A 69-year-old man faces two counts of deliberate homicide in connection with murders at a Missoula nursing home more than three decades ago.
Nickie Dean Gardiner was charged in the 1990 deaths of two elderly patients at Riverside Health and Rehabilitation after DNA evidence linked him to the crimes, court documents show.
Zach Volheim reports - watch the video here:
Missoula County prosecutors charged Nickie Dean Gardiner in the 1990 deaths of two elderly patients at Riverside Health and Rehabilitation after they say DNA evidence linked him to the crimes.
The charges follow significant recent developments in the investigation, including advanced DNA analysis that links Gardiner to both homicide victims, Bertha Scott and Nancy Lagerquist.
Scott and Lagerquist were both elderly women residing at Riverside Health Care Center in 1990. Both were found deceased under suspicious and violent circumstances in May 1990 and July 1990.
At that time, law enforcement and medical personnel did not have the benefit of modern forensic technology.
Over the past year, the Montana State Crime Lab and Bode Technology conducted new DNA testing on the biological evidence preserved from the original investigations.
Missoula County prosecutors say in a press release Gardiner has no known connection to either victim, and investigators have found no explanation — other than criminal activity — for the presence of his DNA on both victims.
District Judge Shane Vannatta set bond at $5 million. Gardiner is scheduled to appear in court Thursday.
Clarification: After the initial report KPAX added this information: Missoula County prosecutors say in a press release Gardiner has no known connection to either victim, and investigators have found no explanation — other than criminal activity — for the presence of his DNA on both victims.
