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Nicolas Morelos was murdered by his co-worker James Lapan on July 18, 2016. James Lapan killed Nick with a 45-caliber handgun and envy was the driving force behind this cold-blooded murder.
James Lapan was charged with first-degree murder on October 2, 2018, and was sentenced to life with no chance of parole. As per prison records, Lapan is in the ASP Red Rock Correctional Center in Eloy Arizona, serving his life sentence.
To date, this homicide marks a great achievement in Detective Jennifer Garcia’s career, as it was her first big homicide and she cracked the code after checking out every angle and solving this complicated case in the end.
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The upcoming Dateline NBC episode, which will delve deep into this homicide is titled Stone-Cold. It will air on August 23, at 10 p.m. ET.
Nicholas Morelos was shot multiple times
Nicholas Morelos aka Nick was found naked and dead in his bedroom in July 2016. His fiancée Christy (Kristina Trepanitis) who came to his house after Nick wasn’t answering the phone called 911 about his death.
As per reports, when the detectives entered the scene, they found many bullet holes in the walls of the bedroom. Nick had a total of eight projectile wounds. He was shot multiple times with one final shot to his head. Nothing was missing from the room. However, there were two bottles of cleaning solutions located inside Nick’s bedroom which the detectives speculated were used by the killer to clean up the mess that he made.
Half of the bedroom rug was missing. Bullet casings were found from the scene too, the ammo for which was made by the Golden Eagle company. There was also a red substance found near the windows, which was presumably the blood of the intruder, who tried to break the glass and get inside the house. Blood was also found in the closet and on the cap of the mouthwash that Nick used.
Detective Jennifer Garcia along with her team could not understand why someone would kill Nick Morelos. He was described as a tough man who was a former United States Marine officer. Pre-death, Nick worked at Marina Aerospace and held a good position.
So how did the detective find the killer? Follow along to learn more.
The long list of interrogation and suspects
As per reports, first, Nick’s fiancée Christy was questioned. She revealed that Nick Morelos had been with him the previous day and came to his home around 5 ish. After that, she and Nick texted each other till 8:30 pm. After 8:30 pm, she did not hear from him, which got her worried. She tried calling both his phones in the morning too, however, he still didn’t respond which made her drive up to his place following which she found him dead.
After hearing Christy’s statement, the detectives theorized that Nick Morelos was probably killed the previous night. They also speculated that Nick must have tried to hide while he was shot because of which there were multiple bullet marks on the walls.
Upon interrogating Nick’s neighbor, it was discovered that there was a strange noise of smashing of glass. However, no one could figure out how even after 11 shots were fired no one in the neighborhood was alarmed. This made the detectives conclude that the killer could have used a silencer. Using a silencer means that the killer was an experienced one, as shooting with a silencer increases the recoil of the gun/pistol and needs immense precision.
Next, the detectives went to Nick’s workplace where they questioned James Lapan, one of Nick’s colleagues at his workplace. It was revealed that Nick and Lapan did not go well together and would often have arguments at work. However, Lapan claimed that he was in his house the night Nick was killed and also had an alibi (his wife), which cleared him from the list of suspects as per reports.
The detectives then learned that Nick was the Don Juan of his workplace and had dated several women. Nick’s ex Claudia was questioned next. She said positive things about Nick and also helped in every step of the investigation after which she was cleared.
Next, the detectives interrogated Jessica, another one of Nick’s exes. She revealed to the detectives that she and Nick had a very bad breakup as she had found him cheating on her with Claudia, which broke her heart. The detectives thought that Jessica had a motive to kill him as she was envious. However, Jessica too cooperated and her phone records stated that she was nowhere near the crime scene, after which she was cleared as a suspect, as per reports.
Next up, the detectives found out that Justin, Claudia’s ex had left her a note after Morelo’s death, which said:
“If you would like, I can buy you a drink sometime.”
The detectives found this note odd and then called Justin for an interrogation. It was revealed to them that he was also a marksman. Justin had some serious scratches on his arms and he refused to give his DNA for testing when he was asked for it, which struck a chord. However, he had an alibi for the night Nick Morelos was killed. Later when Justin agreed to give his DNA and it was tested, he was cleared as it didn’t match with the one at the scene.
James Lapan killed Nick Morelos
As per reports, after a hiatus and some serious brainstorming, Jennifer Garcia went to James’s workplace again to interrogate the workers. Garcia found out that Nick’s ex-girlfriend Jessica was having an affair with James Lapan (a married man) at the time of Nick’s murder. James was again interrogated a second time.
This time, he told the detectives that he was in love with Jessica. The officers found deep cuts in his arms after which he asked James to give his DNA, which he refused. According to James Lapan, he had fallen on the airplane hangar which caused the deep cuts.
Soon, to put an end to this case, the detectives got a search warrant for James Lapan’s home. Upon entering they found 18 boxes of bullets, a gun box, a silencer, and the murder weapon a 45 caliber Para Ordnance 1911 handgun. Blue pants with blood stains were also found in his house. Everything was then sent to the lab for testing, as per reports.
The DNA on the stained pants matched with the one at the scene and so did the bullet casings. The blood in the bedroom matched James's blood too. When the detectives checked James Lapan and Jessica’s chat records they noticed something strange. He had enquired about Nick’s Pitbull, Smokey in detail, which rang a bell in the detective's mind.
James Lapan also lost his alibi as his wife Sareena who was his alibi for the night of the murder revealed to the detectives that James was an abusive husband who asked her to lie, to cover up his tracks. She also told the detectives that James was always jealous of Nick as women preferred Nick over anyone else.
To summarise, the detectives understood that James Lapan went to Nick’s house around 3:30 am and positioned himself near his window. After Smokey, the dog was let out at 4 a.m. daily, which James Lapan was aware of, he must have gone in through the window and shot Nick multiple times with one final shot to his head. Later, he must have cleaned up the scene and come back home to go to bed again.
Read more: 5 chilling details about Nick Morelos’ murder
James Lapan was charged with first-degree murder on October 2, 2018, and sentenced to life in prison. To learn more about this case, watch the latest episode of Dateline.
