Transcription
[laughter] It smells like kerosene almost being burnt.
On March 26th, 2021, Marian County deputies in Florida responded to a welfare check for 77-year-old Alice Trench. When an officer arrived at the home, something felt off. What he didn't know is that this would be the most disturbing call of his career.
"Hey, uh I came out here to do a wellbeing check on someone and uh when I walk up to the door, it smells like kerosene burning kind of smell and there's no one coming to the door. I don't know how to explain the smell, but it does not smell great. It smells like something like it smells like kerosene. I don't like the freaking smell of it when I walk up to the door. I only smell it when I walk up and I don't know what it is. It stinks, but it doesn't smell like dead people. It smells like Yeah. kind of chemically. I'll just hang it out front and uh actually I'll walk around the property to see if I can see anything out back. There's a tall fence, but I'll see if I can stand over it."
"Just says she's been trying to call her all morning. Hey, this is 6412. Can you have fire rescue respond? Like when I walk up to the door here, it smells really bad. Like a kerosenei propany smell. Awesome. They don't have to be 1018, but it just funny smelling. I don't want to open the door and the house blow up."
"Hey, how are you doing today? Have you seen that neighbor recently?"
"Not this one. Two houses down."
"Oh, Alice and Nick."
"Yes, Miss Alice."
"I haven't seen her. No, I don't usually go over there at all."
"Gotcha. You haven't seen him driving in and out recently or anything?"
"Not today."
"Did you see him yesterday?"
"Yeah, she goes up and down the street quite a bit."
"Like walking or?"
"No, driving."
"Driving. Okay. What does she drive? Is it the car that's in the driveway?"
"It's like a dark kind of grayish black Cadillac."
"Yes, that one."
"Okay."
"Is her car."
"Gotcha. Her daughter's calling worried about her and I've knocked on the door and it smells kind of gassy like propane. So I don't I don't know. We're waiting on fire rescue."
"You go knock on it. Maybe she"
"No. No. Don't knock on the door."
"He gets in so much trouble. Do you know does she know that it's a wellness check?"
"Maybe. Only because you know the police are called so much because of Nick, her grandson."
"Who's her grandson?"
"All I know is by Nick. I don't have anything to do with him."
"What's he look like?"
"He's a nice looking young man."
"Has he ever been found not with clothes on?"
"See, you kind of"
"I don't know."
"I really don't know."
"We found a young guy not too far down the road from here without any clothing on"
"today."
"And he wouldn't tell us his name. We couldn't figure out who he was. It was probably about an hour or two ago."
"I know that the police have been there a lot and I feel bad for she's raising him. I mean, he's an adult. He's not a teenager. But I know one time there must have been 15 officers that came down and they were pounding on her door and they were saying, 'M, I'm going to bust the door down.' She had to be scared to death."
"Gotcha. I'm going to go. I'm gonna talk to him real quick. See if he's maybe seen him this morning. Thank you."
"Sir, how you doing today? Have you seen them today?"
"No."
"No, you haven't seen either one of them."
"No, she's home because the car is there now. Early this morning about 3:00, I went up to get a newspaper. His bedroom's right there. His light was on. So, he was there then. I'm talking about 3:00 in the morning."
"Okay. Do you know if they use like a kerosene lanyards or anything for heat?"
"I have no idea. But he's got so many tools in that shed. He probably could have one. There's like a kind of a gas smell coming from the door. So, I don't want to open it really. And it could just be he may be working on something in the garage and it's getting out there, but I don't want to open the door and it be whatever it may be and something blow up."
"She's home because the car is there."
"All right."
"That's all I can tell you."
"No, no, it's all right. We appreciate it. We'll hang out until fire is going to get here and make sure there's nothing nothing worrisome as far as that smell. I'm going to hang out behind my car."
"Yeah."
"What is it?"
"You want me to tell them to send an engine or they already coming?"
"Already got one coming."
"It appears there's possibly a fire inside. Fires making entry."
"It's smoking. The second they kick that door open, smoke rolled out. So, it was either smoldering or"
"That's what I was wondering. But I'm not going over there cuz it smells bad. Crime scene."
"Yes, sir."
"A little work now, huh?"
"Yeah. Well, we just got the guy, the son earlier. He was running naked like a mile that way, and he lives here. I'm about to tape it up for crime scene."
