May 26th, 2021. In Salt Lake City, Utah, the local police department have been dispatched to the home of a father and his absent son. >> Unified Police Department, if you can hear me, make yourself known.
>> Looking for him nearby, the concerned dad was growing increasingly desperate when he thought to look in his old utility trailer. And he saw a trail of blood running down from the door. >> I went back out and I said, "What the hell is that?
" So, I walked and opened the door and I looked in there and I see blood and a hand print on the wall. >> There's somebody tied in my trailer. >> Okay.
>> Uh 1630 Elsi Drve. >> Inside the trailer is a scene that horrifies even seasoned [music] detectives. The key to a murder that defies explanation.
>> This was uh a a tragic and heinous crime. >> I need to know where your friend's body parts are. >> I don't think I can tell you.
>> Here on The Decoded, with exclusive footage from the Unified Police Department of Greater Salt Lake, this >> A quiet residential street in Salt Lake City, Utah is about to become the scene of one of the most disturbing homicide investigations Utah detectives have ever worked. A father searching for his missing teenage son is about to make a discovery so horrific it will haunt the officers who respond. >> The cops respond to Elsi Drve in the early afternoon.
>> What do you need? Copy. Come out and talk to us real quick, sir.
Will you step outside for us? >> Yes. >> Is there anybody else >> He started at that trailer.
>> Is there anybody else in the home with us? >> What? And this side, too.
>> Who? Where's the guy live that owns the trailer? >> That's Jeremy.
>> Okay, it's this house down here. >> The neighbors are alarmed to see officers knocking on their door and relieved it's not them they're looking for. No, the officers want to speak with Jeremy Aguilar who placed a disturbing 911 call just a few minutes earlier.
>> I am outside the I just walked into my trailer to look for my son and there's a kid dead in my trailer. I >> How old is this person? >> I have no idea.
He's young. But probably Oh my god. >> About how old?
>> Um >> And he's >> My son is not here. >> Is he Is he >> He's dead. He's dead.
>> [clears throat] >> He has no legs and no arms. I don't know what the >> Jeremy was just looking around for his son, Rowdy, but he's come across another boy's dead body hidden on his own property. >> What he finds inside >> an old utility trailer in his own backyard will kick off a 9-hour interrogation, a web of lies, and a confession that still leaves more questions than answers.
This is the case of Nick Vedishnick, a 15-year-old boy who had already survived more tragedy than most people face in a lifetime, and the friend who took the rest of it from him. By 2021, Nick had buried both of his parents. His mother died of cancer when he was 13.
His father followed less than 2 years later, gone from a sudden heart attack. Nick moved in with his aunt and grandparents, the people who tried to rebuild something stable out of the wreckage. Those who knew him describe a gentle giant, tall, broad-shouldered, impossible to miss in a room, but soft-spoken and endlessly loyal to the people he loved.
>> Nick Vedishnick is only 15 years old, 2 years younger than 17-year-old Rowdy Aguilar. But by that age, Nick has already lived through more loss than most people experience in a lifetime. When he was just 13, he lost his mother to cancer.
Then just over a year later, his father died from a heart attack. After that, Nick went to live with his aunt and grandparents, the extended family who loved him dearly and tried to give him the stability every child deserves. >> [music] >> One of the people closest to him was his elderly grandfather.
As his grandfather became more frail, Nick was there, helping him, supporting [music] him, and showing him a kind of quiet love that said everything about who he was. A video of the two of them went viral on TikTok, giving strangers a small glimpse of what Nick's family already knew. >> I got you.
I got you. I got you. I got you.
I got you. I got you. Okay.
Oh my gosh. I'm not going to let you fall, I promise. I got you.
Okay. Thank you. >> In many ways, [music] Nick was still just a boy trying to find his place in the world.
But even after all that heartbreak, his family remembered him for his warmth. To them, Nick was a gentle giant, tall, broad, and impossible [music] to miss. His height may have been the first thing people noticed, but it wasn't what defined him.
Behind that size was a soft-hearted teenager, a boy who loved his family, a boy who showed up for the people who needed him. The body found >> who showed up. He showed up for his aging grandfather, helping him walk, catching him when he stumbled.
