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E120: Tamala "Nikki" Wells
1.8k Plays4 years ago
In 2012 Detroit was struggling. Poverty rates were skyrocketing, crime rates were drastically increasing, and police were overwhelmed. When one young woman went missing during the height of this madness, her family feels her case was overlooked, but now we are hoping to help bring her the justice she deserves.
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Transcript
Introduction to True Crime Podcasts
00:00:00
Speaker
Alison and I want to take a minute to introduce you to a new true crime podcast that we think you'll love as much as we do. Let me just give a little teaser about this podcast. This is from a portion of one of their recent ratings on Apple podcasts. Quote, they are well researched and fact driven, yet willing to discuss their opinions with intelligence, compassion,
00:00:25
Speaker
and consideration. The hosts, with their warm friendship and admirable moral values, are relatable and likeable. Stay strong, guys. Great job." End quote. Wow, that's a rave review. That's good. I agree.
00:00:44
Speaker
And it's probably because when we listen to podcasts about true crime, sometimes the question was justice served falls to the white side, but that's not the case on true crime cast.
00:00:56
Speaker
Right. Each week, the hosts dive into this wide range of cases from high profile who done it's to small town USA murders. Crime cast has all of it. Their episodes are the perfect length actually for the average morning commute and as a bonus to their listeners. They also have a weekly true crime to go episode where they break down a crime in 10 minutes or less.
The Concept of Waiting and Its Consequences
00:01:22
Speaker
So to hear for yourself why everyone loves the show and to get all the binge-worthy content delivered directly to you, just check out True Crimecast on your favorite podcast app or go to Stoveleg.com for more information. Have you ever heard the saying, hurry up and wait?
00:01:38
Speaker
It's one thing I've always been horrible at. Growing up, it was trying to wait for play dates to arrive, or my cousins to come to my granny's house to open Christmas presents, or to watch the long-awaited movie that my mom had promised. As I grew older, it turned into waiting on final exam grades to post, waiting to hear back from a crush, or waiting on the oil to be changed in my car.
00:02:01
Speaker
Now as an adult, we all hurry up and wait on our house to close, our new favorite podcast to drop an episode, or our dog to grow out of her horrible puppy stage. All fleeting things really that hold no true value when you look at the world as a whole. Most of the things we wait for really don't hold any significant value to our lives.
00:02:21
Speaker
But there are a few things that the weight seems excruciating. Waiting to see if you're finally pregnant after years of unsuccessful trying, waiting to see if you get the pay raise your family needs, those are significant weights. Weights where, as the minutes, days, or weeks take by, you wonder if you're going to survive the suspense of knowing.
00:02:39
Speaker
But sometimes the weight's a matter of urgency, where the longer you wait, the less likely you are to see answers. Detroit is the largest and most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan, the largest U.S. city on the United States-Canada border, and the county seat of Wayne County.
Introduction to Tamela Nikki Wells' Case
00:02:54
Speaker
The municipality of Detroit has a population of 639,111 at the 2020 census, making it the 27th most populous city in the United States.
00:03:04
Speaker
The metropolitan area known as Metro Detroit is home to 4.3 million people, making it the second largest city in the Midwest after Chicago and the 14th largest in the United States. Regarded as a major cultural center, Detroit is known for its contributions to music, art, architecture, and design, along with its historic automotive background. And Detroit is also home to one family who's hurrying up and waiting for answers regarding the whereabouts of one very loved
00:03:34
Speaker
daughter, mother, and friend.
Spotlight on Unsolved Cases and Listener Engagement
00:03:36
Speaker
This is the story of Tamela Nikki Wells.
00:04:14
Speaker
Welcome to Coffee and Cases where we like our coffee hot and our cases cold. My name is Allison Williams. And my name is Maggie Dameron. We will be telling stories each week in the hopes that someone out there with any information concerning the cases will take those tips to law enforcement. So justice and closure can be brought to these families.
00:04:34
Speaker
With each case, we encourage you to continue in the conversation on our Facebook page, Coffee and Cases podcast, because as we all know, conversation helps to keep the missing person in the public consciousness, helping to keep their memories alive. So sit back, sip your coffee, and listen to what's brewing this week.
00:04:51
Speaker
Okay. Shout out time again. Okay. First I need to start by apologizing because last week we only accidentally read part of Natalie Frazier's message to us last week.
00:05:08
Speaker
Well, she just gets two shout outs. That's right. So, Perk, because of our mistake. So I wanted to read the rest to you. Natalie also wrote, in addition to the brilliant CNC comment, which we loved, you know, Natalie wrote, quote, y'all are the best of both worlds for me. Passionate about crimes and natural comedians. Love the show. End quote.
00:05:37
Speaker
I know, is that not so nice? The comedian comment had to be about you though, because I'm not funny. But we really do thank you, Natalie. That was really nice. And our next shout out goes to Shannon who wrote, quote, Love y'all's dedication to lesser known unsolved cases, end quote.
00:05:59
Speaker
Thank you, Shannon. We really want to help make a difference. Yes, we do. And that is why we put in the work each week, because we want to support families in finding closure.
Nikki Wells' Personal Life and Disappearance
00:06:10
Speaker
Thank you, Shannon, so much. And let me take a moment to also thank those of you who took the time to write us written reviews this week, because we really appreciate that also.
00:06:23
Speaker
Yeah, we had a couple really great reviews that really made our day. So it was nice to read those and have a little pick me up for the day. That's right. Okay, Alison, are you ready for today's show? I'm ready.
