20:58

it's disgusting. And so basically he's saying like,

21:01

oh, you want to rob us? Like, this is what you're going

21:03

to get if you rob us. But then

21:06

and he didn't do anything. Yeah, he didn't do

21:08

it. You know, it's

21:10

the craziest part is they knew these

21:15

people, these captors, these disgusting,

21:17

vile people knew that

21:20

the men who attacked

21:22

their friends were all

21:24

black. And Niko is

21:26

a white male. Like he's a white

21:28

man. So it literally does not even

21:31

make sense that you

21:33

would blame him or say like, this

21:36

is what's going to happen when you try to steal

21:39

from us because he didn't do it. Yeah,

21:41

like what do you think? And

21:43

that did it is gonna hear

21:46

that he's hurt and pay

21:49

his aid. Yeah, like, come

21:51

on. No. And

21:54

when you find out why

21:56

Niko and Ani were targeted, it's going

21:58

to blow your fucking mind. Okay.

22:12

So The

22:15

video itself is only about 30

22:17

seconds long and it does not

22:19

thankfully show the entirety of the

22:21

physical sexual

22:24

and Psychological torture that these

22:27

young men endured and

22:29

I don't there's no detail about anything else

22:31

and I don't even want to know anything

22:33

else, but I just feel feel

22:35

so much for them because I cannot imagine

22:37

40 hours of This

22:41

of this and you're like bleeding

22:44

probably afraid that you're gonna freaking

22:46

bleed out from your injuries Yeah,

22:50

and the pain and like just the

22:52

mental anguish and like Now

22:57

that is insane I

22:59

know after several hours of

23:01

enduring the unthinkable Nika

23:04

was then taken to the shower where

23:06

they washed all the blood from his

23:08

body. Oh my god Following

23:12

the shower. They handed him a crutch to

23:14

aid his shaky steps towards

23:16

the adjacent bedroom Inside

23:19

the room. There was an air mattress on the

23:21

floor waiting for him I Have

23:24

him shower. Like do you think that's

23:26

gonna hide all of his injuries? Like

23:29

uh, no and if anything like I

23:32

Feel like that's just gonna make

23:34

more evidence, you know, yeah,

23:36

I'm gonna wash. Yeah. I mean it's everywhere

23:38

anyway Yeah, I don't know. I

23:40

don't really don't know what their Motives

23:43

were for that. Honestly, probably one person was like,

23:45

oh we should make him get cleaned up before

23:48

he goes and lays on This air mattress and

23:50

then everybody's like, oh, yeah, like we

23:53

might use that later to sleep on. Yeah

23:55

Yeah, I mean they were living in a

23:57

nasty house. Yeah then Niko's

23:59

cabin did something that caught

24:01

him completely off guard. They

24:04

gave him food, water, and

24:06

medicine. So they

24:08

didn't want him to die? I

24:11

don't know because it kind

24:14

of seems like they were intending on

24:17

killing him. I

24:19

almost feel like they just were so out

24:22

of their minds that they didn't realize

24:24

the extent of what they did, that

24:27

it could have killed him. And

24:30

they just wanted to scare him or get back

24:32

at him or whatever, but they were

24:35

like, I don't even want to say smart enough,

24:37

but they knew enough to, if they killed him,

24:39

they'd be in a whole different world of trouble

24:41

if they got caught. Maybe

24:44

they thought they could clean him up and dump

24:47

him somewhere and get away with it because they

24:49

were wearing masks. And they

24:51

did not take their masks off at

24:53

all during the entire ordeal

24:55

at all. They were very calculated

24:57

too. They didn't use names. They

25:00

had nicknames for each other. And

25:03

they knew going in each and

25:05

every time, it was very calculated.

25:08

It was very planned out and there

25:10

was no stumbling and

25:12

stuttering. They were very sure of what they

25:15

were doing. That's

25:18

so scary. I know. The

25:21

following morning when Nico did not

25:23

return to his room, his roommate immediately

25:26

reported him missing. So Nico

25:28

and Ani both, I know I

25:30

was like, way to go because I feel

25:32

like a college dude would be like, especially

25:35

in college, he probably got laid. He's like

25:37

at the girl's house. He had a good

25:39

night. But no, he was like, they

25:42

knew their roommates and they were like, this is not like them. They're

25:44

not answering their texts. They're not answering their calls.

