David Pietz Is Charged In Murder Of Wife Nicole 5 Years Ago

[Whisper]

Dave & Nicole Pietz

David Pietz

SEATTLE (CBS5) -

Detectives in Washington have arrested Nicole Pietz's husband in her brutal 2006 murder, and her mother, who lives in the Valley, tells CBS-5 News it could not have been anybody else.

Detectives said David Pietz beat and strangled his wife of four years, Nicole Pietz, then dumped her body in a forest in Burien, WA.

Police arrested David Pietz Wednesday morning outside his workplace and booked him into the King County Jail on second-degree murder charges.

"After all this," Gael Schneider, Nicole Pietz's mother, said, "six years and 54 days, it finally happened."

When Schneider got word of the arrest Wednesday morning, she said she hit an emotional high.

"Elation, total elation, I mean, I just felt like I was over the moon," Schneider said.

And then Schneider came back down to earth, remembering the day when her daughter went missing.

"Now I'm reliving it. I've been on the verge of tears all day," Schneider said.

Detectives believe David Pietz killed Nicole Pietz in their Lynnwood condo sometime between the evening of Friday, Jan. 27, 2006, and the morning of Saturday, Jan. 28, then dumped her naked body in a wooded area of Burien and reported her missing.

"It was absolute hell," Schneider said.

A passerby found Nicole Pietz's body 10 days later. The autopsy revealed that she was beaten and strangled to death, and had no alcohol or dangerous drugs in her system.

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Police later located Nicole Pietz's abandoned Volkswagen Jetta at the University of Washington campus in Seattle. Examiners discovered more of David Pietz's DNA in the car than Nicole Pietz's, including his DNA on the steering wheel, gear shifter and windshield wiper knobs.

Nicole Pietz was a recovering alcoholic and had been sober for eight years. She was supposed to attend an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting the day after her murder.

David Pietz failed a polygraph test involving Nicole Pietz's death and refused a second test or any media interviews.

Detectives learned the couple had financial problems and their marriage was in "turmoil." Reports also revealed David Pietz had cheated on Nicole Pietz prior to her disappearance.

Schneider said she wants answers.

"I wish someday he would tell me why he did it," said Schneider.

The Schneiders will travel to Seattle for David Pietz's arraignment on April 4, and they plan to be there for his trial.

http://www.kpho.com/story/17215789/h...ns-2006-murder

Nicole

[Dakota Valkyrie]

More than six years after Nicole Pietz was found dead, her husband stood in a courtroom on Wednesday accused of strangling her and dumping her body.

David Pietz, 34, has been charged with charged with second-degree murder in his wife's death. With Nicole's mother looking on, David Pietz pleaded not guilty in King County Superior Court.
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Ever since Nicole disappeared from the couple's Lynnwood home in 2006, David insisted he was a doting partner and loving spouse.

"(We're) trying to focus on what we can do on finding her so you don't let your mind go to bad places," David told KOMO News shortly after his wife was reported missing.

A few days later, Nicole's naked body was found dumped in a wooded area in Burien.

Investigators said David Pietz was the last person to see his wife alive, and he told police that when he woke up at about 8:20 a.m. on Jan. 28, 2006, his wife had already left.

But forensic evidence showed Nicole Pietz likely died around midnight the morning of Jan. 28 -- a time when David Pietz claimed his wife was asleep in their bed, according to court documents.

David Pietz also failed a polygraph test, and when detectives asked him to retake the test, he refused and hired an attorney.

A search of Nicole Pietz's car, which was found in the University District after her body was discovered, turned up DNA evidence belonging to both David Pietz and his wife, "but Nicole's DNA was in very small quantities, while the defendant's DNA was in much greater quantities," investigators wrote.

The couple had financial problems and the marriage was "in some degree of turmoil," the document said, adding David Pietz had extramarital affairs and tried to get other women to join him and his wife in bed.

Detectives added David Pietz had conducted an Internet search on his computer for swinger's clubs as well as ways to cheat on one's spouse. And just weeks after his wife's death, he began looking for phone numbers of women to date, according to the court documents.

The case went unsolved for more than half a decade until last month, when detectives from the King County Sheriff's Office cold case unit arrested David for investigation of second-degree murder.
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http://www.komonews.com/news/local/H...146109975.html