59 Hours

by Johnny Kovatch

  * * *

  Graham Pressley told Natasha Adams that same day that he personally had driven Nick and Jesse Rugge back to Los Angeles. Natasha was relieved to hear Nick was home. Pressley fed her the story that “Hollywood came to the hotel and laid a gun on the bed, a TEC-9,” to scare Nick, to “make sure that he wouldn’t say anything.” When she pushed to find out where exactly Pressley had dropped off Nick, all he could respond was, “I just dropped him off.” He was acting strange.

  Rugge called her later in the day just to say hi and tell her that he was staying at his mom’s house for a week. He was “really happy and joking around.”

  Natasha, who had previously consulted with her mother about Nick being kidnapped, was relieved to inform her mother that Nick “had been taken home and everything was fine.” In five days, that would all change.

  * * *

  A day after Nick’s murder, Casey Sheehan hosted a cocaine-fueled party for Hoyt’s twenty-first birthday. Hoyt did more than just celebrate turning a year older. He celebrated how he had committed his first homicide.

  William Skidmore was one of the partygoers in whom Hoyt confided. Skidmore said Hoyt told him he’d hit Nick over the head with the corner of the shovel, the sharp part. Nick fell down on his knees and then Hoyt shot him. Skidmore said Hoyt wasn’t expecting such powerful recoil, so when he pulled the trigger, he told Skidmore, “the gun just went up.” It walked itself up Nick. He told Skidmore the bullets hit off the corner of Nick’s head. According to Skidmore, Hoyt “kept bragging about that.” Hoyt even added weapon onomatopoeia, imitating the sound of the TEC-9 as it fired, “Yeah, man, I did this [shooting], b-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r.”

  Hoyt also told Skidmore that Jesse Hollywood wanted Nick killed because what if he ended up going to the police once released? Hollywood had told Hoyt to find a place to hide him.

  When Hoyt mentioned that he had used the “little gun,” Skidmore knew that meant the TEC-9.

  Skidmore was in shock. He couldn’t believe Hoyt had killed Nick. Skidmore hadn’t had any contact with the crew since he’d left Hoeflinger’s place the previous weekend. Skidmore thought “it was pretty sick.” He was trying to comprehend the enormity of the situation and couldn’t. He just couldn’t believe Hoyt kept bragging about it. He didn’t think Ryan was “that callous.” He knew Hoyt had problems at home and was “always whining about his stepmom,” but if he had to picture this scenario . . . if someone asked him if he could see Hoyt pulling the trigger? No. Never. So then why did he do it? Skidmore knew only one reason—it was a way for Hoyt to clear his debt.

  * * *

  Hollywood drove three hours with his mother to Palm Springs to visit his girlfriend at a modeling convention. This might be the last time he saw her for a long time.

  Jack Hollywood would also meet his son in Palm Springs. Jack said he was simply there to meet his wife, stay overnight, then drive home with her. Even though Hollywood was conveniently nearby, Jack said he never saw his son.

  Chapter 18

  A Gruesome Discovery

  ON AUGUST 12, TODD FONTAINE, a supervisor for a construction company, took his first hiking trip to Lizard’s Mouth with his wife and her friend. At around one p.m., they took a narrow trail so that when they entered it, they were “committed to following” it through. There they were met with a smell that was very pungent, and “loud.” That was the only way Fontaine could describe it. The closer they approached, the more they saw flies hovering in the area.

  Out of curiosity, they wanted to see what was causing the swarm. Fontaine picked up a branch and moved it aside. “The flies were even more intense underneath the branch.” Fontaine’s wife stepped beside him and “used her foot and kicked the dirt aside.” At that point they saw “a pair of pants and a bloodstain.” It took a second to process, but after seeing a left front leg from the hip to the knee and the zipper, Fontaine knew it was a “dead person, buried.”

  * * *

  An hour later, Dr. George Sterbenz, a forensic pathologist, showed up at the scene. The temperature was over a hundred degrees. There were maggots and larvae covering Nick’s eyes, nose, mouth, and, according to the pathologist, “the site of his injuries.” It was impossible to visually identify him. Only his abdomen was protruding through the ground. Nick’s hands were bound behind his back. Duct tape was covering his mouth and a part of his nose.