Shortly after fire crews entered the home, they reported a [music] deceased individual, shifting the case to a homicide investigation. As the scene developed, the first officer realized the strange call from earlier that day about a naked man outside a nearby daycare might be connected. That man was identified as 31-year-old Nicholas Trench, the grandson of the woman believed [music] to be inside the house.
"You hear the naked guy that we had to go out with?"
"Probably not. I don't know."
"There was a naked guy. Uh I can't think of his name. Last name's Trench. Nick Nicholas. You know that daycare place on the right. If you're heading towards the oaks, like in the back of that plaza,"
"he was over there naked and he destroyed the fence and uh was washing himself off with the hose. And shortly after that, I guess it's been about an hour and a half or so now later, I got a signal 54 here for wellbeing check and I go up to the door and I smell something that smells like kind of kerosene. But it made me a little lightheaded. And I went back up and I knocked again. I smelt it again. I didn't feel right. And I was like, 'Ah, not going on fire.' And I guess she is in there on the bed that it's on fire."
"Do you want me to get a dog to go through the woods to see if we can find any clothing or anything in the woods from here to the other place?"
"When you got here, was the door still locked?"
"I didn't try and open it cuz I didn't know if it was propane leaking or whatever. I didn't"
"You smelled something and said today, 'I'm not going.'"
"I backed out. Yeah."
"Okay. And you guys originally called for a well-being check here. Hell of a day so far, isn't it?"
"Yeah."
"This is your first homicide."
"First one of my own. Yeah."
Inside the home, investigators made a [music] disturbing discovery. The victim had been decapitated and dismembered. By law, interior footage of the residence is withheld to protect privacy.
"You good in there?"
"Yeah, I shut the water off in the shower just to preserve any kind of evidence that's in the shower. Other than that, I mean, I looked around immediately."
"Who turned that on?"
"It was on."
"You wonder who turned We didn't turn that on."
"I'm sure he did it. Try to"
"So, we're going to be looking for a head and an arm cuz I did not see it in the bathroom."
"Oh, great. And he was between here and that daycare."
"Yeah. So, we got a K9 coming. I was walking through the woods looking for his clothes earlier."
"See ahead. No."
"Okay. Well, we can mark that area off. That's good."
"Looks like a gas can or kerosene can by the front door."
"So, there's your there's your there's your smell."
"That was the kerosene."
"Pretty soon we'll become little pawns in this game."
"You and me both."
"That's it, pal. Even for the smart people,"
"the wisers. I call them wisers cuz they figure out why. They're the ones that figure out why this happened. We We mitigate tragedy. That's what we do."
"Okay. There is a suitcase when you walk in that front bedroom. There's a red suitcase on the floor. the Bushko's um blankets. Body parts could be in that suitcase."
"Okay."
As the homicide investigation at the house continued, [music] deputies already had their potential suspect in custody. Nicholas Trench had been detained earlier that day following the daycare incident. He was now being transported to the Maran County Jail where he'd be placed in a holding room and questioned about the death of his grandmother.
"Keep walking. All right, we're not going to play that game. Come on."
"You can do it. There you go. Left foot. Right foot. See? Much better. That's a heaven right there."
"It's one of those things where they don't pay you enough. All right, keep walking. Hey, appreciate it."
"Smells like pot down here. Hardcourt."
"Yeah, we just passed evidence. All right, come on."
"Have a seat right there in that seat. We'll get you some water. Thank you."
"Yep. Have a seat right there. I'll be right back with you. You said you wanted a water, correct?"
"Yes, sir."
"Okay. [snorts] [sighs] All right. Thank you so much. Have a good day. Yeah."
"Hey, how are you? Did you get enough to drink?"
"Yes."
"My name is Billy. This is John. We're detectives here at the sheriff's office. What's your first name?"
"Nicholas. And your last name?"
"Church. Now you're going to have to go over. I'm sitt in a room with two detectives. I woke up in jail 30 40 minutes ago."
"And we're going to talk about a lot of things. You're all cut up. Are you all right? What happened to your hand?"
"Well, I do remember one thing before waking up in jail. I I fought something that you guys think or if I even said, you put me in a wound."
"Can you just take us through your day?"
"Well,"
"you said that you woke up."
"Besides waking up in jail, I was attacked by another man."
