Mystery at Eagle Creek

8:49Rhonda Casto:Who turned out to be Rhonda's mother, Julia Simmons.

8:54Peter Van Sant:He can be very charming and, you know, somebody that's really nice.

8:59Rhonda Casto:Rhonda's best friend, Jessica Colburn, wasn't surprised Stephen was instantly attracted to Rhonda, who was an aspiring model. Tell me about this.

9:09Peter Van Sant:That was part of her modeling portfolio. I just love it because she just looks amazing in all of those pictures.

9:17Stephen Nichols:Everything about her was impressive, and I just immediately fell in love with her.

9:22Rhonda Casto:And what were you sensing from Rhonda?

9:24Stephen Nichols:I felt she was into me, too. I could tell that she valued intelligence, and I've always thought that that's one of my strongest assets.

9:32Peter Van Sant:I think she was attracted not so much to his looks, but to what he had, his condo, his money, his status.

9:43Rhonda Casto:Soon, Rhonda joined her mother, Julia, in the condo, not as a roommate, but as Stephen's girlfriend. Rhonda's younger sister, Tessa, was just nine years old at the time.

9:54Peter Van Sant:When I first met Steve, it was really fun because I was a little girl. He was playful, you know.

10:01Rhonda Casto:Three years into their relationship, Rhonda and Nichols, living together but not married, became parents.

10:08Stephen Nichols:Don't daddy help you a little? Honey, got this for you.

10:12Peter Van Sant:Did you see her face? She's all, oh.

10:15Stephen Nichols:When our daughter was born, it meant everything to her. She became the focus and the center of her life.

10:24Peter Van Sant:I loved having a niece. I was always over there, and she loved playing with jewelry just like Rhonda did. She's just like her mom. She loves jewelry.

10:34Rhonda Casto:Rhonda loved being a mom, but hoped to restart her modeling career.

10:39Stephen Nichols:She had gained quite a bit of weight from having our daughter. She was the heaviest she had ever been, and she felt really disgusting.

10:48Rhonda Casto:So Stephen says the couple came up with an adventurous plan to lose weight.

10:54Stephen Nichols:We made it a pact that we would hike 20 or 25 of the top trails in Oregon. We'll just start crossing them off the list.

11:02Rhonda Casto:But Jessica says Rhonda told her about only one planned hike.

11:07Peter Van Sant:She was so happy that he was finally planning something. In all the years they had been together, he had never put any effort into planning anything for her.

11:19Rhonda Casto:Including those plans to get married.

11:22Peter Van Sant:The proposal never happened. Things were tough after the baby was born. He wasn't around as much. I think she held on for longer for the sake of the baby. Daddy, can I open it for you?

11:35Rhonda Casto:Jessica says Rhonda had grown unhappy and that the relationship had taken a dangerous turn.

11:43Peter Van Sant:She told me that he had, in the recent months, been physically abusive to her.

11:50Rhonda Casto:But Nichols claims just the opposite was true.

11:54Stephen Nichols:We wouldn't argue at all. We were spending a lot of time together. So I would think that would be the closest we ever were.

12:01Rhonda Casto:So when Stephen is telling us that they were planning their future together and everything was great and it was a lovey-dovey relationship, is he lying to me?

12:12Peter Van Sant:He's absolutely lying to you. I've witnessed their fights. I was on the phone a couple of times when they were in a physical fight, actually.

12:24Rhonda Casto:And Julia claims Rhonda made a chilling statement to her just before the hike.

12:30Peter Van Sant:She said, he's either going to give me a ring or he's going to throw me off a cliff.

12:40Rhonda Casto:On March 16, 2009, Rhonda and Stephen would set out on that fitness hike, and Rhonda would not live to see the end of the day.