  But inspecting the changes due to decomposition wasn’t the only reason Dr. Sterbenz was summoned. He was also tasked with performing the autopsy.

  Once Nick’s body arrived at the morgue at Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, Dr. Sterbenz determined Nick had been shot nine times.

  One lethal gunshot entered his jaw and exited the base of the skull. It traveled directly through his brain. There were other gunshots to his body that broke a rib or passed under his clavicle; seven that were considered “through-and-through,” meaning they had cleanly entered and exited the body, but that single shot alone to the head was enough to end his life.

  It took two days, but Nick was finally ID’d by fingerprints the police had on file for his sole arrest for marijuana possession. They also had a second point of reference to identify Nick—he was wearing his father’s ring.

  * * *

  Susan Markowitz knew the second she heard the knock on the door. Nick was dead. It was just after six a.m. when detectives informed her of the details. At that point she went in and out of comprehending the situation. She caught fragments like “bullet riddled,” and how her son’s hands were bound behind his back.

  When she was supposed to be coordinating his sixteenth birthday just over a month away, now she had to do the unthinkable: coordinate her son’s six pallbearers. Carey Evans, now seventeen and one of Nick’s close friends, would be one of them.

  Chapter 19

  Breaking News

  FIVE DAYS AFTER NICK’S MURDER, Natasha’s mother showed her an article in the Santa Barbara News-Press. Natasha’s worst nightmare was confirmed. It was a picture of Nick next to an article about a murder. There had been an article the day before that mentioned that a body had been found at Lizard’s Mouth but had yet to be identified. The article her mother showed her left no doubt. This was Nick Markowitz. Natasha started crying right away. She kept asking, “How could it happen?” She told her mother she had to talk to Graham Pressley and Jesse Rugge. Her mother told her she was going to set up an appointment with a lawyer for later in the day because she wanted her daughter to be granted immunity from prosecution once she came forth with the names of those involved.

  After she took her parents to work, Natasha called Kelly Carpenter to tell her Nick was dead. She told her to come over.

  With Kelly present and crying, Natasha called Rugge next. She had woken him up. She wanted to know one thing: Had he seen the paper? He had not. She started yelling at him over the phone. “You should look at it.” He asked her why. She told him again, “Just go look at it.” He couldn’t find the paper, so she told him herself, “Nick’s dead.” Rugge’s voice grew panicky. He told her, “It’s not what you think.” He asked her to come over so they could talk about it. She was angry and no longer wanted to speak to him, so she hung up.

  Natasha then called Graham Pressley. She told him to read the paper. He didn’t have one, so he told her he would look for one, then call her back. She wouldn’t break the news.

  Next, Natasha and Kelly headed to Rugge’s. She handed the paper to him. They went to his room. He told them he wasn’t involved and that he would never hurt Nick. They were beyond upset. They asked about his involvement. He told them, “I didn’t do anything. I didn’t do anything. I just handed him off to someone else.”

  Natasha tried to press for more details. Rugge would only say, “I didn’t do it, I didn’t do it.” He told them they couldn’t tell anyone or he would go to jail. He wanted to try and contact Hollywood. Rugge was nervous. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and according to Natasha, she could see his heart beating through his chest
. He was trying not to cry. Then Pressley called Rugge. Pressley told Natasha to come over after she left Rugge’s.

  Pressley couldn’t find a paper, so Natasha broke the news about Nick’s death to him. According to Natasha, Pressley was “completely jaded, numb,” and responded with only one word, “Oh.” He wanted to know what Rugge had told her. “Nothing,” she said. Pressley stuck with his story that he had driven Nick and Rugge to Los Angeles.

  Nick’s dean of students, Kirk Miyashiro, had a visceral reaction to the news. He was having coffee with his wife, Joni, reading about a kidnapping in the local paper. He didn’t know Nick had gone missing. “It was a total surprise.” He saw a picture of Nick and screamed at Joni, “This is my kid! This is Nick!” Kirk was in shock. He had just seen him, before the summer. Nick had been invited back to school. He had done “exactly what I wanted him to do.”