He showed up for his friends, even the ones who were bad for him. One of those friends was 17-year-old Rowdy Aguilar. Rowdy's life looked different.
His parents were divorced. He'd dropped out of school. He worked construction with his father, Jeremy, when he bothered to show up at all.
Those close to him say something had shifted in recent years. The kid who used to protect Nick from bullies had started drifting toward people who dragged him further from who he used to be. Nick and Rowdy still hung out constantly, often in an old trailer parked behind Jeremy's house, a place the boys used to smoke and drink where no adult would notice.
On the afternoon of May 26th, Jeremy came home to find his bedroom broken into and a half gallon of tequila missing. >> Nick's grandmother is worried about him, and for good reason. Nick and Rowdy are friends, and she has reason to believe he was over at the Aguilar's house today.
>> I'm guessing that they got pretty drunk. Cuz I have a bottle of half gallon of tequila was missing out of my bedroom. >> Okay.
That he broke into. It wasn't a >> Yeah, no, yeah, you can tell, trust me. The The door was broken into.
>> Rowdy's considered something of a bad influence. He's dropped out of school and hasn't been dealing well with the issues in his home life, like his parents' divorce. He works with his dad in the concrete business, but lately he's been missing work.
Jeremy last heard from Rowdy at around 2:30 p. m. >> On the way home.
>> Mhm. >> Home and he was asking me when I was going to be home. Are you He's like, "Are you working late?
" And I said, "No, I'm just getting lunch and then I'll be home. " >> Okay. >> And I said, "What's What's the matter?
" He says, "Nothing. I don't do anything wrong. Don't worry.
" >> When Jeremy got back, he found his bedroom broken into. With his text, Rowdy was clearly trying to cover up that he'd stolen a bottle of liquor, and that's when Jeremy started looking for him, just intending to tell him off. Then he went to the trailer.
>> So I walked out there and I opened the door. And I I I was calling him right at the same time. I opened the door and his phone was right there.
>> Bloody hand print >> him nervously all day, asking when he'd be home, insisting he hadn't done anything wrong. When Jeremy couldn't find his son anywhere in the house, he decided to check the one place Rowdy sometimes disappeared to, the trailer. What he found there is something no parent should ever have to see, a trail of blood leading to the door, a handprint smeared across the wall inside, and a body, one that in the chaos of the moment Jeremy genuinely feared might be his own son.
It wasn't. It was Nick. Police flooded the property within minutes, clearing the house room by room, searching for Rowdy and worried he might be a second victim.
They found unsecured firearms, dried blood in a bedroom, a bloody shirt stuffed in the trash, but no Rowdy. His phone, however, was sitting inside the trailer, just feet from Nick's body. This is where the case moves from tragedy into something far more chilling.
Because in criminal investigations, when a suspect's own alibi starts unraveling under a timeline that doesn't hold up, detectives call that a material inconsistency. A fancy way of saying the story doesn't survive contact with the evidence. And Rowdy's story was about to collapse in real time.
Officers picked him up almost by accident in a nearby Target parking lot, where he'd been walking, coincidentally, he claimed, back toward the crime scene. >> Hang out real quick. Got any ID on you, man?
>> No. >> What's your name? >> Rowdy.
>> Rowdy, what's your last name? >> Aguilar. >> Aguilar.
Would you put down your backpack for me? >> 25, I'm out with the suspect in that >> case you were talking about. Turn around, face away from me.
You got any weapons on you, for >> Just um >> Go ahead, put your hands up. Go ahead and put your hands on the back of your head for me. Interlace your fingers.
Go ahead and widen your stance. Wider. For your safety in mind, do not move.
Do you understand? >> Yeah. >> Okay, go ahead and look to your left for me, all right?
>> I broke my fingers for >> What? >> Not broken, but >> What's the What's wrong with your finger, buddy? >> You were?
>> I'm not asking you any questions right now, okay? >> Yeah. >> But I'm going to throw you in my car.
You got any You said you got weapons on you. You got some uh brass knuckles on you? >> I broke my back pocket.