12:52Peter Van Sant:There's a smile. Bye, Daddy. Do you have$10 ,000 or more in credit card debt? Maybe you're even barely getting by by making minimum payments. With credit card debt hitting record highs, National Debt Relief offers real debt relief solutions for people struggling to keep up. These options may reduce a large portion of credit card debt for those who qualify. You don't need to declare bankruptcy, and you may be able to pay back less than you owe, regardless of your credit. National Debt Relief has already reduced the credit card debt for more than 550 ,000 consumers. So don't wait. If you owe 10, 20, or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in credit card debt, you can now take advantage of this financial debt relief as the cost of living increases.

13:38Peter Van Sant:To find out how much you could save, visit NationalDebtRelief.com. That's NationalDebtRelief.com. Avoiding your unfinished home projects because you're not sure where to start? Thumbtack knows homes, so you don't have to. Don't know the difference between matte paint finish and satin? Or what that clunking sound from your dryer is? With Thumbtack, you don't have to be a home pro. You just have to hire one. You can hire top-rated pros, see price estimates, and read reviews, all on the app. Download today.

14:19Peter Van Sant:This is probably the most hiked area in the Columbia River Gorge for several reasons. One, the sheer beauty of the hike.

14:30Rhonda Casto:Three months after Stephen Nichols' arrest in 2015, his attorney, Mike Arnold, took his own investigative team up the Eagle Creek Trail, where he believes Rhonda Castro slipped and fell to her death. inclement weather hits and disaster happens.

14:53Peter Van Sant:Between the physical evidence and the science, there won't be much dispute about this being a tragic accident on a dangerous trail.

15:01Rhonda Casto:Steven Nichols says this is how the tragedy unfolded. They are heading down the trail. Rhonda was in a great mood and jokingly, she put a towel around her shoulders and was calling herself Supergirl. She broke into a run. And according to Nichols, at this very point, she slipped on the wet path and fell more than 150 feet to her death. That was his story in 2015. I'm not going to comment on that. When Nichols was forbidden by his attorney from discussing details of Rhonda's deadly fall with 48 Hours. Until now, his only account was the one he gave to police the day of the tragedy. Again, something I'm not going to comment on.

15:47Rhonda Casto:But in 2017, Stephen Nichols broke that silence. Either I pushed her, she jumped of her own accord, or she slipped. He sat down and spoke to us about the day Ronda Casto died. Let's get in that time machine and go back to March 16, 2009. We woke up early. Steven says Rhonda seemed focused on the future as they drove to Eagle Creek Trail.

16:20Stephen Nichols:She says, I desperately need to lose weight because they want to use me as the Maria Sharapova lookalike model. I'm like, yeah, you really do look like her.

16:30Rhonda Casto:But then, Nichols claims, Rhonda asked him a startling question, completely out of the blue.

16:37Stephen Nichols:She said, if anything ever happens to me, would you promise to watch our daughter and take care of her? And I said, of course.

16:45Rhonda Casto:Steven says the question unnerved him, especially since three months earlier, he claims Rhonda had demanded he buy life insurance.

16:54Stephen Nichols:She was adamant about it. I said, why do you want this life insurance? And she goes, because I want to leave our daughter something in case I die.

17:03Rhonda Casto:So both Stephen and Rhonda had each taken out a$1 million policy on the other.

17:10Peter Van Sant:He planned the whole thing. It was premeditated. The whole thing.

17:15Rhonda Casto:Rhonda's mother doesn't believe a word of Nichols' story, saying the insurance was all his idea, and that Nichols, the day trader, had an ulterior motive.

17:26Peter Van Sant:He had lost a bunch of money the year before. He lost like a quarter of a million dollars. His insurance and then four months later she's dead.

17:35Rhonda Casto:The couple got to the trailhead where Rhonda snapped this photo of Steve, later found on her cell phone. The weather was excellent actually. But Steven says Rhonda was acting strangely.

17:50Stephen Nichols:I asked her, are you okay hiking on this trail? And she goes, I used to come up here with a bottle of vodka and a bag of weed. She goes, I'll be fine. So I said, okay. They hiked up a few miles. I remember we kissed for a little bit. I remember she wanted to have sex. And I said, no. Like, I'm very prim and proper.