25:47

Like they always come home. Something is

25:49

up. Wow. And

25:52

thank God the campus police

25:54

took the matter seriously and

25:56

began investigating what was going on. The

25:59

question. Ani's roommate as well and

26:02

luckily he had some very telling

26:04

information to share with police. Okay.

26:07

So he showed them that not too

26:09

long ago he had received a Facebook

26:11

friend request that he

26:14

chose to ignore from a girl

26:16

named Samantha Hughes who happened

26:18

to be the same girl Ani and Nico

26:20

were planning to meet up with the night

26:23

before. When the officers scoured Stephanie's

26:25

Facebook page they discovered that

26:29

she was friends with one of the men

26:31

injured with the hammer during the robbery. Oh wow.

26:35

Yeah. So campus police reached

26:37

out to Hughes asking to meet up with her

26:39

because they wanted to ask her a few questions.

26:41

They didn't really say what it was in reference

26:43

to. They were just like hey we have some

26:45

questions like can you meet up with us? And

26:49

she reluctantly agreed and

26:51

that Saturday she

26:55

met with the police at a nearby

26:57

Dunkin Donuts. She

26:59

did not want to go alone so she brought

27:01

her friend Leah Gigliotti.

27:05

Oh okay. So both girls

27:07

that were involved in luring Nico

27:10

and Ani to this disgusting house.

27:13

Wow. Hughes

27:15

admitted to the authorities that she had indeed

27:17

spent some time with Nico and Ani and

27:21

mentioned that they had attended a party

27:23

together but that she left early because

27:25

she got ill from

27:27

consuming too much alcohol. She claims she

27:30

could not remember the exact location of

27:33

the house but agreed to accompany

27:35

the officers in a vehicle to

27:37

help them locate it. Hughes then

27:40

intentionally steered them in the wrong direction

27:42

and actually

27:45

took them like on the opposite side

27:47

of town like way far away from

27:49

Nico and Ani. So

27:51

like knew what they were doing. Oh yeah

27:53

she fucking knew what she was doing. Yeah.

27:56

She just makes you complicit in all of

27:58

this. Oh she was Yeah,

28:00

everyone involved was complicit. Yeah.

28:04

After this encounter, police let the women go. There

28:06

was no reason to hold them. They had no

28:08

information. They believe what they were saying. I mean,

28:11

they were probably pretty convincing. Yeah.

28:14

And how do you not like,

28:16

unfortunately, they kind of had

28:19

the upper hand because, you know,

28:21

the police didn't know what they didn't

28:24

know. Yeah. Yeah. But

28:26

smart of them to connect her with the previous

28:29

incident. Yeah.

28:32

Campus police concluded their investigation and

28:34

handed the case over to the

28:36

Rochester Police Department. One

28:39

significant measure that the Rochester

28:42

police initiated was the surveillance

28:45

of Nico's bank account. And

28:48

they were hoping to maybe uncover a

28:51

potential lead. Right

28:54

away, they noticed that thousands

28:56

of dollars were being withdrawn

28:58

from ATMs from Nico's account.

29:03

Upon reviewing the surveillance footage obtained from

29:05

one of the ATMs, they noted that

29:07

a blue Dodge Dart

29:09

had been captured pulling up to the

29:11

machine. When the car

29:14

came to a stop at the machine, one

29:16

of the back windows rolled down and

29:19

revealed the face of

29:21

one of Nico's captors, Liddell

29:24

Strickland. So initially in

29:26

the video, he is seen with a

29:28

mask over his face, the same mask

29:30

that he wore during the attack. But

29:32

for some reason, thankfully, he pulled

29:35

the mask down. I wonder

29:38

if he was like, just wanted a

29:40

breather or something. Yeah, I mean, he probably

29:42

wasn't even thinking about the fact that he was being recorded

29:44

or that they would like link

29:46

him to Nico. I don't know. I

29:48

mean, everything linked these days, you know,

29:50

honestly, he probably just thought like, Oh,

29:53

they can't link me. Like, I

29:55

don't know. I'm too smart. Yeah,

29:57

I don't know. So the same

29:59

night the police

30:01

uncovered the faces of one of Nico's

30:05

potential captors. Ani's

30:07

roommate, on a whim, reached

30:09

out to Isaiah Smith, inquiring

30:12

about their missing teammates. If

30:14

you remember, Isaiah is the other football

30:17

player that set up the drug dealers

30:19

to begin with. Right. According

30:22

to Smith, he reached out to his

30:24

previous drug sources and allegedly made an

30:26

offer of $15,000 to release Nico and

30:28

Ani. But

30:31

the drug dealers told Smith, quote, we

30:34

don't want money. We want blood.

