MA MA - Michelle Ashley Nicholaou, 22, Holyoke, Nov/Dec 1988

[hmg]

Michelle Marie Ashley Nicholaou
Missing since between November / December, 1988 from Holyoke, Hampden County, Massachusetts
Classification: Endangered Missing

Vital Statistics
* Date Of Birth: October 18, 1966
* Age at Time of Disappearance: 22 years old
* Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5' 4"; 100-160 lbs. (Usually weighed 120 lbs.)
* Distinguishing Characteristics: Sandy brown, wavy, thick hair; brown eyes. Possibly two piercings in each ear.
* Medical: She gave birth to three children.
* Dentals: Growing up, Michelle had a gap in her two front teeth. Sometime while she was with Michael Nicholaou, she had the gap fixed.
* AKA: Nicholaou, Nicolaou, Nicolau, Nicols, Nichols, Nicholno, Nickol, maybe Nichalaon.
* DNA: Available in the National Missing Person Data Base

Michelle was last seen by her family sometime in November 1988 either at her sister's wedding or at a McDonald's in Chicopee, Massachusetts. At that time she was the commonlaw wife of Michael Nicholaou and her two children in an apartment in Holyoke, Massachusetts. When the family went to Michelle's apartment a few days before Christmas in December 1988, Michelle and her family were missing. The Christmas tree was up with presents underneath it and there was food in the fridge but Michelle was nowhere to be found. Her family reported her missing on December 20, 1988, but she may have been missing as early as late November of that year.

Michael Nicholaou, her commonlaw husband, left for Virginia with his two young children around the time of Michelle's disappearance. It is thought that in that time period Michael left the children with a partner he owned a shop with, stole her van, and left for an unknown destination. From 1989 to 1992, Michael and his children lived with relatives and in the family car.

Michael was reportedly abusive and controlling towards Michelle to the point where he would not let her shave her armpits. In August 1988, Michelle left Michael taking their children with her, but by November 1988 they were apparently back together and attended Michelle's sister's wedding as a couple. After her disappearance, Michael claimed Michelle either ran off with a drug dealer or that she was dead.

In 2001, a private investigator contacted Michael about Michelle's disappearance. Shortly thereafter, Michael and his third wife moved to Georgia. In November 2006, Michael ran over his third wife, Aileen, with his car after an argument. She moved to Florida to recover. On New Year's Eve of that year, Michael shot Aileen, her daughter, and himself to death in a double murder-suicide.

Subsequently, Michael Nicholaou has come to light as a potential suspect in a string of serial murders in New Hampshire and Vermont in 1980s, the Colonial Parkway murders in Virginia, and murders and rapes in Texas, Florida, Massachusetts, and possibly New York and Illinois as well. He has not been named responsible for any of these murders or rapes however.

Members of Websleuths have presented to law enforcement two potential UIDs who may match Michelle Nicholaou:

An UID found in Warwick, MA in June 1989: MA MA-Unidentified female , possible cult link - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community

An UID found in Carroll County, MD in 2009: MD-UID Female found 03/24/09 Carroll County - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community

The status of these comparisons are unknown at this time.

 

[hmg]

Here's a story about the friendship formed between Nick Nicholaou, Michelle's son, and the private investigator who has been trying to find Michelle for years.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wirestory?id=9646804&page=1

 

[hmg]

I don't visit Websleuths as often as I should anymore but with the holidays upon us I've been thinking about Michelle's case and wanted to bump it up.

This year will mark the 25th anniversary of her disappearance, let's hope it's the year her family finally gets closure.

ETA: Here is Michelle's file on DoeNet http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/2355dfma.html
and on Charley Project http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/n/nicholaou_michelle.html

 

[Coffee56]

Man that got away?

 

[Bit of hope]

Man that got away?

Hi @Coffee56 is it possible you give me a short look at the article? you posted. I'm not allowed to open it, due to privacy policies.

