Episode 176: Trevor Nichols

0:10 So don't don't don't get Hello and welcome to the Catch My Killer Podcast.

1:48 Thank you for listening. My name is Mark. For nearly eight years, I've written a weekly newspaper column about true crimes and missing people for the Claremont Sun newspaper in Ohio. With the column and podcast, my objective has always been to bring attention to cases that haven't received much media attention, if any. This week's story involves a missing young soldier named Trevor Nichols, who was a specialist with the tenth Mountain Division's first Brigade Combat Team at Fort Drum, New York. He had recently learned that he had been transferred to Fort Riley, Kansas. However, Trevor never made it to Fort Riley. He was twenty four years old when he disappeared in two seventeen and has not been seen or heard from since. Trevor Michael Nichols was a young man from Tremont City, Ohio, who was twenty four when he vanished in two seventeen. He had come from a military family and wanted to follow in his other family members footsteps and joined the United States Army after high school. Before he had disappeared.

3:05 Trevor had gotten married and had a son who he loved dearly. Unfortunately, his marriage wouldn't last. His mother, Aaron, said that her daughter in law had a difficult time adjusting to being a soldier's wife in handling Trevor's deployments. He was a cook in the army and served in both Afghanistan and Iraq. His mother, Aaron said that Trevor had a passion for cooking, and he could cook a great meal with just a few ingredients. He also enjoyed going for long walks, which is something he had always done. She also said that he loved his son more than anything else in the world, and he was bothered that he would be moving farther away from his son once he transferred to Fort Riley, but his mother did say he welcomed the challenge of having a fresh start in a new location. Unfortunately, the six foot to two hundred pounds soldier with brown hair and hazel eyes would never make it to his new duty station in Fort Riley, Kansas. Aaron has said that she last spoke to her son on November fourteenth, twenty seventeen. However, it's unknown when he was actually last seen. The last person to have been seen with Trevor was a friend who was also in the army. The friend said that he had dropped Trevor off at an Amtrak station in Syracuse, New York. Aaron believes the date to have been November seventeenth, twenty seventeen.

4:35 However, she doesn't know if her son ever made it to the train station because there is no proof, only the word of Trevor's friend. Aaron also said that he left behind his driver's license United States Military identification card in his cell phone. If he was leaving town, why would he not take his phone and identification with him. She has said that none of this makes any sense to her. Trevor was considered a wall and then labeled as a deserter. On December eighteenth, twenty seventeen, Aaron tried to file a missing person's report on her son in New York, but she said that law enforcement refused to do so. She eventually filed the missionary report with law enforcement in Tremont City, Ohio, where the report was accepted. Aaron has said that she was told by Army investigators known as CID that Trevor was seen on video at a Burger King in Pulaski, New York, which she found odd because she said that he didn't know anyone there. He was also allegedly seen at different ATM machines withdrawing money. According to Aaron, the Army investigators have since closed their investigation on Trevor. She has never seen the video footage of him at Burger King or any of the ATM machines. She has said that no one has shared any information with her about her son, and she has been left in the dark about Trevor's final moments. What really happened to Trevor Nichols.

6:09 He's been missing for over five years. No one has seen or heard from Trevor since twenty seventeen. His mother, Aaron, has dispelled rumors of suicide or any involvement from her daughter in law. For this story, I spoke to Aaron Nichols about the disappearance of her beloved son, Trevor Michael Nichols, and now on with the story of Trevor Nichols as told by his mother, Aaron. Trevor is the baby of the family. We've got three sons by birth and three that we call our extra children. They were not legally adopted that they lived with us. We were mom and dad, so he's the baby of them all. We also have a very strong military family, my husbands and veteran. His grandparents, my husband's parents were both Air Force in Vietnam grandparents military. His middle brother is a marine. One of the extra boys is maybe they went in a year before Trevor back in him when he was kid, very fun, loving kid. He was in a learning disabled class, but only because he stuck to himself, and he was more of a loner, called all of all, but just so smart. When he was in probably seventhentieth grade, he was reading college level books. The teacher

