Season 13 of Investigation Discovery’s American Monster returned on Tuesday, Nov. 5th, airing its second episode, titled “Drip, Drip!” at 8/7c. With a focus on James, “Jimmy” Cappello, “Drip, Drip!” features interviews from his sister Jamie Weast, his brother-in-law Christ Weast, his father Jim Cappello, as well as Tim Douthit, the Chief Trial Attorney for the Madison County DA’s Office.
Their testimonies, along with bittersweet home videos, retell the story of Jimmy’s life and marriage and how, sometimes, everything can change in the blink of an eye.
Caution: This post contains SPOILERS from American Monster season 13 episode 2.
Quick warning: this episode does discuss drug use and addiction. If you think this will be triggering for you, I urge you not to read any further.
Childhood and early adult life
Born on May 27th, 1981 in Buffalo, New York, Jimmy Cappello had a mostly normal childhood. His dad, Jim, recounts that his son was, ‘ambitious’, ‘easy going’, ‘happy’, and able to relate with people. Additionally, he showed interest in sports and cars. Jamie fondly remembers that Jimmy was a ‘goof’, constantly making people laugh and smile.
Sadly, the relationship between Jim and his wife broke down. Eighteen at the time, Jimmy left New York with his mom and settled in Alabama. After being in Huntsville, Alabama for some time Jimmy was offered a job in private investigation by a friend in 2006. Diving headfirst into this opportunity, something Jamie commented ‘fell into his lap’, Jimmy realized he was great at it and excelled in his new position.
In 2008, at age 27, Jimmy met Nikki, who his sister described as a silly, giddy, nervous woman. Like Jamie, Nikki was studying nursing at the time, giving the two women common ground to bond on.
Marriage to Nikki
Two years after meeting each other, Nikki and Jimmy married in July of 2010. Only four weeks later, Jamie married her now husband, Chris. The Florida-based firefighter recounts that Jimmy was a groomsman at his wedding and that, even though Jimmy was only a newlywed himself, he was there for the stressed groom, making sure he remained calm for his big day.
Four years after they married, Nikki and Jimmy welcomed their first and only daughter, Ryleigh, into the world. A family consisting of two working parents, the couple made it work. American Monster showed adorable videos the two would send each other, Ryleigh usually front and center, and the work-life balance they were able to achieve.
Sadly, things wouldn’t stay so perfect for long. Soon, the couple faced financial troubles. While a relatively normal thing in this day and age, Jamie recounts being caught off guard when, during this time, Nikki bought herself an expensive watch, something she believed Jimmy knew nothing about
Soon, Nikki starts experiencing injuries and pain, ultimately being put on medication. Soon after this, Jimmy discovers that Nikki has opened a bank account without his knowledge and, if that wasn’t enough, had been contacting her ex.
In 2016, Jimmy discovers that Nikki has been contacting drug dealers, having become addicted to pain medication and meeting people on the street for drugs. Making matters worse is the fact that there was a text where Nikki questioned if it was okay if her child was in the car with her during the transaction. Stopping it immediately, Jimmy expressed concern over what he should do. Horrified and sickened by this, these realizations are what made Jamie start to question if she actually knew Nikki.
Ultimately, Jimmy decided that he wanted to try to make the marriage work, with Nikki promising to change. However, trouble soon started to arise. After being fired for falling asleep at work and leaving her shift with no explanation, Nikki downplayed the situation to Jimmy, acting as if her former employer was the one at fault.
Now with the full responsibility of putting money on the table, Jimmy was forced to work anywhere from 60 to 80 hours a week, leaving Ryleigh alone with Nikki. Home security footage shows the child, roughly two at the time, being left to roam the house unsupervised while Nikki was nearly unconscious on the couch. Chris, knowing from work, emphasizes how dangerous this situation is. Nikki’s unreliability, ultimately, left Jimmy with no choice but to take Ryleigh to work with him.
In the summer of 2017, a small spark of hope appears when Nikki gets a job as a triage nurse at a new hospital. With her pain lessening and the family under less financial stress, the couple are at a better place in their marriage and move to a better neighborhood. His interest in cars still strong, Jimmy buys a Corvette to work on, also purchasing a mini car for Ryleigh and teaching her about cars and how they work.
Unfortunately, this moment of hope, like those before it, were short lived. In April 2018, while in Florida for a celebration, home videos show an unfocused Nikki. One night, when the boys went out for drinks, Jamie recalls seeing Nikki ‘breathing eight times a minute’ while on the couch. A nurse herself, Jamie recognized what this was.
After hearing from his sister, “this is concerning, we’re at a dangerous point now”, Jimmy, while not wanting to go through with a divorce, began to investigate his own wife, documenting anything and everything he could find. Sending photos of what he finds to his sister, Jimmy discovers that his wife is on Oxycodone, the pills he found still in their original wrapping. Jamie, also a nurse, tells Jimmy that the only way Nikki could have gotten this is if she had stolen it. Additional material that he found is a drug not typically used for abuse, insulin, as well as a box of lancets, little needles diabetics use to take blood samples.
During Ryleigh’s fourth birthday, Nikki is again acting off, not interacting with anyone, being short and irritable with Ryleigh, and getting angry when Jimmy, who wanted his wife to have fun, tried to push her in the baby pool.
