Transcript

3 Decades Old Cold Cases Solved in 2025 Part 4

From Criminally Listed · Episode page · Watch on YouTube

· 30 min · 4,130 words · 40 timestamped sections

This is the full, timestamped transcript of "3 Decades Old Cold Cases Solved in 2025 Part 4", an episode of Criminally Listed published January 1, 2026 (30 min, about 4,130 words). It mentions 12 people, works and ideas, including Diane Peterson, Karen Tate, John Evans, Mickey King, Michael Oorio.

What is discussed, and when

  1. – 5:00: John Evans, Mickey King, Diane Peterson, Harry Nickerson
  2. – 10:00: Diane Peterson, Glenn Nickerson, John Evans, Karen Tate
  3. – 15:00: Karen Tate, Barbara Anne Wester, Carrie Suzanne Turner
  4. – 20:00: Carrie Suzanne Turner, Karen Tate, Vincent Daryl Groves
  5. – 29:40: Ronda Fischer

Notable quotes from "3 Decades Old Cold Cases Solved in 2025 Part 4"

  • The next day, 26-year-old English teacher Diane Peterson came back to the school to clean her classroom and hand in the final grades.
    about Diane Peterson · at
  • A six-year-old boy, Harry Nickerson, who went by Nikki, was arrested for an unrelated crime.
    about Harry Nickerson · at
  • In the summer of 1984, 22-year-old Nikki Nickerson broke into the home of another drug dealer, John Evans, with a saw off shotgun.
    about John Evans · at
  • Nikki's brother, Glenn Nickerson, had a nickname Buddy.
    about Glenn Nickerson · at
  • The first happened 8 years after Karen Tate's murder.
    about Karen Tate · at
  • Early on the morning of June 30th, 1991, 18-year-old Carrie Suzanne Turner went out to a nightclub in Perth.
    about Carrie Suzanne Turner · at
  • Vincent Daryl Groves was born in April 1954 in Denver.
    about Vincent Daryl Groves · at
  • Then 2025, 38 years after Ronda Fischer's murder, Groves was connected to her homicide.
    about Ronda Fischer · at

Who and what is mentioned in this episode?

People

Full transcript with timestamps

number three, Diane Peterson. June 15th, 1978 was the last day of the 1977 1978 school year at Brandom High School in San Jose, California. The next day, 26-year-old English teacher Diane Peterson came back to the school to clean her classroom and hand in the final grades. Diane was married and had an infant son. Diane had been a teacher at the school for a year and it would be her last. She was being laid off due to a lack of enrollment. There are conflicting reports as to what happened to Diane that day. Some reports say she was stabbed a single time in the neck as she sat at her desk and then she ran into the hallway where she collapsed.

Other reports say she was stabbed as she was walking down the hallway with papers. Some sources say she screamed for help and was found by her fellow teachers. Another source said that a student found her unconscious on the floor. Regardless, Diane was taken to the hospital. The 26-year-old wife and mother died on the way to the hospital from a single stab wound to the neck. The knife was never found. It turned out at the time of the murder, students were boarding a bus on the campus that was heading to Disneyland for a senior trip.

One person saw a young man running from the campus and described him to the police, resulting in this sketch. A suspect in the case emerged 4 days later. A six-year-old boy, Harry Nickerson, who went by Nikki, was arrested for an unrelated crime. Nikki did not attend the school where Diane taught and was killed. He had dropped out in the eighth grade. Without provocation, Nikki claimed that they were trying to pin Diane's murder on him. He said he didn't kill her and he didn't own a knife. The police thought that the outburst was bizarre and perhaps a sign of a guilty conscience.

The police compared Nikki's mugsh shot to the sketch and they thought it was very similar. However, the police could not find any physical evidence that Nikki committed the murder. Shortly after the murder, a person told the police that Nikki had confessed to them that he had killed Diane. The person also said that Nikki had a knife and the words teacher dear were inscribed on it. The police never found the knife with that inscription. 5 years after the murder in 1983, the parents of a former student from the school contacted the police.

They said their son had witnessed Nikki Nickerson stab the teacher to death. But when the police interviewed the young man, he denied witnessing the murder. In 1984, another person contacted the police. They said they discovered Nickerson was dealing drugs. He threatened to kill them and to prove he was capable. He said that he had killed Diane. Still, the police did not have enough evidence to charge Nikki Nickerson. However, Nikki continued to have brushes with the law. In 1981, he stabbed a bouncer. He was also the suspect in half a dozen armed robberies.

