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MIMay 21, 2016, 31-year-old Nicole “Nikki” VanderHeyden, was last seen just after midnight leaving a downtown Green Bay, Wisconsin bar following an argument with her boyfriend, Douglass Detrie. Hours later, her brutally b**ten and st**gled body was discovered in a field off Hoffman Road in Bellevue, miles from her home. The injuries were so severe she was identified through dental records.
Detrie was initially arrested after police learned he had argued with Nicole that night. Investigators examined shoe impressions and blood found in his garage, later confirmed to be non-human. His Fitbit data showed he was asleep at home during the time of the attack, and after 18 days, he was released.
DNA from a bl**d-stained cord linked to the crime led investigators to George Burch, a Virginia man who had been in the area that night. Cell-phone and GPS data later placed him near Nicole’s last known location and the field where her body was found.
Burch claimed he was innocent, later alleging Nicole’s boyfriend forced him to help dispose of the body — an alibi prosecutors dismantled using forensic and digital evidence. They argued Nicole resisted his advances and was k*lled during the a**ult.
In 2018, George Burch was convicted of first-degree intentional homicide and sentenced to life in prison without parole — a case where a fitness tracker and DNA exposed the truth.
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