Matthew Kidder is a man from Omaha who pleaded guilty to strangling a family friend whose body was discovered in her bathtub in June 2015. The convict used a cell phone as a deadly weapon in the death of Jessica Nelson.
Kidder killed his family friend and even attended her funeral before being arrested. He was convicted of first-degree murder and the use of a deadly weapon. He faced a mandatory sentence of life in prison.
According to the police, the Omaha man raped and strangled 28 years old Nelson on June 25, 2015. Moreover, he was a longtime family friend of the deceased family. A jury took forty-one minutes to find him guilty in September.
Where Is Matthew Kidder Now?
Matthew Kidder was convicted of first-degree murder and the use of a deadly weapon in the death of Jessica Nelson. She had been raped and strangled in her home, and the man faced a mandatory life sentence in prison in 2016.
In 2018, the appeal by the convicted killer resulted in a stiffer sentence. Kidder initially received 50 years for the weapon count, but a judge revised it to twenty years after being told fifty years was outside the range permitted by law.
The Nebraska Supreme Court upheld Matthew’s convictions and life sentence but ordered the trial court to reinstate its initial 50 years sentence. The court stated that Nebraska law does permit up to 50 years. Thus, the court’s original pronouncement was valid.
When he killed Nelson, prosecutors stated Matthew had been released from prison for another woman’s sexual assault and choking. Kidder previously served four years in prison for another sexual assault and received credit for 475 days served.
Jessica Nelson Murder Convict Matthew Kidder Age -Wiki Bio
Matthew Kidder was twenty-eight years old when he received life in prison for the brutal strangulation of his family friend Jessica Nelson who was found dead in her rental home in the bathtub in Omaha at North 83rd and Miami.
The officials stated Kidder sexually assaulted Nelson before killing her in the bathtub. Police stated the DNA from her fingernails and the cellphone cord used to strangle her matched Matthew’s. Moreover, his call records showed he was at her house the night he killed her.
An Omaha police investigation, led by Ryan Davis, Detective, determined Matthew, who had previously served a prison term for assaulting a neighbor, killed Jessica after she repeatedly and politely refused his texts asking her to go out.
In September, a jury deliberated for 41 minutes before finding Matthew guilty of killing the Omaha woman. Nelson’s family further expressed their satisfaction with the punishment.
Murder Convict Matthew Kidder Sentence
Matthew Kidder was convicted of first-degree murder and the use of a deadly weapon and faced a mandatory sentence of life in prison in 2016. He allegedly killed a family friend, Jessica Nelson, at her Omaha home on June 25, 2015.
Nelson was an amazing young woman whose death was senseless, brutal, and horrific. It was all at the hands of a man she trusted and considered a friend, said prosecutors Brenda Beadle and Beth Beninato.
Beninato further addressed it as the ultimate betrayal. He added that the defendant’s actions were selfish, pathetic, and brutal. Nelson was also a mother of her then eight years old child with her former boyfriend, Johnathan McDowell.
Nelson’s family members called out, “Yes!” as the convict received the mandatory life in prison for first-degree murder. Some close ones wept quietly while others pumped their fists.