Thread: Funeral set for Omaha woman shot on way home - Man questioned in connection

Funeral set for Omaha woman shot on way home

By Alissa Skelton and Jay Withrow / World-Herald staff writers

Related news Sheriff to give updates on investigation into Kruger killing
Related links 2013 Omaha homicide map

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She was the glue that held her family together. Her husband called her “supermom.''

Andrea L. Kruger had three children.

“We had the best of both worlds,” said Michael-Ryan Kruger, her husband. “I worked during the day, she stayed home with the kids and worked three nights a week.”

Andrea Kruger, 33, was returning home early Wednesday from her bartending shift at the Deja Vu Lounge near 178th and Pacific Streets.

She was found, shot multiple times, in the middle of 168th Street near Fort Street about 2:15 a.m., said Douglas County Sheriff Tim Dunning.

Authorities believe that someone drove away from the crime scene in her vehicle.

Chief Deputy Tom Wheeler said Thursday that investigators are following two routes that Kruger was known to drive from work to home.

“We’re trying to retrace her steps by checking with businesses along her usual paths to see if their video surveillance cameras captured her movements,” Wheeler said. “We’re asking anyone who may have seen Kruger or her vehicle to call us.”
Her gold 2012 Chevrolet Traverse was found about 6:30 p.m. in an alley near Walnut Hill School, 43rd and Charles Streets.

Authorities used an Omaha Fire Department rig to reach the roof of a nearby gun shop. A sheriff's deputy and firefighters climbed up one of the ladders, recovered items on the roof and placed them in a bag.

Investigators processed evidence at the scene, then towed the vehicle to the crime lab, Wheeler said.

“We are elated they found the vehicle and hopefully they will find clues to whoever killed her,” said Teri Roberts, Andrea Kruger's mother.

“She was a wonderful mother and wife,” she added.

No arrests have been announced.

Friends mourned the loss of Andrea Kruger at a candlelight vigil on the outdoor patio at Deja Vu. Some left flowers and wreaths near the crime scene.

Kruger, 35, described his wife as fit, petite and attractive. He said they were natives of Valley and lived near 144th and Fort Streets.

Kruger said he works at CM's Cut Above landscaping business. His wife of 4½ years stayed home during the day with their three children: Jadyn, 13, Ava, 4, and Hartley, 2. She worked nights at the bar until about 3 a.m.

Investigators are exploring whether the shooting was part of a carjacking, robbery or road rage incident.

Andrea Kruger was last seen at 1:47 a.m., locking up Deja Vu, Dunning said.

Kruger said that Ava was suffering from a fever and that he had spoken to his wife about 12:30 a.m. about getting some medicine for her. He said he fell asleep, awakened sometime after 4 a.m. and realized his wife hadn't arrived home.

Andrea L. Kruger

“I usually hear the garage door or the dog barking when she gets home,” he said.

He thought his wife would be home soon, but he saw a brief news item about an unidentified woman's body in the 168th and Fort intersection.

He asked a relative to watch the children and headed toward the intersection.

“That was always the route she took home,” he said. “168th Street (north) and then down (east) Fort Street.”

Kruger said he was met by sheriff's deputies a block from his home.

“That's when I knew it was her,” he said.

Deputies interviewed Kruger for two hours and reviewed his wife's cellphone records, he said.

“All she had were a couple of calls between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. from some regulars at the bar,” Kruger said.

Dunning said Kruger was ruled out as a suspect after the interview.

Andrea Kruger's brother, Ryan Roberts, 35, of Omaha, said: “We don't know a lot right now. The cops haven't told us a lot.”

“Maybe she was carjacked,” Roberts said.

Authorities had not ruled out the possibility of a second vehicle being connected to the shooting.

After the shooting, someone in the neighborhood reported seeing a vehicle going north on 168th Street at a high rate of speed. No description of the vehicle was provided.

Dunning said officials were also gathering videotape footage from security cameras at Deja Vu and nearby businesses.

Stephanie Blackman, a Deja Vu employee, said Andrea Kruger had worked at the bar for about a year.

“She was a wonderful friend,” Blackman said.

Andrea Kruger previously worked as a bartender at On the Rocks, 16919 Audrey St., from 2004 until June of last year, said Brian Houston, the bar's manager.

“I knew her when she was single, when she met her husband, I was there for her pregnancies. I considered us an extended family,” Houston said. “The whole thing is sad.”

“It's just such a waste.”

Funeral services for Kruger will be held Monday at 11 a.m. at StoneBridge Christian Church, 15801 Butler Ave. Visitation will be Sunday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Reichmuth Funeral Home at 21909 W. Maple Road.

Donations to the Andrea Kruger Memorial Fund are being accepted at all Union Bank and Trust Company locations.

World-Herald staff writers Kevin Cole, Emerson Clarridge, Melissa Matczak and Maggie O'Brien contributed to this report.

Video of police taking away shooting victim Andrea L. Kruger's vehicle for further investigation.

