He begged prison officials not to release him. He told them he would kill. They let him out anyway.

Nineteen days later, four people were dead in Omaha, Nebraska.

This is the story of Nikko Jenkins—a man failed by every system designed to help him, who then committed one of the most preventable killing sprees in recent memory. It's also the story of four victims: Juan Uribe-Pena, Jorge Cajiga-Ruiz, Curtis Bradford, and Andrea Kruger. Some made headlines. Others were barely mentioned. All deserved justice from the start.

In this episode, Ed and Melissa examine the catastrophic failures that led to tragedy—from a childhood marked by documented mental illness and abuse, to a prison system that ignored years of warnings, to a media landscape that only paid attention when the "right" victim was killed.

This is Block 21: Sentencing Failures. Because sometimes the scariest part of true crime isn't the killer—it's the system that could have stopped them and didn't.

Content Warning: This episode contains discussions of violence, mental illness, childhood abuse, and systemic failures in the criminal justice system.

In This Episode:

• The August 2013 Omaha killing spree
• How media coverage differs based on who the victim is
• The documented history of mental illness that was repeatedly ignored
• Why Nikko Jenkins was released directly from solitary confinement with zero supervision
• The families who are still seeking answers

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He was called "The Snaggletooth Killer." His crooked teeth sentenced him to death row. But Ray Krone was innocent.

In 1991, bartender Kim Ancona was brutally murdered at the CBS Lounge in Phoenix, Arizona. Police arrested Ray Krone—a mail carrier with no criminal record—based primarily on bite mark evidence that a forensic expert claimed was "100% certain, better than a fingerprint."

Ray was convicted. Twice. He was sentenced to death. He spent over 10 years in prison, including time on Arizona's death row, before DNA evidence proved his innocence and identified the REAL killer: Kenneth Phillips, who had been living just 600 yards from the crime scene the entire time.

This case is personal for Ed—he was the associate producer on the original Forensic Files episode "Once Bitten" back in 2003. It was his very first case in the true crime industry.

In this episode, we break down:

• The brutal murder of Kim Ancona at the CBS Lounge
• How flawed bite mark evidence led to a wrongful conviction
• The "nationally known expert" who got it completely wrong
• Ray's battle through two trials and two convictions
• Life on Arizona's death row
• The DNA breakthrough that changed everything
• Kenneth Phillips: the real killer who walked free for over a decade
• The emotional moment Kim's mother apologized to the man she'd twice asked to execute

This case changed forensic science in America and exposed the dangerous flaws in bite mark analysis. It's a story of injustice, perseverance, and the power of DNA to set the innocent free.

Stay tuned—Ray Krone himself joins us as a guest in an upcoming episode.

In this episode of Murder Unscripted, we dive deep into one of the most shocking wrongful conviction cases in American history. In 1991, bartender Kim Ancona was brutally murdered at the CBS Lounge in Phoenix, Arizona. Police arrested Ray Krone, a mail carrier with no criminal record, based primarily on bite mark evidence that a forensic expert claimed was “better than a fingerprint.”

Ray was convicted TWICE and sentenced to death. He spent over 10 years in prison - including time on Arizona’s death row - before DNA evidence proved his innocence and identified the REAL killer, Kenneth Phillips, who had been living just 600 yards from the crime scene the entire time.

This case changed forensic science in America and exposed the dangerous flaws in bite mark analysis. It’s a story of injustice, perseverance, and the power of DNA to set the innocent free.

👉 FOLLOW for more true crime content every week!

📚 SOURCES:

• The Arizona Republic newspaper archives (1991-2006)
• Forensic Files - “Once Bitten” (Season 8, Episode 7)
• National Registry of Exonerations
• Innocence Project case files

🔗 RESOURCES:

- Innocence Project: https://innocenceproject.org

- National Registry of Exonerations: https://law.umich.edu/special/exoneration