  * * *

  Later that day, Natasha went to her mother’s law office to meet with a lawyer named Dan Murphy. She told Murphy she knew “something about the death of this kid who has been found up in the Santa Barbara Mountains.” Murphy got on the phone with some “court people” and got Natasha immunity. That meant she could not be prosecuted for anything that had happened, including her involvement. Two detectives came to interview her. She later met with the sheriff’s office in Goleta. She gave them names. Arrests were soon to follow. Nathasha made the right choice in disclosing what information she knew. However, it was the timing of it that proved costly.

  Chapter 20

  The Roundup

  JACK HOLLYWOOD AND HIS WIFE drove together back to Los Angeles from Palm Springs. Jesse Hollywood and his girlfriend would drive back separately. Hollywood had already read news about Nick’s body being discovered. He briefed Skidmore and told him to read up on it.

  Once home, Hollywood and his girlfriend picked up Skidmore and drove to an exit off the 118 freeway. Since news had broken in the papers that Nick’s body had been found, Hollywood pronounced, “I’m [a] ghost.” He wanted to separate himself from all responsibility and get as far away from West Hills as possible.

  Skidmore called Affronti to warn him not to say anything. Hollywood thought Affronti was a weak link, and Skidmore believed Hollywood would enact retribution if Affronti talked. Hollywood wanted Skidmore to give Affronti a beatdown. Skidmore refused. Skidmore wanted Affronti to know that if he saw Hollywood to be careful around him, because who knew what Hollywood might do? Affronti also read the article featuring the murder of a high school student. There was a school photo of the victim wearing a white tuxedo. If Affronti had doubts before, now there were none whatsoever. The picture was of Nick.

  Hollywood and Michelle sped away to the Bellagio in Las Vegas. From there, they headed to Colorado Springs, where Hollywood had lived for four years as a teen.

  * * *

  On August 16 in Los Angeles, Jesse Rugge was tackled by police officers on his father’s front lawn. Graham Pressley had peacefully surrendered himself to authorities. Ryan Hoyt would be arrested early the next morning at a pay phone down the street from Casey Sheehan’s house. Sheehan was with Hoyt and would be temporarily taken into custody. Due to previous run-ins with the law and gang affiliations, William Skidmore’s arrest drew the biggest coverage.

  Skidmore was on the front porch when his mother was returning from McDonalds. He was on the cordless phone with his girlfriend. When he went to put a cigarette butt in the ashtray, he leaned over and heard a different voice talking on the phone: “It’s a positive identification.” And then, “Suspect is on the front porch, we have a positive ID.” Skidmore didn’t know it, but he was intercepting the police feed that mixed with his cordless.

  He leaned back and couldn’t hear it anymore. He told his girlfriend, “Hold on real quick, I need to do something.” He ran inside the house and told her, “I’m going to call you right back.” He hung up and then called her on another phone. Right when he did, the other line rang—it was the police and the hostage negotiation team.

  The police had Skidmore lock up his mother’s dog. His little nephew was on the couch watching TV. They told Skidmore to leave him and to walk out to the curb with his hands on his head. They were adamant in their command for him not to turn around.

  As soon as he got to the curb, he looked to the side, and that was when cars pulled up. He started to hear helicopters.

  He said he saw a couple of guys in army fatigues with sniper rifles. When they ran across the street, he quickly looked behind him and saw the guns pointing right at him. They told him, “Get down!” It was a frenetic scene. Other police officers were jumping over the wall that divided his house from his neighbor’s. The arrest was being aired live. The broadcast showed that helicopters had been watching Skidmore’s house for hours.

  * * *

  When Hollywood was two hundred miles out from Colorado, he called his father to let him know he had called an old friend. Hollywood then stopped calling his father. Jack Hollywood decided to call this friend’s mother: “If he gets in contact with you . . . have him call me, we need to get him a lawyer, he needs to go and face this thing.”

