The Last Appeal - Ep. 1: Nikki
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What happened to two-year-old Nikki in the Texas hospital?
Where was she? The disappearance of Carrie Farmer was quite unlike any other, because Carrie hadn't exactly vanished, but retreated beyond the shadows to release rage in torrents of text messages. And it just went on and on and on. Beyond diabolical, beyond the macabre, to murder, a story straight out of left field.
You're on edge as to what's going to happen next.
I'm Keith Morrison, and this is Something About Carrie, an all-new podcast from Dateline. Listen to all episodes now, wherever you get your podcasts.
Friday night on Dateline.
All hell breaks loose. Sarah was good at playing everybody. I think it takes women sometimes to realize how awful women can be.
The deeper you went into these, the more crazy things you'd find out, right?
This is a once in a lifetime case.
Dateline, Friday night at 9, 8 central. Only on NBC.
Good morning to you, Mr. Hope. How are you? I'm blessed, I'm blessed.
I'm sitting in a plastic chair inside the notorious Polunsky unit in West Livingston, Texas, death row. Across from me, a man named Robert Robertson. We got a lot to talk about. Yes, sir. He's a big guy, more than six feet, wearing a white prison jumpsuit. We're so close, I could shake his hand, if not for the pain of plexiglass between us. On October 16th, 2025, Robert is scheduled to die by lethal injection.
How are you preparing for your own death, your own execution? I'm at peace if it happens, but I'm not ready because I don't think I should be executed when I'm innocent.
In 2003, a jury convicted Robert of murdering his two-year-old daughter, Nikki. Prosecutors say the evidence is overwhelming.
Mr. Roberson took the life of his daughter.
And I just remember that cold face, and I looked, and that poor little girl was just, she was dead.
Some in Nikki's family believe Robert's date with death is long overdue.
This is his third execution date. It's time. There's no more waiting.
But a growing army is rallying behind Robert. They believe he is innocent.
I almost cannot believe what I'm reading.
They argue his case urgently needs another look, now, before it's too late. Let's take all this evidence, go back to the courtroom, go back to a jury, and let them decide. As the days tick down to Robert's execution, I set off to East Texas. I've never seen a picture of her like this. Beautiful little girl. I'm on the hunt for answers about what happened to Nikki all those years ago, learning critical information the jury never got to hear. We're just fact-checking on a document that was discovered here. Finding details that have never been reported. Have you done interviews on this topic before?
No, this was the very first.
Is the state about to put an innocent man to death?
I am terrified that that is what we are racing towards.
I'm Lester Holt, and this is The Last Appeal, a podcast from Dateline. Episode one, Nikki. It's September 2025, one month before Robert Robertson is scheduled to be executed. I'm in Palestine, Texas, once a busy railroad hub. Today, downtown looks more like an empty movie set. It's the town where two-year-old Nikki was taken to the hospital. On the morning of January 31st, 2002, a man walked in pushing a woman in a wheelchair. Resting on her lap was Nikki. She was unconscious, barely breathing. A nurse named Kelly Garganis was the first to see Nikki that morning. Has she talked before anybody? No. I'm with producer Dan Slapian. We wanted to speak with Kelly, so we stopped by her house.
Hello? Hello?
Hello, hi. Are you Kelly? Hi, I'm Lester Holt from NBC News. Yes, sir. With my colleagues here.
I know you're not like me. You look just like Lester.
We're trying to contact you about a story we're working on around the Robert Robertson case. Kelly is wearing pink scrubs. She invites us in and agrees to talk to me about that morning 23 years ago. So you've been working all day?
Yes, sir.
At the same hospital?
At the same hospital. Been there 28 years.
Back when all this was happening, you were an ER nurse. Yes, sir. Is the pediatric part of that job emotionally hard?
Can be, yes. Can be very emotionally.
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