18:19Rhonda Casto:I didn't want to do that. Then, Nichols says, Rhonda once again asked him that unsettling question.

18:27Stephen Nichols:She asked me if anything ever happened to her, which would I promise to take care of our daughter.

18:32Rhonda Casto:But Rhonda may have been thinking about more than their daughter. What are you saying, Stephen?

18:39Stephen Nichols:I mean, I think anyone with an ounce of intelligence can fill in the blanks. you would have to look into how many times in her past she committed suicide. Attempted suicide. Yeah, of course attempted.

18:54Rhonda Casto:Nichols says Rhonda was depressed and shockingly that she had tried to take her own life at least three times before he even met her.

19:04Peter Van Sant:She's never attempted suicide. Never. He's lying. But you know what? People that have to make up lies are, you know, you can obviously tell they're guilty.

19:14Rhonda Casto:And there's more. Nichols claims that Rhonda had long struggled with a serious drug problem.

19:20Stephen Nichols:She's never been off drugs since the age of 12. What kind of drugs? Everything. Everything.

19:26Rhonda Casto:Alcohol, cocaine. All of them. Marijuana. Crystal meth. All of them. Heroin. But Rhonda's autopsy would show that she only had traces of marijuana as well as prescription drugs for anxiety and depression in her system. Jessica Colburn says Rhonda did suffer from postpartum depression.

19:48Peter Van Sant:She was in therapy, and that's why she was on the prescription medications.

19:55Rhonda Casto:Nichols says they didn't linger on the trail for long. And who decides, hey, let's head back?

20:02Stephen Nichols:It was decided by the weather. It started pouring down rain, and thunder came. And so she just started bolting down, like at a full sprint, running down the trail.

20:13Rhonda Casto:Now, I've been on that trail. It's a narrow trail. It is very narrow. Did you yell at her, hey, what are you doing? Stop. Walk. We're walking down. Um, I don't think I screamed anything at her.

20:26Stephen Nichols:Nichols says the steep trail became slick. I hugged the right wall pretty much on the way down. This was cascading rain. Like, you can actually just see the water flowing down the trail.

20:38Rhonda Casto:And so take me to the time of the fall. What do you remember?

20:49That part I'm not going to take you through because she did fall off. And I can say I had absolutely nothing to do either directly or indirectly.

21:08Stephen Nichols:with her falling off.

21:11Rhonda Casto:But what Nichols seems to be suggesting to 48 Hours is that Rhonda may have chosen to go off that cliff. Did she tumble forward? What did you see? Hmm. Next question. Was it a large skid mark on the path where she had slipped and went off? No, it's just a footprint. Just a footprint.

21:35Stephen Nichols:Mm-hmm.

21:37Rhonda Casto:Steve, look at me. What you're saying is she jumped. She was going down at almost a run pace. There's a single footprint, you're telling me, at the edge of the cliff, and she goes over. That's a jump.

22:00Stephen Nichols:I've laid everything out there. People can reach whatever conclusion they want.

22:18Stephen Nichols:While not saying it in so many words... She did fall off, and I can say I had absolutely nothing to do, either directly or indirectly, with her falling off. Steven Nichols' mind games... There's definitely a lot more to the story, but I'm not going to say it, so.

22:41Rhonda Casto:Manage to drop a bombshell. Well, you've led me down a path to believe this was a suicide. And I don't think you can look me in the eye and say, well, Peter, you're wrong. Can you? No.

22:59Rhonda Casto:Suggesting that Rhonda Casto chose to jump to her death from Eagle Creek Trail.

23:06Stephen Nichols:What was her point in going up there? How to say this? She knew she wasn't living past the age of 25. She knew that for a reason. She just wasn't a happy person. And she thought that having our daughter would bring her happiness, and it didn't.