00:06:40
Speaker
OK, so this show or the case this week, I should say, is one that I had not heard of before I started researching. But I was like, you know what I'm going to do? I am going to go to crime door because you guys remember us talking about how much we love crime door. We do. And I am just going to scroll through
00:07:06
Speaker
And find a case that sticks out to me because looking back on all the cases that we've done recently I feel like we've had a lot of children we have we've had Some males which is good because we know that male Missing or murdered people do not receive as much attention as correct Caucasian females. So I was like, you know what? I'm gonna Kind of
00:07:31
Speaker
break the mold that we've fallen into recently, accidentally, not on purpose. We don't ever do that on purpose. And so I purposefully picked a case that is about an African American woman who
00:07:45
Speaker
I feel like because of circumstances outside of the control her family has, has not really received the attention that it deserved. And her case did not have
00:08:02
Speaker
a ton of overwhelming information. There were a few really good articles and an older podcast that I'm going to reference. So I just really feel like her case was a really good case for this week. And I'm anxious for you to hear. Well deserved coverage then. It is. It is. And from all that I read, Tamela and Nicole Wells or Nikki, as she liked to be called. And I am going to say that
00:08:30
Speaker
Most of the articles that I read referred to her as Tamela. The podcasts that I listened to
00:08:40
Speaker
referred to her as Nikki and her boyfriend also will refer to her in certain places as Nikki. So I'm gonna refer to her as Nikki because that's the nickname that from my research, the people closest to her said that she went by. I think that's a good call. Yeah, but sometimes in the case, you will hear Tamela because it's quotes from, you know, mom. Okay, right, right.
00:09:08
Speaker
So it's the same person. And I tried in the quotes to make sure that I put in parentheses to remind you that it's Nikki. We're going to call her Nikki. OK. OK.
00:09:21
Speaker
So she seemed like an all-around good mom, a good daughter, and a good friend. When she wasn't with her boyfriend, who we will get to know, and her daughter, she was known to be with her girlfriends, unwinding. Her boyfriend said that she liked to visit some bars. Nikki was a nurse, and that's a very stressful job.
00:09:45
Speaker
So unwinding margarita at the end of the day. She deserves a margarita at the end of the day Nikki was born on december 30th 1978 and This actually there were two conflicting things One article said she was the second oldest of six another said that she was the oldest but regardless She is in a family of six children. Okay, and it's one of the elder Yeah children. She's one of the top two
00:10:15
Speaker
According to Nikki's mother, Donna, Nikki began seeing Ricky when she was 18. So their relationship becomes official at 18. But in fact, the two had been sneaking around since she had been only 15. Okay. Now officially dating at 18, they've been sneaking around since she was 15.
00:10:43
Speaker
And is he teenager too? Was he from like her school? How did they...
00:10:52
Speaker
No, no, no. I didn't really read too many details about how her and Ricky came to be. It kind of almost seemed, and this is just me inferring, but kind of seemed almost sort of scandalous. Oh. The beginnings of their relationship because she's 15 and he's in his 30s, which is child predator status. Yes.
00:11:17
Speaker
I would flip if my little slow sound were 15 and came home. Right? Cause she's not that far away from 15. No. Oh, I would flip. Yeah. Just saying. Yeah. And I don't know if Donna, Nikki's mom didn't know until Nikki turned 18 and then like it kind of leaked out that it had been going on before then. I'm not really sure, but, um,
00:11:45
Speaker
they become public when she turns 18.
00:11:49
Speaker
Nikki did not finish high school, but that didn't stop her from going for her dreams. She ended up going back and getting her GED because she had plans to work in the medical field. I read in one source called Tamala Wells, that was the name of the article, that she ended up going to nursing school after she earned that GED. And once she got her nursing degree, she immediately started work in the healthcare field.
00:12:18
Speaker
And at the age of 26, so her life is, it's going good. She's fulfilling her dreams. Yeah, exactly. And at 26, um, Ricky and Nikki, which I feel like Ricky and Nikki belongs on a Hallmark card or something. Yeah. Ricky. Yeah. They have a daughter. So life is sweet.
00:12:45
Speaker
It's everything that it should be. So they've been together a while then. If they started sneaking around when she was 15, I mean, we're talking 11 years later. Yeah. And you would think that their relationship would be a dream relationship, but it really wasn't. And we'll talk about that too. She made so many other good decisions.
00:13:15
Speaker
I know. And some people wonder, and we'll talk about it, if Ricky was one of those good decisions or not. Oh, so we don't, we don't know. Okay.
00:13:28
Speaker
So Ricky would later report that Nikki changed significantly after their daughter was born. And this was Nikki, if I'm recalling correctly, her second child. And I'm assuming the first child was from Ricky, but I did not read anywhere that was confirmed. But I'm assuming so if you've been with him since you're 15.
00:13:49
Speaker
But he tells people that Nikki has changed since the birth of their daughter and that's super common with women. You know, being pregnant is, there's lots of hormones that go on and there's, you know, some depression that happens after you go first. And so that happens and it's normal, but it almost seemed like for Ricky, he couldn't
00:14:14
Speaker
support her in the way that she needed supported mentally. And so their relationship just turned bad. It went south. So we don't think, from what you've researched, that the relationship was bad all along. We think that it became bad later.
00:14:35
Speaker
Sort of. There were reports from friends and then later family that Nikki was often abused by Ricky and that she would crash at their house after one of their arguments. But I didn't read when that started.
00:14:51
Speaker
Okay, so we don't really know if this were ongoing or new. Or new, yeah. The podcast that I listened to, it was the Missing Minority Project, which sounds phenomenal. But first of all, they no longer produce episodes. Oh man, there are so many good podcasts who kind of fizzle out like that.
00:15:18
Speaker
Well, it's a lot of work if we're being honest. Yeah, it is. I mean, I understand why they could fizzle out. Because, you know, life. But yeah, because life happens. But the podcast was really good that covered her. The only problem was because it was like,
00:15:35
Speaker
no longer airing current episodes, I guess. It was so hard to find somewhere to play this podcast episode. It would not play on crime door because if you guys have crime door, you know that you can play the podcast. I could maybe it was just my phone is stupid, but it would not play. And then I got super frustrated because when I listened to podcasts or audio books, I listened to them on two times speed. I do too.
