In the icy grip of a North Dakota winter, a seemingly straightforward house fire on January 2nd, 2020, in Bismarck, quickly unraveled into a perplexing mystery. The victim, 42-year-old Chad Ensel, was found dead in his fire-ravaged bedroom, a shotgun near his lifeless body. While the initial assumption pointed towards a tragic suicide, the evidence told a far more sinister story.
The investigation began when Chad’s concerned coworkers, unable to reach him for days, decided to check on him. Finding his pickup truck parked outside but receiving no response at the door, they alerted the authorities. Hours later, a frantic 9-1-1 call from Chad’s wife, 39-year-old Nikki Sue Ensel, reporting a house fire, set in motion a chain of events that would expose a tangled web of deceit, infidelity, and ultimately, murder.
Firefighters battling a house fire
The fire department, responding to Nikki’s call, found Chad’s lifeless body in the master bedroom, the room engulfed in flames. He was naked, a shotgun lying nearby. The position of the weapon, the fact that Chad had been shot twice – once in the shoulder and then fatally in the head – and the lack of smoke inhalation in his lungs, all pointed away from suicide. The fire, too, raised red flags. Investigators discovered two distinct points of origin, one upstairs and one downstairs, near a tipped-over propane heater. Additionally, the presence of a Marlboro cigarette pack fragment near the furnace was perplexing, as neither Chad nor Nikki smoked.
A detective investigating a crime scene
As suspicion mounted, investigators delved into Chad and Nikki’s life, uncovering a troubled marriage rife with Chad’s alleged alcoholism and abusive behavior, although Nikki had never filed any police reports. Their focus intensified on Nikki and her relationship with another man, Earl Howard. Security footage showed Nikki and Earl at the Ensel residence multiple times on the night of Chad’s death, their interactions suggesting a more intimate relationship than Nikki initially revealed.
A CCTV camera footage
The plot thickened as investigators discovered Nikki had disabled the recording function on their home security system during specific times, only to reactivate it later, a detail she couldn’t have known they would discover. They also learned Nikki had recently taken out a renter’s insurance policy and was the beneficiary of Chad’s $600,000 life insurance policy, raising a substantial financial motive.
Faced with mounting evidence, Nikki cracked, admitting Earl was present at the time of Chad’s death but claiming she waited outside in the car. However, she continued to maintain she didn’t witness the murder itself, initially placing the blame on an unknown intruder, a story she later recanted.
Despite Nikki’s shifting narratives, the prosecution believed they had enough evidence to charge both her and Earl with conspiracy to commit murder, arson, and evidence tampering. Earl, apprehended at the Canadian border, accepted a plea deal, receiving a 25-year sentence and avoiding trial.
Nikki, on the other hand, maintained her innocence, but the jury ultimately found her guilty of conspiracy to commit murder after a compelling case built on circumstantial evidence, security footage, and her inconsistent accounts. She was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole.
A gavel hitting the sounding block in court
The tragic death of Chad Ensel serves as a stark reminder that behind seemingly ordinary facades, dark secrets and sinister motives can lurk. While justice was served, with both Nikki and Earl held accountable for their actions, the question of who actually pulled the trigger on that fateful December night remains unanswered. The truth, much like the ashes of Chad’s home, may be lost forever, leaving behind a chilling tale of betrayal, deception, and the devastating consequences of a love gone wrong.