>> Okay, well, don't don't be reaching for it. I appreciate you telling me, dude. >> He had a freshly injured hand, blood on his socks.
And when he was arrested, his tone wasn't exactly apologetic. >> Rowdy responds to his arrest with sarcasm. >> Do you want me to sniff my ass for you, too?
>> What was that? >> Do you like me to sniff my ass for >> I mean, it may help. You got anything up there?
So, I worked in the jail, man. You'd be surprised what we got what's up there, all right? Hang out here for me, all right?
So, he walks in front, and I'm like, "There's no way. " And so, I throw it in park. I'm like, "Hey, man, what's going on?
Can you talk to me real quick? What's your name? " He says, "Rowdy.
" >> No. >> And I'm like, "Hey, man, go ahead and put your backpack down, turn He's like, "I got a little blood on my head. " Or he didn't say he had blood His hand's bloody.
And he's like, "I got a broken finger. " He's like, "Oh, no worries. " Throw the cuffs on him as I'm And I'm talking.
I don't ask him any questions. He's like, "Yeah, I was heading back to the crime scene. " But no [ __ ] I was pulling out of here, pulled up to the stop sign, he walked right in front of me, would not make eye contact.
>> It was sarcasm. What follows is nearly 9 hours of interrogation. But he's not willing to sit tight and wait.
>> Hey. >> You just I'm sorry. I don't like being alone.
It freaked me out. >> Okay. >> I'm sorry.
>> I'm right here. How'd you get out of there? >> I don't know.
>> I'm on the way till my partner gets back before we talk, okay? Yeah, you don't like being alone, huh? A lot of people don't like that.
I get that. >> I don't know how, but he like pulled that off the wall. I don't know how he did that, but >> I was >> freaking out.
>> He just doesn't like being alone, so he came out like right when you walked out the door. So, I have no idea how that happened. We'll just stay in here with him real quick and >> Yeah, you can't do that.
>> I feel like it's I'm not the same as everybody here. >> I'm not the same as you? >> No, no.
I'm >> Oh, you're the Okay. >> I'm not the same as everybody here. >> Uh-huh.
>> And um I've been feeling like this for a while. I wanted to talk to people about it, but I didn't ever know how to. Cuz anytime I tried talking to somebody about it, they just say, "I don't understand you.
" So, there's nothing I can really do when I try to explain myself to anybody. >> And it's a master class in watching a suspect's story die a slow, public death. Rowdy starts with an alibi that sounds almost rehearsed.
He spent the entire day at his girlfriend Dolores's house watching movies, eating sandwiches, cutting ribs for dinner. He cut his hand on a kitchen knife recently. >> All right.
Um So, let's start start at the beginning. Kind of give me the rundown of your day today. Like what you did today.
Like >> at my friend's house. >> Whose Whose house is that? >> Just a buddy of mine.
>> What's his name? >> Name? >> But yeah, I need to her name.
>> Is that her? Yeah. Delores?
>> Delores? Okay. How long were you there?
>> Just for I was in the morning. There in the morning and then left, start working on >> Okay. So, from what time in the morning were you at Delores's house to to now?
>> Probably like 9:00 in the morning to I don't know what time it is right now. >> Uh it's 8:20 p. m.
>> 8:20, so I probably left around 7:30. >> 7:30 p. m.
? >> Yeah. >> Why did you think I mean, how how'd you injure your hand?
>> How did I injure my hand? >> Uh-huh. >> I was helping them cook food.
And I cut my hand. >> Yeah. Okay.
All right. And then, um So, what what kind of food were they cooking? >> Again, what kind of food?
>> Yeah. >> They're making ribs. >> They're making >> I was cutting the ribs.
>> Yeah. >> And I almost cut through the bone. >> There's blood evident on his pants, socks, and shoes.
If he was at his girlfriend's house making food, couldn't he have cleaned himself up? >> So, Rowdy, at this you know, here's kind of the We don't have you in custody for a reason. I mean, we We don't have you in custody for no reason.
>> Yeah, okay. >> Do you know why we arrested you today? >> No.
