Police: Man Admitted Killing Bartender Nicole Gland After "Drug Binge"
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A 50-year-old man has been charged with murder in the stabbing death of 24-year-old Nicole Gland outside the bar where she worked in Chesterton, Indiana.
Chesterton Police Chief Dave Cincoski said Christopher M. Dillard, of Hobart, worked as a bouncer at the Upper Deck Lounge where Gland tended bar, and delivered marijuana and cocaine to her late Tuesday night.
The chief said Dillard was not working at the time, and admitted putting the drugs in her car and snorting a line of cocaine before leaving to go to another bar.
Dillard allegedly called his live-in girlfriend around 7 a.m. Wednesday – about 3 hours after Gland left work and before her body was found in her SUV – and told his girlfriend "I really f***ed up. I don't know you'll take me back."
Gland's body was found slumped over the wheel of her Ford Escape, outside the Upper Deck Lounge in Chesterton, around 9:15 a.m. Wednesday.
Later, after Dillard's girlfriend heard about Gland's murder, she called Hobart police and told them a knife was missing from their butcher block. She had called Hobart police two days earlier to report Dillard had taken her truck without permission, according to Cincoski.
Dillard was taken into custody, and asked to speak to his girlfriend on Thursday in a police interview room.
While being recorded, Dillard allegedly told his girlfriend "I killed that girl. I didn't mean to."
Dillard had allegedly told police he was in a drug-induced haze after dropping off the cocaine and marijuana for Gland, and didn't remember what happened after that.
"The events were hazy from a self-induced drug binge which he described as rough partying," Cincoski said.
Dillard also allegedly admitted he had taken a knife from the butcher block two months ago to use for protection, and placed it on the floor of his girlfriend's truck, but claimed it later fell out at some point.
Cincoski said police have not yet determined why Dillard allegedly killed Gland, and said the exact circumstances of the stabbing are unclear. The chief said police are reviewing surveillance cameras from the area, and are investigating other "persons of interest" in the case.
Dillard was being held without bail at the Porter County Jail.
Gland's death was the first murder in Chesterton in three years.