Video at the Page Link:

Video: Press conference with Douglas County Sheriff Tim Dunning

Video at the Page Link:

http://www.omaha.com/article/20130821/NEWS/130829769

Man questioned in connection with Kruger homicide

UPDATED 7:09 PM CDT Aug 30, 2013




OMAHA, Neb. —A man and two women arrested on separate charges have “not been excluded” as suspects in the Aug. 21 killing of 33-year-old Andrea Kruger and the Aug. 19 killing of Curtis Bradford, according to KETV NewsWatch 7 sources.

HOMICIDE VICTIM'S SUV, OTHER EVIDENCE RECOVERED


Authorities find a key piece of evidence in a Wednesday morning homicide in west Omaha.
MORE


UPDATE: MAN IDENTIFIED IN MORNING HOMICIDE


Omaha police were called to a home near 18th and Clark streets for a death investigation Monday morning.

MORE

But they're not the only ones being questioned in connection with unsolved metro homicides.
Andrea L. Kruger’s body was found on the south side of 168th and Fort streets in the early-morning hours of Aug. 21. The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office said investigators believe Kruger was on her way home from work when she was shot and killed.
Nikko Jenkins, 26, who was released from prison July 30, is accused of threatening to kill a different Omaha woman and her family.
According to a police report, the woman said Jenkins made that threat and called the woman, threatening to send "demonic forces" to the home of the woman's mother.

Jenkins has not formally been named a suspect, and he has not been arrested in the case, but sources close to the investigation tell KETV NewsWatch 7 that he is among a "handful" of possible suspects in the Kruger homicide.
Investigators collected about 20 bags of evidence from the Tudor Heights Apartments near 108th and Maple where Jenkins was arrested Thursday night. Sources said that evidence may be connected to "several" other homicides in the metro.
Sources tell KETV NewsWatch 7 that two women, 23-year-old Erica Jenkins, Nikko Jenkins' sister, and 39-year-old Christine Bordeaux, a friend, are being questioned for several homicides in the metro area and have not been ruled out as suspects in Kruger's murder.
Nikko Jenkins, Erica Jenkins and Bordeaux are being held at Douglas County Corrections. They were arrested Thursday and early Friday morning on separate, unrelated charges.
Nikko Jenkins' wife, mother and another sister have also been taken in for questioning. His mother was booked on a count of tampering with a witness.

Kruger’s SUV was the focus of a search for most of the day Aug. 21. It was eventually recovered nearly 12 miles from where her body was found.

Sheriff Tim Dunning said the suspect(s) made a "feeble attempt" to start a fire inside Kruger's vehicle, likely to destroy any evidence.
Authorities were still looking for a separate vehicle that witnesses reported seeing leave the scene of the crime.
Dunning said at a news conference last week that Kruger was alone when she left the Déjà Vu Lounge at 1:47 a.m. Investigators, who have poured over surveillance video from businesses along Kruger’s route, believe she was heading home.
Jenkins has a long criminal history. He was released from prison on July 30, having served just under nine years of an 18- to 21-year sentence for robbery, assault and assault of a police officer.
KETV NewsWatch 7 also learned Jenkins was present at a party with Curtis Bradford on Aug. 18. Bradford was found shot to death the next morning near 18th and Clark streets. Witnesses said it appeared Bradford was shot in the head.
Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine attended a meeting Friday morning at the Omaha Police Department Headquarters, which included representatives of the Douglas County Sheriff's Office. Kleine declined to comment on the nature of the meeting.
No one is saying there are any suspects in the murders. Just possible suspects, or people who have not been ruled out.
Sources tell KETV NewsWatch 7 Nikko Jenkins, Erica Jenkins and Bordeaux may be linked to “several homicides” in the Omaha metro.
August 4: Kevin McIntyre, 28, was shot to death at a party near 27th and Spencer streets. His twin brother, Branden, was wounded. The shooter turned himself in, but Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine later declined to press charges, saying the shooting appeared to be justified.

August 11: Juan Uribe Pena, 26, and Jorge Cajiga-Ruiz, 29, were found dead inside a pickup truck near 18th and F streets next to Spring Lake Park Swimming Pool.


August 19: Bradford was found dead near 18th and Clark streets.

August 21: Kruger was murdered at 168th and Fort streets.


http://www.ketv.com/news/local-news/...w/-/index.html

Moved to Other Topics News and Issues

Jenkins blames 'Egyptian demons' for killings

Suspected killer claims murders were sacrifices to appease gods

UPDATED 7:14 PM CDT
Oct 01, 2013

OMAHA, Neb. —A man accused in four Omaha homicides claims the killings were done to appease Egyptian gods.

Nikko Jenkins, 27, who faces four counts of first-degree murder, faced a judge for his preliminary hearing, where details about his confession to investigators emerged for the first time.
-- VIDEO: Hannah Pickett reveals new details in Jenkins case

In court Tuesday, detectives testified that Jenkins called a sheriff's deputy from jail after his arrest on suspicion of terroristic threats in late August, wanting to talk about the Andrea Kruger homicide investigation.

Kruger was found shot to death in the intersection of 168th and Fort streets in the early-morning hours of Aug. 21. Her murder was the last in what Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer called a "reign of terror" that authorities believe Jenkins carried out over the city.

