Journey to Justice
Kenneth Pierce hit-and-run death of Nicole Rae Walker
A hit-and-run accident left a six-year-old dead and two other children injured. It'd take police nearly a month to find the vehicle, but could they identify the driver?
Original air date: January 2, 2001
Posted: July 24, 2022
By: Robert S.
Season 5, Episode 17
The 1992 summer vacation was just getting underway for the kids in a suburban neighborhood in Fort Lauderdale. The blistering sun had finally set, and the Vitello girls, Gina and Michelle, were still outside with their friends. At 11 and 9 years old, Joel and Brooke Mansey were commonly found with the 10-year-old twins. Six-year-old Nicole Walker rounded out their crew. A heavy but brief thunderstorm had rolled through the area earlier, typical for the south Florida region. Several large puddles still lined 33rd Avenue, and one of the largest accumulated over a storm drain.
The ankle-deep water swelled well into the street. Little Nicole had not worn her shoes again, and her mom always told her that walking barefoot though a puddle will make you sick. So, Michelle Vitello put Nicole on her hip, and the children traversed the water. From the north, the headlights of a pickup truck suddenly lit up the children. They'd seemingly come out of nowhere. Joel and Gina yelled out as they moved to avoid the truck. But carrying Nicole, Michelle was slower to react, and the pair were struck hard. Brooke had also been hit.
In the puddle and well out of the road, the truck had swerved into the group of kids. Then, after clearly plowing into several children, the driver refused to stop. The coward accelerated, ran a light at the intersection, and fled into the night. Unharmed, Gina and Joel surveyed the devastating effects of the collision. It seemed the older girls were battered, sustaining broken bones, but Nicole fared far worse. Joel immediately ran for help while Gina assessed the six-year-old. Paramedics arrived quickly, but it was soon realized that Nicole's condition was too severe. She died shortly after reaching the hospital.
Michelle suffered two broken wrists and a broken leg, and Brooke's shoulder was fractured. Though it took many stitches, casts, and a surgery to rebreak Michelle's leg, the older girls eventually recovered. But Nicole deserved justice. Thankfully, witnesses had gotten a good look at the pickup truck that had struck the children, and soon people all over Florida were on the lookout for a blue Silverado with frontend damage and a white camper top. But weeks went by with no signs of the perpetrator's vehicle, and no one came forward to claim responsibility.
Finally, three weeks after the accident, an anonymous caller provided the location of a vehicle fitting the description, about 20 miles from the scene of the accident. On closer inspection, several aspects of the suspected truck didn't match, but those were details that could've been altered after the incident. The pickup truck was registered to the wife of Kenneth Pierce. When police dug into Pierce's criminal record, the likelihood of his involvement rapidly increased. Over three decades, Pierce had demonstrated disregard for the law and the safety of others. He'd had nearly two dozen convictions on charges ranging from DUI to cocaine smuggling. And Pierce had two prior hit-and-run convictions. Now with a very probable suspect, police just had to make their case. But Kenneth Pierce took extraordinary measures to thwart investigators' efforts at every turn.
The Facts
Case Type: Crime
Crimes
- Vehicular homicide
- Leaving the scene of an accident with death
- Evidence tampering
Date & Location
- June 23, 1992
- Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Victims
- Nicole Rae Walker (killed) (Age: 6)
- Michelle Vitello (injured) (Age: 10)
- Brooke Mansey (injured) (Age: 9)
Perpetrator
- Kenneth Pierce (Age: 52)
Weapon
- None found or used in this episode
Watch Forensic Files: Season 5, Episode 17
Journey to Justice
The Evidence
Forensic Evidence
- Composition match: Chemical
- Fingerprints
- Paint
- Reconstruction: Accident
- Report: Autopsy
Forensic Tools/Techniques
- Forensic animation
- Infrared spectrography
Usual Suspects
No Evil Geniuses Here ?
- Told another about involvement in crime
Cringeworthy Crime Jargon ?
- None uttered in this episode
File This Under... ?
- No crime show commonalities in this episode
The Experts
Forensic Experts
- None featured in this episode
Quotable Quotes
- "There was the knock at the door, and it was Joel. There was no color in his face, and his eyes were so bugged out of his head, he was just… you could see the terror, the fright, just saying, 'The girls were all hit, the girls were all hit.'" - Suzanne Walker: Nicole’s Mother
- "The first area of interest in my analysis was to examine the victim’s clothing, because many times in hit-and-run accidents where pedestrians are involved, there’s paint transferred from the front end of the vehicle to the victim’s clothing." - Bruce Ayala: Forensic Chemist
- "This deputy arrived at the home, got out of his vehicle and noticed as he was walking towards the front door that there was a truck, a blue Silverado pickup truck, that was surrounded by other vehicles." - Kenneth Padowitz: Prosecutor
- "Mr. [Terry] Jones told us that Ken Pierce had contacted him and requested that he come over and help fix the damage to the front of the vehicle. He also received a camper top that’d been taken off the vehicle. The camper top was worth about $500, and Mr. Pierce gave it to him for the work he did on the car." - Det. Bruce Babcock: Accident Reconstructionist
- "It should be somewhat significant to find out that in addition to 20 arrests and convictions for felonies and misdemeanors in Mr. Pierce’s life, he had two prior hit-and-run convictions." - Kenneth Padowitz: Prosecutor
Last Words
I was born, raised, and still live in the Fort Lauderdale area, so like Church Dis-service (s13e18), this episode hit home for me. Lucious Boyd's murder of Dawnia Dacosta occurred in 1998, near my childhood home. By the time of the events in this episode, I'd moved further south, about a ten-minute drive southwest of this incident's location.