  Jack Hollywood placed a second call. This time to an old friend, forty-seven-year-old football coach, Richard Dispenza, who was Jesse Hollywood’s godfather. He wanted Dispenza to know that his son might be headed his way and to contact him immediately if he heard from his godson.

  When they first arrived, Hollywood and his girlfriend—who was now being referred to as “Sue”—checked into a motel.

  Later FBI followed leads to Dispenza’s home in Colorado Springs where Dispenza told them Hollywood had stayed with him for a night. What he failed to disclose was that he had checked his godson into the local Ramada Inn for three more nights.

  After catching wind of the investigators, Hollywood flew Lasher back to Los Angeles with his California driver license and a blue folder containing his business affairs. Hollywood then dumped two guns with the friend he told his father about during the drive out. He admitted he was on the run from the police. But his friend didn’t want to become involved or contact authorities.

  Three days later, on August 23, Dispenza told the FBI he had lied about knowing Hollywood’s whereabouts. He said he thought his godson was headed back to California to turn himself in. Dispenza was arrested for “harboring a fugitive,” then put on paid administrative leave from his high school.

  Hollywood would then move on to the next person he felt might be able to provide a place to sleep—a friend from junior high, Chas Saulsbury, whom he had not seen since 1995.

  Chapter 21

  Burial

  ON AUGUST 19, NICK MARKOWITZ was laid to rest at Eden Memorial Park in Mission Hills on a sun-glazed hillside. More than three hundred mourners attended. Close to half were teenagers.

  It would upset Carey Evans that people who he thought didn’t know Nick would talk about him publicly as if they had been close. Carey felt they were trying to be part of his life after the fact, and be “part of the attention that the end of his life received.” Carey soon realized that “people experience tragedy in their own ways, and one doesn’t need to be particularly close to the center of a tragedy to be affected by it. Everyone in the West Valley experienced Nick’s death regardless of whether they knew him.” While some had lost a friend, son, or cousin, West Valley had “lost a sense of security.”

  At home, the only small comfort Susan Markowitz could find was a praying mantis. This was Nick, she told herself.

  But today at the funeral, there was another source of comfort. Susan was so numb, her mother-in-law had to tell her, “Look. Look up.” As their limo drove onto the grounds, she saw what her mother-in-law was referring to: how many people were there for Nick. There was standing room only outside. They could not fit all the attendees inside.

  Rabbi James Lee Kaufman, who presided, would comment, “There are deaths, such as this, when we can’t shake an angry finger at God and say, ‘Why?’ We can only look to ourselves.
” All these witnesses, and not one stepped forward. In Latin it’s Qui tacet consentire videtur—to be silent is to consent.”

  Carey Evans echoed this sentiment. “The pity of it all is how no one involved could seemingly stop a series of escalatingly bad decisions from ending up where it did.” Lots of “complex things led those guys to kill Nick: stupidity, fear, cowardice, insecurity, arrogance, hubris, a need to belong. Not just malice.”

  For Carey, he realized at seventeen “that it was possible to die for stupid reasons and because of bad decisions” made by others or yourself. One thing Carey knew for certain was that anyone involved—on either side—would carry Nick’s death with them for the rest of their lives. “The consequence of it is inescapable.”

  Chapter 22

  An Old Friend

  CHAS SAULSBURY AND JESSE HOLLYWOOD would spend the next six days together. In their first forty-eight hours, Hollywood lied and said he had been “pickpocketed.” He then started telling more of the truth in increments. Hollywood’s narrative—according to Saulsbury—was that “his friends had pretty much killed somebody.” Hollywood would try and extricate himself, saying he was “implicated but not involved.” Though Saulsbury hadn’t seen his friend since ’95, he had kept tabs on Hollywood’s reputation as “one of the larger suppliers of marijuana in LA.” Maybe this had something to do with the murder?

  No matter how nuanced the story that Hollywood presented was, Saulsbury never misinterpreted one absolute—his old friend was on the run. However, Hollywood had no issue with being forthcoming about the sad fact that he’d had to dump that brand-new Lincoln—the one he had been bragging about—at his godfather’s house.