>> You have no idea? >> No. Cop just said you fit the description and just puts me >> Simple, clean, except detectives immediately catch the gap of 3-hour walk that should take 30 minutes.
A timeline that doesn't survive basic >> [music] >> So, let's back up to what you did cuz I need I need like an hour by hour. So, I need at at 10:00 a. m.
>> woke up at her house. >> You woke up at her house. >> Yeah, I slept at her house.
Yeah, it was okay. >> That's why I was coming back so I can get some more change my clothes. >> Okay.
>> My backpack had clothes in there and I was going to switch them out. >> Okay. >> Cuz they were really dirty.
>> Okay. >> But I was there and then woke up like around 10:00. You want hour by hour?
>> Uh-huh. >> Okay. At 10:00 we had breakfast.
She made eggs. Not When I say she, her mom did. Mom made eggs and bacon and then after that till the next hour we were just watching a movie.
It was uh the new Mortal Kombat movie. The new one that just came out. >> Uh-huh.
>> It's actually pretty decent. You should watch it if you haven't seen it. And then till 11:00 kept watching that movie.
And then around 12:00 >> [music] >> we had She made a sandwich for me. I don't know why. >> What kind of sandwich?
>> Just a bologna. >> Okay. >> Bologna cheese.
>> Okay. >> And then around 2:00 we just kept watching movies. Watched The Office on Netflix.
>> So, what time did she make you the sandwich? >> 12:00. >> 12:00.
So, we missed the we missed the 1:00 to 2:00. So, what what happened at 1:00? >> We just kept watching Office The Office 12:00 [clears throat] to 2:00.
>> Okay. And then around 3:00 we started having the idea of making ribs and wings. We got the wings out.
We had to wait an hour for them to thaw out and then we cut them started them at 4:00. >> Okay. All right.
Um so then we're we're at 5:00. What did you do at 5:00? >> 5:00 that's when I started walking back.
>> Okay. Where does Dolores live? >> She lives on somewhere on 54th.
I don't know the exact street. Couldn't tell you that. >> All right.
And where where did the where did the police arrest you at? >> Right in the parking lot. Right at Target on Redwood.
>> Okay. And so it took you 3 hours to walk from her house on 54th to Target on Redwood? >> Took me 3 hours?
>> Well, yeah cuz it's 8:00. We took you in to custody at about 7:00. >> I thought you said it was around 6:00.
>> No. No, it's about 7:00. Uh 7:00, about 10 minutes to 8:00, maybe quarter to 8:00, maybe 20 minutes to 8:00.
>> 7:30 might be weeks ago. >> Yeah. >> There's a gap in his timeline.
A gap of multiple hours, which could suggest >> phase. He's never met Nick. Doesn't know Nick or Nicholas.
Never even knew the trailer belonged to his own father. >> Nick? >> Yeah.
>> You don't know anybody by the name of Nick or Nicholas? >> Mhm. >> No.
He's kind of a big guy. >> I don't know. >> You never met him?
>> No. >> No. Okay.
>> Maybe I'm new to Nick and Taylorville. I used to go there, but >> Yeah. Like what do you mean?
Like Taylorville High or >> Yeah. >> Are you not in school anymore? >> Uh trying to do online.
>> Let's back up a little bit. I want to talk about what what are the thoughts that you're You said you're having some thoughts and you need to get some help and >> Well, >> You're actually asking for help. What what What kind of thoughts are we talking about here?
>> I was having thoughts family problems. >> Oh, what's the problem with your family? >> Well, my dad's an alcoholic and he drinks a lot and my mom, she's never really there.
>> Yeah. >> And uh she doesn't actually help me out with whether it be work or just trying to sit online. And my dad is just kind of a prick.
>> Yeah. They can do that sometimes. >> Yeah.
>> Yeah. >> [sighs] >> Is that is that all you you need help with? >> Yeah.
>> Yeah. Okay. So, you you don't have a a friend named Nick who comes over to the house or does anything like that, hangs out with you?
>> Never met. >> No? >> Mhm.
>> Okay. So, Rowdy, we we found we found Nick. Okay?
