On October 22, 2009, Damon Nicholson was working at a hotel in Laguna Beach, California. He was 41 and worked as an event planner.
That night, Damon met Alan Caulfield, a college student he had recently started dating. Alan left Damon’s apartment around 10 p.m.
A few hours later, Damon was dead.
His body was found on his couch the next afternoon. Police initially had no clear idea who killed him or why.
The case soon became complicated by Damon’s social life, an unlocked apartment, several possible suspects, and a missing cell phone.
But that phone eventually became one of the most important pieces of evidence in the investigation.
The Night Damon Nicholson Was Killed
Damon spent the evening with Alan Caulfield at his apartment. After Alan left, Damon returned to his laptop to finish some work.
His sliding glass door was open slightly.
Later that night, someone entered the apartment.
According to the investigation, Damon was attacked with a metal baseball bat. He suffered multiple blows to the head and died sometime between 1 and 3 a.m. on October 23.
The killer then placed throw pillows over his body.
The attackers also took Damon’s laptop, cell phone, and other electronics before leaving.
Damon Nicholson Is Found Dead
At about 2:30 p.m. on October 23, Damon’s coworker Lindsay Scott went to his apartment.
Damon had not shown up for work that morning. Lindsay had also tried calling him several times without getting an answer.
When she arrived, she noticed that the sliding glass door was open.
Lindsay knew Damon often left his door open for friends, so she entered and called out for him.
Then she saw the body.
She immediately ran outside and called 911.
Detective Larry Bammer of the Laguna Beach Police Department arrived about 30 minutes later.
Damon was lying on the couch, fully dressed and partly covered by pillows.
The back of his head was covered in blood.
There was no obvious murder weapon in the apartment.
The Crime Scene Raises More Questions
Investigators found no signs of forced entry.
That created an immediate problem.
Had someone Damon knew entered the apartment?
Or had a stranger noticed the open door and walked inside?
The kitchen provided another clue.
The trash can had been emptied. Garbage was scattered across the floor, and the trash liner was missing.
Bammer suspected the killer had removed the liner and used the bag to carry away the murder weapon or bloody clothing.
Damon’s laptop and cell phone were also missing.
That made robbery one possible motive.
But other details suggested the killing could have been personal.
The pillows placed over Damon’s body did not look like something the victim had done himself. To investigators, they could have indicated remorse or a personal connection.
The evidence seemed to point in different directions.
Damon’s Missing Phone Becomes the Biggest Lead
The missing cell phone gave police something they could follow.
Because the phone could be tracked, investigators traced it to an apartment building about 20 minutes north of Damon’s home.
On October 25, officers began searching dumpsters around the building.
Detective Bammer eventually climbed into one of them.
While searching through the garbage, he was approached by a bearded man named Rick Larson.
Rick was the building’s custodian.
When Bammer explained that police were looking for Damon’s missing phone, Rick said he knew exactly where it was.
He had found a phone in a dumpster.
Rick took Bammer to his office and opened a desk drawer.
Inside was Damon’s phone.
Bammer called Damon’s number.
The phone in Rick’s desk began to ring.
The detective now had the missing phone, but he had another question: How had Rick gotten it?
Rick Larson Becomes a Suspect
Rick said he regularly checked dumpsters for useful items.
Bammer asked where Rick had been between 1 and 3 a.m., the estimated time of Damon’s murder.
Rick said he had been asleep in his apartment.
But he had no one who could confirm his story.
Police collected a DNA sample from Rick.
They also continued examining the crime scene.
Investigators had found too many fingerprints inside Damon’s apartment for them to be useful. But they had also found DNA on the inside of the garbage-can lid.
The killer had probably touched the lid while emptying the trash and removing the liner.
That DNA would later become critical.
Police Investigate Damon’s Dating Life
Detective Bammer examined Damon’s phone records and online dating profile.
He discovered that Damon had been seeing several men.
One of them was Ethan Cooper.
Ethan had gone on a date with Damon two nights before the murder and had spent the night at his apartment.
But Ethan had another detail that caught Bammer’s attention.
He had a large wound on his hand.
Ethan said it was a spider bite.
Bammer did not think the injury looked like a spider bite. It appeared more like a cut or laceration.