 

[Coffee56]

Hi @Coffee56 is it possible you give me a short look at the article? you posted. I'm not allowed to open it, due to privacy policies.

I sent you a message. Its lengthy. I'll grab some snippets for here.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A murder-suicide in Florida five months ago has rekindled interest in a series of unsolved murders in the 1980s along the Connecticut River Valley that separates New Hampshire and Vermont. The Florida deaths on New Year's Eve 2005 caught the attention of a private investigator in St. Petersburg because she recognized the name of the killer, Michael Nicholaou, who shot his estranged wife and stepdaughter before killing himself.

Lynn-Marie Carty was startled on New Year's Day as she read a news story about the murder-suicide in Tampa. She knew of Michael Nicholaou (pronounced NICK-allow). Five years earlier, a Vermont mother hired Carty to find a daughter, Michelle Ashley, who had two babies with Nicholaou, then disappeared in 1988. Carty said the mother suspected Nicholaou, based on something her daughter once said: "If I'm ever missing, he killed me, and you need to track him down and find the kids.

Once, Carty said, Michelle told her mother she feared Nicholaou and planned to leave him after her sister's November 1988 wedding. In December 1988, her mother went to the couple's Holyoke apartment. The Christmas tree was up, presents unopened. The refrigerator was full of spoiled food. In the years that followed, Nicholaou, with kids in tow, visited his mother in Virginia, friends in Florida and Army buddies across the country. He told some Michelle had run off with a drug dealer. He told others she was dead.

 

[PayrollNerd]

Wow. Sounds like a lot of mysteries could be solved with this guys DNA.

More snips from the link:
Rowland now has Nicholaou's fingerprints, and he's working to get DNA from the medical examiner in Florida. The forensics lab that tests DNA is backed up with current homicide cases, Rowland said, so he doesn't expect an answer until late in the summer.

The remains of at least six other young women had been dumped beside back roads along Interstate 91 in a stretch that straddled Vermont and New Hampshire. A killer had slit throats and stabbed victims repeatedly in the lower abdomen.

The dead included:
Mary Elizabeth Critchley, a hitchhiker.
Bernice Courtemanche, a 17-year-old nurse's aide.
Ellen Fried, a nurse.
Eva Morse, a single mother.
Lynda Moore, a housewife.
Barbara Agnew, another nurse.
Jane Boroski, the pregnant woman who survived.

 

[PayrollNerd]

PDF of that article linked above. I added some spacing for clarity.

 

[Bit of hope]

Interesting....I'm looking into the possibility Michelle could be somehow this Jane Doe....what was Nicolaou doing after 1988 and re-servicing when he shot his second wife in Florida?

FL - FL - Sanibel Island, White Female, 30-50, '95, #UP5316 // Floating In The Gulf, Oct 1995

 

[Bit of hope]

I sent you a message. Its lengthy. I'll grab some snippets for here.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A murder-suicide in Florida five months ago has rekindled interest in a series of unsolved murders in the 1980s along the Connecticut River Valley that separates New Hampshire and Vermont. The Florida deaths on New Year's Eve 2005 caught the attention of a private investigator in St. Petersburg because she recognized the name of the killer, Michael Nicholaou, who shot his estranged wife and stepdaughter before killing himself.

Lynn-Marie Carty was startled on New Year's Day as she read a news story about the murder-suicide in Tampa. She knew of Michael Nicholaou (pronounced NICK-allow). Five years earlier, a Vermont mother hired Carty to find a daughter, Michelle Ashley, who had two babies with Nicholaou, then disappeared in 1988. Carty said the mother suspected Nicholaou, based on something her daughter once said: "If I'm ever missing, he killed me, and you need to track him down and find the kids.

Once, Carty said, Michelle told her mother she feared Nicholaou and planned to leave him after her sister's November 1988 wedding. In December 1988, her mother went to the couple's Holyoke apartment. The Christmas tree was up, presents unopened. The refrigerator was full of spoiled food. In the years that followed, Nicholaou, with kids in tow, visited his mother in Virginia, friends in Florida and Army buddies across the country. He told some Michelle had run off with a drug dealer. He told others she was dead.