In the early 1980s, Nikki was abusing and selling methamphetamines. In the summer of 1984, 22-year-old Nikki Nickerson broke into the home of another drug dealer, John Evans, with a saw off shotgun. However, Evans ended up shooting Nikki. Nikki survived, but he was paralyzed from the waist down. About a month later, on the night September 14th, 1984, four mass men broke into Evans home while Evans was away. At home was his friend, Michael Oorio, and his half brother, Mickey King. Aorio and King were both handcuffed behind their backs.

They waited for Evans to come home. When Evans arrived home, he had a gun in his hand. After opening the door, he started shooting and he hit one of the intruders. Evans was shot in the shoulder and then again in the left temple. Both King and Osorio were shot in the back of the head. The four men then ran away and got into a van. 26-year-old John Evans and Mickey King, whose age was not publicly available, were both pronounced dead. Michael Oorio survived the shooting. He said he remembered that one of the men said, "Come over here, buddy, and loosen the [ __ ] cuffs," unquote.

Nikki's brother, Glenn Nickerson, had a nickname Buddy. The police concluded that Glenn was involved in the home invasion. His motive was to get revenge for his brother. In 1987, Glenn was convicted of the two murders, and he was sentenced to life without parole. However, not everyone was convinced he was guilty. Notably, there was no physical evidence that placed Glenn at the crime scene. The most damning evidence was that Oursio heard someone say, "Come over here, buddy, and loosen the [ __ ] cuffs," unquote. While Buddy was Glenn's nickname, Buddy is also commonly used as an informal address to people who don't have that nickname.

Also, Glenn had a distinctive body because he was 400 lb. Yet, no one saw someone that large in the area. Another major aspect of the case against Glenn was that he had motive. A month earlier, Evans had paralyzed his brother. However, Evans was a violent drug dealer who liked to bully people. He had a lot of enemies, and Glenn wasn't the only one with a motive to kill him. Glenn's lawyer appealed, but he remained a prison. In 1998, there was another twist in the case. One of the home invaders had been shot and a blood trail led from the house to the getaway van.

In 1998, a DNA profile was created for the blood trail. It led them to William Carl Yan, who was imprisoned for possession of meth and a handgun. When he was arrested, a sample of his DNA was taken. Yan was questioned in 1999 and he confessed he was there at the time of the shooting, but he did not pull the trigger. He said he had never met Glenn Neckerson and Glenn was not there that night. Glenn's lawyers appealed his conviction. In June 2001, a probe was ordered into the case and Glenn was released after serving 17 years of prison.

A year later, the ring leader of the Home Invaders, Murray Lodge, also admitted that Glenn was not there that night. Two years later, in 2003, Glenn's conviction was overturned. Glenn was never tried again for the murders of John Evans and Mickey King. For being wrongly convicted, Glenn agreed to a settlement of 120 monthly payments of $3,700. While this was happening, the murder of 26-year-old Diane Peterson remained cold. In 2023 and 2024, evidence from the crime scene underwent extensive DNA testing, but experts were unable to create a DNA profile.

Undeterred, the police continued to investigate the murder. They talked to a relative of the prime suspect, Harry Nikki Nickerson. The relative revealed something shocking. They said that minutes after the murder, Nikki came to them and confessed to killing Diane. The relative had information about the murder that was never publicly available. Based on the relative's admission, the police concluded beyond reasonable doubt that when Nikki Nickerson was 16 years old, he killed 26-year-old Diane Peterson. However, Nikki would never spend a day in prison for the crime.

In 1993, 15 years after the murder, 31-year-old Nikki Nickerson was found dead from a gunshot wound. Nikki was alone when he was shot. The police know the motive as to why Nikki killed Diane. They have not made that information public. The original investigator said they thought that Diane was killed when she interrupted a drug deal. In 2025, the police neither confirmed or denied this. In June 2025, 47 years after the murder, the police announced that they were closing Diane Peterson's case. Number two, Karen Tate.

On December 30th, 1979, the fire department and forestry workers were called to some bush land near Kerry Gullan, a suburb of Perth, Australia, because the bushland was on fire. While searching the landscape afterward, they found the dead body of a woman. It was determined she had been beaten to death with a piece of wood. She was then dragged to a fallen tree. The killer covered her body with dry grass and twigs and then set her on fire. The next day, she was identified as 22-year-old Karen Mary Tay. On the night of December 28th, 1979, 2 days before her body was found, she went out to a club with a friend.