We found Nick in your dad's trailer. Okay? >> Who?
Who's Nick? Like what You keep saying Nick. >> Right.
Okay. We know that you're friends. We know that you know him.
We know that he came to your house cuz it's on your Ring doorbell, okay? >> Rowdy's denials have run out of road. There's concrete evidence in the form of the Aguilar's Ring doorbell footage showing that Nick and Rowdy knew each other.
They were seen going into the house together that very morning. >> We know this. We're not asking you these questions, okay?
Here's the thing, I'm going to treat you with respect. Okay? I want to get your story.
I want to know why what happened. Okay? >> I wasn't there.
>> Nick Nick, unfortunately, is is deceased. Okay? >> I I don't know who this Nick you're talking about.
I wasn't even there. I was coming home. >> Okay.
And so, if I talk to Dolores, she'll tell you she'll tell us that you were there all day. >> She did? Yeah.
>> Okay. >> I didn't talk to your dad. I talked to Jeremy.
>> Okay. >> So, he told us all about it. >> I never met him.
Like Nick, I've never met Nick. This Nick is I was coming home. >> That's not That's not what Jeremy said.
So, we talked to your dad. >> Okay. >> You know.
This doesn't look so good, man. I mean, we got a we got a person that's dead. Okay?
>> This is where the detectives deploy something interrogators call a false evidence ploy, legally permissible in the US where officers can reference or exaggerate evidence they claim to have in order to pressure a suspect into abandoning a lie. They tell Rowdy about the Ring doorbell footage, about Jeremy's statement, about the phone found ringing inside the trailer. >> to know You know what I want to know?
I want to know where Nick's body parts are. Where are his body parts? Cuz I don't know where you Where did you leave them?
>> I don't know what you're talking about. >> I want to know where Nick's body parts are. >> I never met Nick.
I don't know this >> All right. I want to know I already talked to Jeremy and he already told me that you hang out with Nick in that trailer all the time. >> I didn't even know that trailer.
>> They only found [music] Nick's torso and head. His limbs were missing. >> But like I don't know him.
I've never met him. I don't know this Nick that you keep speaking of. >> because you're friends with him on social media, okay?
You're friends with him on on a lot of your social media. >> Like what? >> Here's the other thing, too, is is that your cell phone, okay?
You left it. >> It's not my phone. I have a I have a new phone coming in.
I don't I know iPhone. >> You know how I know is is your phone cuz your dad told us. Your dad told us this is Nick's >> We called your phone number and it and it rang from inside the trailer.
>> Like I said, I've been getting I'm getting a new iPhone. >> So, that How do you know what the phone is that we're talking about then? >> Cuz you brought up a phone.
>> Mhm. >> And you said it's your phone. But you pretty much have an alibi already made up for it.
You pretty much have an excuse as to why your phone would be found at the scene of murder. >> I never said why it would be there. >> I just said it's >> I have a new phone and it's that was my old phone.
>> Look at your socks, dude. >> Dirt. >> Uh that is blood.
>> My friend. >> That's blood. >> You wrote it down.
>> What happened to >> It's down. >> What happened to him? I don't know him.
Don't treat us like we're stupid. >> I don't know. I'm Why would I do that?
I have no reason to do that. >> You didn't do it. Serious crime.
>> Yeah, of course it's serious. I don't know who Nick is. I've never met this Nick.
I was never there. I was at my mom's house and then I went over >> Each piece of leverage forces another crack in the wall. >> Even bigger lies.
>> We investigate, you know, people that have had violent things done to them. All right, we found this guy, Nick. Do you know where your dad's trailer is on the property there?
>> Mhm. >> You don't know that trailer that belongs to your dad that's like behind his house? >> That's his trailer?
I actually didn't know that. I thought it was the people's right across the house, like the big white house. I thought that was their trailer.
>> Oh, you thought it was their trailer? >> Yeah. >> Okay.
>> Never used that. >> No? >> Mhm.
>> Never been in there? >> No. >> No?
Okay. All right. So, um have you ever been uh you So, you've never stepped foot in that trailer at all?