30:37

Okay. Police

30:40

once again brought in

30:42

Hughes, Gigliotti and Smith

30:44

for questioning. After

30:47

enduring 14 grueling hours

30:50

of interrogation, the young

30:52

women reached their breaking point. Wow.

30:56

Despite their efforts to deceive

30:58

with a barrage of lies

31:01

and misinformation, the interrogation finally

31:03

yielded a crucial piece of

31:05

information. An

31:07

address. Oh my gosh. Before

31:11

the SWAT team ascended on

31:13

the house located at 22

31:15

Harvest Street, the masked men

31:18

had started firing haphazardly, riddling

31:20

the walls, floors and ceilings of

31:23

the house where Nico and Ani

31:25

were being held captive. And

31:28

they must have been so terrified like hearing

31:30

that. Yeah, they were in the room.

31:33

It was happening like in the same room. And

31:35

Nico even said in like one interview that I

31:37

read that he was pretty

31:39

much nude. I don't even know if he had

31:41

underwear on at this point. I

31:44

don't know the details of that, but

31:46

he said that the bullet casings were

31:48

so hot that they were burning his

31:50

skin. Oh my

31:52

gosh. And they could at any second turn and shoot

31:55

you. Yeah. And that's. And

31:57

you don't know. Wait, was this like, were they a

31:59

war? that the SWAT teams had arrived or

32:02

like it just so happened. It was right before,

32:04

it was like in the time before the SWAT

32:06

team came. But like

32:08

the same warning. So

32:11

you don't know though that like you're about to

32:13

be rescued. So he's probably, both of them are

32:15

probably sitting there thinking we're about to die. Like

32:17

they're going to turn and shoot us. Yeah, that's

32:19

exactly what he thought. And Niko actually

32:22

reached over and clutched on his

32:24

hand because he really

32:26

thought that this was it. That they

32:28

were going to die right there. Wow.

32:31

I know. It's so heartbreaking. I'm just

32:33

like, I'm trying to like, I don't

32:35

want to put myself in his shoes, but

32:37

I'm just like trying to imagine the

32:39

fear. That fear. Yeah. That

32:42

he must have been feeling like. And

32:45

we know he survives, I'm

32:47

assuming, because you have mentioned interviews

32:49

that he's done. But like he didn't know that.

32:51

No. So as much as we

32:54

can try to imagine that, like you can't because. And

32:56

he's so strong. Yeah. And

32:59

he had been through all of that for so long. And

33:02

then now they're going even crazier. Yeah.

33:07

It's so wild. Finally,

33:10

the SWAT team, and I say finally like

33:12

that, not because like they took too long,

33:14

just like finally, like, I'm so glad this

33:17

is over for him. Like, yeah. The

33:20

SWAT team arrived at the house.

33:22

They quickly deployed explosive devices to

33:24

disorient the subjects inside. Officers

33:28

in Kevlar vest armed

33:30

with assault rifles stormed the

33:32

residents and extracted Nico

33:34

and Ani to safety. Wow.

33:38

Truly amazing. Nico

33:42

lost four pints of

33:44

blood, which is nearly 40 percent

33:46

of the blood volume in an average

33:49

human body. Oh, my.

33:52

That is insane.

33:55

He had to have four

33:58

blood transfusions. which is insane.

34:01

And blood transfusions are dangerous too.

34:03

Like that can be deadly, I

34:05

think. I mean, I don't know

34:08

enough about medical, but. I mean, they're on a

34:10

risk. I don't know if, I mean, I guess,

34:12

yes, the chances are very slim. I

34:15

actually almost had to have a blood transfusion

34:17

after my miscarriage because I lost so much

34:19

blood. But thankfully I didn't. And

34:21

the doctors were like, thankfully you didn't

34:23

because it does come with risk. Risk, right.

