(Photo from Channel 13 WHO-TV)
DES MOINES, Iowa- A 20-year-old Bondurant man has pleaded guilty of killing his parents and his sister, a year ago. Chase Nicholson says he heard voices in his head, telling himself to kill himself, then the voices told him to kill his family. Nicholson has a history of schizophrenia.
The judge sentenced Nicholson to three life sentences, to be served consecutively. Mark, Charla, and Tawni Nicholson’s bodies were found at the family’s Bondurant home after deputies with the Polk County Sheriff’s Officer were called on to perform a welfare check.
Our Newspartner Channel 13 WHO-TV reports Nicholson’s defense attorney Matthew Sheeley said, “He did not make the conscious decision to wake up one day and say, ‘I want to hear voices,’ he did not wake up one day saying he wanted to self harm himself.”
Chase Nicholson told the court he was sorry for what he did and that he misses his family every day.
Before a plea deal had been decided on, Nicholson’s attorneys said they planned to use an insanity defense at his trial.
Seth Nicholson, Chase’s cousin, told Channel 13 Chase had struggled with mental health issues for much of his life and his family had run into roadblocks in getting him the treatment he needed.