A 24-year-old Lincoln man has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for fatally shooting a man on his boat at Branched Oak Lake two years ago in an apparent drug robbery.Ìý
Around 11:30 that night, Lancaster County Sheriff's deputies were called to the Branched Oak Marina after someone heard gunshots and screaming, followed by a car speeding away.Ìý
Case and four others had been on Case's boat when he felt someone board. When he opened the cabin door, he was shot twice and collapsed.Ìý
Wearing a ski mask, Rik threatened to shoot the others and asked where the green bag was. But a man on the boat fought him, and Rik ran to the parking lot.
Despite efforts to save him, Case died on the scene.
He was 42.
An anonymous tipster pointed the Sheriff's Office toward Rik, a parolee who had been out of prison for less than four months before the shooting.
While Rik's iPhone had been turned off at 11:24 p.m., the time of the shooting, roughly two hours earlier cell towers had him at the lake northwest of Lincoln, and security cameras showed the car — his red Toyota Camry — leaving the marina, according to investigators.
During that gap in time — from 10:38 to 11:30 p.m. — they had video surveillance showing one vehicle heading north over the dam toward the marina and one vehicle heading back toward Lincoln.
And in-car video cameras from law enforcement officers responding to the shooting captured Rik's car heading south on Nebraska 79, back toward Lincoln.
Once Rik's phone was turned back on, they tracked it to his apartment near 14th and Superior streets, then to a home near Folsom and West A where witnesses said he had asked for wipes to clean up blood.
Crime scene investigators later found blood containing Case's DNA on the car's floorboard.
Until Thursday, Rik had been facing first-degree murder and five other felonies.
As part of a plea agreement, Rik pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and the other charges were dismissed.Ìý