"Can you take us through that? Tell us what happened. What happened? Don't really want to go into the grave in details, but"
"see you're kind of scratched up there."
"These are quite thin and they're long scratches and they come from something that has a, you know, long nails and they're very short nails."
"Where did that happen? Where were you at when you were attacked? Where do you live at? Do you know your address?"
"Southwest."
"Is that where you woke up this morning?"
"No, I woke up in jail. Where was I arrested at?"
"Daycare?"
"Yeah, daycare."
"H tell us where did you get attacked? I'm guessing it would be in between the uh my house and that daycare cuz there is a daycare off of the road that you turn on the road to my house."
"Who do you live at the uh 75th terrace house with?"
"My grandmother."
"Where's she at right now?"
"I don't know."
"What is your grandmother's name?"
"Alice Trench. Yeah. I just remember feeling like uh real drunk and then I'm at I'm walking around and I'm trying to get out of the sun and remember walking out of the woods to this parking lot and then I just tried to go walk up to where there's shade. I heard a bunch of people yelling and stuff. I didn't know I was naked. I didn't feel I wasn't naked or anything. I don't"
"Do you use drugs or alcohol?"
"I used to. I've been on probation for um for a little while now. I almost feel like I was uh you know like hypnotized or something."
"Where did you go to bed last night?"
"It's a random question. You ever heard that Led Zeppelin song?"
"Which one?"
"That smell."
"Is that Led Zeppelin?"
"Yeah."
"Ooh, that smell. And she's smelling it."
"I've heard that. I've heard that song."
"That's a good song as well."
"It is. So, what's going on with grandma?"
"She's a oldie lady. She, you know, kind of hangs out at the household, live with the cats. And"
"have you guys had any problems? You guys get along. Okay."
"I mean, as much as you could with the the olderly lady, you know."
"Why are you asking me about my grandmother?"
"We're just trying to figure out, you know, obviously you don't remember where you were. And just trying to get a little bit of history, man. Who lives with you and your grandma?"
"It's just me and my grandmother. My grandfather passed away about 3 years ago. She's not been in the best of health. So, I would I choose to work at the house instead of having to be away from the house. My grandmother. Okay."
"We're hoping you can tell us."
"What are you trying to insinuate?"
"I'm not trying to insinuate."
"Wait, what? Where?"
"We're trying to ask you where you were. Most people, unless they experience a significant brain injury or something like that, they're going to remember at least some details about what happened with their day."
"I don't remember anything. The last thing I remember was I'm back I'm at my house and I'm working on"
"What were you working on?"
"Talk to Billy. I'll be right back. I"
"think I was working on a friend's uh Hyundai. It was maybe like Monday or Tuesday or"
"and you don't remember any of the rest of your week?"
"Nothing at all."
"A pretty nasty cut you got on your hand there. You cut yourself with like a saw or something?"
"I got attacked by somebody. The [ __ ] is this? Oh my god."
"What happened there? [panting]"
"You got some good scratches there, man. What's today?"
"Friday."
"And this all happened today. You found me at the daycare today on Friday."
"Yeah. Come on. You know what happened?"
"I came home from I was around the corner at a friend's house. I usually forget my keys, but she never leaves the door unlocked. The door was unlocked."
"All right. What happened when you got home? Walked in the house and there was somebody else in there. And then I just went That's where I was attacked at. I remember the alarms waking me up. Beep beep beep beep beep. I went running after somebody and then I wake up and I'm on a cold bench in jail."
"Where was your grandma when you came home? Would this person attack you? What did you do to defend yourself?"
"I remember going to go towards my room, but I looked towards the left and my grandmother wasn't laying on a bed. I said, 'And then I didn't get a response and then that's where a fight happened.' It happened somewhere in the right by the front door and I'm I'm out cold and the fire alarms are going off. I wake up. I chased after somebody through the woods and now I wake up from a tanger."
"Well, I'm not a psychologist or anything like that, okay? But sometimes when people experience some really traumatic things, they their brain can shut out parts of experiences, right? We kind of want to find out what what it is that you don't remember cuz that's really really important. There was this old man that I used to help out. Everything I did for this man, he just he always fought found some type of wrong in it. He would play a lot of these like mind games and my grandma would tell me, 'Stay away from this guy. Stay away from this guy.' And I would never listen to her about people. His name was Robert. And I remember being very worried about Robert."
