Former Huntsville nurse convicted of murder files appeal

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) - A former Huntsville nurse who was sentenced to life in prison in July for the murder of her husband and was denied a new trial in August has now filed an appeal, court records show.

A notice of the appeal was filed on Aug. 30.

On Aug. 12, Marjorie Nichole (Nikki) Cappello and her defense team submitted a motion for a new trial, arguing that the prosecution submitted insufficient evidence According to Chief Trial Attorney, Tim Douthit, a judge denied the defense team’s motion for a new trial on Aug. 15.

“It feels good to hear her motion was denied and her conviction will continue to be upheld,” Jim’s sister Jamie Weast said. “She will remain behind bars where she belongs.”

In July, Nikki Cappello entered a Madison County Courtroom to be sentenced for the murder of her husband, Jim Cappello. Jim was a well-known private investigator who was reported missing in September 2018 before he was found dead of insulin poisoning.

“It’s actually surprisingly rare that we run into truly evil people, truly unrepentantly evil people in this world,” Douthit added. “This is one of those cases. I’m happy to get up every morning and fight that.”

In the original motion, Nikki Cappello’s defense team argued that the prosecution was unable to support a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt. The defense argued this because the prosecution was unable to provide a conclusive cause of death.

The motion also claimed that the state did not prove that a crime happened or that someone is criminally responsible for it. The motion ended with the defense team asking the court to vacate Nikki Cappello’s conviction and set a new trial.

Attorney Will League said that the civil suit can be continued now that the criminal phase is complete.

“We will now proceed with the civil to try and get restitution, money and compensation damages for the estate, which is really the minor child,” League said.

A number of friends and family members of Jim Cappello were interviewed exclusively by WAFF 48.

Jim’s father was happy with the final sentencing.

“It’s over with and she’s going to jail,” Jim Cappello, Sr. said. “Riley’s the victim here.”

Jim’s sister Jamie Weist has permanent custody of the Cappello’s daughter Ryleigh. After sentencing, she reflected on the day her brother’s body was found.

“She almost got away with it except her family was en route,” Weist said. “I think she panicked and she knew she had to get the body out. And at that point, she was calling a friend to help. We were hours away and I’m a pit bull. I was gonna find him. Determined to find him. I was packed and ready.”

Matt Hornbuckle, Jim’s best friend, said he heard many times about the case Jim was building against Nikki Cappello for future full custody.

“He would talk to me about the fact that he was building a case against his wife to be able to take Ryleigh and get sole custody of her,” Hornbuckle said. “He mentioned more than on one occasion that if he ever came up dead, it was his wife that killed him.”

THE INVESTIGATION

On September 22, 2018, Nikki Cappello called a close friend named Crystal Anderson and confided in her that Jim was not really missing, according to one Huntsville Police Investigator in a case preliminary hearing. Anderson claimed Nikki Cappello said she killed him with insulin and asked her to come help dispose of the body.

After a brief pause as she put Anderson on hold, investigators say she came back on the line and told Anderson not to worry about it after all and that she had another friend that was coming to help her.

Anderson then called the police to report everything because she was concerned.

Patrol officers responded to the house. One officer went to the backyard and the other went to the front door, to cover all of the exits and entrances. The officer in front asked Nikki Cappello to step out on the front porch to speak to him and when she did, he smelled the odor of a decomposing body.

He detained her there and the officer in the back spotted a small freshly dug grave.

Huntsville Police Department Major Crimes investigator Mike DeNoon testified that he could smell a dead body as he approached the house.

He spoke to Nikki Cappello and asked her if he could look inside the home and he said she became very nervous. He asked for her consent to search and eventually she agreed but told him he could not look in the garage.

HPD obtained a search warrant and found Jim Cappello’s body on the floor in the garage. According to Investigator DeNoon, Jim Cappello was on his back on top of a tarp and both of his feet had been set on the floorboard of a car like someone was trying to load him into the vehicle.

At that point, Nikki Cappello was taken to the Criminal Investigations Division for questioning.

DeNoon had a brief conversation with her and told the court that she acted as if nothing had happened.

He asked her: “You know I went inside...You know I found him, right?”

She responded: “Yes, I knew he was there.”

DeNoon explained that Jim Cappello had become suspicious that his wife was abusing narcotics so he started investigating her and gathering evidence. He wanted to leave her and wanted custody of their daughter, Ryleigh.

At one point, he found a bottle of insulin and snapped a photo of it, and sent it to a friend, but he didn’t know what it was at the time.

Investigators went to the hospital where Nikki Cappello worked as a charge nurse. Coworkers said she was very open about the fact that she was having problems with her husband and reportedly told them that the only way she would be free of him would be if he was dead.

Hospital staffers also went back through medications and found that insulin was missing, with no record of any patient needing it.

There was nothing to indicate that Jim or Nikki Cappello needed insulin for any health reason.

DeNoon said Nikki Cappello claimed she accidentally brought a bottle of insulin home from work.

After their short talk at CID, DeNoon read Nikki Cappello her rights and she requested an attorney.

Police indicated that surveillance from Cappello’s home has been sent to the FBI forensics lab for analysis. Phones, computers and tablets were also taken, per the search warrant.

MULTIPLE TRIAL DELAYS

Nikki Cappello’s trial was scheduled for January 27, 2020, but was delayed several times due to COVID-19 and legal maneuvering.

Then, in February 2020, Cappello waived her arraignment and pleaded not guilty.

After the May 2022 trial, prosecutor Tim Douthit said the defense’s argument just wasn’t strong enough.

“The defense has based its whole case that without a medical cause of death you can’t prove a murder has been committed,” Douthit said in May. “That is not the law in the state of Alabama.”

Prosecutors had a jam-packed witness list over the four-day trial, which led to some eye-opening testimony. Some of the witnesses included Jim Cappello’s former co-workers, his sister, and Nikki Cappello’s best friend.

JIM CAPPELLO’S FAMILY CONTINUES TO RAISE THE COUPLE’S DAUGHTER

With Jim Cappello dead and his wife charged with his murder, who would take in their four-year-old daughter?

Little Ryleigh’s health and safety were a top priority. A judge awarded Jim Cappello’s sister, Jamie Weast, permanent custody.

WAFF traveled to Jamie’s home in North Florida to see how Ryleigh is doing, almost four years later.

“She just fit right into our family. You know her cousins welcomed her in and her cousins actually refer to her as “my sister,” Weast said. “At the end of it all, I want her to be in jail for life and I want to adopt Ryleigh because she’s ours.”

OTHER STORIES ON THIS CASE SINCE 2018

• Jim Cappello’s family speaks about life of murdered private investigator
• Nikki Capello surrenders nursing license
• Lawsuit filed in murder of Jim Capello

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