In May 2016, Nicole VanderHeyden met George Burch. That same night, she wound up dead, buried three miles away from her home. Burch is now facing a trial in a Wisconsin courtroom for first-degree intentional murder, but he insists not only that he didn’t do it, but he knows who did. Court is expected to begin Monday at 8:30 a.m. local time (9:30 a.m. EST). Watch live in the player above.
Burch, whose DNA was found on VanderHeyden’s body, admits that he was with her the night of May 21. He has claimed that they were having sex in a car, when VanderHeyden’s boyfriend, Douglass Detrie, found them. Burch said that Detrie then killed the woman, and threatened Burch at gunpoint, making him move the body to the spot where investigators later found her.
Detrie was initially arrested for the crime, but was then released two weeks later. Two months later, cops arrested Burch for murder. Burch continued to point the finger at Detrie, but prosecutors claim that data from a phone and a FitBit will help prove their case. They expect to show at trial that Burch’s phone could be traced to the spot where VanderHeyden’s body was found, and that Detrie’s FitBit data would show that he wasn’t involved.
Burch, meanwhile, is in a strangely familiar position, as this isn’t the first time he’s been accused of murder. Twenty years ago in Virginia, he was charged with the shooting death of a man believed to be a gang leader, but he was acquitted of all charges after trial.
Stay with Law&Crime.com and the Law&Crime Network for continuing coverage of the trial.
[Image via Brown County Jail]
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