Then she spent the night at her friend's home. Her friend drove her home around 11:00 a.m. At the time of the murder, Tate was housesitting for a family not far from where her body was found. Tate was known to hitchhike. She even carried a helmet with her in case she was picked up by someone driving a motorcycle. So, it's believed she was hitchhiking to the house and her killer picked her up. Unfortunately, it was not long before the case went cold. Over the years, there has been a lot of speculation that her murder was connected to witchcraft.

Some of Tate's friends said that she was interested in the oult in witchcraft. She had supposedly attended 13 lectures about witchcraft. There were also rumors she had joined a coven of witches. One person who remained anonymous called the police and told her that a piece of taste jewelry was an oult symbol. There was also speculation that items found around her body have been placed in a semicircle which had some type of oult meaning. However, other friends said that Tay was simply interested in oult psychology. Ooult psychology is the study of hidden or esoteric aspects of the human mind, exploring phenomenons such as extrensory perception, mystical experiences, and the influence of symbols or rituals on behavior.

The police believe that was more likely that Tate was picked up by the wrong person while hitchhiking to the home where she was housesitting. However, they had no idea who that person was. Four and a half decades passed and the case remained cold. Then in June 2025, the Western Australian police announced that their investigative genetic genealogy team had identified DNA that was found at the scene. It was the DNA of Terrence John Fiser. He would have been about 29 at the time of the murder. Between 1970 and 1972, Fischer had served in the Australian Army.

A year after leaving the army, he got married. He got divorced about eight years later. Fischer worked as a carpenter and he was a member of a sailing club. In the 1980s, he built his own yacht. When Fischer was identified as a suspect, the police were not able to arrest him. He had died in August 2000 at age 50 from cancer. The police also said that Fiser were alive, he'll be questioned about two other murders. The first happened 8 years after Karen Tate's murder. In 1986, Barbara Anne Wester was a 38-year-old mother of two.

On June 27th, 1986, Wester was last seen leaving a bar alone in East Victoria Park, a Perth suburb. When she didn't come home, her family reported her missing. Western's whereabouts remained a mystery for about 5 years. Then in March 1991, Barbara Western's remains were found in some bushland in Kerry Gullan. The cause of death could not be determined. The police think that Western was hitchhiking and got picked up by the wrong person. Her remains were found a short distance from where Karen Tate's body was found.

At the time of Western's murder, Fiser would have been about 36. The second murder happened on June 19th, 1991, about 19 years after Tate was killed. Fischer would have been about 41 years old. Early on the morning of June 30th, 1991, 18-year-old Carrie Suzanne Turner went out to a nightclub in Perth. She got into a taxi and was driven to a different part of Perth, East Victoria Park, the same area where Barbara Western was last seen. Then the driver realized she didn't have any money, so he forced her to get out of his cab.

A short time later, Turner was seen getting into another vehicle. Carrie Turner's dead, fully clothed body was found in some bushland in Bedford Dale. If a cause of death was determined, the police did not make that public. It should be noted that the police did not say that Fiser was a suspect in Western and Turner's murders. They said, quote, "He may be able to assist police with investigations into the 1986 death of Barbara and Western and the 1991 death of Carrie Suzanne Turner," unquote. However, the police have pointed out that all three victims were women who were hitchhiking alone, and they were all found in bushland west of Perth.

Nevertheless, 45 years after the murder of 22-year-old Karen Tate, the Western Australian police said that they believe that Terren Fiser killed her. Fiser was highly respected at a sailing club. After his death, they named an annual race after him. When it was revealed that his DNA was connected to a murder and had he been alive in 2025, he would have been questioned in the murders of two other women they renamed the race. Number one, Ronda Fiser. On April 1st, 1987, a dead body was found in a culvert in Lark Spur, a rural area of Colorado about 35 mi north of Denver.

The woman had been sexually assaulted and strangled to death. She was identified as 30-year-old Ronda Murie Fischer. Fischer was last seen alive the night before in Denver, but the police didn't have any suspects and the case quickly went cold. 30 years later in 2017, the police reopened the case and had DNA testing done on the evidence. However, they were unable to make a full profile of the killer. So, the case remained cold. Then, in 2025, the police reopened the case for the second time. At the crime scene, two paper bags were found.

They were tested for DNA and a profile was created. A match was found and it was the DNA of one of Colorado's most notorious criminals. He is considered the state's most prolific serial killer. Vincent Daryl Groves was born in April 1954 in Denver. He grew up in a middle-class family in a Denver suburb. Groves was a star high school basketball player. He attended college and played basketball, but he didn't last long and dropped out. He returned to Denver and got a job as electrician at manufacturing company. Groves indulged in drinking and he also liked to hire sex workers.