7:40 would have to ask me permission to let him read because he would want to be reading the Stigian King novels and and things like that. And he was seventh grade. He just had a wealth of wanting more knowledge and so he was my book love, najor, loves getting out and just he would walk everywhere. He had just a couple for him to mean, he was mainly a loner, but him and Will were best friends in high school. He met his girlfriend Carla in senior year and they were together all his senior year and then a year after high school, he decided he wanted to go into the military. By this time, his brothers Tim and Travis were both already in for a year. And it was June of two thousand and twelve and he decided he wanted to join the army. So everybody really supported him because being from a strong military family, the boys had this sense of rivalry, like I said, the ones of Marine ones maybe and now brought as his army. So he went to Fort Venns for basic, and then when he graduated from basic, we actually took Carlo with us and went down for his graduation. So it was a family affair. Yeah, we were very proud of I'm very proud of his accomplishments. He wanted to go into airborne training so that he could get his jump winks, Yes, thank you. He wanted to go airborne, but he was injured on a very first show.

9:13 He heard his hip, and so he was sideline for a while, and so then they didn't let him continue because they were afraid that hip would cause problems. So he ended up going to Fort Drum, New York, and he was a cook chef and he just loved that. This kid has been cooking from the time he was probably sevent eight years old. He of all the kids, would be the one that would come out and help me do stuff in the kitchen. And it was just amazing because he could throw food together that you wouldn't even think would go together, and just create magnificent meals. It was just talented in the kitchen. Well, as it's been famously said, the army travels on its stomach. Yeah, two sixteen, I think after he got back from Iraq, he actually had a short tour at West Point and got to do the kitchen at West Point, and oh, he'd loved that. Him and Carl got married in twenty fourteen and Lucas was born year and a half later. Lucas was born right after he got back from well, actually he was still in Iraq when Luke was born. He loved it up in New York. We went up and visited several times, and he'd loved the history up there, and he was a nature bus he'd loved taking the walks and just begin around all the finger lakes. And even when he was home, he would walk miles every day. That wasn't unheard of at all. So and my point in that is the morning that he

10:46 disappeared. I even asked everybody, Yes, are you sure he's just not out taken a walk, you know, because that was his thing. He loved loved his getting mountain nature. So he was into photography much like his mama. He took photography classes in high school. He said he was really into that. He loved music. He played guitar. So when Trevor went to airborne training, it was his goal to get his wings. And then I'm assuming he may have had a desire to go to ranger school because it's what a lot of young men want to do. It's a challenge and it's difficult, but once it's achieved and you get your ranger tab and your Airborne wings, that's very impressive, especially among your peers because they realize how difficult the training is to earn those accomplishments. So when he didn't get his jump wings, was he really disappointed or did he just take it and stride and figure there will be an other opportunities. He was disappointed, but he still took it well. So even though the first time, thinks self, he still didn't lose that motivation and he had just re up in two sixteen when he was over in Iraq. What did he do in Iraq? Did he work in the kitchen? Oh? Yes, he still worked in the kitchen.

12:09 He was in Afghanistan for his first tour and his second tour was in Iraq. Can you tell me about his experiences while he was in Iraq and Afghanistan? Did he share anything with you about what he did over there, or what he saw or his overall experiences. She didn't say a whole lot about it. And I really do feel that he came home with some post traumatic not diagnoses, but I feel that he was dealing with something, because even his wife said she could tell that he had changed. Things were different on his first tour in Afghanistry and even though he was a chef, he still had to do some of the patrol. And he said one night when he was out on patrol, a mortar shell fell within feet of where he and one of the other soldiers were, and thank god it was a bed, or he probably would have come upon a body bag, because he said it was that close and that he did tell me about that, but it took very good six months before he even told me about that happening. And you could just tell he said, Mama's seeing things that you know that you know well. I can tell you that when a soldier returns home from combat, their lives are never the same, because I can remember when my father came home from Vietnam. I mean, my brothers and I were younger, but I still remember my dad just being I don't know, I want to say, maybe a little bit bitter, a little bit angry about how he was treated or just how the public was towards the war. And until the