23:21Peter Van Sant:She had a nine-month-old baby at home that she loved dearly, and she loved her family. So that's just another one of his lies, to take the heat off of himself.

23:31Rhonda Casto:After Rhonda went off the trail, Stephen says he hiked down the deep ravine. What'd you do when you got to her?

23:39Stephen Nichols:Well, I held her. That's the first thing I did when I got there.

23:43Rhonda Casto:With no cell service to call for help, Nichols says he made his way back to the trailhead and dialed 911.

23:51Stephen Nichols:The police never once asked me if it was a suicide. They never even brought up suicide. I just answered the questions that they asked.

23:58Rhonda Casto:Why didn't you tell them back in the day that suicide was something she was contemplating? Would it have made a difference, do you really think? Nichols may have had a million reasons to keep suicide a secret. If it's a suicide, life insurance doesn't pay out.

24:20Stephen Nichols:So our daughter would have gotten nothing.

24:24Rhonda Casto:Is Stephen being self-sacrificing, having said nothing about suicide until now, even as he stands charged with murder? You were willing to essentially take a bullet for that. Or is he self-serving?

24:39Peter Van Sant:I think Steve is just throwing all these ideas out to throw people off the fact that he pushed her. Oh, well, she killed herself because she wanted to make a better life for her daughter.

24:48Rhonda Casto:An investigation into Rhonda's death was immediately launched. and a memorial was held. Rhonda's family claims that you were not grieving, that you seemed unmoved by Rhonda's death.

25:03Stephen Nichols:The exact opposite. I was crying nonstop. When I'm really, really sad, I just, I close down. That's just the way I deal with pain.

25:18Rhonda Casto:Shortly afterward, Stephen moved across the state with his daughter to live with family.

25:25Stephen Nichols:For about three months after Rhonda died, I completely shut down.

25:33Rhonda Casto:By 2013, four years had gone by and no charges had been filed against Nichols. He decided to start a new life in a new land. So how does a kid from Oregon end up in China?

25:46Stephen Nichols:I had been there before, and I liked China. Stephen packed up. I would tell my daughter, this is our new life, let's make it work. And headed here to Wuxi, about 75 miles from Shanghai. I decided when I got to China, this was a whole fresh start. And I was like, f*** America, f*** all the past.

26:07Rhonda Casto:Stephen got a job teaching English to Chinese businessmen.

26:12Stephen Nichols:My daughter was absolutely thriving. A little over two months, and she was fluent in Mandarin. She had dance lessons. She was taking taekwondo. She was learning to play the piano.

26:25Rhonda Casto:And Stephen began to thrive too, falling in love with Landy Yin-Yan.

26:31Stephen Nichols:She's beautiful, of course, but she's the deepest, funniest person I've ever met.

26:37Rhonda Casto:Stephen says Landy became like a mother to his daughter.

26:40Stephen Nichols:And I can say this with being with so many American women, Chinese women, all-inclusive, are better partners. Sounds so insulting to American women, but they just, they make better partners. They make better wives.

26:54Rhonda Casto:And so Stephen decided to make Landy his wife after a year of dating. I had actually proposed to her right before I came back to America. Stephen flew back to the U.S. with his daughter in February 2015 to get married. Landy would follow a few days later.

27:12Stephen Nichols:We were planning on getting married both in America and China to make it official.

27:17Rhonda Casto:What Stephen didn't know is that the entire time he was out of the country, investigators stayed on Rhonda's case and Julia stayed on theirs.

27:28Peter Van Sant:I kept calling and asking why nothing was happening.

27:32Rhonda Casto:But something did happen. In April 2014, a secret grand jury heard evidence and indicted Nichols for the murder of Ronda Castro. So 10 months later, when Stephen and his daughter arrived in San Francisco... They said something was wrong with my bags. I was like, that's interesting. Instead of catching his connecting flight to Oregon, Stephen says authorities separated him from his daughter.

