Loren Bowers and Craig Whiting murdered Nicole Hutchings. Pic Credit: Oregon Department of Corrections and Family Photo
The murder of Nicole Hutchings by Loren Bowers and Craig Whiting is featured in the latest episode of Dead of Night on Investigation Discovery.
Hutchings was reported missing on November 1, 2004.
The 21-year-old aspiring Marine was last seen by her mother at her home in the 63200 block of NE Gallop Court in Bend, Oregon.
In March 2007, an investigation led to the arrest of Bowers and Whiting.
They were booked into the Deschutes County jail on suspicion of murder.
Just hours after their arrest and being questioned by police, Hutchings’ remains were found in a shallow grave in a remote area near Forest Service land southeast of Sunriver, Oregon.
An autopsy revealed she had been beaten to death.
Bowers and Whiting’s charges were upgraded to one count each of aggravated murder, conspiracy to commit murder, murder and two counts of first-degree kidnapping.
Authorities said Bowers and Whiting admitted to killing Hutchings.
The men said they planned to murder Hutchings on the day she attended a Halloween party and had dug a three-foot grave the day before.
They got Hutchings drunk and put painkillers in her drink before Whiting drove them to a secluded area nearby, where they beat her to death with a metal object.
Bowers and Whiting have yet to reveal to investigators why they killed her, but prosecutors believe Hutchings was killed after she told a woman that Bowers was molesting her 6-year-old daughter.
Bowers denied those claims.
Bowers and Whiting pled guilty to aggravated murder, and they were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Dead of Night — Nothing To Hide, airs at 9:00 pm on Investigation Discovery.