In the quiet Vermont winter, a 43-year-old Caucasian male named Corey Crooker vanished, sparking an investigation that would unravel a grim and horrifying tale. Family members last saw the Bradford man on January 9, 2025, and the last known communication with him was on the evening of January 14. Initially, his disappearance was treated as a missing person case, with state police receiving a request for a welfare check on January 18.
Crooker, who did not have a fixed address, was known to frequent several towns in Vermont and New Hampshire. As the days turned into weeks with no sign of him, concern within the community grew, and what began as a routine search soon took a sinister turn.
By early February, the Vermont State Police announced the investigation into Crooker's disappearance had become suspicious and potentially criminal. This shift in focus led them to a property on Old Post Road in Bradford, the residence of James D. Nickles Jr., 42, and his girlfriend, Lisa Akey, 41. Investigators executed a court-ordered search of the home, a critical step that began to peel back the layers of the mystery. Both Nickles and Akey initially told police a story about Crooker leaving their home with an unknown woman in a dark-colored SUV. This account, however, would soon crumble under the weight of the developing investigation.
The grim truth of Corey Crooker's fate began to surface through the course of the investigation, revealing a story of a brutal killing. A confidential informant told police that Nickles had shot Crooker twice in the head and once in the chest with a shotgun. Following the murder, the informant alleged that Nickles and Akey worked together to burn and dismember Crooker's body over a period of three days. Federal investigators later stated that Nickles confessed to the killing, claiming he shot Crooker after an argument. The search of the Old Post Road property reportedly uncovered bone fragments, physical evidence of the horrific events that transpired there.
In May, the investigation culminated in arrests. The Vermont State Police obtained an arrest warrant for James D. Nickles Jr., charging him with second-degree murder, unauthorized burial or removal of a dead body, and providing false information to police. At the time the warrant was issued, Nickles was already in federal custody on firearms charges that stemmed from the February search of his home. His girlfriend, Lisa Akey, was also arrested and faced charges of being an accessory after the fact, obstruction of justice, and providing false information to law enforcement for her alleged role in concealing the crime.