He eventually became a pimp. As a pimp, one young woman Groves associated with was 17-year-old Janette Baka. On July 11th, 1978, Janette's new dead body was found dumped off an embankment in Conifer, Colorado. Days later, a mile and a half from the body, some of her personal items were found partially burned. 24year-old Vincent Groves was the prime suspect, and the police interviewed him for several hours. During their interrogation, the police caught Groves in many lies, but they did not have any physical evidence, so he wasn't charged.

His cousin would later tell investigators that he remembered seeing Gross that night and he was staying with Sud. This was notable because Janette's personal belongings have been set on fire. By the time, the police did not have enough evidence to charge Groves. Months later, in March 1979, Grove strangled to death 25-year-old Emma Jennifer to death in her apartment in Denver. On March 26th, 1979, after Jennifer's family didn't hear from her for a few days, a welfare check was done. Her dead body was found in the bathtub.

Months later, on July 4th, 1979, the dead body of 23-year-old sex worker Joyce Ramy was found in a field just outside of Denver. She had been sexually assaulted and the cause of death was dangulation. In August 1979, Groves was living with 21-year-old Norma Halford. On August 24th, 1979, Halford went missing. Two days later, her car was found abandoned. There were signs of a struggle. Her back windshield was broken and her torn clothes were in the car. Alfred has never been seen or heard from again and the police believe that Gross killed her.

However, once again, they didn't have any physical evidence, and Gross was not charged. On November 3rd, 1979, 20-year-old Peggy Cuff's dead body was found in an alley in Denver. She went missing after finishing her shift at Denver Collections Agency. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled to death. For several years, it does not appear that Groves killed anyone. In early 1981, Groves got married. On April 20th, 1981, 25-year-old Wina Mitchell was found murdered in a motel room in Aurora, Colorado. She suffocated after a rag was stuffed down her throat.

On August 14th, 1981, Groves drove to the police station in Denver with his camper trailing behind his vehicle. He explained there was a dead body in the camper. The police went to the camper and found the dead body of 17-year-old Tammy Woodrum. Gross told the police they took Tammy camping and she had died of a drug overdose. He said they panic and he staged the crime scene. He said they had tried to make it look like Tammy had been killed during a robbery and a sex crime. Grove said they talked to his wife and his wife convinced him to turn himself in.

The police talked to Grove's wife. She said that Grove told her he had accidentally shot Tammy. An autopsy revealed that Tammy had been sexually assaulted and strangled. Also, there were no drugs in her system. 28-year-old Vincent Groves went to trial for Tammy Woodrum's murder in the summer of 1982. He was found guilty of seconddegree murder. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison. Groves appeared to try to reform himself in prison. This included getting a college diploma and receiving sex offender treatment. After serving only 4 and 1/2 years for sexually assaulting and murdering a 17-year-old girl in February 1987, Groves was released on parole.

About a month after he was released, Groves picked up a sex worker and bought some crack cocaine. He went to a hotel room and smoked the drugs. He then strangled her. The woman put up a fight and other people at the motel heard the commotion. Another guest kicked in the door. Groves ran away and the woman survived. The woman reported the attempted murder. She described Groves to the police, but she didn't know his name. As a result, he was not arrested. A month later, in April 1987, Groves murdered 30-year-old Rhonda Fischer.

It's believe that Groves committed his ninth suspected murder on September 17th, 1987 when he strangled to death 17-year-old Sabra Andy Mason in her car in Lockwood, Colorado, which is 9 miles west of downtown Denver. On January 29th, 1988, the new dead body of 22-year-old Fay Johnson was found in a ditch in rural Arapo County, Colorado. She had been strangled to death. On April 29th, 1988, the body of 19-year-old Bonina Lovado was found in a field in Adam County, Colorado. At the time of her murder, Lovado was doing sex work.

She had been beaten in the head and strangled to death. Months later, on July 25th, 1988, the dead body of 25-year-old Diane Mononttoya Mansier was found beside an off-ramp in Douglas County, Colorado. Mansera, who was not involved in the sex trade, having been sexually assaulted and strangled to death. Weeks later on August 12th, 1988, 35-year-old Carol Buchanan's dead body was found under a bridge in Denver. Chibon esphyxiated to death. 2 days later, the dead body of 35-year-old Pamela Montgomery was found in an alley in Denver.