00:16:00
Speaker
I can't either. Even when I re-listen to our own episodes, just to make sure I didn't mess up editing it or something, I listened to it on two times speed. Yeah, and the one place I could get it to play, you couldn't do it. So I had to listen to it on normal speed and I was like, this isn't for me.
00:16:22
Speaker
Yeah, but they had lots of good information Regarding Nikki's case and on that podcast they said Ricky would soon come crawling back with empty apologies when they would argue and Nikki would accept those apologies and run back to their home and like, you know be Full heart and things like that. Mm-hmm
00:16:46
Speaker
But on August 4th, Nikki and Ricky got into one of the worst arguments that they had had. In fact, the argument was so bad, the police ended up being called and I didn't read who called the police, you know? Uh-huh.
00:16:59
Speaker
but I know that they were called to the scene. And Donna, Nikki's mom, told reporters that she and Nikki had actually began planning Nikki's escape from her unhappy relationship. In fact, it seems that Nikki had, from what I gathered, and again, this is me inferencing what I've read and listened to.
00:17:20
Speaker
It seemed that Nikki had already secured employment close to her mother who lived in Florida. And Donna said that she had plans to drop to Michigan at the end of August to bring Nikki and her granddaughter back to Florida
Detroit's Economic Impact on Nikki's Case
00:17:33
Speaker
with her. That's a huge move. Michigan to Florida. It's across the country. Wow. Yeah, you're going from all the way north to all the way south. Yeah, all the snow to all the sun.
00:17:49
Speaker
Okay. I mean, I could get behind that move, but. But that was a move that would never happen for Nikki. Oh no. On August 6th, so just two days after that horrible argument where the police are called, Nikki left her home in her 2001 white Pontiac Grand Prix and
00:18:14
Speaker
Allison, the podcast that I listened to, the Missing Minority Project, said that
00:18:24
Speaker
Well, they made some really just good points. So very similar to Eddie Brown. So if you think back to the Eddie Brown case, if you listened to that, um, you know that the town that Eddie lived in Kincaid, West Virginia had a lot of problems going on at the time that Eddie Brown was killed because poverty rates were soaring. Um, and employment rates were horrible. And because of those things, drug use was higher than normal.
00:18:54
Speaker
Yes. And the same can be said for Detroit in the time that Niki disappeared. And the economic status, I guess, of Detroit played a pretty significant role in the development and handling of her case.
00:19:15
Speaker
So Nikki goes missing in 2012. In 2012, Detroit was barely hanging on after the economic recession. And as a result, I listened to in that podcast, the city saw an astounding 36% poverty rate. Oh my gosh, that is so high.
00:19:43
Speaker
ridiculously high. 36% of their citizens were below the poverty line. 27% vacancy rate and it was at its highest homicide rate since 1991. Yeah, none of those are good statistics. Yeah, it's a hotbed of horrible statistics. Yeah.
00:20:08
Speaker
And like we talked about times before, it seems that as poverty rates grow, criminal rates grow. It's like they almost go hand in hand. And Detroit was no exception. In fact, in that same podcast, Allison, it stated that in 2013, Detroit actually filed bankruptcy, the city of Detroit. Because they're just everything was so bad. Gosh, I didn't even know a city could file bankruptcy.
00:20:39
Speaker
Who do you follow that to? Yeah, I guess the federal government. The federal government? Yeah, but they did in 2013. So that just kind of sets the tone of the town that Nikki is living in when she goes. Right.
00:20:57
Speaker
missing. Spoiler alert. At that time, Nikki was 33 years old. She was tiny. She's five foot, five inches tall. She weighed about 160 pounds. And Nikki was last seen around 9pm, the night of the sixth by Ricky. Hmm. The last place she has seen is the night of the sixth. And so did they live together?
00:21:28
Speaker
Yes, because, and I know that because in some of the research I've read, he says he has all of Nikki's belongings still waiting for her at their house. But the last time he saw her was at 9pm. Yeah, and I didn't read
00:21:48
Speaker
where she was going. Some believe she was going to a bar to hang out with friends, which I believe would be easy to find out if that was true or not, because you would know who her friends are. Other sources said that her destination was unknown. Ricky claims that Nikki was really strange acting prior to her disappearance. He said in HuffPost, quote, she was talking and she said something about she was going to pay me back.
00:22:15
Speaker
end quote. Payback as in bad? Payback? He says he has no idea what she was talking about. That's what I would assume that it is. I've never looked at Anthony and been like, I'm going to pay you back. Meaning like, because he took me to McDonald's, you know? Right.
00:22:34
Speaker
I'm gonna get you some Sonny's barbecue. Yeah. Yeah I'm only saying that when he if it's negative yeah when he sprang the dog with the water bottle because she did something bad and he turns around and sprays me then I'm like I'm gonna get you back He said that shortly after Nikki leaves he
00:22:56
Speaker
He, meaning Ricky, went to pick their daughter up who was playing with a friend's house just down the street. He said again, quote, we was on our way back home and she rode right by us in my white Grand Prix, end quote. So he's seen her, went to pick up the daughter, she passes him on the street. And he still doesn't know where she's going. But obviously going in the opposite direction. Right. Because if you say rode right by us,
00:23:26
Speaker
then she would be going exactly. Because if they were all going the same way, he would say, oh, she passed me in the car. Right. But going right by us makes me think they're going north and she's going south. We do know Nikki spoke, so we have her at 9 o'clock-ish. Deciding. We also have her speaking to her mom around 10.30 PM.