28:00Stephen Nichols:I'm like, what is going on here? Something's fishy. And then, yeah, that's when they arrested me. And I could hear my daughter in the other room crying, and she goes, I want to be back with my dad.

28:09Rhonda Casto:Stephen would be extradited to Oregon, and his daughter would be sent to live with Rhonda's family.

28:15Stephen Nichols:I was shocked. It's one of those things where you think you're in a dream and you're going to wake up at any time. I'm like, okay, I'm going to wake up in China. My daughter will be nudging me. I'll be back to normal, but that never happens.

28:27Rhonda Casto:Back in Oregon, it was like a dream. 40-year-old Stephen Nichols was arrested One that had come true for Rhonda's loved ones.

28:36Peter Van Sant:And I just, I was busted out crying. It was amazing. I couldn't believe it. I was just like, after all this time, finally.

28:51Peter Van Sant:Oh, could this vintage store be any cuter? Right? And the best part? They accept Discover. Accept Discover? In a little place like this? I don't think so, Jennifer. Oh, yeah, huh. Discover is accepted where I like to shop. Come on, baby, get with the times. Right, so we shouldn't get the parachute pants? These are making a comeback. I think.

29:14Rhonda Casto:Discover is accepted at 99 % of places that take credit cards nationwide. Based on the February 2025 Nielsen Report.

29:22Peter Van Sant:For years, Gone South has been a podcast about crime in the American South. But for our new season, we're widening the lens. Through deeply reported, narrative-driven stories, we're digging into the myths, scandals, and power structures that still shape the South, and in a lot of ways, the country itself. Follow and listen to Gone South Season 5, an Odyssey podcast,

29:46Stephen Nichols:available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your shows.

29:51Peter Van Sant:Hi, I'm Angie Hicks, co-founder of Angie. One thing I've learned is that you buy a house, but you make it a home. For decades, Angie's helped millions of homeowners hire skilled pros for the projects that matter. Angie, the one you trust to find the ones you trust. Find a pro for your project at Angie.com.

30:15Peter Van Sant:We are on the record in a state of Oregon versus Stephen Nichols.

30:20Rhonda Casto:For months following his February 2015 arrest for murder...

30:24Stephen Nichols:When you're ready, Mr. Arnold.

30:25Rhonda Casto:Stephen Nichols faced pre-trial hearings on a slew of issues, from evidence to motive.

30:32Peter Van Sant:The state is present and represented by Kerry Rasmussen.

30:35Rhonda Casto:Including whether there should even be a trial, since the defense considers Rhonda Castro's death an accident. Both sides called witnesses.

30:44Peter Van Sant:Was this immediately investigated as a murder?

30:47Rhonda Casto:No. And when did it become a homicide investigation as opposed to an accidental fall? Pretty much the next morning.

30:56Peter Van Sant:I can tell that based on the injuries that she has, she landed predominantly on her legs and her pelvis.

31:03Rhonda Casto:Medical examiner and forensic pathologist, Dr. Christopher Young, says Rhonda's injuries were mostly below the waist. The pelvis was essentially shattered. The defense argues the location of her injuries indicate Rhonda left the trail feet first, not tumbling head over heels from a push. It's a theory that could support Nichols' new suggestion of suicide.

31:31Peter Van Sant:When you look at the relationship that the defendant then had with Rhonda Castro...

31:37Rhonda Casto:Notes from a therapist Rhonda had been seen reveal she was depressed but not suicidal from her relationship with Stephen, which she described as loveless.

31:49Peter Van Sant:What the state has to prove in this case is the defendant did a criminal act.

31:54Rhonda Casto:Prosecutors hope the judge will allow them to tell jurors about some bad acts in Stephen Nichols' troubled past at his upcoming murder trial. It's something that obviously is titillating and interesting. The first one, a shocking love triangle involving another of Rhonda's younger sisters, Melanie, that may have provided a motive for murder. Do you believe that Stephen was in love with Melanie? Yes, I do. Jessica says Rhonda learned that Stephen was having sex with Melanie. And did Rhonda ever tell you how young her sister was when she first had sex with Stephen? She was 15. 15 years old? Yes.