Like Rose's 13 other suspected victims, Montgomery was strangled to death. is believed at the time of her death, Montgomery was doing sex work. The police suspected that a serial killer was preying on women in Denver. Many of the victims were sex workers who were last seen in the area of Denver where sex workers look for customers. In August 1988, the woman Groves attempted to strangle to death in March 1987 was working in the area. She saw Gro's car and recognized it. She quickly caught the attention of a police officer in a cruiser.

She told them that Gross was the man who tried to kill her. The officer pulled Groves over and questioned him, but he ultimately let him go. At this point, the police already suspected that Gross might be the serial killer. They noted he had already been convicted of sexually assaulting and strangling a young woman to death. During the 4 and a half years when Gross was a prison, other similar murders did not happen. Also, in some cases, Gross was the last person seen with the victims. Finally, Gross matched the description of the person some of the victims were last seen with.

However, the police did not have enough evidence to charge him with any of the murders. But with the woman's identification of him as the man who attempted to kill her, they were able to charge him with attempted murder and get him into custody. So on September 1st, 1988, 33-year-old Vincent Gross was arrested. He was held on a million dollar bond. It turned out that in the serial killer investigation, the police were using a new forensic tool, DNA profiling. It had only been discovered a year earlier. The OJ Simpson trial, which brought major public awareness to DNA profiling, happened 7 years later in 1995.

It turned out that experts had collected male DNA for the murders of Anil Lovado and Dian Mononttoya Merced. Grow's DNA was a match to both cases. In December 1988, he was charged with the murder of Lovado. He was later charged with Mononttoya Mansier's murder. Vincent Gross went to trial for the murder of 19-year-old Wanita Lovado in May 1988. The main evidence against him was that his DNA was found at the crime scene. It was one of the first times DNA was used as evidence in a case in Colorado. Gross claimed he wasn't in town when the murder happened.

The trial lasted 3 weeks. the Dre Del Ray for 12 hours. Vincent Groves was found guilty. He was sentenced to life without the chance of parole for 40 years. Gross was convicted again of murder in the death of Diane Mononttoya Mancira. He was given another life sentence. While in prison, Groves was of poor health. He had contracted hepatitis C and he had problems with his liver. In 1996, 6 years after he was sentenced to life in prison, Groves was dying. As he was nearing the end, Groves was asked about the other murders, but he declined to talk about them.

Vincent Groves died at age 42 on Halloween 1996. While Gross was only convicted of three murders, the police were sure he committed more. In 2012, thanks to new DNA testing, these suspicions were confirmed. Gross's DNA was linked to four homicides. The March 1979 murder of 25-year-old Emma Jennifer, the July 1979 murder of 23-year-old Joyce Ramy, the November 1979 murder of 20-year-old Peggy Cau, and the August 1988 murder of 35-year-old Pamela Montgomery. Of course, Groves cannot be charged with those murders because he had been dead for 16 years.

Then 2025, 38 years after Ronda Fischer's murder, Groves was connected to her homicide. The police have said they believe that Groves is responsible for more than 20 murders. Groves was convicted of three murders and his DNA was linked to five other murders. In the other six murders we covered in this video, Groves is the prime suspect. The police not reveal what other cases he is a person of interest in or a suspect. Thank you so much for watching today's video. If you enjoyed it, we'd really appreciate it if you subscribed. Also, don't forget to watch our shorts on YouTube, Instagram, and Tik Tok. Once again, thank you for watching.

Questions about this episode

What is discussed in "3 Decades Old Cold Cases Solved in 2025 Part 4"?

In order: 0:00 John Evans, Mickey King, Diane Peterson, Harry Nickerson; 5:00 Diane Peterson, Glenn Nickerson, John Evans, Karen Tate; 10:00 Karen Tate, Barbara Anne Wester, Carrie Suzanne Turner; 15:00 Carrie Suzanne Turner, Karen Tate, Vincent Daryl Groves; 25:00 Ronda Fischer.

What is mentioned in this Criminally Listed episode?

12 people, works and ideas are mentioned, including Diane Peterson, Karen Tate, John Evans, Mickey King, Michael Oorio, Carrie Suzanne Turner. Each one on this page links to its own page with every episode that mentions it.

How long is "3 Decades Old Cold Cases Solved in 2025 Part 4"?

The episode runs 30 min; the transcript is about 4,130 words in 40 timestamped sections.

More from Criminally Listed

About this transcript: the episode's spoken words as captioned on YouTube, split into timestamped sections. Reclip.Me locates every person, work and idea in the text, keeps the time it is first named, and quotes the words around it verbatim. Last updated January 15, 2026.