00:23:56
Speaker
So Donna said the conversation was uneventful. She spoke to Nikki. They really didn't talk about anything out of the ordinary for them. She went to bed thinking everything was just fine. Her family was as healthy and happy as they possibly could be given the circumstances that she believed Nikki to be in. So she's talking to her mom and you would think that's the very person you would say if there's something wrong too.
00:24:25
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, especially if you are open enough about your relationship with your mom that she's helping you move across the country. Yeah, by moving you across the country. I feel like you have a pretty open relationship with her. So if your day was horrible, you would probably tell your mom. I mean, I would assume so.
00:24:43
Speaker
But there's nothing out of the ordinary and Donna just goes to bed assuming everything is fine.
Family's Search and Police Engagement Challenges
00:24:51
Speaker
But the dream of her family being happy and healthy and soon with her in Florida would turn into a nightmare because around 6 a.m. the next morning, so the morning of the seventh, Nikki's then six-year-old daughter phoned her grandmother Donna with some startling news.
00:25:11
Speaker
Okay. First of all, six-year-olds up at 6 a.m. I'd be like, you need to go back to bed. It's not cartoon time yet. Is the sun out? No, then we're not up. Right. We're not playing this. But oh no, so Donna hears whatever the news is from her granddaughter, from Nikki's daughter? Yeah, her six-year-old daughter. Not from an adult. No. Okay.
00:25:41
Speaker
And I know Dawn, I had to think something was probably up when her telephone rang at 6am because like you said, that's very early. Most people, unless you're, you know, in the teaching profession or you're working a weird shift, you're not going to be up at 6am.
00:25:59
Speaker
Right. But when Donna answered the phone, she was very surprised to hear the sweet little innocent voice of her granddaughter on the other end of the phone. She was even more surprised when the little girl told her that her mother didn't come home the previous night. Okay. I know you're going to get into theories. I know we're going to hear more about Ricky. I'm not saying that this small act right here implies that Ricky did anything
00:26:29
Speaker
But I do want to go ahead and say that I find it odd. Obviously this Nikki's daughter knows that her mom didn't show up the night before only because Ricky told her that. Because otherwise you would just think that your mom went to the store or whatever because you're probably in bed before your mom would be in bed.
00:26:52
Speaker
And you know, I hadn't thought about that. Like unless she stayed up all night waiting for her mom to come home, which I, they wouldn't. And then I find it weird. It's almost like, Hey, call your grandmother. Tell her that your mom didn't come home. I don't know. I find that very odd. I'll just leave it there. And it is odd. And I know we've talked about,
00:27:19
Speaker
I don't remember which episode it was, but you did a whole thing on coincidences. And there's a lot of coincidental things that surround Nikki's case. And that is just one of those things. So as you just pointed out, Nikki is missing. She
00:27:44
Speaker
donna knows only because her granddaughter called because ricky probably told the granddaughter hey your mom is missing right and when donna is on the phone with her granddaughter she says hey can you hand ricky the phone the little girl tries and he refuses to speak with her okay again odd because if you're
00:28:10
Speaker
So this girl is Ricky's daughter, correct? Yes. OK. So if she is concerned, this young six-year-old, mommy is not home, we don't know where she is, then the person that you're in a relationship with, Ricky, should be more concerned even than the child, you know what I mean? And should be willing to talk to Donna.
00:28:40
Speaker
Maybe it was he was so upset. He just couldn't talk to her. Like I'll play devil's advocate and say he's so emotionally distressed. He can't talk to her. I've never been so emotionally distressed that I could put my fear to the side. Right. And put it before helping your daughter and potentially missing spouse. Right. But we'll give you the benefit of the dial right now. Okay.
00:29:07
Speaker
When Donna hung up the phone with her granddaughter, she obviously made numerous unsuccessful attempts at reaching Nikki on her cell phone. And again, this is on August 7th. She stated this was strange for Nikki because we're in 2012 now, so cell phones are a thing. And Nikki always had her phone with her. It was always fully charged. If she didn't answer the phone, it was weird that she would not return a missed call very quickly because she was always
00:29:36
Speaker
within a short distance of that telephone. Like most people. Yeah, like most of us. Yeah. Donna finally gives up contacting Nikki by phone and tells her husband, pack your stuff, we have got to go. So they pack up, they immediately leave their home in Florida and travel to Detroit to search for Nikki and report Nikki missing that day.
00:30:02
Speaker
So her mom knows this is serious because that drive commitment alone shows her concern. Yeah, she's not playing around. She's like, she says, pack yourself. We're leaving. Get in the car. By the eighth, all phone calls made to Nikki's phone, we're going straight to voicemail. So we can assume her phone is dead or turned off at this point.
00:30:33
Speaker
In the article by HuffPost, Donna told reporters, quote, I went straight to Tamala's house. She said, Ricky said she'd left home on August 6 around 9.30 p.m. He said she was going to take care of some business. Who goes to take care of business at 9.30 at night unless it's something that's not right. And my whole thing with that is that's not Tamala at all. End quote. And she knows.
00:30:57
Speaker
Yeah, she knows her. And that's true. If you have business to take care of, first off, the bank is closed. Right. Everything's closed. So where are you going at 930 at night? And what kind of business are you taking care of? Also, he's told some people he didn't know where she was going.
00:31:13
Speaker
Oh yeah. Wait, wait, you're right. So first he says, when she's leaving, she says, I'm going to pay you back, which makes sense. He says, I have no idea why she would say that. Then he says he doesn't know where she's going. Now he's telling people that she said that she was going to go take care of business. That's three different stories. Yeah.
00:31:37
Speaker
See fishy. It's so fishy. Donna also says when she walks into Nikki's home that the home was in complete disarray. Looked like it had been ransacked. Now my home sometimes looks like that when we get really busy. Yeah, my home frequently does. Yeah, same. That's what Saturday before is cleaning my house.
