Nikki’s Background
Nikki grew up in Magnolia, Ark., a small city that is home to Southern Arkansas University. Her father was an abusive alcoholic who was only in her life briefly. She was raised by her mother, Linda Holley.
Nikki was born with a club foot and other physical disabilities that required dozens of surgeries, starting when she was an infant and continuing until she was a young teenager. Due to her medical issues and the ongoing surgeries and recovery times, she was homeschooled with the help of tutors her mother hired.
Despite the tough hand that was dealt to her, she had a good life with her mom. As she got older, she had babysitting jobs, worked at a nursery, listened to her favorite music, and enjoyed life.
She met Daniel Risher in 1990 and they fell in love. They listened to music together, watched movies, and, like most people in rural Arkansas, enjoyed sitting outside at the lake and taking in the day.
She was living the happiest life she ever had, up until the moment her mother was murdered. That’s when her real nightmare began.
The Crime
On Friday, March 8, 1990, Linda Holley’s neighbor and friend saw her at her mailbox around 5 p.m. dressed in her scrubs. Linda was a nurse and had just gotten off work. They were supposed to go shopping the next day. After two days of Linda not answering her phone, the neighbor went to her house to check on her, only to find the back door kicked in.
She immediately called Linda’s best friend, Jan Terrell. Jan arrived and called a police officer friend, Buddy Hight. Buddy then called other police, who entered Linda’s residence and found her laying in her den, brutally stabbed and beaten to death.
The Investigation
Once police arrived at the scene, multiple officers entered the scene cautiously, not knowing what they would find. The glass from the back door had been kicked in and officers understandably were unconcerned at that time with kicking or tracking the broken glass.
Once Ms. Holley was found murdered, they called other police and that’s when the scene turned into a mess. There are several varying accounts of which officers were in the house, when they were there, what they were investigating, who was tracking what where, etc. In short, the crime scene was not at all secured.
Police zeroed in on a theory that Nikki and Daniel killed Linda to collect life insurance money and were bound and determined to make their theory work, despite a lack of real evidence and despite Daniel and Nikki having a strong alibi.
For good measure, they also floated theories about occultism, as Daniel was a fan of heavy metal music and Nikki had posters police surmised were occult related.
Police and prosecutors also ignored a possible connection between Ms. Holley’s murder and the murder of another woman just five days later and a few miles down the road. Like Ms. Holley, the victim in that case, Bernice Rankin, lived alone and was beaten and stabbed in her residence. That case remains unsolved.
The Trial
Nikki and Daniel were both represented by attorneys who were out of their league when it comes to capital murder charges. Their trial lasted just three days, from jury selection to verdict.
The most damaging testimony came from Don Smith, a criminalist for the Arkansas State Crime Lab. His testimony centered around luminol and blood testimony. Luminol is a chemical that reacts when applied to various substances, including blood. The clear intention was to have the jury believe that luminol testing done on various items, including a hunting jacket, boots, and other things revealed that the substance it was reacting to was the victim’s blood.
But luminol reacts to a variety of substances and does not show if the substance it’s reacting to is blood, much less human blood, and certainly not a particular person’s blood. However, this testimony was allowed at trial, ensuring Nikki and Daniel’s convictions. Recent testing on the jacket, boots, and other items proves with scientific certainty that blood was not even human. Most likely it was deer blood, as Daniel was an avid hunter.
The jury was deadlocked for a time, but eventually arrived at a guilty verdict for both Nikki and Daniel.
Nikki has now been incarcerated in Arkansas for more than 30 years.