Hello and welcome to Just Melissa.

On today's episode, I'm going to be talking about the killing of Kevin Nicol.

It was supposed to be the end of something painful, a marriage dissolved, a chapter closed.

But just three days after a divorce decree was signed, Kevin Nickle was dead.

Kevin Lee Nichol was 41 years old.

To wrestling fans, he was known by other names.

Knuckles Madsen, Ivan Warsaw, a powerful presence in the ring, a mentor behind the scenes.

He had wrestled in WWE's developmental system and spent years on the independent circuit across the south. But to those closest to him,

Kevin was something else entirely. He was a father. He was a coach. And he was a man rebuilding

his life. Kevin and Amanda Penny had been together since high school.

Thirteen years of marriage, one child, a life that, at least from the outside, looked deeply intertwined.

But behind closed doors, things were unraveling.

By July of 2025, the marriage was over. On July 8th, 2025, a judge finalized Kevin and Amanda's divorce. Court records paint a tense picture. Kevin had primary custody of their son. Amanda had

conditions to meet, including a drug test, before custody arrangements

could change. There was also a court order restricting Amanda's new boyfriend, Michael Hogue,

from contact with the child. To Kevin's family, the divorce wasn't just an ending. It was a victory, stability for

Kevin and his son. But just three days later, everything would change. On July 11, 2025,

a dark stretch of Highway 12 near Rogers, Arkansas.

Late that night, emergency calls come in. A man has been shot. When first responders arrive, they find Kevin Nicol on the side of the road, bleeding from a gunshot wound to the abdomen. But he's still alive, barely. Kevin is rushed to the hospital,

but despite doctors best efforts, he dies from his injuries. Kevin never makes it home to his son.

What Kevin said in those final moments would become central to this case.

According to investigators and later court filings, Kevin told people who stopped to help him

...