32:38Rhonda Casto:In fact, just after his arrest for murder, Stephen was indicted on two counts of third-degree rape and three counts of third-degree sodomy for allegedly having sexual relations with an underage Melanie back in 2005.

32:55Peter Van Sant:He did rape my daughter, and I didn't want to believe it.

32:59Rhonda Casto:In October 2016, while awaiting his murder trial... You agreed to plead guilty to two counts of sexual abuse with Melanie Castro. And you signed your name under this statement. I had sexual intercourse with Melanie Castro twice. Stephen insists his admission was false. Did you have sex with her?

33:23Stephen Nichols:No. I'm like, well, can I take a plea and then just say, obviously it never happened. And I was told later, nope, in order to pass the sex offender treatment, you have to admit that.

33:34Rhonda Casto:Even though he'd be a registered sex offender, the law would allow Stephen to still fight and regain custody of his daughter, who is in the care of the state.

33:44Stephen Nichols:I became desperate. I wanted my daughter back. You'll be amazed at what you're willing to sign to stay out of prison.

33:51Rhonda Casto:But investigators believe there really was a relationship between Stephen and Melanie, one that continued on and off for four years, right up to that fateful last hike. Just a few hours before her death, Rhonda, who had learned of the affair, sent this text to her sister. I don't know what to say besides, he's a piece of s***. He used you to hurt me. I won't let him screw us up again. When you need me, I am waiting. This Rhonda sounds like somebody that doesn't care much at all about you. She's angry with you.

34:26Stephen Nichols:It does sound like she's angry. I have no idea why she sent those.

34:29Rhonda Casto:But Julia says she knows why.

34:33Peter Van Sant:She loved her sister, and she knew that Steve was trying to drive a wedge between them. And I guess she figured it all out and realized what he was doing. On the night of Rhonda Castro's death, the defendant didn't run to where his daughter was, didn't run to his parents. The first person to whom he went was Melanie. Melanie Castro.

35:00Rhonda Casto:And it's not the only allegation Nichols has faced involving a minor. Less than six months after Rhonda's death, he was charged with five counts of sex abuse for allegedly touching a 13-year-old girl on the buttocks. He claims that didn't happen, but something else did. You sent sexually suggestive texts to her and a selfie with your shirt off, and you agreed to a plea deal in this case.

35:28Stephen Nichols:Yeah, that was definitely... I was in the wrong on that one. in terms of sending the photo. That was... No kidding. That's terrible.

35:39Rhonda Casto:It's disgusting. It is. Nichols pleaded guilty to one count of sexual harassment.

35:46Stephen Nichols:I have been emotionally abusive at times to people, but I've never physically hurt anyone.

35:53Rhonda Casto:Prosecutors don't agree and want a jury to see this picture, taken by Rhonda, showing red marks left from an alleged physical encounter with Nichols.

36:03Peter Van Sant:Right before they went on their hike, they had a little scuffle on the stairs and he put some bruises on her back and she took pictures of them in the mirror.

36:12Rhonda Casto:And there are allegations of another physical assault of a woman with eerie similarities to what Nichols stands accused of now, allegations made by his ex-wife.

36:24Peter Van Sant:He did try to push his wife over a balcony in China.

36:28Rhonda Casto:in november 2003 steven was still married to his ex an american woman and living in china for the first time when his spouse accused him of trying to suffocate her and throw her over the railing of their eighth floor apartment we were both holding on to each other's clothing and we were both yelling nickels denies the claim and was not charged with the crime in china but oregon court documents show a witness confirmed Nichols' ex-wife's account.

37:03Rhonda Casto:As Nichols awaits trial in the death of Rhonda Castro, he has some pleasant distraction.

37:10Stephen Nichols:My Chinese fiancée, Landy, is arriving here in about an hour. I'm nervous. I'm excited.

