Trial in death of Abilene real estate agent Niblo scheduled Monday
Jury range is scheduled to start out Monday in the trial of the gentleman accused of getting into Abilene Real estate agent Thomas Niblo’s residence and fatally capturing him eight periods Dec. 12, 2016.
Niblo’s brother-in-legislation, Luke Sweetser, has been in Taylor County Jail considering that his arrest Sept. 17, 2020 on a charge of initially-degree murder in link with the killing. His bond was established at $750,000.
The demo will be in 350th District Courtroom, presided by Choose Thomas Wheeler. The lead prosecutor is Taylor County Assistant District Attorney Dan Joiner, while Lynn Ingalsbe is the defense legal professional.
At the time of Sweetser’s arrest, then-Abilene Law enforcement Chief Stan Standridge addressed a frequent issue he explained he heard about why an arrest in the scenario took far more than three years.
“People today have questioned me consistently, ‘Why has it taken so prolonged?’ Mainly because there was a myriad of digital evidence that had to be culled as a result of,” Standridge claimed. “When you might be dealing with terabytes of digital information, that usually takes a appreciable amount of time.”
The day of the shooting
Niblo, the son of late lender president Sydney “Syd” Niblo and Evelyn Niblo, a properly-identified Abilene artist, was a graduate of McMurry College and a vice president at Senter, Realtors. He specialized in professional authentic estate improvement.
Police said Niblo’s spouse, Cheryl, reported that early the Monday early morning of Dec. 12, 2016, she was in a rest room at their home in the 3700 block of Woodridge Generate when she heard various gunshots.
She placed a 911 phone at 6:18 a.m. at a neighbor’s house soon after leaving her dwelling by way of the back again doorway, police claimed.
First responders uncovered Niblo, 54, in his mattress with gunshot wounds and transported him to Hendrick Healthcare Heart, exactly where he died, according to court docket files. He had been shot 8 times, an autopsy disclosed.
Police reported the gun used to fireplace the photographs likely was a .40-caliber handgun, based on acquiring invested shell casings.
How the investigation unfolded
Abilene police named Sweetser as a suspect early in the situation after identifying proof that there experienced been a rift involving the Sweetsers and the Niblos stemming from the execution of the will pursuing the loss of life of Syd Niblo, according to affidavits.
“The sufferer and his mom experienced been named as executors, but the victim’s sister, Ellouise Niblo Sweetser, and her partner, Luke Sweetser, had specially been excluded as executors of the will,” stated an affidavit filed early in the investigation.
Sweetser was employed at the Abilene spot of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas at the time of the capturing but was living in Dallas when arrested. Ellouise Sweetser petitioned for a divorce in April 2017, which was granted Aug. 16, 2021, according to on the web court data.
As section of the investigation, officers executed search warrants at the Sweetser home (about a 50 percent-mile from the Niblo home), a family members storage creating in the 300 block of Mesquite Street and the Alexander Making, situated downtown and related to the Niblos and Sweetsers, according to Reporter-Information data files.
Detectives seized quite a few electronic devices in the investigation, in accordance to previous stories, which include cellphones, pcs/laptops and external storage drives. The FBI assisted Abilene police in processing some electronic proof, Standridge explained.
When Sweetser’s arrest was announced, Standridge declined to go over the evidence that direct to securing an arrest warrant, together with irrespective of whether the murder weapon was recovered.
Standridge named at least 10 officers, two evidence analysts and two retired officers who were being associated in the scenario that created “hundreds, if not thousands of parts of evidence.”
Laura Gutschke is a common assignment reporter and food stuff columnist and manages on line content material for the Reporter-Information. If you enjoy domestically driven information, you can help local journalists with a digital membership to ReporterNews.com.