00:32:01
Speaker
So maybe they were just really busy that week and she hadn't had time to do the laundry or sleep or whatever. And if Donna's anything like my mother, if you can't eat off the floor of your home, your home is not clean. So maybe it was just not clean to mom standards, but was clean to daughter standards. To Allison standards, yeah. Yeah, to my standards. As you can probably tell, Ricky and Donna
00:32:31
Speaker
do not see eye to eye. I could see that. Even down to how they view Nikki. According to her mom, Nikki is a social butterfly.
00:32:48
Speaker
She gets along with everyone. Everybody loves Nikki. She told the HuffPost, quote, she's just a loving person and a joy to be around. When she walks into a room, you know you're going to have a fun time. That's the type of energy she brings when she shows up, end quote. That's sweet. Well, she sounds like the laugh of the party. Everybody wants to be her friend.
00:33:09
Speaker
Nikki's outgoing personality and the fact that she'd been making plans to leave Detroit and move closer to her mother made her sudden disappearance difficult for Donna to grasp, obviously. Why would someone with such a bright future just up and walk away from life? It's almost as if she has fallen off the side of the world. Right.
00:33:33
Speaker
She had two kids, she had a good job, she was surrounded by supportive friends and her mom. What has happened? That's what I would be asking. Ricky on the other hand says that he was with Nikki for 17 years and knows her quote better than her mother do end quote. Listen, now I'm not saying that when you're
00:34:02
Speaker
Rodney knows me as well as my mom does, or better in some ways, you know what I mean? But because your parents are there when you're young, they understand why you think the way you do, why you react and react to the way you do. And so in a lot of ways, your parents understand who you are, even if they might not know your current
00:34:32
Speaker
you know, deepest secrets. Yeah, I never thought of it that way. Yeah, I'd never thought about your parents know why you act the way you do or things that trigger you to act the way that you do. Whereas your spouse kind of knows more about you currently, you currently not the development of you. Mm hmm. Mm hmm.
00:34:55
Speaker
You know, they did have a long relationship. The two dated since Nikki was extremely young. So Ricky's claimed to have known Nikki better than anyone else. As you said, could very likely be true. He may know the current Nikki better than anyone else. But I know from personal experience that sometimes people are excellent at presenting a fake version of themselves. Uh, yeah. Like for example, I went to school
00:35:24
Speaker
with this boy that was in my circle of friends. He was totally different and still to this day, a different person when he's with his friends than when he's around his parents. He is like the little version of himself, like you were talking about, the one that the parents see developing into the version that I know.
00:35:51
Speaker
which I feel like is more his true self than the self he presents to his parents, if that makes sense. So I feel that we do know him far better than his parents do. So perhaps Ricky really did feel that he knew Nikki the best. He told HuffPost, quote, she was a good hearted girl, but after we had the baby, she changed and was a different lady. I could tell you so much stuff, it's ridiculous. And you'll say, wow, you put up with all that.
00:36:19
Speaker
She used to use a baby against me to do things she wanted to do, but me and Tamela, we might have argued and everything, but we loved each other real, real, real bad. I would never do nothing to hurt her. I'm not a violent person. I deal with the situation." The ideal, I deal with the situation. That's
00:36:41
Speaker
weird to me. I agree. And I almost said the exact same thing, but then I wonder if he's just saying, I don't take any anger out on the person. I deal with whatever the situation is. Yeah. I don't sweep things under the rug. We deal with it right then. Yeah. Yeah. I think it could mean either one of those. And
00:37:04
Speaker
I guess I'll play devil's advocate here. I know I've been tough on Ricky throughout the episode so far, and I probably will be at the end. But I mean, at least he's admitting it's not like he's trying to say everything with sunshine and roses. That's true. He's being honest and open about, yeah, we had problems, but we dealt with those problems. Right.
00:37:29
Speaker
Right. And if you both have very like dominant or explosive personality, sometimes people can think that your arguments are a lot more intense than what they actually are. Right. So perhaps all these arguments that her friends thought Ricky was this horrible person, that's just his personality, which I don't know that it makes it any better. And I will say,
00:37:54
Speaker
And again, I'll probably turn on Ricky in a minute. But for now, playing devil's advocate, when we explain our problems to our friends or our family, number one, they will automatically side with us because that is my friend or my family. Second of all,
00:38:17
Speaker
Obviously, when you explain to a friend or a loved one an argument that you have had with someone, we all likely downplay our own role in that argument.
00:38:33
Speaker
Oh, 100 percent. So when we're hearing from Nikki's friends or Nikki's family, they have heard about the argument from Nikki's perspective. Now, I am not in any way implying that Nikki wasn't telling the whole truth. Right. She is telling her truth. She is telling her perspective.
00:38:54
Speaker
But I also do want to at least acknowledge that obviously Nikki's friends and Nikki's family are going to side with Nikki. Yeah, and that's just. The same as in a teaching like teaching jobs. You know middle schools got a lot of drama, so I get a lot of tea and sometimes.
00:39:20
Speaker
I try to get both sides because Billy Bob might be saying, Tammy Sue elbowed him in the face, but then Tammy Sue says it was an accident because I was getting in my locker and he bent down the same time I was standing up, you know? So there's always two perceptions to every story. As Dr. Phil says, no matter how thin you make a pancake, there's always two sides. That's my Dr. Phil wisdom. That's our Dr. Phil moment. That's right.
00:39:51
Speaker
But we do know that Nikki and Ricky's relationship was strained. Absolutely. It could be equally as possible that Nikki was not her true self around Ricky, which to me maybe seems the most reasonable and he thought he knew Nikki, but he knew the version of Nikki she wanted him to know. If she was so uncomfortable with her relationship that she had made plans to leave, then why would we believe that she was her true self around the man she wanted to leave? You're right. Good point.
