Florida man confesses to murder of his girlfriend 50 years ago: ‘had to come clean’

A retired man dwelling in Florida confessed to the cold-case homicide of his girlfriend after practically 50 years, as a result of he felt he “needed to come clear,” in line with federal courtroom paperwork.

Florida authorities arrested Rodney Mervyn Nichols, an 81-year-old former Montreal resident, in early July after Canadian police tied him to Jewell Langford’s 1975 homicide by means of DNA proof and a confession, in line with a memo from the US Lawyer’s Workplace for the Southern District of Florida.

“Following a phone session with a authorized support lawyer in Canada, NICHOLS then said that he had an altercation with LANGFORD that began in his house in Montreal, and that he subsequently dumped her physique within the Nation River,” the doc states.

Nichols allegedly lied to police and altered his story a number of instances earlier than he confessed, telling police he felt horrible for what he had achieved and “needed to come clear,” in line with the US Lawyer’s Workplace.

In April 1975, Langford — initially from Jackson, Tennessee — traveled to Montreal, the place she moved right into a home with Nichols, then 32 years outdated.

Langford’s buddy reported her lacking to the Montreal Police Service in June that 12 months when no one had heard from her since April 22, 1975.

All of her belongings, together with her Cadillac, remained at her house in Montreal. 

On Could 3, 1975, authorities found a physique floating face-down within the Nation River in japanese Ontario.

“The Sufferer was partially nude, her palms and toes have been sure with neckties, a twenty-four-inch piece of black plastic-covered coaxial cable wire was loosely round her neck, and her head was coated by a hand fabric, a towel, and a desk fabric, which have been knotted tightly round her neck,” the memo said.

A 1975 post-mortem report revealed that the sufferer died of strangulation by the neck, and the coroner additionally decided that the sufferer’s wrists and ankles had been restrained with neckties previous to her demise.

Investigators have been unable to establish the lady till 2021.

In 2018, Canadian authorities exhumed the sufferer’s physique. A 12 months later, the Centre of Forensic Sciences (CFS) matched a brand new DNA profile from the sufferer to 2 people in Langford’s household tree with assist from the DNA Doe Venture and the FBI, and police subsequently recognized Langford because the sufferer. 

“That is believed to be the primary case in Canada of this nature to establish human stays by means of Forensic Family tree,” a press launch from the Ontario Provincial Police said.

Investigators interviewed Nichols on June 7, 1975, when he advised them that he got here house one evening to Langford intoxicated, they usually obtained into an argument.

He stated she advised him of her plans to journey throughout Canada, and regardless of his makes an attempt to get her to remain house, when he woke the subsequent morning, she was gone.

He additional said that he acquired a telephone name from Langford in early June saying she would return to Montreal for his birthday.

On June 12, 1975, investigators adopted up with Nichols, who stated he had not heard from Langford since that telephone dialog.

Police didn’t initially think about Nichols to be a suspect in her disappearance. 

Authorities have been in a position to decide in 2021 that as a result of Langford’s physique was discovered within the Nation River in Could 1975, Nichols’ story about their telephone name didn’t add up.

He was dwelling in North-Lake Retirement House in Hollywood, Florida, on the time.

Police interviewed the suspect in 2022. He initially denied any involvement in her demise after which modified his story a number of instances — saying first that she drowned after their boat capsized on the Nation River after which saying that he tried to drown her himself — earlier than he finally admitted to murdering her at his house in Montreal after which dumping her physique within the river. 

Along with the confession, authorities matched a blood pattern taken from Langford’s clothes in 2011 to Nichols’ DNA. He was formally arrested in July.

An extradition listening to for Nichols is scheduled for September.