Man arrested for 1990-murders of Missoula nursing home residents

MISSOULA, Mont. – Missoula County authorities arrested a suspect connected to the 1990 murder of two elderly women who were living in a nursing home.

Law enforcement identified Nickie Dean Gardiner as the suspect and charged him with two counts of homicide. They used improved forensic DNA methods to identify him and they later arrested him and booked him into the Missoula County Detention facility.

The women who were killed in 1990 were 87-year-old Nancy Z. Lagerquist and Bertha Scott. Both were staying at Riverside Health Care Center and had dementia. Scott was found dead in her room at the facility on May 2, 1990 and Lagerquist was found dead and raped along the Clark Fork River on July 1, 1990.

Law enforcement investigated the crimes at the time, but were not able to identify a formal suspect. The case was opened on three occasions afterwards for additional investigation, most recently by the Missoula County Cold Case Unit, which used new technology to discover the new information that led to the arrest.

Missoula County Attorney Matt Jennings, who announced the charges against Gardiner on Tuesday, said that in the last year, the Montana State Crime Lab and Bode Technology used new DNA testing technology to analyse biological evidence preserved from the original investigation. 

Testing found that DNA found on the bodies was, statistically, extremely likely to belong to Gardiner. The DNA evidence combined with his role in the crime narrative led law enforcement to identify him as the suspect.

“Gardiner has no known connection to either victim, and investigators have found no explanation — other than criminal activity — for the presence of his DNA on both victims,” the Missoula County Attorney’s office wrote in its announcement about the arrest.

Gardiner was arrested on two counts of deliberate homicide and is being held at the Missoula County Detention facility, the Attorney’s office said. 

“Through their dedication and perseverance, our Cold Case Unit has been successful in reviewing thousands of pages of dictation and reviewing all evidence collected in this and other cold cases,” Missoula County Sheriff Jeremiah Petersen said. “Our thoughts now turn to the family and those who were impacted by these crimes.”

“These crimes devastated families and shook our community more than three decades ago,” Chief Criminal Deputy County Attorney Mac Bloom said. “Thanks to advances in DNA technology and the perseverance of investigators, we are now able to take meaningful action to seek justice for the victims.”