Computers in the early 1990s
I grew up during a magical time – the computer revolution unfolded before my eyes through the 1980s. In second grade, I was using the Apple II+ in the library to learn simple programming. By fifth grade, we had a computer in our classroom – a few of us would linger after school to get some screen-time, either sharpening our BASIC skills or playing The Oregon Trail. Thank you Mr. Niesel!
By the time I graduated high school in 1991, the 3D capabilities of home computers were finally beginning to approach something like blocky realism. We'd seen what was possible on the Silicon Graphics Workstation, but the affordable alternative for most of us was the Amiga 3000. As much as I was enthralled by the possibilities of 3D modeling, rendering, and animation at the time, I ultimately focused my computer skills elsewhere.
The quality of the 3D animation used in this episode was not surprising. In fact, from what I remember of the era, it was impressive work. Regard that the software investigators used included physics modelling of the area, vehicle, subjects, weather conditions, and other factors. Younger folks see the resulting animation as choppy and archaic. One YouTube commenter quipped, "Dang, foiled by MS Paint and a power point animation." But we should regard that such a presentation, using computer-modelled physics, had never been used in a Florida courtroom before 1993. In fact, our episode indicated it was only the third time in the United States.
I also pondered whether the skill and tools of emergency room doctors today would have increased little Nicole's chances of surviving. We've seen amazing advances in the medical field over the past 30 years. Improvements in miniaturization, materials, technology, and technique might have given Nicole the one percent chance that her mother wished for.
Kenneth Pierce's questionable choices
Witnesses on the night of June 23, 1992 said they'd seen the blue Silverado first make its way north on 33rd Avenue. After knocking over some garbage cans, it was said the driver stopped at the end of the cul-de-sac for a few minutes. It's easy to speculate the vehicle's driver was intoxicated, and Kenneth Pierce's arrest history strengthened this theory. On his way back south toward Griffin Road, his truck took a severe swerve off the road and into the children. It's doubtful he was trying to avoid the large puddle. It's more likely he dozed off briefly, only awakening in time to veer back onto the road.
Ken wasn't asleep or too drunk to remember that he'd run into multiple people that night. He had the wherewithal to hide and tamper with evidence of the crash. He also admitted his involvement in the hit-and-run offense to Terry Jones (and another). Since the truck was registered to Pierce's wife Catherine, Kenneth should have considered wiping all the fingerprints from the truck's interior would make him look more suspicious. But he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, considering he made this effort only to leave behind a can with his partial thumbprint.
Drivers' rights or public safety?
Prosecutor Padowitz said Kenneth Pierce had "20 arrests and convictions for felonies and misdemeanors." He had not one, but two prior hit-and-run convictions. He had multiple DUIs on his record. This begs the question, WHY was this man still allowed to drive? Research showed that his license was suspended at the time of this accident, but his license should have long since been permanently revoked. What is with the justice system when it comes to the privilege to drive? Why do we feel repeat offenders should get chance after chance when they blatantly disregard the laws in place to protect public safety?
Bryan Smith, the man who infamously veered off the road and stuck horror writer Stephen King in 1999, had "nearly a dozen vehicle-related offences." King came close to dying that June day. He spent three weeks in the hospital and underwent five surgeries. But Smith never saw the inside of a jail cell, and his license was not revoked. What could possibly be the judge's narrative during these hearings? Considering Kenneth Pierce:
Judge: "Well, you do have a pretty long history here Mr. Pierce. I see offenses for theft, DUI, hit-and-run, even cocaine smuggling. But even though there are at least 20 separate charges showing you're a danger to anyone near you, I think you deserve another chance. I think this time has finally taught you a lesson."
To be honest, I'm not particularly happy with Pierce's friend and neighbor Terry Jones either. A $500 camper top may buy the labor to fix Ken's truck, but it should've never been able to buy his discretion. Pierce admitted to Jones that he'd been responsible for Nicole's death. Even if this wasn't the case, Terry Jones had to have been aware of the incident, and knew he was helping the offender conceal evidence. Jones testified against Pierce at trial, but going to the police with his information long before could've substantially shortened the investigation. Did Jones ever think, "This grill I'm helping replace was dislodged when it struck a little girl"? Or, "This dent in the hood was caused by a six-year-old's head"?
Why didn't Kenneth Pierce stop?
Suzanne Walker said about Kenneth Pierce, "Why didn't you stop? Why did you just hit kids, plow into them, leave them there to die in a puddle and just keep on going?" The answer is obvious: Kenneth Pierce was a selfish, heartless piece of shit (please excuse my rare word choice here). He cared about only one thing – himself. He demonstrated this over and over throughout his entire life, and when he got drunk and mowed down multiple children with his truck, he just sped away. He later sobered up, had time to consider what he had done, and instead of coming clean and admitting for once in his life that he'd made bad choices and took responsibility for his actions, he took great efforts to conceal his crime. It took the homicide of an innocent young girl, but Kenneth Peirce finally earned the label "habitual offender".
Where is Kenneth Pierce now in 2024?
A few years after Kenneth Pierce's original 60-year sentence, an appeal reduced his sentence to 40 years. In September, 2012 after serving 20 years of his 40-year sentence, Kenneth Pierce was denied release from prison. Finally in 2017, a 77-year-old Pierce was released from jail after serving just 24 years of his sentence. Our friend Rebecca at Forensic Files Now indicates Suzanne Walker herself shared that Kenneth Pierce had passed away. I'm surprised the state of Florida didn't try to reinstate his driver's license first.
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Robert S.
I've been a fan of Forensic Files since the show's inception, and it is still my favorite true crime series. I have seen every episode several times, and I am considered an expert on the series and the cases it covers.- Unholy Alliance (s10e24) Posted: December 24, 2023
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