Florida woman Nicole Gene Nachtman stands trial in Hillsborough County, Florida for fatally shooting her mother Myriam Dienes and stepfather Robert Dienes. She allegedly claimed to have killed them after hearing voices in her head, but prosecutors argue that she is culpable for their murders. She is charged with two counts of first-degree premeditated murder with a firearm. If convicted, Nachtman faces up to life in prison.
According to an affidavit obtained by Law&Crime, sheriff’s deputies got a call about shot fires in Carrollowood in Hillsborough County, Florida. They found Myriam Dienes dead in her driveway. She sustained one wound to the neck and two to the torso area. Investigators checked out the room, found a secured bedroom door, pried it open, and found Robert Dienes dead on the floor lying under a blanket. He had been shot in the neck.
Investigators were able to track her down after witnesses said they previously saw her near an open window and side garage door within two hours of the 911 call of shots fired. Thing is, she was supposed to be up at Florida State University as a student. Detective said they contacted her, and she claimed that she was a school, but officials said her student identification had not been used within the last seven days, until the day after the Dienes were found dead.
A roommate confirmed that Nachtman tried to establish a cover story for August 20. Investigator later said that the defendant allegedly claimed to have thought about killing her mother after hearing screaming voices in her head. She set out to do it after seeing signs on campus saying that dreams were about to come true.
The defense will likely argue that the defendant lives with schizophrenia. They are also trying to make a claim of battered child syndrome. Nachtman claimed that her mother, a captain in the Navy reserve, was abusive, said University of South Florida professor Kathleen Heide, a psychotherapist who analyzed the defendant.
Nachtman’s brother Joseph Carey said his sister confessed to him that she killed their parents.
“We’ve all known she’s had problems with my mom, basically her whole life,” he said in a police interview obtained by Fox 13. “My mom [has] a very strong personality and my sister has a very weak personality. My sister is 22-years-old and she is still affected by my mom. She has some kind of control to influence her.”
[Screengrab via ABC]