Sweet! Thank you so much. Very much appreciated.

 

[CastlesBurning]

Bumping for Michelle - it's now been over 33 years.

 

[Ramrod19]

I don't know if anyone is still following the cases of Michael Nicholaou, and I have nothing new to add. But for what it is worth, I spent a year with Nick in 1969/70 in the Mekong Delta of South Vietnam. We were assigned to the 335th Assault Helicopter Company, 214th Aviation Battalion, 164th Group, 1st Aviation Brigade. We were stationed at Bearcat, a compound north of Long Than and east of Long Bien in III Corps. In 1970 our unit moved to IV Corps to a small compound named Dong Tam, west of My Tho, north of Ben Tre.
In an assault helicopter company there are four platoons: two Lift platoons, one Gun platoon, and one Maintenance platoon. I was initially assigned as a UH-1H pilot in the first lift platoon, and Nick was in the second lift platoon. After we gained experience, Nick moved to the gun platoon full time, and I moved to the maintenance platoon and divided my flight time between maintenance test flights and filling in for the gun platoon. So I had daily contact with Nick.
Nick craved being the center of attention and would do almost anything to get that attention, from acts of cruelty such as spraying down a rat with lighter fluid and setting it on fire, to hazing new arrivals by staking them to the ground and conducting mild torture. He was charismatic and could lead otherwise good, stable pilots into doing the unthinkable. Most everyone acknowledged that Nick was crazier than anyone else, but no one had any idea how crazy. Commanders just explained his behavior away by saying that he was young, dumb, and full of "vinegar"
There is more to the Nick story, but this is to say that his deviant behavior started long before his court martial killing non-combatants.

 

[Caring1]

Bump for Michelle

2 Unidentified Person Exclusions

 

[John/Jane Doe]

Michelle Marie Ashley Nicholaou – The Charley Project

 

[BeginnerSleuther]

So was the DNA ever tested?

 

[Pennysmom2]

2355DFMA - Michelle Marie Ashley Nicholaou

Top Row - Left to Right : Michelle, November 1988; April 1987; December 1986; unknown

Name: Michelle Marie Ashley Nicholaou
Case Classification: Endangered Missing
Missing Since: November / December, 1988
Location Last Seen: Holyoke, Hampden County, Massachusetts

Physical Description​

Date of Birth: October 18, 1966
Age: 22 years old
Race: White
Gender: Female
Height: 5'0" - 5'4"
Weight: 100 - 160 lbs (Usually weighed 120 lbs)
Hair Color: Sandy brown; shoulder length; wavy, thick; no bangs
Eye Color: Brown (eyes slanted)
Nickname/Alias: Nicholaou, Nicolaou, Nicolau, Nicols, Nichols, Nicholno, Nickol, maybe Nichalaon
Distinguishing Marks/Features: Ears were pierced; possibly two piercings in each ear; she gave birth to three children

Identifiers​

Dentals: Growing up, Michelle had a gap in her two front teeth. Sometime while she was with Michael Nicholaou, she had the gap fixed.
Fingerprints: Not Available
DNA: Available (National Missing Person Data Base)

Clothing & Personal Items​

Clothing: Unknown
Jewelry: Unknown
Additional Personal Items: Unknown

Circumstances of Disappearance​

Michelle was last seen in Holyoke, Massachusetts, between November and December, 1988. At the time, she was living with her common-law husband, Michael Nicholaou. According to family members, Nicholaou kept close tabs on Michelle, and was very controlling - to the point, he would not even allow her to shave her underarms. They traveled a lot, between Louisiana, Massachusetts, Virginia, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

Sometime in the beginning of August 1988, Michelle took their two children, and ran away from Nicholaou. Nicholaou was furious and drove to her relative's homes in New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts, looking for them. When Nicholaou found Michelle and the children, he forced her to go back with him; three to four months later, sometime after her sister's November 1988 wedding, Michelle vanished.