On September 11, 2018 Jimmy called his father, recounting how bad he had felt the previous day. He told his dad that he was unable to focus, nauseous, and dizzy. Jamie adds that he said he couldn’t count money and that he had even fallen down the stairs. While he felt fine at the time of the call, Jimmy was convinced Nikki was drugging him and told his sister, “Jamie, if anything happens to me, you are to get Ryleigh.”
One week later, similar events happen, with Jamie receiving a text from Jimmy, saying that he had another ‘episode’ and that he couldn’t form words. Nikki, claiming to have diagnosed Jimmy with hypoglycemia, promises to take Jimmy to the doctor. When Jimmy doesn’t answer his phone a day later, Nikki claims that he is “fine.”
More red flags start to arise when police are contacted by Jimmy’s coworkers that night, somewhere between 9 p.m. and midnight, when he doesn’t show for work and a welfare check is requested. Upon answering the door for two police officers, body cam footage catches Nikki claiming that, while she is aware her husband is ‘missing’, she wanted to wait to file a missing person’s report, and acted seemingly unfazed during the interaction. After she goes back inside, one officer says to the other, “It’s weird, think somebody got killed?”
Investigation and discovery
On September 21st, 2018, Jamie is contacted by her and Jimmy’s mom and is told that Jimmy is missing, despite all of his belongings still being at the house. When Nikki is called by Jamie, she remains unconcerned, lying and telling Jamie that the police told her it was best not to fill out a missing persons report at this time. With pressure mounting from family and coworkers, Nikki ultimately does file the missing person’s report.
Not willing to open the door to talk to the responding officers, Nikki agrees to a phone call and the police return to their squad car. After the conversation is over, the responding officer, while not being able to prove it, believes something is wrong.
Frustrated with not getting any real answers from her sister in law, Jamie takes the drive up from her house in Floirda to Jimmy and Nikki’s house in Alabama, having made missing person signs and setting up search parties. While on the drive, Jamie remembered the photos of the insulin bottles and Jimmy’s fear that Nikki was drugging him. Putting two and two together, Chris starts to fear that Nikki gave Jimmy insulin.
As the family is en route to Jimmy and Nikki’s house, the police receive a tip from a woman who knows Nikki. The caller, remaining anonymous, claims Nikki called her, saying she killed Jimmy with insulin and put his body in the garage. After this call, the police rush to Nikki’s house and, while she permitted them to look in her house, she said she didn’t want them in the garage. Out of options, and believing Nikki felt pressured, the police have no choice but to wait for a warrant.
After receiving the warrant and entering the home, the officers could apparently ‘smell the death.’ Tragically, they find Jimmy’s body in the passenger side of the Corvette he was working on. Lying on a tarp and his legs in the car, it was clear that it was not where he had died. Further investigation of the house found an unused insulin needle on Nikki’s bedside table, the needle being taken for evidence
Nikki’s Interrogation and arrest
Upon being questioned on why she wouldn’t let the police check the garage, Nikki gave no real answer. Further probing from the police, in an attempt to get her to confess, only led to Nikki saying she ‘found’ Jimmy dead in the Corvette and that she didn’t tell anyone because she was scared of how it would look. While the police don’t buy this, Nikki ultimately requests a lawyer, leading to the end of the interrogation. Tim, however, tells the viewer that the police have enough to charge her: means, opportunity, and the recovered insulin needle.
Despite Jamie already having picked Ryleigh up from an undisclosed location, Nikki told police that she wanted her mother to have her daughter. Thankfully, courts granted Jamie and Chris emergency custody of their niece.
The problem with insulin
With the word ‘insulin’ repeatedly coming up, Tim decided that he needed to learn more about the substance. For those who don’t know, insulin is a very unstable substance, and, as medical examiner Valerie Green, M.D. of the AL Dept. of Forensic Sciences says, it breaks down quickly. If a body is left to decompose over a couple days, the amount of insulin left could be unreliable for murder charges. While this gave reason as to why Nikki was pushing everyone from family to police away, there was still not enough evidence to go beyond a reasonable doubt.
Unfortunately, during this time, Nikki was granted bail, leaving Jimmy’s family concerned that she will get off. However, months later, a friend of Nikki’s reaches out to investigators, telling them about a barbecue she was at a week before Jimmy died. The woman was joking, innocently, about how her husband is ‘worth more dead than alive,’ only for Nikki to say she could use insulin to kill him, adding, “I tried that last week…I don’t know how he survived.”
Trial and aftermath
Nikki Cappello’s trial began on May 16, 2022. The police tell the jury the entire story, from what second hand witnesses told them to what they pieced together themselves. Jamie recounts that, at the trial, Nikki never shed a tear or showed emotion, not even looking human anymore.
On the final day of trial, the jury deliberated for only 30 minutes before coming back with their decision: guilty. Nikki was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole and is serving out her sentence at Tutwiler Prison in Alabama. Ryleigh is being raised by Jamie and Chris.
If you or anyone you know is struggling with drug, alcohol, or substance abuse, please know that you are not alone. Below is a list of places you can contact for help and support:
SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration): 1-877-726-4727
House of Zen: 844-699-5411
Beacon Recovery Center: 866-788-8429
American Monster airs on Tuesdays at 8/7c on ID.
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