00:40:19
Speaker
Donna told True Crime Daily that she canvassed the area for clues. And I will say I do feel like a lot of the articles and research that I have read and even videos I have watched
00:40:36
Speaker
almost paint Ricky from the beginning in a negative light. They don't, in my opinion, give him time to kind of say his side of things. A lot of what I've read or watched a lot of the interviews came from Donna. So again, we're getting, you know, a one-sided group of things.
00:41:00
Speaker
So I didn't read anywhere where Ricky helped on these canvassing excursions, but it's very likely that he probably did. But I don't know because that was in nothing that I read. But Donna is canvassing the area for clues for any sign of her daughter. She said she went into neighborhoods she would have never gone to. She jumped into dumpsters, which God bless her. She walked down alleyways. She searched abandoned homes all in hopes that she would stumble upon a single clue that her daughter had been in the area.
00:41:30
Speaker
The Allison she found nothing and it seemed like Nikki had just vanished. After an unsuccessful initial search, Donna goes to the police but her experience is not
00:41:48
Speaker
what one would expect when they go to the police regarding their missing daughter. She told HuffPost, quote, they sat there with their hands on the back of their head and never even wrote down my name. My family was raised in the city of Detroit. That's their heritage. And you're telling me I can't get help. Oh, I would have like screamed at the top of my lungs. I'm telling you, I would have looked like a raging, a raging madwoman. Yeah.
00:42:14
Speaker
Yeah. I would have said, do you need me to get a pin out of my purse? Cause I have one. Here, let me write it down for you. Yeah. I'll make the note and I'll just hand it to you. Yeah. Again, though, I do want to go back to talk about just Detroit at the time that Nikki went missing.
00:42:32
Speaker
The city was in the midst of so much turmoil. I'm sure that the Detroit Police Department was pulled thinner than they possibly could have ever thought they could have been pulled. They're going through a major economic crisis. Demographics are declining in the years and decades leading up to the disappearance of Nikki. The population of the city has fallen. It's, you know, crime rate is rising. It still is among one of the nation's highest.
00:43:02
Speaker
Vast areas of the city are experiencing urban decay, so just abandoned buildings and homes. Which can lead to more crime. Right. Poverty, crime, shootings, drugs, all major problems in the city of Detroit at this time.
00:43:24
Speaker
Still to this day major problems time. I mean it's less than a year later. They declare bankruptcy. So they are Quite literally breaking. So I'm sure police were pulled then while it's no excuse I would hope that
00:43:47
Speaker
That is part of the reason Nikki's family felt that they didn't get the attention that they needed from their attending officer. Right. Again, it's no excuse, but I'm sure the feeling of, I mean, we've all been there. I'm sure during that time, every police officer felt that. But again, I know Nikki's family probably felt that
Discoveries and Theories about Nikki's Disappearance
00:44:12
Speaker
as well. Right.
00:44:15
Speaker
Despite looking for clues and basically conducting the search for Nikki herself, Donna found nothing of value, and it seemed to her that she was left to find her daughter on her own. Ricky and Donna didn't see eye to eye. She felt she was alone there. The police weren't helping to the magnitude she felt they should, so she was alone there. The mystery of Nikki's disappearance was growing deeper, but the mystery would soon get even deeper.
00:44:46
Speaker
Maggie, I don't know if I've ever told you this, but when I was in my gifted and talented program in eighth grade, we did a project and we were given fake money that we had to invest in the stock market.
00:45:03
Speaker
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00:45:30
Speaker
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00:45:42
Speaker
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00:46:04
Speaker
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00:46:31
Speaker
And when I say her mystery deepened, Allison, just let me tell you. Oh, no. Okay. I'm like, my interest is piqued. When the Pontiac that Nikki was supposedly driving was found abandoned just a few blocks from her house by none other
00:46:56
Speaker
then Ricky himself just three days after Nicki disappeared. It's almost like crap hit the fan. So it's kind of like last week when we were talking about the screen. And there's the theory many people believe
00:47:15
Speaker
that the maintenance man was behind it because they say, well, it seems awfully suspicious and, like you said earlier, coincidental that this one person says, oh, hey, looky here what I found.
00:47:33
Speaker
Yeah. And so it's kind of like that with Ricky too. He just, he happens to find her car. Well, to be honest, Ricky says that one of his friends was driving by or driving around, saw Ricky's Pontiac and called him was like, Hey dude, why is your Pontiac parked in such a random location? And then Ricky was like, that was the car Nicky's in.
00:48:01
Speaker
That's how he says he found that it was there. Okay. I mean, that's better than him saying. I just happened to stumble upon it. Right. Yeah. Oopsies. Yeah. Oopsie daisy. Authorities have not disclosed what, if anything, was found inside the vehicle, according to her post. But because Ricky was the one who found it, he claims that he does know what was inside. Oh my.
00:48:31
Speaker
In fact, Huff Post quoted him as saying, quote, the day after she disappeared, I put the word out that she was missing. And then a guy called me on the phone and told me where my car was at in the old neighborhood. We found the car and there was a pair of pants and a shirt in the car. I got a theory. I think somebody in the old neighborhood knows something, end quote. So I guess he's saying there's like an unknown pair of pants and shirt in the car.
00:48:56
Speaker
Or is it Nikki? So I, my immediate thought goes back to either a very real possibility or if Ricky does have something to do with it, creating the narrative that Nikki's comment, I'm going to pay you back.
00:49:22
Speaker
When I heard pants and shirt in the car, I immediately thought, is she seeing another young man in their old neighborhood? Oh. And so that is an indication of disrobing. So there being something that happened in the car. Now,
00:49:47
Speaker
That was my immediate thought. And so then, you know, is this a narrative that Ricky is trying to create? That she was... Maybe running away or... Right, or running out. Right, seeing somebody else from their old neighborhood as a way to get back at him.
