The unsolved murder of North Platte resident Nick Legas in 2020 has not only become a cold case, it appears to be permanently headed into the deep freeze.
Although the investigation was completed in February 2022, prosecutors have never filed charges against a suspect or suspects.
A $50,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the culprit or culprits was offered in November, but has been withdrawn, “due to recent developments in the investigation.”
The attorney handling the reward announced the withdrawal.
Legas was killed on or about June 8, 2020. His lifeless body was found floating in a public power district canal west of Lake Maloney.
After a painstakingly slow investigation, which was complicated by travel restrictions and laboratory backlogs during the pandemic, Lincoln County Sheriff Jerome Kramer announced that there was no water in the lungs or esophagus of the body.
If the death was by drowning, there would have been water in those organs, because he would have swallowed water.
Also, ligature marks were found on the neck, a common indicator of strangulation, and there was an injury to the head as well, Kramer said.
The body was recovered several miles downstream from Legas’ pickup, which was parked on the shoulder of a road. A checkpoint in the canal separated the body and the pickup, and a body could not float through the checkpoint on its own, investigators said.
Based on those and other findings from a full autopsy, investigators declared that the cause of the murder was blunt force trauma and strangulation.
Information from the investigation, including a record of cell phone pings of likely suspects, was turned over to the Lincoln County Attorney’s office in early 2022, with a request for an arrest warrant.
Lincoln County Attorney Rebecca Harling reportedly referred the case to the Nebraska Attorney General’s office several months later, but no warrant has ever been issued.
North Platte Attorney Terry Waite, who has served as custodian of the reward money, said the case is now in the hands of the Nebraska Attorney General and his client still hopes the AG will prosecute. Waite said that his client would not further discuss reasons for withdrawing the reward money.
Three separate sources say that the county attorney’s office hired an expert to scrutinize the cause of death, and the expert concluded that the determination of “homicide” is not provable beyond a reasonable doubt.
Those sources asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals.
Ironically, “The prosecutor acted in the role of a defense attorney,” one of them said in disappointment.
So far, both the county and state prosecutors have declined to comment.
Lincoln County Sheriff Jerome Kramer said Dr. Matthies Okoye, a consultant forensic pathologist with the Nebraska Attorney General’s office, conducted a complete autopsy of the body.
Kramer believes there is no other explanation of Legas’ death, except homicide. He believes arrest warrants should be issued.
“I feel that not allowing a jury to decide guilt or innocence is an injustice to the family and my investigative team,” he said.
“We felt that the circumstantial evidence was overwhelming and could result in a conviction, but prosecution is obviously not my area of training, so my opinion on that has little value,” he said.
The official “reward withdrawn” notice was published in the Bulletin’s June 12 print edition.
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George, Would you have any speculation if public pressure was applied to group or governing body to help expedite a warrant? or where to apply that pressure?
Well, the county attorney and the Nebraska Attorney General are elected officials. You can certainly contact them. I often suggest sending a copy of such letters to a newspaper as well, so the public can know that they were sent. Of course, voters might have something to say at election time. Ideally, it is good to hear from the decision makers before reaching conclusions. However, they haven’t been willing to talk to us so it’s been impossible to communicate. We are left with an unsolved murder… and so far at least, left to wonder why.
I’m not sure what writing a letter or pressuring a congressman can do. Too much pressure can actually be a bad thing, cuz that’s when people start considering closing a case at all costs and the truth starts taking a back seat to public perception. No leads is no leads. It’s horrible and sucks for the family, but in bigger cities murders go unsolved all the time. I know that its hard to imagine in our smaller town that happening, but it’s not outside of the realm of possibility.