When her family went looking for her in December, they found the home abandoned, the refrigerator full of food, the Christmas tree up with wrapped presents underneath, and her children's baby books, all left behind. There was no sign of Michelle. Michael Nicholaou had run off with the children. Michelle's family filed a missing persons report on December 20, 1988.

In 2000, Michelle�s mom asked Private Investigator, Lynn-Marie Carty, to help her find out what happened to Michelle, and to track down Nicholaou and the children. Ms. Carty traced Nicholaou's steps right after Michelle's disappearance to Virginia. He left the children with a former employee of his shop, stole her van, and ran again. Later, he came back for the children, and went to his brother's house, where he left the kids for a year. He also visited his mother's house, also in Virginia; some former Army buddies in Florida; and lived with the children, in the family car in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida in 1992. When people asked about Michelle, he repeated a story of her running off with a drug dealer, or he told others she was dead.

Michelle grew up in Connecticut River Valley, and met Nicholaou in Virginia. Nicholaou grew up in Long Island, and enlisted in the Army, serving in the Vietnam War. He and Michelle moved to Charlottesville, Virginia, where Nicholaou opened a shop. When the business failed, they moved to Holyoke, Massachusetts. They had a daughter born in Virginia in 1986, and a son was born in South Hampton, Massachusetts in 1988. The two children have since reunited with their mothers family.

In October 2001, Investigator Carty, tracked Nicholaou down in Lutz, Florida. She called him and his wife Aileen. He denied even knowing Michelle, but finally admitted he did, but said they were never married, and claimed she ran off with a Columbian drug dealer. At the end of the conversation, Ms. Carty told Nicholaou she was giving Michelle's mom his number and hung up. According to investigators, Nicholaou tore the phone from the wall, and again went on the run. He and his wife Aileen moved to Georgia, where it is alleged Nicholaou ran her over with a car after an argument, in November 2005. On New Years Eve, in 2005, Nicholaou went to Florida where Aileen was recuperating, and gunned down his estranged wife, and stepdaughter Terrin Bowman. Surrounded by police, he fatally shot himself.

According to authorities, Michael Nicholaou is now a person of interest in the Connecticut River Valley Serial Killings, rapes, disappearances and murders of other women in New Hampshire, Virginia, Texas, Florida, Vermont, Massachusetts, and possibly New York and Illinois.

NCIC Case Number: M882077090
NamUs Case Number: 22818

Information Source(s)​

NamUs
Crime Shadows
St. Petersburg Times 1/08/06
The Family of Michelle Marie Ashley Nicholaou

Admin Notes​

Added: Prior to 2011; Last Updated: 10-07-2022 - By: hwa

 

[Pennysmom2]

Michelle Marie Ashley Nicholaou – The Charley Project (additional information)

<<Michael is described as very controlling and possessive of Michelle, and her personality changed after she got involved with him. They stayed in various places around the United States, including Louisiana, Massachusetts, Virginia, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

Michael had served as a helicopter pilot in the Army during Vietnam War. He and seven other helicopter crewmen were charged with murder and attempted murder for strafing civilians. The charges were dropped for insufficient evidence after six months, however, and Michael was released from active duty and sent home.

After arriving in the United States, he displayed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, including nightmares, flashbacks and angry outbursts. He received psychiatric treatment from the Department of Veterans Affairs for his problems. Michael was decorated with two Purple Hearts, two Silver Stars and two Bronze Stars for his service in combat.>>


Archived article from The Tampa Bay Times July 11, 2006

https://archive.ph/XiT1Y

 

[Richard]

Bumping this thread up.

Michelle is still missing and her case remains open after 35 years.

It is most likely that she was killed by her common law husband Michael Nicholaou. He later murdered another wife and her daughter before committing suicide.
He is a strong suspect in the Connecticut Valley serial killer case.