13:45 day he died, I think he carried that with him, and he truly was never the same person. He was drafted when he was about nineteen, I believe, and he did two tours. But from what I understand, he was a fun loving guy before he was sent to Vietnam, but after he returned, it aged him and he was just never the same. And he had told me several times because we had talked about it, and he said that those experiences that he had in Vietnam had shaped him for the rest of his life. It sounds like your son may have experienced something similar to what my father experienced, right, And I didn't get that overall vibe with Trevor but I could just tell her he was more quiet. He and I have always been close, and you could tell he was more quiet when he got back. And I didn't see it, of course, because we live in Ohio and he was in New York. But his wife did say that he was drinking more. Yeah, that sounds pretty common with a lot of vets returning home from more. I know my dad. I can remember he did drink and smoke a lot after he came home. So I think your son's experience with drinking isn't uncommon because they do it to soothe their pain, I guess is a good way of saying it. So where was he going to after leaving for Drum? Where was he supposed to be going Fort Riley,

15:15 Kansas? And what were his thoughts about being transferred to Kansas? Was he angry or did he accept it as a new challenge? What were his thoughts about leaving New York? Okay, So gon do a little backpedaling, just a little bit. In twenty sixteen, Lucas was born in March and he had the three months stint at West Point. His wife came home because of the baby and being up there alone, so she came back home here to Ohio and stayed with her parents. So he gets back from West Point and he came here to Ohio to get her and the baby, and she breaks an this to him that she wants to break things off. She just didn't think she was cut out to be a military wife with him having so many deployments and being away from home, and she's the homebody type girl, and she just couldn't deal with it. She told him that she wanted a divorce. So he goes back up to New York alone. I was still remember kicking him home that day. It was just so hard on him.

16:26 And when he got into orders to transfer, he was frustrated because he said, I'm already so far away from Lucas. Now I'm going to be even further away in the opposite direction. So he didn't want to leave his baby. He just adored that baby, and Lucas was so important to him, and that's why. So that was the process to everything that happened afterward. I can't accept it in my own heart. And he was trying to work things out with Mala, So that's why I'm saying he just didn't get up and leave because he was so upset about being transferred further away from Lucas.

17:08 Why would he just desert and not have anything to do with any of us and not be able to see Lucas forever. That just doesn't make sense right, And based on media reports he vanished from a train station in New York is can you confirm that is being true? Is that what happened to him? We honestly don't know. We have no proof. I have no purse of life after Tuesday night, So as of now, you really don't know if he actually made it to the train station. All I have is the word of this one friend that said that he took him and dropped him off there by the time I tried to file him, this person report to Timeline.

17:52 Trevor called on Tuesday night, November fourteenth, and says that he was trying to move Carlos things in the storage and he didn't know if he was going to be able to come home and see us before he transferred to Riley. Then Wednesday morning was the morning that I get a call from one of his army buddies and said Trevor didn't show up for drill this morning. We don't know where he's at and this was while Trevor was still in New York. Correct, yes, so that was Wednesday morning. They called and said that he didn't show up for drill. They went to the apartment there on Port dram and they found his keys, his military ide, his driver's license, his wallet, everything was left there in the apartment that he was gone.

18:41 So the Army Buddy and ninth Gage we walked back and forth for a couple of days and we're trying to figure out where was he, what was going on. Nobody heard from him. And then on Friday, November seventeenth, Gage called me and said that they found him in Pulaski, which is not quite anowledged about a half hour south of Watertown where a Fort Dramas and they met up with Charvor's there. They found him there. Aaron would learn more about her son's alleged sighting in Pulaski, New York. However, she has her doubts because as far as she knows, he didn't know anyone there, and she has never seen any video to actually confirm that it was her son. At a Pulaski Burger King. We will take a short break and be right back with her thoughts about her son allegedly being seen in Pulaski, New York. So how did you find out that he was in Pulaski?