>> No. No, never never been in there. >> So, there shouldn't be anything of yours found in there.
>> No. >> Okay. >> So, how did his phone get inside the trailer?
>> Brody, I'm I'm >> [clears throat] >> I'm having a hard time with your story, man. I am. I'll I'll be honest with you.
I'm going to be straight with you if you're straight with me, okay? >> Of course, yeah. >> All right.
That's the one thing >> I'm not lying to you. Why would I lie to you? >> Believe it or not, man, people lie to the cops all the time.
And in this situation, I completely understand why you would. >> I I No, I would never I would never lie to a cop. I Okay.
My dad's always told me to never lie to a cop. >> Okay. [music] Well, based on the investigation that I'm looking at right now and based on the the things I'm seeing, >> Yeah.
>> I think you're kind of lying to me right now, okay? Here's the problem is that there's there's a young man, okay? He's fortunately not much older than you.
>> is he? He's 17. >> Yeah, he lost his life, okay?
He lost his life in that gray trailer. >> Yeah. >> Okay.
>> I >> He tries a new angle. He only met Nick once, briefly, at school. Nothing more.
Then, under mounting pressure, a partial break. He was in the trailer, he says, but Nick attacked him first with a knife, and he only swung back in self-defense. >> no chance.
No chance. >> Okay. Well, >> it's going to happen.
>> I did it. >> Say that again. >> I >> I I'm here for you, man.
This is the best time to talk about it. >> Finally, he cracks. >> There's a reason but there had to be a reason.
>> So, why did you do it? Why? >> I didn't do anything.
>> You just said you did it. >> No, I didn't. >> Dude, this is the time.
You can tell me if you want to. Or you feel better with him. You need to tell me.
It's okay. >> No. I am I was hanging out with Nick.
And Those are the only memories I have. >> Mhm. >> And I should have told him that but I didn't.
And that's the only like I only remember him just like during school. >> Okay. You should have told him what?
>> That I met him like once. I I only told him that I've seen him. I never said that I met him.
>> He admits to having met Nick, but that's as far as it goes. >> I know that you were there cuz I can prove you were there. Well, not me, I'm not the one doing the case.
But the people the investigators that are working the case, >> Mhm. >> they already have the proof that shows that you were there, that shows what that actually shows what happened. >> Well, I wish I could help.
I can't. >> You mean you just a minute ago you said you did. And but then and then you kind of backed off.
And I was thought maybe we had some kind of a breakthrough and you were going to be honest with me because I mean I people tell me false stories all the time and I mean I'm used to it. So, maybe he did something that was not good. Maybe he did something that irritated you.
I don't know. That he shouldn't have done. Maybe the whole thing could be his fault.
I don't know. >> Well, >> I think it probably was his fault. That's the thing is that I can't I can't make I can't change the DA's mind though.
Even even though I think it was probably his fault and something weird happened. I can't use it as evidence. >> [snorts] >> I was in the trailer with him.
And I don't know why but I felt like I was being recorded. Um like I felt like he was like recording everything I said. And >> [clears throat] >> when I realized that, I kind of got mad at him and I yelled at him.
>> Mhm. >> And he said like he got really pissed off just like out of nowhere. And he grabbed a knife and he kind of like jabbed it at me.
Okay, but I missed it and I caught it with my hand. >> Oh, is that what that cut's from? Oh, okay.
>> And then I saw another knife and I thought he like I genuinely thought he was trying to kill me. So >> Mhm. Okay.
>> It's the kind of claim any defense attorney would want on record. Self-defense doesn't require perfect memory of every detail, but it does typically require an immediate call for help, contemporaneous injuries consistent with an attack, and a lack of concealment afterward. >> whether Rowdy is willing to accept responsibility for it.
>> Do you believe that people should be held accountable for the things that they do wrong? >> No. >> You don't believe that people should be held accountable for the >> Sometimes.
I mean, it depends on what it is. >> I didn't do anything. I wasn't there.
>> Okay. I'm I'm telling you right now, I I work better, like I get I get more results in in my cases with flat-out denials. I do.
