Megan Nichols, 15, vanished from her home in Fairfield, Illinois, in early July of 2014. NBC’s “Dateline: The Note” details what happened. Before her bones were discovered nearly four years later, the authorities assumed she had run away.
While investigating, the police made shocking discoveries, such as sexual offenders and a classic love triangle. We’ve got your back if you want to know what happened to Megan and who killed her. So, shall we get started?
Megan Nichols Cause Of Death
Jackson Nichols and Kathy Jo Hutchcraft welcomed Megan Paige Nichols into the world on July 18, 1998, in Evansville, Vanderburgh County, Indiana. She was a young woman full of life and optimism, and her presence brought joy to everyone she met. Her excitement for cheerleading, softball, volleyball, and the school band was boundless during her stay at New Hope School.
She carried on her love of volleyball while attending Fairfield Community High School, where she was a key contributor to the varsity squad. Megan’s band and show choir performances were where she could truly let loose and enjoy herself while using her musical talents to convey joy to an audience.
She was very involved in the Fairfield community through her involvement with the First Baptist Church. She loved singing in the church choir and hanging out with her youth group pals as a way to show her devotion to Jesus. The adolescent relished the opportunity to play her ukulele and sing for her family and friends when she returned home.
Her life’s work was profoundly uncomplicated: to brighten the lives of people she loved. Therefore, it came as a shock when Megan, age 15, disappeared from the home she shared with her mother and stepfather in Fairfield, Illinois, on July 3, 2014.
Megan and her mother had plans to run errands, including a shopping excursion, on July 3. The teen, however, suddenly felt ill and indicated a desire to return home and rest during their outing. She either got a message on her phone or just felt nauseous, but it’s not obvious which. So, Kathy took her back to their house and abandoned her there.
It took her almost an hour to complete her quick errand. When Kathy got back to the house at around 11:00 p.m., she was shocked to find that Megan wasn’t in her room. Megan’s parents and grandma hurried to the police station out of sheer terror and concern when she went missing. Since the teenager had only been absent for a brief time, their hopes for immediate help were unfortunately dashed.
The police said there was nothing they could do immediately. Kathy and her mother were discouraged by this reaction, but they returned home and resolved to continue looking for anything that would lead them to Megan.
To quote Kathy: “We went back upstairs, and I pulled her blanket back, and that’s when I found her phone, and when I picked it up, my heart sank.” All of Megan’s content, including texts, contacts, and images, had been deleted from the phone. They also found a message written by Megan in her room.
According to Kathy: “It stated, ‘Mom, I love you, but I’m never going to be happy here. Don’t try to find me; there’s no point in wasting your life searching for someone who doesn’t want to be located. Even though Megan’s mother claims the lyrics are not her own, the writing looks like it was done by Megan.
The bones of Megan were discovered on December 26, 2017, in a rural area of Wayne County, Illinois. The federal authorities positively recognized the remains as belonging to Megan on January 26, 2018. Police sources claim she had been strangled to death.
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Why Did Megan Nichols Get Murdered?
A friend of Kathy’s suggested she investigate her bank accounts after she found Megan’s supposed note. Concerns were justified when it was discovered that a cash withdrawal had been made on July 3 at about 2:00 p.m. Megan had gone on a bike ride earlier in the day before coming home due to feeling unwell. The timeline matched when she had gone on the bike ride.
Kathy reported that the last time she saw her daughter was on an ATM surveillance video, making a withdrawal just before she vanished. The police didn’t have to look very much before coming across a solid lead. Jackson Nichols, Megan’s biological father, was a Tulsa, Oklahoma, resident and a registered sex offender, as evidenced by court documents.
There were naturally two sources of inquiry directed towards him. The first is whether or not he could have physically hurt her, given his legal situation. Two, Megan could have preferred to be with her father in the event of domestic strife. Now that he had warrants out for his arrest, the US Marshals were able to capture Jackson. But he wasn’t a suspect for long.
Even though Kathy had suspicions about what happened to Megan, she never considered her ex-husband a suspect. She shared the news that her daughter had been seeing Brodey Ian Murbarger right before she vanished. But it was tricky because he was seeing someone else at the same time, turning the scenario into a classic love triangle.
Given the age gap between Megan (then 15) and Brodey (then 18), Kathy had begun to worry. One night, she took Megan’s phone away and read her messages before deciding to act. Megan’s text messages revealed her inner anguish as she vented her anger at her mother. Brodey said he was in a hurry to get her.
Kathy, alarmed by the events, summoned the young man and prohibited him from having any further contact with Megan. The problem, however, was not at all solved. The day after Memorial Day in 2014, Megan mysteriously vanished, and Kathy learned that Megan was apparently with Brodey.
The last phone calls Megan made before she went missing were to Brodey, as evidenced by her phone’s logs. Kathy saw something peculiar on the Megan ATM surveillance footage. Fairfield Police said they couldn’t verify that the car in the background was Brodey’s, but it looked quite similar.
After being falsely accused, he eventually announced on Facebook that he had nothing to do with Megan’s abduction. The investigation took a surprising turn, however, when Megan’s body was located and identified.
An Illinois grand jury indicted Brodey for Megan’s murder in 2014 on September 25, 2020. On October 7, 2020, he was detained without incident outside of his place of employment in Evansville, Indiana, and the Lakewood West apartment complex where he was staying was searched.
Three counts of first-degree murder, one count of concealment of a homicidal death, and two counts of home invasion were filed against him after his extradition to Illinois. His sentence was suspended for 50 years on January 27, 2023.
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