"What does he have to do with this?"
"He was just a very close friend of mine. After me and him had a falling out, I wouldn't be at home sometimes and I would get like a feeling he's going to do something to me or my house or my grandmother. I would always worry about my grandma. And a a good friend of mine, my friend that lives around the corner says, 'I don't want him in my house.' He would say these weird things and he was into related [ __ ]"
"Okay."
"And and he would say spiritual stuff. He would always talk about the spiritual."
"He would make you feel terrified sometimes."
"We deal with a lot of dangerous people."
"Weird guy, man. He's a weird guy."
"Yeah. I would always wonder as we had that falling out. I I would just I felt this dude's going to seek some type of revenge some some sort of way."
"Well, what happened in the house, man? What happened? There something you're not telling us."
"I fought a man in the house. Next thing I know, I'm waking up in the with the fire alarms going off."
"But you don't know who this person is."
"I want to save his brother."
"You want to save his brother? Why don't we take a break for a second? I want you to think really hard cuz the important part is what happened when you got that you don't remember. Okay. Oh my god. No. No. No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. My god. I'm going to kill that [ __ ] Sick mother, man. If I get my hands on that mother. No. All right. Okay. So, we got some detectives looking at them and stuff. Okay. Listen. Um,"
"did I see a picture of my house?"
"What do you mean like a picture or killed my grandma?"
"No, I I don't think she I don't think he did."
"My grandmother. No, I I don't think you did, man. I think you got some stuff you need to get off your chest. I think there's probably some stuff that you're kind of embarrassed to talk about, but we talk to people all the time. Nobody in this room is going to judge what happened to you, okay? We have to get that information from you or we have to assume the worst. We want you to tell your story and tell us what happened today. Are you going to talk to us or you just going to look at your feet? We know that you guys didn't get along and you had a lot of problems. How'd you get gasoline on you?"
"Gasoline."
"You smell like gasoline."
"You're smelling things cuz I'm trying to remember by the kitchen. I want to go see Alex. She wasn't laying on the bed. The shower was burning and then I wake up and there's black smoke [clears throat] into the woods, but I'm barefooted. What? We're [ __ ] barefooted."
"Did you get into an argument with your grandma? I talked to a detective and said that you guys like arguing a lot. Like she would"
"I talked to a what? A detective that used to work a case involving you and she told me that"
"dude, there was never a detective involved in a a case. Didn't she get arrested or something?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Did you get arrested? I take care of my grandmother. What are you trying to insinuate? I told her I told him Robert Dalton was in my house. Is it possible you mistook Robert for somebody else like your grandma?"
"You know what?"
"This conversation's over. This conversation's over cuz I see I see what you're doing. I see what you're trying to do."
"We're just trying to figure out what happened. I told you Robert Dalton was in my house and I was attacked by Robert Dalton in my house. I see what you guys are trying to do. You're aing scumbag. You know that piece of [ __ ]"
"We're just trying to figure out what happened to your grandma."
"This conversation's over, buddy."
"This conversation's over. I would never do anything to harm my grandmother."
"Okay."
"I would never ever ever do anything to harm my grandmother."
"Damn, man. up. Why was I naked? You still Is this This is being recorded. I don't smell like anything. This detective making wild accusations that are not true. And not only is he doing that, but look at these injuries."
"Come on, buck."
"Watch your step going down right here."
"Oh, good job."
"Dead paradise."
"Yeah, pretty much. Not a big fan of Florida, though. All right, watch your head when you get in, killer."
"And then I'll get the uh like I said, it's going to be warm."
"You call me killer."
"Why' you call me killer?"
"I'll never harm a soul. Never harm anybody."
"All right. Appreciate it."
"Call me if you need your name."
Well, the victim was identified as 77-year-old Alice Trench. Her grandson, Nicholas Trench, was [music] charged with second-degree murder, arson, and abuse of a dead body. Investigators determined he strangled and beat his grandmother to death before decapitating her and severing [music] her left arm. The body parts were placed in a laundry basket inside the shower where water was left running. He then set a fire inside the home in an attempt to destroy evidence. [music] He ultimately pleaded guilty and in August 2022 received a life sentence. He is currently incarcerated at the Dade Correctional [music] Institution in Homestead, Florida with no eligibility for early release except through a governor's pardon or clemency.