Because you know what that means? That means that you're saying that you weren't there. You weren't and and I will have a mountain of evidence proving otherwise.
Okay, I'll have it. I know I will. >> All right.
>> All right? And if I do, you know what that looks like to you? It looks like you have no remorse.
Looks like you don't care. Okay? Cuz you're not even admitting that this kid exists in your in your life.
>> I I I've never met him. >> This is the only opportunity you're going to have to to give your reason because after they book you into jail or wherever they're going to book you tonight, DT or whatever, I don't know what they're >> What they're going to do? >> It's done after that.
Then you have no chance. No chance. >> Okay.
Well, >> it's going to happen. >> I get it. >> Say that again?
>> I >> I I'm here for you, man. This is the best time to talk about it. >> What legal analysts often call consciousness of guilt.
So far, Rowdy has tried to frame this as self-defense, as if what happened inside that house was something he had no choice but to do. >> [music] >> But the detectives now focus on what happened after. Because if Rowdy truly believed he had only defended himself, why didn't he call 911?
Why didn't he run for help? Instead, prosecutors say he tried to hide the evidence, moving parts of Nick's body, and attempting to cover up what had been done. And that matters [music] because those actions suggest something crucial.
Rowdy knew this wasn't just self-defense. He knew what he had done was wrong. >> Well, I mean the part I'm talking about now is the part that is that where the people on our side, our forensics people, can really prove that you did something afterwards and that wasn't because you were afraid of someone finding him there?
You cuz getting rid of certain parts, is that what happened? >> Yeah. >> So, how did how did how did you actually get his like different body parts off?
How was that? What did you have to do? >> Nothing.
>> What do you mean? No, but how did you get those parts off, Phil? I already told you they know.
I mean, they got it They already have the stuff at the scene. And you've already told me that what happened. So, I mean I understand trying to to be I understand being scared and trying to maybe get rid of what looks so bad, but in real reality it's not that bad because you had to defend yourself.
Huh? >> I mean, look. >> You know, I understand the trauma, man.
>> I don't know what I actually did. >> What did you actually >> I watched you do it. >> Oh, you did?
>> Yeah. >> So, what Why did >> Just like a video, man. >> Okay, so you So, you saw someone else do it?
Was it specifically me or somebody just somebody else? >> Someone kind of looked like you. >> Now his story's getting strange.
>> And what did that person >> They were crying. >> They were crying? >> Yeah.
>> Wow. I can understand that. Okay.
And that person that was crying, did they Are they the ones that tried to get rid of those little boys' body parts? Is that the person that you saw? >> Well, I don't know anything about body parts.
>> And this is exactly where Roddy's story falls apart a second time. He didn't call 911. He didn't run.
Instead, cell tower and doorbell evidence show a horrifying sequence. Nick and Roddy walk into that trailer together at 10:00 center or 9:00 in the morning. Just after 1:10 p.
m. , Roddy walks out alone wearing a blood-stained shirt he later throws away. 10 minutes after that, he's seen hauling black and white garbage bags into the field behind the house.
Bags that would later be found to contain parts of Nick's dismembered body. >> But outside the interview room, the cops have made a breakthrough. Searching the Aguilar property, they found black and white garbage bags in the field behind the house.
When they opened those garbage bags, they found parts of Nick's body. >> Last chance to tell us what happened. >> We found his body >> parts now.
>> But the last part of the puzzle is put together. We just recovered all the parts. Okay?
So, now Now, you've really put yourself in a bad position. >> When detectives finally locate those bags, the confrontation reaches its breaking point. Roddy panics, backpedals, claims he watched someone who looked like him commit the crime.
A dissociative deflection detectives have heard before, and one that rarely holds up once physical evidence is already in hand. It doesn't work here, either. The knife recovered from the trailer is matched forensically to the wounds on Nick's body.
26 stab wounds, all concentrated in the head and neck, a detail forensic pathologist will tell you speaks less to self-defense and more to rage, to proximity, to intent. >> Then they take him to jail with more than enough evidence to indict him for Nick's murder, with or without a full confession. The officers also found a knife in the trailer, which matched the other knives found in the Aguilar home.