20:00 How did you know that? Did someone tell you that he was there or did someone see him there? What were the circumstances behind you finding out that he was in Pulaski? There was activity on his debit card and they notified the wife. Carla called me and said, do you have any family in Pulaski? I said, no, we don't know anybody in the New Yorkers. I do guys, and so then that's when I called Gauge, and Gauge and a couple of the other buddies went to Puloski, supposed to legal look for Trevor, and they said that they found him, but they said that he wouldn't talk to me on the phone. But he's okay. So no proof of life other than their word for it. So, including your son's friend, how many guys went up there looking for Trevor? To my understanding, three, But I don't know the names of the other two.

20:52 I don't even know if they were all guys for that matter. I just know it was Gauge and two other people. Two other army friends supposedly went to find him in Pulaski. So after the friend found Trevor and Pulaski, what was the time period from when he found Trevor in Pulaski when he supposedly dropped him off at the train station only an hour or so? He called me back another hour or so and said, well, Trevor just got on the train and he's headed out of the state, that he wouldn't talk to you, okay. So then that brings me to this question that doesn't sound to me as being truthful because I was in the military, as was other family members of yours, and I can tell you that from my own personal experience, you didn't go anywhere without your wallet, your military ID, and your money. I mean especially your military ID, because it was always stressed upon you about how important it was for you to always carry that with you.

21:55 And I never went anywhere without my military ID, so I find it unusual that your son would actually go anywhere without his. And I'm not familiar with taking to the amtrack, but I'm assuming that you would probably have to have some type of ID with you to board without, especially Postale eleven you can't get on a train without your ID, So don't you find it strange that your son would board a train without his ID, money, or even a cell phone. I mean, who goes anywhere without their cell phone?

22:36 I know I don't go anywhere. Even the youngest teenagers who have a cell phone, they don't go anywhere without their cell phones. So it just seems strange to me that he would go to a train station without his military ID or his phone without anything. Right exactly, I'm assuming that this makes no sense to you or anyone else for that matter. No, it didn't. And I have to say that the first night did everything happen, You're kind of like in a state of shock. So Trevor has traveled by the train before, so even though this isn't adding up, at the same time, I thought, well, maybe he is coming home. We've gone up to Cleveland to pick him up at the train station before. So I remember sitting up all that night thinking, Okay, I'm going to get a call about three o'clock in the morning telling me that he's up in Cleveland and I need to go get him. But then that call never came. Okay, So now let me ask you about his Amtrak picket. If he boarded the amtrack, I'm assuming he probably would have charged his ticket on a credit card.

23:44 I'm guessing because a lot of people don't carry cash today. So did you ever confirm whether or not he had actually purchased a ticket? But I just did. We have nothing, nothing, but they wouldn't talk to me, being his mom, and so supposedly all this happened like on Friday night. So by Monday morning, I'm calling the New York Police trying to file a missing person report. They wouldn't let me do it. They said, no, this is a military matter, and they won't take a report. So then after New York refused to take the missing person's report, I'm assuming that you tried to do so in Ohio, which is what I would have done.