34:26

But, you know, he needed it. So they're

34:28

like the risk, the good outweighs

34:30

the bad or

34:33

whatever. Yeah, but that's like just

34:35

on top of everything and like all

34:37

these injuries and then another like, you

34:39

know, having to have

34:42

more risks presented to you to

34:44

save your life. And then he

34:47

also had to undergo surgery once

34:49

again to insert a surgical

34:51

rod in his femur where he had been shot

34:53

because it pretty much obliterated

34:55

his bone. Right.

34:59

He also required surgery to remove the glass

35:01

from his eardrum and his skull. Wow.

35:05

And that's not even touching

35:08

on the psychological and emotional

35:10

damages that he had that

35:13

would likely take far longer to repair.

35:16

Right. In all

35:19

nine individuals were arrested and

35:22

I'm going to say eight here. So just know

35:24

one more is coming. Okay.

35:26

Okay. And that,

35:29

and those individuals were Liddell

35:31

Strickland, Elliot Riviera, David

35:34

Alcarez, Leah

35:36

Gigliotti, Stephanie Hughes, Dennis

35:39

Perez, Analia Rollden

35:41

and Ruth Laura. All

35:44

right. So here's where the

35:46

shit gets real crazy. Well,

35:49

it's already pretty fucking crazy.

35:51

So police learned that

35:53

this terrifying incident stemmed

35:57

from a case of mistaken.

36:00

identity. Oh

36:05

my gosh. So did they think that he

36:08

was Smith? The abductors

36:10

had actually intended to target Smith

36:12

who had stolen drugs and money

36:14

from their dealers. But

36:17

like you said they

36:20

knew that or they should have known

36:22

that he wasn't black.

36:24

Right, Niko yes, but Ani was

36:26

a black man and so it

36:28

was like guilty by association for

36:31

Niko even though Ani also did

36:33

not have any part in

36:35

what happened. Right.

36:38

And I will get to that part

36:40

of it in just a moment so

36:42

it gets even woo-woo-er. Oh my

36:45

gosh. So

36:47

as it turned out the young woman

36:49

Stephanie Hughes was the girlfriend of 19

36:51

year old Elliot Rivera

36:53

Rivera sorry the

36:56

cousin of one of the men who had been attacked

36:58

by Smith and the three other men in Ani's

37:02

apartment. So

37:06

Ani that was

37:08

whose apartment that he had broken into because he

37:10

knew that Ani and his roommate kept their spare

37:12

key in the box. And

37:15

it was literally just because

37:17

they kept their spare key there not because

37:20

they had any drugs or had any like...

37:22

No, it was just an easy

37:24

in, easy out bada-bing

37:26

bada-boom. Wow.

37:30

So Rivera had promised revenge

37:32

and had actually been the one

37:35

texting most of the text message sent from

37:37

Hughes's phone to Ani and he was the

37:40

one who lured them into the meetup. Right.

37:44

In December of 2016 Liddell

37:46

Strickland who was believed to

37:48

have been the ringleader of this horrific

37:51

incident. So even though Rivera had been

37:53

the one to initiate this revenge,

37:58

Liddell Strickland was the

38:00

one who was who planned it. Right.

38:03

He was sentenced to 155 years in prison. I

38:08

thought you were gonna say days and I

38:11

was about to freakin throw my computer across

38:13

the room. Okay. He

38:15

was found guilty of 13 charges

38:17

which included assault, gang assault and

38:20

robbery. David

38:23

Alcaraz was found guilty of

38:25

kidnapping and weapons charges and

38:27

sentenced to 15 years in

38:29

prison. Analia Roldan and Ruth

38:32

Laura were also convicted of weapons

38:34

related charges and sentenced to seven

38:36

years. Stephanie

38:39

Hughes and Leah Gigliotti were charged

38:41

with second degree kidnapping and sentenced

38:43

to 15 years in

38:47

March of 2016. So this was

38:49

actually earlier in the year, but

38:51

I wanted to get to them

38:53

first because now enters player

38:55

number nine, Isaiah Smith. So in March of

38:57

2016, Isaiah

39:02

Smith faced a judge for his role

39:05

in orchestrating the drug robbery that started

39:07

it all. Smith

39:10

had already left school soon after his

39:12

arrest, though the university would

39:14

not say whether he withdrew or was

39:16

expelled. Oh, wow. At Smith

39:20

sentencing hearing Judge McClure

39:23

Castro told

39:25

the former linebacker quote, I suppose you

39:27

couldn't realize what events you set up

39:29

when you did this. As

39:32

the judge sentenced Smith to 13 and

39:35

a half years in prison, he strongly stated

39:37

quote, this is all your

39:39

fault. Wow.