It also matched Nick's stab wounds, all 26 of them, each in his head and neck. According to the Ring doorbell footage, Nick and Rowdy went inside at 10:09 a. m.
At 1:20 p. m. , Rowdy went outside, this time alone, and wearing the bloody T-shirt later found in the trash.
At 1:30 p. m. , he's seen carrying black and white garbage bags out to the field, the same bags that were found to contain Nick's body parts.
Somewhere in that window, he murdered Nick. In September 2025, Rowdy pleads guilty to aggravated >> 2025, Rowdy Gallar pleads guilty to aggravated murder with a mental health condition, a legal designation that acknowledges psychological factors without excusing the act itself, carrying a minimum sentence of 25 years. For Nick's family, that number feels insultingly small.
His sister has said plainly that a crime this personal, committed with a kitchen knife against someone he called a friend, deserves more than a number with an expiration date. What makes this case so difficult to sit with isn't just the violence, it's the betrayal underneath it. Nick had already lost his mother, his father, and had rebuilt a fragile sense of safety with the people who loved him.
Rowdy was one of those people, someone who had, by all accounts, once protected Nick from bullies, once shown up for him during his darkest year. And in the end, he became the person Nick needed protection from most. At sentencing, Rowdy offered an apology, admitting Nick had done nothing to deserve what happened to him, and calling himself, in his own words, a monster.
But an apology after 26 stab wounds and a body dismembered and hidden in garbage bags isn't accountability, it's an epilogue. The system will keep him in a cell for at least 25 years. Whether that ever equals justice for a boy who had already survived so much is a question his family will be left asking for the rest of their lives.
>> Enough. >> I mean, he did this with a kitchen knife. That is personal.
That is very personal. My brother was a big boy. Every court hearing we see him at, he is he just has a smug look on his face, like he doesn't actually care what he did.
>> He's sentenced to an indeterminable term of 25 years or more. Nick's devastated family hopes he will never be released on parole. And he's never revealed a motive for what he did.
It leaves his and Nick's mutual friends mystified. >> Like, Rowdy just he didn't act the way he used to. Like, when we were kids I never saw anything that could be somewhat remotely possible for something he could do like this.
>> Okay. >> And you know, he started growing up, started getting bad friends. >> Mhm.
>> Started hanging out with this the dumb people. And I saw his life just crumble. And I didn't like Nick hanging out with Rowdy cuz I knew that sooner or later his life was going to crumble just like his.
>> Do you think he genuinely liked Nick? >> Him and Nick started hanging out. Nick got >> Right after his after since January.
>> This is why this is >> [clears throat] >> this is so confusing to me is that after Steph died, Rowdy kind of like was there for Nick. And when he was starting to get bullied, Nick Rowdy would step in and >> That was his mom, right? Steph.
>> And he would actually do things to, you know, keep Nick like in a good head space. >> Was it mental health? Was it drugs?
Was it rage? Or was Rowdy reaching for an explanation that might make the unthinkable seem understandable? Because by his own words, Nick had done nothing to him.
Nick was only 15, still trying to find friendship and connection in a world that had already taken so much from him. And Rowdy took [music] that trust and shattered it. When Nick was laid to rest, family and friends gathered to say goodbye to a boy who had already endured more heartbreak than any child [music] should.
But in that moment, he wasn't a headline or a case file. He was their son, their grandson, their nephew, their brother who had been deeply loved, and whose absence [music] would stay with them for the rest of their lives. At Rowdy's sentencing, he made a statement.
"I just want the family to know that Nick did absolutely nothing to me, [music] and I'm sorry for being a snake. I'm sorry for being a monster. " But it won't bring Nick back.
What do you think about this chilling story? Let us know your thoughts [music] in the comments below. Until next time, stay safe, keep up with our channel, and we'll see you very soon on The Closer.
>> If this case left you as unsettled as it left us, let us know what you think should happen at his next parole hearing. And if you want to understand how interrogators build a confession piece by piece, make sure you're subscribed, because we break down exactly how the system worked or failed to work in cases just like this one every single week.