24:26 At that point, I was disbaffled. They were telling me that I couldn't file a missing person report because it was a military mouth, and I didn't know what to do. So what did you do? I ended up talking to CID and they told me that they'll remember I said that on Thursday there was activity on his debit card, and that's how we knew he was in Ploffsky. So supposedly the CID said that they had picture proof that that was Trevor using his card in Pulaski and that was proof that he left base of his own free will. Therefore he was a deserter and they closed the case. Now, how did the Army investigators actually confirm that it was your son? They didn't show you any pictures a day. I'm thinking that they should have because it would have made more sense to show you the pictures and said, can you identify this young man as your son? No, and I still haven't. I asked for the CID report, never got the copies of the pictures. Well, they said it was a camera at the Burger King, that he went to Burger King and used his debit card, and from the video camera at burger King, they took a picture of their video which supposedly him buying as a meal or whatever. Do you know if he was alone or was there anyone with him in the pictures? Did the Army investigators ever tell you? No, he was alone. Supposedly he went there

25:57 alone on Thursday. Then that's when we were notified there was activity on his debit card. I didn't notify Gauge and let him know until Friday. So it was Friday afternoon when Gauge at the other two Army buddies went looking for Trevor and supposedly found him in Pulaski. Now, have you ever been able to see his transactions on his debit card or credit card or whatever he used. Have you ever reviewed any of the statements from back then? No, they didn't include that in the CID report. And his wife did not have access. Trevor handled the money, so she didn't have access to their bank account. Now, he had a cell phone, is that correct? Yes, which was left at base. So then he traveled to Pulaski without a cell phone, no cell phone, no nothing. Again, who goes anywhere without a cell phone? And why would he travel to Pulaski without a cell phone? That doesn't make sense. I mean, what happens if there was an emergency or he just needed to let someone know where he was without the phone. Yeah, were able to check his cell phone records. Tobody else mentioned that to me, And I don't even know what curier he had back then, you know. Interesting enough? I once saw a detective on television

27:29 discussing the importance of cell phones, and he said that any law enforcement agency that doesn't review cell phone records isn't doing their job. And he makes a valid point because if you think about it, a cell phone has a lot of information on it. People their entire lives are on their all their contacts, their videos, their access to their banking, their social media. It's gotten to be where most people have their higher lives attached to their cell phone. And I'm assuming that your son was no different, right right, And I'm guessing that your son's cell phone had some valuable information on it as well.

28:15 And I'm assuming that you never got to see anything on his cell phone or even had an opportunity to see his phone. And we never got the phone, well Warrens's phone at now haven't even knows where it disappeared to because it's never been returned to his wife. And based on what I've seen through media reports, your son was classified as being a wall and then in December of twenty seventeen, they changed his status to deserter. Is that correct? At the thirty days of a wall, then they slipped it to desert her status and I was told by CID then I could not file a publicnessed person's case until he was in desorder status, which makes no sense at all, I don't understand. But because by then when I finally filed it, and I even tried calling New York to file it and they still wouldn't let me, and I did end up filing here in Ohio. I ended up filing it right here with the police department where I lived. So when we did file, it was just so frustrating all the way around because by then they called the train station and so their video is on the thirty day to loop.

29:36 By then thirty days is also they couldn't even check the old footage of video to even see if he had even been to the train station. Well, I think that at this point a lot of what could have happened to him has to be attached to the train station, because that's where he was last seen allegedly by a friend. But yet there's no proof of whether or not he actually bought a ticket. There's no witnesses or video camera footage of him being seen at the train station. And even they said that the last last bank activity had been a green machine or cash machine atm and the burger king in Bolosky was the last activity on his card, so there was no purchase of a ticket, even from them reporting it to me. Now, after you found out that he had supposedly gone to that burger king in Pulaski, did you ever go out there, maybe with a picture of your son and ask any of the employees if they had actually seen your son there?

30:41 Now that I did not, And part of that with finances. They're in New York and I'm in Ohio, and at the time I wasn't working, and I had no concept of what to even do. I was like an overwhelmed mode and your brain doesn't even think of what to do next to try even look for him. So God, honestly, I had never even thought of going to New York to try to look for him, especially when his friend said he has left the state. He's not in New York anymore. So I didn't know where to start. Now, what's Trevor's official status today? Is he considered a deserter? Is that correct? Yes? I mean according to the military, he's a wall deserter. But in the public realm he is listed as a missing person and he is listed in namous Nam.