39:44

In 2018, Nico and his family filed

39:46

a lawsuit against the University of Rochester

39:48

claiming the school of negligence. According

39:51

to these claims, the robbery that took place

39:54

by Smith actually, like I said, unfolded

39:56

in Ani's dorm room while he was

39:58

away on Thanksgiving. break with his

40:00

family. Nico was also

40:02

in another state celebrating the holiday

40:05

with his own family. Therefore, they

40:07

were obviously not involved. So

40:10

were the was the negligence claim basically

40:12

trying to say like, that

40:15

the university like should

40:17

have been responsible for that apartment because

40:20

of it being under their? So

40:24

the negligence falls into the fact

40:26

that number one, the university neglected

40:29

to inform the students about the

40:31

occurrence of a violent crime on

40:33

campus. And they also neglected

40:35

to alert on me that they didn't

40:37

tell him that it had this had

40:39

somebody broken into his apartment. They

40:42

hired a whole ass cleaning crew and

40:45

cleaned his entire room,

40:47

his entire apartment. And didn't

40:50

tell him. You did not fucking tell him. Oh,

40:53

okay. That's really bad. Isn't that

40:55

highly suspicious? I think is highly suspicious.

40:57

So I think just because it was

40:59

the star football player and they didn't

41:01

want anyone to find out that yep,

41:04

that's who it was. So they had to cover

41:06

that up. Yeah. And that is

41:08

my gosh, that's an alleged cover

41:10

up alleged alleged cover up. Yeah,

41:12

but you can't just like

41:15

something like that happens in this student's

41:17

dorm room. You can't just not tell

41:19

them like, I lived in

41:21

the dorms for two years. I can't imagine

41:23

if like, you might have happened. And like

41:25

all of your stuff is in there. Like

41:27

it's not. Yes, it's university

41:29

housing, but it's not like it's just the

41:31

university. Yeah. I mean, when

41:34

you sign the lease that you're taking ownership

41:36

of the dwelling is right. Oh my God.

41:40

Crazy. I know. It's completely crazy. Despite

41:44

the traumatizing experience, Nico was able

41:46

to graduate from college a semester

41:48

early with a bachelor's degree in

41:51

business administration. He currently

41:53

lives in Chicago and in

41:55

a nice little suburb. And

41:58

he works in wealth management. And

42:00

though he physically struggles from his

42:02

injuries from that time, he is

42:04

strong and resilient and he refuses

42:06

to let this tragedy roll over

42:08

his life. Wow. What

42:10

an amazing human being. Yeah.

42:13

I know. I just like

42:15

such a harrowing and just

42:17

such an amazing, all those

42:20

feelings. Like, I'm just,

42:22

I'm so, first of all, I'm so thankful that

42:24

they survived and that Nico

42:27

was able to tell this, this

42:29

story because it's so insane that

42:31

this could even happen. I mean,

42:33

obviously this stuff like this happens,

42:35

you know, but

42:37

like you said, like nine individuals concocted

42:41

this plan and went along

42:43

with it to innocent people.

42:45

Like these were innocent people,

42:47

mistaken identity, shmaken identity. Like

42:50

that is absolutely ridiculous. And

42:54

I'm glad that they got pretty severe punishments

42:56

from, from what I mean. It kind of

42:58

sucks that like some of the people only

43:00

got like seven years, 15 years, but at

43:03

least like there

43:05

was justice served. Yeah,

43:08

absolutely. But

43:11

that is all I have for you guys

43:13

today. This crazy ass story. Wow. That

43:16

is wild. And like, shout out to

43:18

Nico and Ani for like surviving that

43:21

and staying strong. And

43:23

wow. Yeah,

43:25

truly, truly amazing. But

43:28

thank you guys so much for listening. We

43:30

will have a brand spanking new case for

43:32

y'all next week. And until then,

43:35

keep it human. Bye guys. Bye.