Phone Line Was Cut Before the Killings and Police in Dunkirk New York Say That Changes Everything About This Cold Case
On the morning of November 3, 2006, Mark Trautman and Jerry Nickerson were found dead inside the home they shared as roommates in Dunkirk, New York. Both had been stabbed. Nearly 20 years later, not a single person has been charged.
Two Kids Who Got Called to the Principal’s Office
Lindsey Trautman and Amber Nickerson were school-aged girls when it happened. They were pulled from class and told their fathers were gone. Not sick. Not in an accident. Murdered inside their own home.
They grew up piecing together details slowly, over years. And they’re still waiting.
What the Scene Said
This was not a random break-in that escalated.
The phone line outside the house had been deliberately cut before anyone went in. On the outer wall behind that line, investigators found blood from multiple sources, more than one person’s.
Captain Daniel Howard of the State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation said: “It was definitely a burglary or home invasion-type case where somebody went in there and whatever happened within the residence led to both of them being murdered by whoever it was that entered.”
Cutting the phone line first. That’s not panic. That’s preparation.
This kind of deliberate, planned entry into a home keeps showing up in cases across the country. We covered a Lafayette home invasion where an intruder got inside without any forced entry while a woman was home alone and no one saw it coming until it was already over.
The DNA Wall and Why It’s Finally Coming Down
Police had blood evidence from more than one person at the scene. That sounds like a strong lead, and it would have been, if the technology existed to use it.
In 2006, crime labs couldn’t separate individual DNA profiles out of a mixed sample. “Back in 2006, there wasn’t the ability for the labs to split the DNA and say that this is the DNA of another person or two other people or three other people,” Captain Howard said.
“Those advancements have come forward astronomically and now there is that technology.”
That same evidence has been sitting in storage this whole time. Now, for the first time, it may actually be usable.
For the full interview with Captain Howard, WKBW 7 News Buffalo has the complete report.
If you follow residential crime news closely, there’s a WhatsApp channel worth checking out that covers cases like this before most outlets pick them up.
Why This Matters Beyond Dunkirk
The Dunkirk case is not an outlier. According to the Murder Accountability Project, more than 327,000 Americans have been killed in unsolved homicides since 1970, more than the combined U.S. military death toll from every conflict since World War II.
What makes some cases solvable and others not often comes down to timing and whatever technology existed that week.
We covered a Brooklyn Park case where a man broke into two homes in one week and assaulted women inside and investigators cracked it fast because they caught the behavioral pattern in real time. The Dunkirk case had no such window. The technology simply wasn’t there yet.
Now it might be.
“We Just Want Peace”
Captain Howard said he believes the suspects are likely still alive and an arrest is possible. “I believe that somebody definitely knows what happened. I believe that the suspect is probably still alive or suspects, and I believe that in time we will be making arrests.”
Lindsey and Amber are holding onto that.
“You know, it’s been rough not having any idea,” Lindsey said.
Amber put it plainly: “I don’t know how you would sleep with this on your back every night.”
When asked what they’re hoping for, Amber said one word. Peace. “I just think that it would be nice for us maybe for one anniversary, to not have to worry who it was, to maybe come together afterwards and just feel peace.”
Lindsey echoed it: “I don’t wanna say closure, but like Amber said, peace.”
Twenty years. One word. That’s what justice looks like when it takes this long.
If You Know Something
Anyone with information about the November 3, 2006 murders of Mark Trautman and Jerry Nickerson in Dunkirk is asked to contact the New York State Police at 585-344-6200. Cold cases get solved when someone who has been staying quiet finally decides not to.
What Do You Think Happened That Night?
If you grew up near Dunkirk or Chautauqua County, or have followed this case over the years, drop your thoughts in the comments below. Sometimes the right person hasn’t spoken yet.
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Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only, based on publicly available reporting and official statements from law enforcement. Anyone with information about this case should contact the New York State Police directly.