31:38 The National Alliance of missing persons. While researching this case, I found a couple different motives that were considered, which can't be confirmed at this time. But some people think that he had committed suicide, and the other thought was that maybe his ex wife knew more about his disappearance than what she said. But then that's not unusual because whenever someone disappears or gets murdered, the first person that's always suspected is either the spouse or the significant other. Yeah, they always the spouse, yes, But Carlo was here in Ohio, so I really don't see her having much of a hand in it. And a suicide, I will tell you that boy was one of the most positive.

32:31 I dealt with depression for years, and I was recital for years. My poor kids dealt with so much because I was in and out of mental health battling depression. And Trevor was probably from my saving racist because that kid would always say, Mom, you're stronger than that. That's not the way to go. You could fight this, and suicide not the answer. So I do not believe that he would ever fall to those depths himself. Aaron has expressed much frustration about the whereabouts of her missing son she considers her son's story similar to other soldiers who have either disappeared or died under unusual circumstances. We will take a final break in return with Aaron's closing thoughts on the disappearance of her son. Well, regarding this suicide belief, you have to wonder that if he did commit suicide, then how come all these years later no one has ever found his body. Because when people commit suicide, typically they don't go hide and do it. They do it where they will be found immediately, because they want their family to know immediately what happened so that they can move on with their lives. Yeah. No, things are done and over.

34:00 Yeah. Yeah. Well, based on what you've told me and what I've read about this case, it doesn't sound like your son would be the type of young man who would commit suicide because he had a son that he loved, and he was close with you, and it sounds like he was satisfied with his career in the military. So the only other alternative would be to suspect that there is foul play involved, that Trevor disappeared because someone made him disappear, and and that's like his dad would always knowing his love for nature and how much he got out and walked and did things out nature.

34:45 His dad's peace of mind comes from saying, maybe he just sell in a river somewhere and drowned or something. I said, Okay, but here we are, We're five and a half years later. Why don't we have a body. Well, the suicide route doesn't seem likely. No, I agree. I don't agree with that either. So, and I am not big. I am not into psychics, but a friend is very big on the psychic realm. And for Christmas about two three years ago, she bought me a cold breathing and the lady knew nothing about me, knew nothing about Trevor. I had never talked to her before we started talking on the phone and I said, well, I'm looking for my son, And right away she said, you don't want to hear this, but he's gone and don't look for him. He's telling you not to look for him because you will suffer the same thing. So that just gives me goose bumps, especially after the Vanessa Gillen case. And now have you ever heard of Dakota's stump? Yes, I've heard about his story. Okay, I am friends with his mom and his case wasn't Dakota's case at Fort Campbell, Kentucky? Is that right?

36:00 I thought maybe it was in Kentucky, but I can't remember for sure. No, it was forth Hood. And if I recall, he died in a car accident. Car accident, Yes, car accident on base. But they tried to tell the mom that he was in Indiana, close to their home. No, he'd never left base. They found his body on base, right, and his family doesn't believe what the army has told them. They think that something else happened to Dakota and they have been trying to figure it out ever since. Right, So that case and now Richard Halliday the who's the other kid? Wesley? There was another one that's the found ride around the same time as the killing, Gregory Widell. Gregor Widell, Yes, that was it. Yes, I'm definitely familiar with his story.

36:59 I did interview his wife for the podcast, and she was willing to talk to me. And I know that she's been arrested several times. And if you look at the internet, you'll see many comments about people thinking that she knows more than what she's ever said about his death. But I don't know anything about that. I just know that she was gracious enough to speak to me, and I appreciate that because I feel like just getting his story out there was good and she was willing to share her thoughts about her husband with me. So yeah, But his situation was the same thing. He was due to be transferred, his wallet and ID and everything was left behind.

