Published: August 18, 2008 10:16 pm         

Colorado man charged with murder in Nimmo case

A second first-degree murder charge has been filed in Blaine County for the death of a man who was reported missing more than two years ago and is presumed dead by authorities.

Mesa County (Colo.) Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested Michael Wayne Wood Sr. on a first-degree murder warrant Thursday morning at his home in Clifton, Colo., which is a suburb of Grand Junction. Online court records show the warrant for Wood’s arrested was issued Wednesday.

Wood faces life in prison, life without parole or death if convicted of murdering then 29-year-old Donovan Nimmo.

According to an affidavit prepared by OSBI Agent Shane Vore, Nimmo’s car was found abandoned on a dirt road southeast of Watonga Jan. 20, 2005, by a Blaine County Sheriff’s deputy.

On March 23, 2005, Jennifer Marie Durbin was arrested during an undercover OSBI operation in which she purchased a weapon, after a former felony conviction.

Following her arrest, Durbin told agents she was a friend of Nimmo’s and on Jan. 19, 2005, she and her boyfriend, Wood, lured Nimmo to her trailer by telling him she had methamphetamine and needed to return his cell phone.

Durbin told the agents Nimmo had not met Wood but was afraid of him because of threats Wood had made over the phone. She said Nimmo would not have come to her trailer if he’d known Wood was there, the affidavit states. Durbin said they concealed Wood’s identity by telling Nimmo it was her brother.

When Nimmo arrived at the trailer, Durbin said she revealed Wood’s identity. She said they went into a back bedroom of the trailer, where her boyfriend began shocking Nim-mo with a stun gun. The stun gun did not work so Wood began beating Nimmo until he went down.

Durbin told agents she acted as a lookout during the beating and retrieved a green extension cord, which she and Wood used to bind Nimmo. Durbin told agents after binding Nimmo, she and Wood put him in the trunk of his car and her boyfriend drove Nimmo’s car as she followed in her boyfriend’s car.

When Nimmo’s car ran out of gas, they put Nimmo into Wood’s vehicle and Nimmo’s car was abandoned on the side of the road, according to the affidavit. Durbin told agents she and Wood continued to drive around western Oklahoma looking for a place to dispose of Nimmo’s body. Durbin told agents she and Wood stopped several times and beat Nimmo in an attempt to keep him quiet.

Durbin told agents she and Wood used various items to beat Nimmo, including a metal thermos and bottle car jack. Durbin said Wood eventually stopped and removed Nimmo’s body from the trunk and threw his body off a bridge into water.

On July 3, Kingfisher County jail inmate Don Atkinson told OSBI agents in November 2005 he met Wood while working at an oil rig in Colorado. He said he befriended Wood and the two began using drugs together, eventually becoming roommates.

Atkinson said Wood was “very paranoid” and after several days of prompting Wood told him about the night he and Durbin beat Nimmo, rolled his body into a piece of carpet and disposed of it, the affidavit states.

During Thanksgiving 2005, Wood joined Atkinson in Texas for dinner and met Crystal Ann Burchett, who he began dating. Before Christ-mas 2005, Burchett moved in with Wood and Atkinson with her two children.

While living together, Burchett found letters written to Durbin by Woods saying he should be in prison for the murder and the body was rolled up in a carpet and disposed of, the affidavit states.

On July 13, Burchett reported to OSBI agents Wood was “extremely paranoid when it came to cops” and about four months into their relationship Wood began having nightmares, where he was on a bridge and someone was reaching out of the water and pulling him in.

Burchett said she questioned Wood about the nightmares and one night, while they were getting high, Wood said he had killed Nimmo, according to the affidavit.

The following day, Burchett found newspaper clippings from Oklahoma about the Nimmo investigation and letter from Durbin telling Wood everything she had told law enforcement and “she thought he was leaving her holding the bag,” the affidavit states.

Burchett questioned Wood about the letter and newspaper clippings and Wood described the murder in detail to her, the affidavit states.

Wood said he and Durbin dated as well as being partners in crime. He said one night he and Durbin lured a man that owed them money to a trailer. The three began getting high and Durbin hit Nimmo with a wooden baseball bat. Wood had a broken hand at the time and used a Taser on Nimmo. However, because he was high on methamphetamine he was not fazed by the Taser.

Wood and Durbin drove around looking for a place to dispose of the body. Wood wanted to drop Nimmo off at a hospital but Durbin refused because Nimmo would report the incident to police, the affidavit states. At some point, Nimmo was making noise in the trunk and was begging for his life and asking for his mother. Wood used what Burchett thought was a crowbar to beat Nimmo. Wood and Durbin continued to drive with Nimmo in the trunk until they found a bridge, where they threw Nimmo’s body in water.

Durbin told agents she and Wood tried to destroy evidence of the murder and attempted to bleach the carpet where Nimmo had bled. During a search of Durbin’s trailer and surrounding property, OSBI agents found a burned object Durbin said was used to beat Nimmo. DNA analysis confirmed Nimmo’s blood was on the carpet, carpet pad and towel in Durbin’s trailer, according to the affidavit.

A first-degree murder charge was filed in Blaine County July 30 against Durbin. According to online court records, she is scheduled for an initial appearance on the charge Aug. 26 in Blaine County District Court. No date has been scheduled for Wood.