The Nicole Addimando Case- Murder or Self-Defense?
Warning, this case talks about domestic violence and sexual assault.
For this case, I watched an episode of 48 Hours, titled ‘The Case Against Nicole Addimando.’ This was a hard case to watch, there are many times in this episode where a victim of domestic abuse is called a liar and a manipulator. I recommend watching the episode and reading my recap so you can determine yourself if it was self-defense or a cold blooded murder.
Background
Nicole Addimando and Chris Grover
Nicole Addimando met her boyfriend, Chris Grover, when she was 19 and he was 21. They met at a gymnastics studio called Mr. Todd’s, where they were both coaches.
Nicole and Chris got pregnant fairly soon after they started dating, and had a son and a daughter together. They were both described as amazing parents, but not so wonderful to each other.
The Abuse
Nicole’s friends and family started noticing that Nicole had bruises. Sometimes she’d have a black eye, other times they noticed that she had bruising on her arms. Nicole tried to cover it up by wearing long sleeves, or by saying that her kids had hit her with a toy.
One of Nicole’s friends, Elizabeth, finally confronted her one day and Nicole said that Chris was abusing her. Elizabeth told Nicole to report it, but Nicole was afraid of reporting it.
However, it was reported, but by a mother of a kid that Chris coached at the gym. This mom said that she had seen Nicole’s injuries and had seen Chris lose his temper. The mom had reported it to CPS (Child Protective Services) and they were called out to Chris and Nicole’s shortly before Chris died.
Evidence of abuse?
Murder or Self-Defense?
On September 28, 2017, around 2AM, the police were driving, when they stopped behind Nicole’s car at a stoplight. It turned green, and the car wouldn’t move, so the officer made the car aware by sounding an air horn. Nicole was the driver of the car, and she was with her two kids. She told the police that she had killed her boyfriend, Chris.
Nicole said she killed Chris in self-defense. She said Chris was laying on the couch, and pulled out a gun. She said Chris said he was going to kill her, and she asked him if she could just leave, and when he wouldn’t let her leave, she shot him.
Chris Grover was eventually found laying on the couch, with a single gunshot wound to his head.
Investigation
Nicole was brought in to the police station. She told the police again what had happened. She again said that she asked Chris if she could just leave, and that she wouldn’t tell anyone what had happened.
That night, Nicole was arrested and charged with second degree murder.
Nicole’s mug shot
Trial
At Nicole’s trial in March 2019, the jury would hear of the abuse that Nicole received at the hands of Chris. Nicole’s friends and family wore purple, the color to support victims of domestic violence. Chris also had a lot of supporters, claiming he wasn’t a monster.
Nicole said Chris had banged her head into a door and raped her. She said he did it again when she was pregnant with their daughter. Nicole was treated at the Vassar Brothers Medical Center. The abuse was reported, and this wasn’t the only time that there was a record of Nicole getting treatment.
In 2017, weeks before Chris died, Nicole had gotten treatment three times for a swollen vulva, bruising and bleeding from being raped and she had burns on her body from Chris heating up a metal spoon on the stove and splashing it on her.
Nicole said the night he died, Chris was reloading his gun and got angry when she refused to reload his gun for him. She also said Chris threw her laptop in the bathtub and raped her. She had shot him when she tried to get off the couch, thinking he was asleep. He grabbed the gun, and somehow she got it from him and killed him so she wasn’t the one to die.
The defense painted Nicole as a liar, saying she made up stories to get sympathy. They also said that Nicole had inflicted the injures on herself, despite their being bite marks where Nicole couldn’t have possibly reached. The defense said Nicole had other relationships where those could have occurred.
There was also evidence of Google searches about shooting someone in their sleep, the prosecution eventually said those were made on Chris’ phone and there was actually no evidence to say Chris was asleep. The defense brought up a text message Nicole sent six weeks before the murder, saying she hadn’t figured out how to kill Chris without being caught. The prosecution said that text, and several other texts Nicole sent to Chris was Nicole finally fighting back.
Nicole took the stand, and in an emotional few days, she broke down and told the court what she had endured from Chris. Nicole also said Chris had started filming her and posted pictures and videos of her to PornHub. There were tags with bound and pound and kill the bitch. And again, there were many records and photographs that Nicole was abused.
Conviction and Sentencing
The jury didn’t believe Nicole’s claim of self-defense and after three days of deliberation, she was found guilty of second degree murder. The judge told her:
““Your life sentence is having to explain to your children what you have done. “You will forfeit a large amount of your future. You didn’t have to kill him.”
Nicole was sentenced to 19 years to life in prison. After she was sentenced she said:
“This is why women don’t leave. “They so often end up dead or where I’m standing, alive, but still not free.”
Other
Nicole and Chris’ families are on opposite sides, Nicole’s family and friends are raising money to pay her legal fees. Chris’s family maintains Chris was not an abuser and wouldn’t hurt anyone.
Nicole and Chris’s kids are living with Nicole’s family, and see Chris’s family on the weekends.
Nicole will be eligible for parole in 2036. Her lawyers are filing for an appeal.
If you or anyone you know is a victim of domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I had a really hard time with this case. I 100% believe Nicole was being abused. Should she have killed Chris? Absolutely not, I will never condone murder for any reason!!!! I don’t think Nicole got a fair trial though. Chris’s defense attorney, a woman, blamed Nicole right from the start and said she manipulated people into believing she was being abused. Yuck. I didn’t like that at all, it made me angry to be honest.
I believe Nicole was abused, I don’t know if her story about what happened that night was the honest truth, but I think she wanted to get away once and for all from her abuser and she did it the only way she thought she’d finally be free.
I am no way trying to drag Chris’s name through the mud, I didn't know him, but their is evidence that Nicole was being abused.
Sources
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nicole-addminado-murder-case-laptop-48-hours/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicole_Addimando
