Ashley Flowers

They couldn't prove that he'd moved the car or did something to Nikki, so he didn't stay in the hot seat.

And that's really kind of where Nikki's case seemed to stall.

Well, early on, they never said too much publicly.

But if they got anything, like when you think about it, if it came back to either of the two persons of interest, Tommy or Bobby, I don't think it would have helped much.

Like it's Bobby's car in the first place.

Like, yeah, of course, there's going to be like some sign of him in the vehicle.

And Tommy had been friends with her for five or so years.

Like he could easily write that off, too.

But they weren't writing him off completely.

They had over the years kind of been keeping tabs on him.

And lo and behold, in 2007, this dude pops back up on the radar.

Not in Nikki's case or even for another crime.

No, they got word that he was employed as a police officer in Trotwood, Ohio.

So Richmond police decide that they probably need to phone a friend here.

They call up Trotwood PD and they're like, hey, don't know if this came up in like the interview process, but that guy you just hired, he is a person of interest in one of our cases.

Like maybe not somebody you want on your squad.

They agree, and basically they force Tommy to resign.

But this man did not want to go quietly.

He filed a lawsuit against Richmond PD and several officials, multiple newspapers, along with two reporters alleging defamation.

His whole thing was like, he says he was never informed that he was a suspect or a person of interest in Nikki's case, and that pretty much everyone from the prison where they all worked had been questioned.