00:50:11
Speaker
I mean, I guess it could be true. I don't even know if the pants and shirt are from a male but that was my first thought.
00:50:19
Speaker
And we don't know who the pants in the shirt belong to. Heck, we don't even really know if there was pants and shirts in the car. Because investigators have not said that is just going off what Ricky has said. But as you can imagine, this discovery really shocked everyone involved in the case and gave both a renewed sense of hope and a sense of skepticism.
00:50:45
Speaker
Searches for Nikki soared after her car was found. Donna said, quote, I called in my own people to help me go door to door and search vacant houses, garbage dumps, and the morgue. The neighborhoods are so rundown, the grass is taller than me, and there's trash and garbage in abandoned houses. I feel like I'm lost when I'm there. Where the hell do I look for my child in all this mess? She could be anywhere, end quote.
00:51:08
Speaker
And that is true. I mean, I can feel the frustration in that comment. I almost think of when you see images of, say, Kentucky after the tornadoes. And there's so much rubble and so much... I guess, you know, the vacancy, the...
00:51:31
Speaker
garbage, all of that mixed together, it does become overwhelming. And you could easily miss something because there's too much to rifle through. Right. And imagine that on an even larger scale, because Detroit is big. Mm hmm. So
00:51:53
Speaker
Imagine that 10 times what it would be in a town in Kentucky devastated by a tornado. Right, and you're looking for your child. Yeah, so it's almost like this is a very poor comparison, but I am horrible about putting my debit card back in the same compartment in my wallet. And when I'm trying to find it in my purse, I'm just throwing things out of my purse and I oftentimes overlook it because I'm in such a rush.
00:52:19
Speaker
Mm hmm. And I have such a large thing to go through. And I feel like in a much grander scale, it would be very hard to successfully comb every area, every house, every yard, every dumpster when you're frantically searching for someone that you love more than you love yourself. Right, right. Sadly, though, because Ricky searched the car before contacting police. Ricky has any potential evidence.
00:52:50
Speaker
Good job.
00:52:56
Speaker
Ricky does claim, as I stated earlier, that he knows what was in the car and what was missing. So he says in the quote above that there was a jacket, not a jacket, Maggie, there was pants and a shirt. He also claims the car jack was missing and a basketball was missing. Basketball, super specific. But I mean, maybe he played the ball a lot. The car jack, when I heard it was missing immediately, I was like, could this be a potential murder weapon?
00:53:25
Speaker
Well I'm thinking, who the heck goes looking to find if the car jack is missing? Right. That seems weird. Yeah, because in my car you have to take a compartment and everything like that. That is a little extra. Maybe there's one that's not so strangely hidden. Maybe there was just in the trunk and he noticed it right away.
00:53:49
Speaker
I still think that would be one of the last things I would notice. But see, I'm oblivious anyway, so I probably wouldn't even notice anything is missing. Yeah, same. So other than the missing basketball, the missing car jack, the clothes that were found in the car, there's no other true evidence of Nikki in the car or what could have happened to her. And sadly, Allison, Nikki's disappearance isn't the only thing that would devastate this family.
00:54:19
Speaker
There have been heated, heated, custody battles for Nikki's daughter. The one that called Donna to tell her, come on, come on. Donna was quoted as saying, quote, I've been trying to get this little girl removed from Ricky. I don't want her to grow up without morals, respect or Christianity, but the law tells me I have no right in her life and the courts will not give me any visitation, end quote.
00:54:47
Speaker
Ricky says that Donna does not approve of him as being the guardian of the daughter for multiple reasons. He also claims that because of Donna, the child was improperly removed from his home for a few months.
00:55:03
Speaker
He says, quote, there are allegations I was locking her up in a room and sexually assaulting her. So he said this in an interview with HuffPost. They took my daughter away for two months and all them allegations was false just to get her away from me. And after two months, they gave me my daughter back, end quote. If that's true, then that is sad. I do. I just wish people would do what's best for the child and quit bickering amongst themselves. Yeah.
00:55:32
Speaker
I know that it would be hard to co-parent, right? If you are trying to figure out custody between a mom and a dad that are no longer together, I feel like it would be even more hard to try to include the grandparents in that when you're, especially when you're angry at the grandparents. But like you said, sometimes you have to put your own personal feelings aside and do what's best for your kid.
00:55:59
Speaker
though I do think that grandparents should have rights to see grandkids. And I'm pretty positive in the state of Kentucky they do. I don't think that's everywhere, but I think we do here have that. So we have been kind of tough on Ricky and I'm going to read to you another quote that he said and
00:56:23
Speaker
I'll just wait for you. I'll wait for you. Oh no. Oh no. Okay. In the 2015 interview, Ricky told reporters that the family gives him a headache despite the somewhat like happy sentiment he said above about like, I finally got my daughter back. He went as far to say that Nikki gave him a headache and that her being gone was one less headache he had to deal with. Oh my gosh.
00:56:52
Speaker
He said, quote, Tamela, or Nikki, as we're calling her, used to give me a headache, but I dealt with it. And I'm looking at it right now as one headache is better than two, end quote. Yeah. Only are you comparing your, saying your daughter gives you a headache. You're saying you're missing girlfriend.
00:57:15
Speaker
I don't even know how many years is one less headache that you have to worry about. Oh Yeah, that is nothing. Nope. I'm back to not liking Ricky. So I'll be Ricky if you're listening, but I Mean comments like that. Yeah, that is a rather insensitive comment to be making about a missing one. Mm-hmm
00:57:38
Speaker
as he made it seem he's happy that Nikki's gone. I know sometimes we say things and don't really know how they're going to be perceived. And I just don't know how you could mistake how that one's taken. Yeah, that was hard to justify. Yeah.