Court testimony revealed Jenkins confessed to Kruger's murder, as well as the murders of Jorge Cajiga-Ruiz, Juan Uribe-Pena and Curtis Bradford during a nine-hour-long interrogation, claiming that the killings were sacrifices to the gods, specifically Apophis.

Jenkins, whose case was bound over for trial, told investigators Egyptian demons were possessing him and that the only way he could get rid of terrible headaches brought on by the demons was to kill people.

The killings in which Jenkins is a suspect took place within a 10-day time frame.

Jenkins detailed each of the murders to officers, who testified in court Tuesday.

According to court testimony, Cajiga-Ruiz and Uribe-Pena met up with Christine Bordeaux and Jenkins' sister, Erica, for prostitution on Aug. 11. But when Erica Jenkins learned that one of the men may have had $1,000 cash on him, she called her brother, who instructed the women to take the two men to Spring Lake Park.

Jenkins admitted to investigators that he shot the men, each in the head, and took one of their wallets, according to testimony from court Tuesday.
Jenkins also admitted to Bradford's murder, saying he had to use a shotgun to finish him off since a revolver didn't kill him.

Detectives testified that Jenkins admitted he was working on orders from Egyptian demons in each of the cases.

Jenkins said he was with Bordeaux, his uncle Warren Levering and his sister Erica when they encountered Kruger, who authorities believe was heading home from work at a west Omaha bar.

Detectives testified that Jenkins watched Kruger leave McDonald's and stopped in front of her at the intersection where she was later found dead.
Jenkins admitted to investigators, court testimony revealed, that Kruger pleaded with him to let her go, but he ultimately shot her in the head three times and once in the chest.

Testimony in court Tuesday revealed that Jenkins drove her car to 40th Street, where he "gave it to a crackhead to burn."

Authorities later found Kruger's vehicle near 40th and Charles streets, where it appeared that someone had made a "feeble attempt" to destroy evidence by fire.

Prosecutors allege Jenkins acquired a shotgun used in the murders in the hours after he was released from prison in late July.

Several others face charges in the case, including Jenkins' sisterErica, who has been linked to Bradford's murder, and Jenkins' uncle, who has been linked to Kruger's murder.

Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine on Tuesday afternoon said he anticipated Levering and Erica Jenkins would be booked in the next day on new counts: first-degree murder for Levering and his alleged role in the Kruger homicide and two counts of criminal conspiracy for Erica Jenkins for her alleged role in the Spring Lake Park homicides and the Kruger homicide.
​http://www.ketv.com/news/local-news/...m/-/index.html

Who are the Jenkinses?

Omaha family has 7 felons



OMAHA, Neb. —An Omaha family has been in the news, in the courts and in jail, but take a look at their lists of felonies and you will see why.

The Jenkins family has seven convicted felons in two generations with two more facing felony charges.

Nikko Jenkins is charged in four different Omaha homicides -- Andrea Kruger, Curtis Bradford, Jorge Cajiga Ruiz and Juan Uribe Pena.
Jenkins’ uncle, 51-year-old Warren Levering, is a felon. He was just released from an Oklahoma prison and has done time in Nebraska, too. Investigators said he fathered seven children with six different women in five states.

This week, prosecutors charged him as an accessory in the murder of Kruger, 33. Authorities said Levering helped Nikko get rid of Kruger’s car and tried to set it on fire near 43rd and Charles streets. Prosecutors said Levering got the gas can from his sister’s house.

Nikko Jenkins’ mother, Lori Jenkins, just bonded out of jail this week on an unrelated felony terroristic threats charge.

In addition to Levering, Lori has two other brothers who are both convicted felons. One is currently on parole.

Investigators said Lori Jenkins had six children with David Magee but never married him. Magee died in 2009. He was a felon convicted of terroristic threats.

Of their six children, four have been arrested in the past month. Erica Jenkins, 23, is a convicted felon now facing murder and weapon charges in Bradford’s murder.

On Friday, she told a judge she can’t be a killer because she is three months pregnant. Investigators said she has a 7-year-old son who is in child protective custody.

Erica’s younger sister, 18-year-old Lori “Lolo” Sayles, is charged in connection to Bradford’s murder as well. Prosecutors said she got rid of the murder weapon.

The third sister, 25-year-old Melonie Jenkins, is also a convicted felon. She bailed out of jail last week on terroristic threats charges. Investigators said she had three children under the age of 7 and are all in child protective custody.

As for Nikko Jennkins, he was just released from prison before prosecutors said he shot and killed four people. The 27-year-old is legally married to 22-year-old Chalonda Jenkins, who served time in prison. She told KETV NewsWatch 7 she is pregnant with Nikko’s child.

Nikko’s other two sisters live out of state. Neither are in much contact with their family members.

Investigators said Jimmy Levering was a cousin to Warren Levering and the rest of the Jenkins family. He died two years ago. He was charged with murder in 2006, but the charge was dropped after prosecutors said witnesses backed out.

http://www.ketv.com/news/local-news/...z/-/index.html