Jury finds man guilty in 2019 Newport Beach killings of his parents, housekeeper

Jurors Wednesday convicted 34-year-old Camden Burton Nicholson in the 2019 killing of his parents and their housekeeper in Newport Beach, and must now determine if he was criminally insane at the time.

Delivered this week in a Santa Ana courtroom, the verdict concludes the first stage of a two-part trial. The second will decide whether the defendant will be sentenced to life in prison or sent to a mental institution indefinitely.

Nicholson maintains he was in the throes of a psychotic break when the killings occurred over two days in February 2019, but prosecutors allege he deliberately ambushed his loved ones, claiming his true motive was greed.

The defendant had been discharged from a 72-hour involuntary psychiatric hold at College Hospital at 4:11 p.m. on Feb. 11, 2019, the day he killed his parents. He said he was going to their Bonita Canyon home and told medical staff not to let them know he was coming, according to prosecutors.

Nicholson entered the gated community and snuck into his parents’ house through a back window, Deputy Dist. Atty. Dave Porter said. Sometime after 6:51 p.m., he attacked his father, 64-year-old Richard Nicholson, with a kitchen knife, stabbing him in the chest, throat, genitals, neck and 15 times in the back.

“At some point, Richard had to have realized it was Camden,” Porter said. “He had to have known it was his own son who was killing him.”

The second victim, 61-year-old Kim Nicholson, had been out running errands most of that day. Her stops included a visit to the Newport Beach Police Department at about 2:30 p.m. to follow up on a missing persons report she and her husband had filed in search of their son.

Kim Nicholson returned home in her car at around 8:44 p.m and was killed before she could leave the garage, Porter said.

The defendant stabbed his mother and struck her with a 20-pound silver statue, according to the prosecution. Four wounds on the side of her mid-section were inflicted after she died, according to testimony from forensic experts.

Nicholson left his father’s body in a bathroom and stuffed towels under a door to prevent blood from seeping out, Porter said. The defendant used flour in the garage in an attempt to soak up the evidence of his mother’s killing.

Prosecutors say Nicholson, then 27, ambushed his family’s longtime housekeeper, 57-year-old Maria Morse, of Anaheim, as she arrived at the home at about 7:45 a.m. the next day. He placed her body in a plastic tub, hiding it inside a pantry, then drove her car out of the driveway and parked it outside of his parents’ gated neighborhood.

“Why else would you do that, unless you knew exactly what you did was wrong and you didn’t want it discovered?” Porter asked jurors. “There are actions by this defendant that aren’t consistent with a psychotic break.”

Later, Nicholson logged onto his mother’s laptop to retrieve files he claimed provided evidence his parents were trying to harm him. He drove to a Kaiser Health facility in Irvine that evening, then called 911 and confessed to the killings, claiming he acted in self-defense.

Porter said the notion Nicholson’s parents posed any threat to him was a “farce” invented by the defendant to sow doubt in case he was brought to trial. But his attorney, Richard Cheung of the Orange County public defender’s office, said his client’s fear was a recurring delusion symptomatic of a severe mental illness the defendant had been struggling with for at least seven years.

Growing up in Newport Beach, Nicholson was an Eagle Scout and a varsity golfer for Corona Del Mar High. He and his brother, Cavin Nicholson, were both close with their father but maintained contentious relationships with their mother.

Cavin Nicholson described his mother as verbally abusive and said she’d been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. He claimed she would “say things a mentally ill person should not hear.”

The family was active in the local Church of Latter-Day Saints community. Nicholson in 2012 went on a mission trip to Jacksonville, Fla. but was sent home early. Church officials never confirmed why the defendant failed to complete the rite of passage, but his brother testified he seemed to exhibit signs of depression and suicidal ideation upon his return from the trip.

“In that short time he went from a Boy Scout to using marijuana, steroids, the escorts — everything,” Cavin Nicholson said from the witness stand during the trial.

In late 2012, while the defendant was attending college in Salt Lake City, he had an episode that caused him to be placed on a 72-hour psychiatric hold. His brother recalled finding him in a parked car, wearing soaking wet clothes and threatening suicide.