37:46 They said that he was a wall disorder, and look how long it tolcom Finally they find his body. You know. Part of the reason I think that I don't push harder to try to find Trevor is it scares me to yesses, that's what I'm gonna me. That's Mike going to be my answer. Well, you're a Trevor's mother, and I don't care what any psychic says. It'll just eat away at you for the rest of your life if you don't find out what happened to him. And a lot of times I think that the last person to be seen with the missing or deceased person usually has more answers than what they've ever publicly revealed. And psychics are wrong sometimes.

38:31 Take a look at the girl that was in Cleveland, Sylvia Brown, the famous psychic said that this girl was deceased and she was found chained up in a basement in Cleveland. So she was definitely wrong about that one. But you have to keep searching because no one's going to care more about what happened to Trevor than you will, because you're his mother. And of course the best place for you or law enforcement to start is with the friend that allegedly took him to the train station. You have to talk to him if you can and see if he's changed his story over the past five years.

39:15 And now he won't talk to anybody. I've had private investigators and people are like call engaged, and he won't talk to anybody about anything that happened that day. And what about the other two Army buddies that supposedly went to Pulaski with your son's friend. Do you know their identities? No? And there was nothing listened in the CID report either. Everything was didacted. And you know something that I found really interesting about this story. You had told me about the friend taking him to the train station, But the different reports and things that I've seen don't really mention or focus on the and that took him to the train station. Allegedly this is the last person to have been seen with your son, But yet no one is talking about this guy. I find that kind of strange, don't you. Why isn't anyone talking about this guy? I'm surprised. Do you know if this friend is still in the army or maybe the reserves or National Guard, or does even have any affiliation with the military anymore? I honestly don't know. I haven't tried to contact age in a couple of years. He was listed it up at Fort Drum for a long time, but I don't know if we struggling on okay?

40:37 And if anyone has any information about your son, who would they need to contact with that information. I've had several private investigators over the years. Brenda Paradise is one that's been involved at Guardian Church Services. That's one that's been involved on and off ever since the beginning. But number to contact would be the police department here in Park County, Ohio. Now, what have you been doing on your own to generate publicity for your son's case? Do you have a Facebook page for him? Or do you use Twitter or TikTok any of those? I grew up a Facebook page it's called Missing Trevor Nichols.

41:22 There for a while it was really good and I would do post every week, because then I went to every month, and lately it seems like it was getting harder and harder just to post because I feel like I'm holding nowhere with it. Here we are, We're five and a half years later and not a single clue as to where he is, and so it gets really hard some days to keep posting and just feel like we're I don't know, but I do try to keep the story alive. I've done a several podcasts I've done, I've distribute flyers, I've done a lanterns for the lost events where we let off air Lavern, the fire Lavern. So you've been vigilant about keeping your son's story out there, you know. I've tried to keep a story out there. Usually the seventeenth of every month you'll see Facebook post on his page, in my personal page, just trying to keep the story out there. Now, how often do you contact law enforcement about your son case? Have you tried to reach out to the military, you know, the Army, CID, anyone in a position of authority about your son's case.

42:35 It's impossible to talk to anybody at EPA New York because you if I call CID, all they tell me is this face is closed. They're not looking for him. They're not doing anything. Yeah, right, because once they label you as a dessert, they stop looking for you. Yeah. So that's just it. So why do I even bother to call him anymore? Because I called one time and then they said, We're not even going to talk to you over the phone. It's like, well, I'm in Ohio, you're in New York. So I can tell you the whole process of enlistment. I mean, I can only go by my own experience, but I can remember the recruiter coming into my home and sitting there with me and my parents and him telling me how the Army's going to take care of me. You know, tell my mom and dad don't worry about Mark.

