The following podcast may not be suitable for all listeners.
Listener discretion is advised. This season of love is upon us.
We are heading into Valentine's Day.
For most of us, it's a love filled day with flowers and
candy and gifts. But for some, this day signifies
death, grief and loss. Loss of loved ones is never
easy, but it's absolutely horrific when the loss of life
occurs before a young person's life has even truly begun.
In this episode, I'm bringing you the case of the Columbine
couple, the horrific murder of two teens on Valentine's Day.
This is the unsolved murder of Stephanie Hart, Grizzle and Nick
Councilman. To get into this case, I need to
preface it a little. I bet the majority of listeners
remember the Columbine High School shooting.
If not, I'll remind you. On April 20th, 1999 in
Columbine, Colorado, 2 teens murdered 12 students and one
teacher. Eric Harris and Dylan Kleibold
were in the 12th grade at the time.
Gunshots injured a total of 21 additional people and three
additional people were injured while trying to escape.
Gunfire was exchanged with law enforcement and ultimately the
two teens committed suicide by shooting themselves.
I don't want to get too much into that.
Only the survivors deserve discussion.
Less than one year after this high school massacre, two more
teens were murdered about 10 minutes away.
Both teens had attended Columbine and were present
during the massacre. Stephanie was 16 and Nick was
15. The two had been dating for
about two years. Their family and friends
described them as inseparable, and they often were described as
old souls. They had a love for the 60s and
art as well as music. The two met in middle school and
their families stated they loved each other more than they
thought teens could. On the night of February 13th,
2000, Nick was finishing up his shift at a Subway sandwich shop
on Coal Mine Ave. in Littleton, Co.
Stephanie drove to the shop to wait for her love to finish his
shift, but this is the end of the story for Stephanie and
Nick. They were never seen alive
again. Near 1:00 AM on February 14th,
2000, an unnamed employee of the same Subway shop drove by and
noticed all the lights on in the business.
The employee thought this was odd, so they stopped off to see
why the business's lights were all on.
As this employee arrived and went inside the unlocked shop,
they saw a white male, about 5-8 with blonde hair running out the
back door. He was wearing a red jacket and
flared pants. He would be in his late teens or
early 20s. The employee would then find
Stephanie and Nick behind the counter.
They had been shot and were dead.
This is where the story goes cold.
In the year 2000, technology was still coming along slowly.
There was no digital footprint and the first major social media
platform, Myspace. We're still a few years away
from its start. Cameras were not as high tech as
they are now and the only information we have is from the
eyewitness who found the bodies. What we do know is the store was
not robbed. Perhaps the intention may have
been to rob the store, but no money was taken and Stephanie's
vehicle was still in the parking lot.
A trophy of the killing was not taken as we've seen in serial
killings. So was this an inexperienced
killer? A robbery attempt gone bad?
I wasn't able to determine what the hours were for the Subway
store, but in my research I found that most subways close no
later than 10:00 PM. So this leads me away from the
robbery attempt theory. We know this because the unknown
employee who found the bodies arrived sometime in the midnight
hour. He saw someone running out.
If the store typically closed around 10:00 PM, why would the
killer or robber still be there after midnight?
If this individual arrived before closing, why stay till
midnight and leave the front door unlocked the entire time
he's in there? An interesting situation comes
into play though. The rumor is that this store was
being used for drug deals. Drugs were supposedly being
dealt right out the back door. Possibly a drug user came for a
deal but found Nick and Stephanie instead of a normal
dealer. This theory is a strong one.
Anytime drugs are involved, you could be dealing with desperate
criminals looking for their next fix.
Let's move forward away from the drug theory.
Could this have been a crime of passion?
Perhaps one of these lovers had a stalker or someone very
jealous of their love. I read in one article that
Stephanie had snuck out of the house that night.
Could someone have followed her on the night Stephanie was at
the Subway with Nick, her mother and her had a relaxing evening
and then she snuck out. Her mother had no idea Stephanie
was gone until she noticed Stephanie's car missing the next
morning. She then turned on the news and
saw the reports of a shooting at the local subway.
She also saw Stephanie's car in the parking lot within that news
report, circling back to store cameras.
There was a blind spot in the camera.
So now I wonder, was the killer familiar with the blind spot in
the camera? Could this have been an employee
putting our facts together? Nothing is missing in the store,
so it wasn't robbed. Nevertheless, the store most
likely didn't close at midnight, probably closer to 10, possibly
even 11. But why would the potential
killer be seen running out of the store at midnight?
I did read that the Co worker who found the bodies only
stopped because they noticed the store's lights were on and
should have been turned off by this time.
I often wondered if these two lovebirds stayed well after
hours hanging out and possibly forgot to lock the door.
My biggest question has always been why were they there at
Subway after midnight? It seems odd for Subway to be
open that late. The next fact is that the
Killers stayed completely out of the security camera's reach.
Possibly the killer knew the store layout and the camera
blind spots. So could this have been planned?
With no actual leads, this case simply remains cold.
You have more information about these murders, You're asked to
call Metro Denver Crime Stoppers, 720-913-7867.
I can't even imagine, I mean what we're in 24 now and that
happened in the year 2000. If you or anybody you know has
any information, reach out to Denver Metro.
This family needs closure. As always, thanks for listening
and keep sleuthing, my friends. If you're new, you can visit us
at unexplainedrealms.com, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube,
Twitter and Tiktok. And don't forget to smash those
like Subscribe and Follow buttons.
And don't forget to hit the Show notifications button on Spotify
so you can get reminders when we drop a new episode.
Don't forget to click on our sponsors links when visiting
unexplainedrealms.com with a variety of brands and products
to choose from and the most exclusive deals just for you.