Six years later, Nicholson was living in Colorado, working for his brother’s outdoor apparel company, Boundary Supply, and on the verge of receiving a promotion when he experienced another psychotic episode. He told medical staff at the time he believed his landlord was trying to kill him by lining his floors with oyster shells that released the nerve gas sarin.

The idea of being poisoned is a common delusion exhibited by people with schizophrenia-like disorders, and one of the defendant’s recurring fears, Cavin Nicholson said of his brother. He was known to request numerous room changes whenever he checked into a hotel, because he was concerned about the presence of black mold. He also maintained irrational fantasies about female mental health professionals who’d treated him over the years.

In the months leading up to the killings, Nicholson claimed in group texts to relatives that his mother was making sexual advances on him, according to testimony. When his parents threatened to cut him off financially unless he went into treatment, he left home and began staying at hotels.

Nicholson’s family filed a missing persons report for him on Dec. 15, 2018. On one occasion, they found out where he was staying and asked Newport Beach police to conduct a welfare check. He told officers he was safe and his parents were evil; the police took no further action.

“Now I understand they really couldn’t do anything,” Cavin Nicholson said of the responding officers. “But NBPD police showed up, checked him out and just walked away. Crazy. To this day I can’t believe they just walked away.”

Porter, the prosecutor, did not deny the defendant was suffering from a mental illness but noted Nicholson was never formally diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. He had been receiving treatment for autism spectrum disorder.

“There was the suspicion there was something worse?” Cheung asked the defendant’s brother during trial.

“We didn’t know,” the elder sibling replied. “He wouldn’t get help.”

After his parents cut him off financially, Nicholson sent a profanity-laden text to his father, claiming his family was conspiring against him. Richard Nicholson then reached out to one of his son’s former therapists, Alison Kress. She testified in court Nicholson appeared to be experiencing delusions indicative of schizoaffective disorder.

Licensed psychologist Mark Zelig, testifying for the prosecution, challenged Kress’ analysis, noting she had not seen her former patient for years when she made that conclusion. He added that in past mental health evaluations, the defendant exhibited a tendency to portray himself as a victim and exaggerate his illness.

Zelig and Porter stated Nicholson had been taking the mood stabilizer Depakote for several days prior to his release from College Hospital. There should have been enough of the drug in his system at the time to be effective, they said, but the defendant left the facility before a confirming blood test could be performed.

Porter said failure to conduct the drug test was the sole reason Nicholson was released “against medical advice,” as noted in documents presented in court.

Cheung pointed out his client’s original discharge notice had gone missing from College Hospital’s records before the trial began. The defense attorney suggested someone concerned about potential liability to the medical facility may have attempted to hide information from investigators. However, notes from the clinician who treated Nicholson during his involuntary hold indicated the patient was still “unstable.”

Those records were among numerous pieces of evidence of Nicholson’s deteriorating mental health Cheung claims were ignored by investigators in an effort to secure charges of first-degree murder against his client. The defense attorney claimed Newport Beach police detectives never interviewed any of Nicholson’s therapists and didn’t examine his medical records, despite the fact Cavin Nicholson had discussed his brother’s past episodes in interviews with police shortly after the murders.

Cavin Nicholson said he didn’t contact his brother for about three or four years after their parents were killed. Most of their first reunion was spent catching up and discussing the defendant’s dissatisfaction with his treatment by hospital staff. But the witness also recalled his younger brother bringing up the topic of their inheritance, saying something to the effect of “I want what’s mine.”

“He was obsessed with getting his money,” Porter said during closing statements. “And he was upset that his parents were putting restrictions on how he lives his life and spends his money.”

Cavin Nicholson clarified during his testimony that his brother’s preoccupation with wealth came from a “wholesome place,” and that he was concerned about being able to start a family and provide for them.

He explained to the jury that when the defendant had raised the issue of inheritance, he’d had a mixed reaction.

“Part of me was really blown away,” he said. “The other [part] understood he wanted a good defense in trial.”