00:57:57
Speaker
Despite this, investigators stated that Ricky has been cooperative with the investigation. They've never named him as a suspect. Ricky has failed multiple polygraph tests. Which we know mean nothing. It's hard for me to talk about polygraphs because as much as I know they don't mean anything, I still hear that someone fails and I'm like, oh, you know. Yeah.
00:58:27
Speaker
I think, and I'm trying to make sure that I'm not getting, because most of the time we're researching multiple cases at once. Right, we are. And we don't put in, obviously, every detail that we've researched, but I'm pretty positive that Ricky said he smoked some marijuana before his polygraph test, and that can interfere with the results, because I guess you're kind of more sensitive or... Lucy goosey.
00:58:58
Speaker
I'm pretty positive it was in this case that I read that. Don't quote me on that because it could be one of the three other cases that I'm currently looking at, but I'm pretty positive it was this one. You know, Ricky doesn't have a very good relationship with Nikki's family. He felt those polygraph tests. And Donna told reporters that she is, quote, almost positive that Ricky had something to do with her daughter's disappearance.
00:59:27
Speaker
So we're going to talk about some theories and I could, I didn't find anywhere where theories were really talked about in her case. I really feel like there's only two, maybe three. One would be that she was murdered, you know, either when she knew AKA, possibly Ricky, or she was maybe killed by somebody she meant after she left the house. We have been really tough on Ricky.
00:59:58
Speaker
Ricky has appeared pretty much guilty to several people for several reasons. He had a previous criminal record, one that he brought into his relationship with Nikki. Secondly, there's reports that he was abusive. You know, after all, Nikki was planning on leaving him. Not long.
01:00:17
Speaker
after that disappearance was when she had to leave. Ricky failed those polygraph tests, but to play devil's advocate, he has never been publicly named as a suspect by investigators. So could it possibly be coincidence that Ricky's friend just so happened to spot Nikki's car, you know, only three blocks away from Ricky's house and that he
01:00:40
Speaker
went through the car wiping out of any evidence because you know he went into a crime potential crime scene is it possible that he noted random things as missing from the car like a car jack the other possibility would be
01:01:02
Speaker
Did someone take her? Was she being held captive? Is she still being held captive? I guess there's always the possibility that there's like a sex trafficking ring maybe.
01:01:16
Speaker
The second most commonly talked about theory was that Nikki was a possible runaway.
Call to Action and Support for Nikki Wells' Case
01:01:23
Speaker
Nikki's life was anything but peaceful. She was unhappy. I'm sure her job at times was stressful. She didn't have a mother that lived close by and we all know that mothers are huge support systems. Right.
01:01:38
Speaker
Could Nikki have wanted a fresh start? And this was the only way she knew how to achieve that. If Freaky was abusive, then she probably wasn't open with him about wanting to leave him. She might have been scared. He would follow her if she did leave. And if that were the case, then he really could harm her because he would be so angry.
01:01:59
Speaker
Maybe she thought running away was the only option she had. Her family, of course, disagrees. And I believe that I do too. They talked about her devotion to her kids and that she wouldn't just up and leave the people that she loved. And I do have to say that I agree with them. Allison, you are so good at theories. I feel like you missed your calling in life while you are a good educator. You should be like, I don't even know, a theorist. So what are your thoughts?
01:02:29
Speaker
All right. I think if I have to give my opinion, I'm going to say that I believe it. I don't necessarily believe that it has to be Ricky. I think he could have an idea of maybe who did it. I think with the changing story, with the fact that he refused to speak on the phone with Nikki's mom, with what we know of Nikki.
01:02:56
Speaker
I don't think that she would just up and leave her daughter. Like you said, Maggie. So I, and with the specifics of what he says, we're missing the fact that obviously her car is discovered. He knows that she's missing. So he would know that that would be important evidence found in it. The fact that he felt the need to go through it before contacting the police to go through it. All of those things to me,
01:03:25
Speaker
are red flags. They should be at least questioned.
01:03:31
Speaker
Tamela and Nikki Wells left behind a grieving mother and family. Her life was cut short and no one deserves that. Nikki's case was one that I'd never heard of before, but her case deserves to be heard. She deserves to be found and her family deserves to know the truth. Today, I'm asking you to share Nikki's case on your social media page. If every listener shared her story one time, imagine the impact it might have on this investigation.
01:03:58
Speaker
And if not on the investigation, imagine the impact it would have for her family to know they are not alone and that people do care about Nikki and do care that she is missing. There is a cash reward up to $2,800 for information regarding Nikki's case. You can make an anonymous tip by calling 1-800-SPEAK-UP or you can call the Detroit Police Department at 313-596
01:04:26
Speaker
Just as a reminder, Nikki is an African American female born on December 30, 1978. Nikki has black hair, shoulder length at the time that she went missing, worn in micro braids.
01:04:41
Speaker
Brown eyes stands around five foot four or five foot five and weighs approximately 160 pounds. She has a scar under her chin and on the left side of her forehead. She has ears that are pierced twice and often wore acrylic nails. She was last seen wearing a white shirt and blue jean shorts with a cuff. Please share this case. Let's make a difference.
01:05:05
Speaker
Again, please like and join our Facebook page, Coffee and Cases podcast to continue the conversation and see images related to this episode. As always, follow us on Twitter, at casescoffee, on Instagram, at coffee cases podcast, or you can always email us suggestions to coffeeandcasespodcastatgmail.com. Please tell your friends about our podcast so more people can be reached to possibly help bring some closure to these families. Don't forget to rate our show and leave us a comment as well. We hope to hear from you soon.
01:05:35
Speaker
Stay together. Stay safe. We'll see you next week.