43:27 We'll take care of him. We leave no man behind and all that stuff. And you know, the military takes care of their own, that sort of thing. You know that raw Ross Speach. I heard that when I was a seventeen year old kid, and you know, at the time, I believed it because my dad was a veteran and my grandfather was also a veteran, so naturally I just believed it. And I'm a young kid. I don't know any better, which I've learned over the years, that they tell you that they've got your back, but when a soldier disappears or gets or something strange happens to him or her, than the first thing they do is bail. You know they're not there for you. Like, for instance, for your son, they probably spend more time trying to recruit him than they did even looking for your son. It's obvious that something happened to him, but yet it was very easy for them to label him as a deserter and basically forget about him. But when they first spoke to him, they probably told him that they would always have his back and if anything bad happened to him, they would uncover any type of criminal activity or that sort of a thing. Not only have they labeled your son as a deserter, but it sounds like they've also deserted him. And the reality is, and I've said this to other people that have lost soldiers and their family, think about this. Had all these soldiers that died under mysterious circumstances never joined the military,

45:00 they'd probably all still be alive today. Think about that, Well, you will definitely have to catch up on everything that's happening with the Richard Holliday case because the level of life and the seat and everything that happened with them, it's just unreal what they've gone through. And they've been very active and trying to find Richard, and oh, it's just oh yeah, Yes. I've talked to Richard's mom for the podcast, and I admire her because she's been hell bent on finding out what happened to her son. So I know that she just learned recently that he died, but it doesn't sound like she has any answers. So I definitely commend her for trying to figure out what exactly happened to Richard. And sometimes I get so angry at myself for not doing more, But I have the private day it's like I don't even know where to go next. At times, you know, I just I don't know what to do. Well, you can't, and you shouldn't beat yourself up over your son's disappearance. Don't feel like you haven't done everything that you have. You speaking to me tells me that you've done a lot. I mean, your circumstances are you have nothing. You're trying to figure out what happened to your son with nothing. You have no pictures, you have no

46:32 evidence, you have nothing. The only thing that you know about your son is what some guy that's it supposedly was his friend, has said, and that was that he dropped him off at a train station. Other than that, you don't know. There's been no sightings, there's been no updates, and no one has shared anything with you. So you're basically in a dark room wearing a blindfold, trying to find your way to the light. And it's going to be a difficult road for you, but you're going to continue traveling down that road to you find something out and it's all you can do, right Yeah, Yeah, I would definitely say that someone out there knows what happened to your son, But what you have to do is try to find out who that person is, and by contacting your media, doing podcasts and bringing awareness to your son's story, those are going to improve the odds that the right person hears about your son's case and maybe feel some sympathy for you, or just makes a decision that they need to do the right thing and reach out to someone and let them know what happened to your son, right right, somebody's gotten know something, you know, yeah, yes, and I agory someone out there knows something. So the last thing that I

48:05 would want to ask you is for anyone out there that's listening to this podcast, if they know anything about what happened to your son, Trevor, what would you say to that person or persons? I just need peace. I need closure. It is beyond imaginable how this has affected my life for the past five and a half years. That I can't drive down the street and see somebody walking along the side of the road because Trevor used to walk everywhere without making a double check look to make sure that's not my son. I can't imagine having to spend the rest of my life doing this. I just want that closure. If he's gone, I need to know that so that I can just process it and deal with it. I want that closure to know that I can't keep looking forever with audi answers, and that can elodes the story of Trevor Nichols. What happened to this young soldier? Was he a victim of foul play or did he go off the grid and just leave his life behind. His family believes that something happened to him because they know he would never deserve his family or his military obligations. His family is heartbroken over Trevor's disappearance and they will continue in their search for him. Someone out there knows what happened to him. Do you know what happened to Trevor?

49:29 Are you the person with the key to solving this strange mystery? If you know anything about this case, please contact the Tremont City Police Department in Ohio at nine three seven three two eight two five six zero. And if you would like to know more about Trevor's case, you can also visit the Missing Trevor Nichols Facebook page. I will be sure to provide this information in the case story notes. And if you are a parent, law enforcement official, friend, or relative seek injustice for an unsolved thomicide case, please visit my website and complete the contact form. You can also contact me through Facebook.

50:14 Thank you for listening.