37:18Rhonda Casto:Visits from his fiancée. Hello!

37:22Stephen Nichols:Today I had my first court appearance. The case was involving my daughter.

37:29Rhonda Casto:At our request, Stephen Nichols has kept a video diary while out on bail. Blue sky. Many, many big trees. Including Landy hiking to that fateful spot on Eagle Creek Trail. Very beautiful. A little dangerous. And on the eve of his trial...

37:50Stephen Nichols:We're at the top of Spencer Butte in Eugene. Love the hike. This is one of the happiest days of my life. A defiant Nichols is convinced there will be many more happy days ahead.

38:02Rhonda Casto:I had nothing to do with Rhonda Casso's death.

38:11Peter Van Sant:Ladies and gentlemen, welcome aboard Air France Business Cabin. Here, every detail matters in elevating your journey. From priority access to your arrival, to menus created by Michelin star chefs, high-speed Wi-Fi powered by Starlink, or a mattress topper designed by a leading luxury hotel. Thoughtful touches, in the air and on the ground, all crafted with your well-being in mind. Air France Business Cabin, the art of travel elevated. Elegance is a journey. Air France. See conditions at airfrance.us. Instagram teen accounts have automatic protections for what teens see and who can contact them.

38:46Peter Van Sant:plus time management tools. And Instagram will continue adding built-in safety features to help create age-appropriate experiences. Learn more about teen accounts and Instagram's ongoing work to protect teens online at instagram.com slash teenaccounts.

39:19Stephen Nichols:I had nothing to do with Rhonda Caso's death.

39:22Rhonda Casto:You didn't push her? No.

39:26Peter Van Sant:What is it? What is it? What is it?

39:28Rhonda Casto:So you're telling us you are completely innocent of these charges? Yes.

39:36Stephen Nichols:There's a smile.

39:38Rhonda Casto:In May 2017, following several hearings about what evidence could be used against Stephen Nichols, which would include his plea to having sex with Melanie, it looked like his true day in court was finally on the horizon.

39:53Peter Van Sant:And then I got a call from Carrie Rasmussen, the prosecutor, and she slowly told me the news about him taking a plea.

40:03Rhonda Casto:To Julia's shock and horror, there had been a settlement conference with the prosecution and the defense agreeing to allow Nichols to plead guilty to lesser charges.

40:15Peter Van Sant:I started to cry. I got really upset. I just said I was screaming on the phone to Carrie. No, no, you can't do this. Please don't. Don't plead out.

40:23Rhonda Casto:But prosecutors knew their case against Nichols could fail.

40:28Peter Van Sant:For years, the district attorney's office has believed that Mr. Nichols is responsible for the death of Rhonda Castro. But this case is not about belief. It's about the facts that can be presented to a jury at trial. What is your plea to the charge of criminally negligent homicide? Guilty. And to the charge of coercion?

40:50Stephen Nichols:Guilty.

40:52Peter Van Sant:People take pleas for all sorts of reasons. Most of the time, innocent people plead guilty in order to gain an advantage or meet a goal. In this case, this is Mr. Nichols purchasing insurance. There's now a zero percent chance that Steve goes to prison for murder, that a jury gets

41:10Rhonda Casto:it wrong. Nichols was given credit for time served while awaiting trial. He remains on parole for three years. His ankle monitor was removed and his days behind bars are over. This plea deal, is it justice to you?

41:28Peter Van Sant:No, it's not justice. I felt like it happened out of nowhere. I'm still completely blown away by the decision that was made in this. You destroyed my whole family.

41:41Rhonda Casto:Still firmly believing Nichols is a murderer, Rhonda's mother, Julia, was allowed to address the court.

41:48Peter Van Sant:I don't see how you could do that, how you could take a mother away from her child like that by killing her. That's just horrible, Steve. I'll just bide my time and wait until you screw up or when you die, because I know you're going to go to hell for what you did.

42:01Rhonda Casto:Nichols claims he took the deal for just one reason. Time was running out to regain custody of his daughter.

42:08Stephen Nichols:If I waited over a year to go to trial, I probably had a zero percent chance.

42:13Peter Van Sant:There's some problems with the juvenile court system that the longer you wait, the harder it is to get a child returned to parent.

42:21Rhonda Casto:But having now admitted to inappropriate behavior with a 13-year-old girl, pleading to having sex with Rhonda's underage sister, and playing a role in Rhonda's death, Nichols' chances of regaining custody of his daughter are in jeopardy.

42:37Stephen Nichols:I think I've just left a path of destruction. I'm Attila the Hun, basically, going through women.

42:44Rhonda Casto:Unable to leave Oregon until his parole expires in 2020, Stephen broke up with his fiancée, who had returned to China. I'm alone about 99 % of the time. I never go out. I have nobody. Then, for the second time in our 48 Hours interview, Nichols brings up the topic of suicide. But this time, he's not speaking about Rhonda.

43:11Stephen Nichols:If I don't have my daughter, then it's pretty much game over for me. I'm checking out, so.

43:17Rhonda Casto:You're saying you'll take your own life. Um, I hate all the suicide questions.

43:23Stephen Nichols:I'm not going to answer that, but like I said, if I don't get my daughter back, I'm done. I'll just say that.

43:30Peter Van Sant:Yeah, right. I doubt that. He's too narcissistic, egotistical, sociopath. There's no way he would take his own life. He's just said that to get sympathy.

43:45Rhonda Casto:And if your granddaughter were to be placed back into his custody, what do you think would happen?

43:51Peter Van Sant:She would not be a normal child. She would be emotionally and mentally abused and possibly physical.

44:02Rhonda Casto:And then, just when we thought this story had come to an end, our interview with Nichols took a turn into the surreal. I'm trying to think of a way to think of this. For the first time, he talks about what may have happened in Rhonda's last moments of life that day in 2009, comparing her to a wounded soldier.

44:26Stephen Nichols:Let's say you're in a war situation, and you're with your buddy. And, I don't know, he takes a landmine or a grenade or something. You're 100 % certain this guy's going to die.

44:38Rhonda Casto:Remember, Nichols climbed down 150 feet to where Rhonda's broken body lay. Was she alive when you got to her? An hour.

44:53Rhonda Casto:And that's the part I'm not going into. Is Stephen Nichols about to admit something? Did you put Rhonda out of misery that day?

45:04Stephen Nichols:Let me ask you. If you shoot your war buddy, because you see how much pain he's in, is that murder? What do you say? I say no, of course not. So to me, that's a justified, I don't want to say homicide, but technically it is homicide, but it's justified as of that point. You are putting someone out of their misery that essentially has zero chance of survival. And is that what you did? Of course, that's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying. Well, you brought this up.

45:40Rhonda Casto:You brought up this whole... It seems a dangerous word game. Nichols stood on the cliff's edge, then took a step back. A final twist in a tragedy where only Nichols knows the real ending.

45:59Stephen Nichols:It's all hypothetical, because I'm telling people, you know, think outside the box. Like, there's always other options there.

46:23Peter Van Sant:I'm back. I'm really back.

46:24Rhonda Casto:School Spirits returns.

46:27Peter Van Sant:Why am I here? Not dead, right? Disruption on this campus will not be created. If I look crazy, it's because that's how I feel. I don't know how to live in two worlds. Secrets lurk. There are others. Beneath the surface. They're not like us. We need to get out of here.

46:47Rhonda Casto:Now. School Spirits new season now streaming only on Paramount+.

46:52Peter Van Sant:Can you keep a secret? Now streaming on Paramount+. The money from your dad's life insurance finally came through. A new original series. Dad. It turns out I hadn't died.

47:03Rhonda Casto:Can you keep a secret? New series now streaming on Paramount+.