That raised the possibility that Ethan had injured his hand during a struggle.
Ethan insisted that the injury had happened before Damon’s murder. He also said his boss could confirm that he had already reported it.
Police collected Ethan’s DNA as well.
Todd Daniels Reveals a Hidden Side of the Case
Another man questioned by police was Todd Daniels.
Todd had known Damon for years.
He eventually told investigators that their relationship was more than friendship. They had been sexually involved for years.
Todd also explained that he would enter Damon’s apartment through the unlocked sliding door.
He said Damon sometimes arranged anonymous sexual encounters involving other men.
This changed the investigation.
Damon had been allowing people he barely knew into his apartment.
That meant the killer could potentially have been someone outside Damon’s close circle.
By late October, police had spoken to more than a dozen men who had casual relationships with Damon.
Many provided DNA samples.
The suspect pool was becoming larger, not smaller.
Alan Caulfield Comes Under Suspicion
Police also focused on Alan Caulfield.
Alan had planned to meet Damon on the night of October 22.
If they had met, Alan could have been the last person to see Damon alive.
But Alan was reluctant to speak with police.
When Bammer called him, Alan refused to say whether he had been at Damon’s apartment that night.
That increased the detective’s suspicion.
In early November, Bammer went to Alan’s college in San Diego and interviewed him in an empty classroom.
This time, Alan admitted that he had been at Damon’s apartment.
He said they met around 8 p.m. and that he left around 10 p.m.
The timeline meant Alan had apparently left several hours before the estimated murder time.
Police collected his DNA.
Alan’s Alibi Changes the Investigation
By November 17, investigators had received information that weakened the case against Alan.
Alan had a fast-food receipt placing him some distance from Damon’s apartment around the likely time of the murder.
It was not a perfect alibi because the estimated time of death was only a range.
Still, it pushed Alan lower on the suspect list.
Meanwhile, two other suspects looked more suspicious.
Todd Daniels lived in the same apartment building where Damon’s phone had been found.
And Ethan Cooper’s explanation for his injured hand did not fully match what his boss told police.
There was also Rick Larson, who had possessed Damon’s phone and had no witness to confirm his whereabouts.
The investigation appeared to have too many possible answers.
The DNA Match Solves the Mystery
Then the crime lab called.
The DNA collected from the crime scene had produced a match.
For Bammer, this was the breakthrough he had been waiting for.
The evidence that had seemed contradictory now pointed toward one person.
Police had evidence from the crime scene, witness statements, Damon’s phone records, and eventually a partial confession.
Together, these pieces revealed what investigators believed had happened.
Who Killed Damon Nicholson?
The DNA belonged to 19-year-old Matthew Dragna.
His DNA was already in the police database because of a previous burglary.
But Matthew had a connection to Damon.
Matthew had started seeing Todd Daniels several weeks before the murder.
On October 21, Todd went to Damon’s apartment with Matthew.
Matthew saw Damon’s lifestyle and noticed that the sliding door was regularly left unlocked.
According to the investigation, Matthew saw an opportunity to rob the apartment.
He recruited a friend, Jacob Kinttonia, to help him.
The two returned the following night.
This time, Damon was inside.
How the Murder Happened
According to the police account, Matthew entered through the sliding glass door with his accomplice.
Damon was sitting on the couch and working on his laptop.
At first, Damon smiled when he saw the person entering.
But that changed when he saw the second person.
Matthew then attacked him with a metal baseball bat.
Damon raised his arms in an attempt to protect his head, but Matthew struck him repeatedly.
After the attack, the killers placed pillows over Damon’s body.
They then took his laptop, phone, and other electronics.
Matthew emptied the kitchen trash and used the trash liner to wrap the bloody baseball bat.
The two men left through the sliding door.
But they had made several mistakes.
One of those mistakes was leaving DNA on the garbage can.
Another was taking Damon’s trackable cell phone.
Matthew Dragna Is Arrested
On November 18, 2009, police arrested Matthew Dragna.
Todd Daniels and Rick Larson were eventually cleared.
Ethan Cooper and Alan Caulfield were also not the killers.
Matthew was charged with Damon’s murder.
After a lengthy legal process, he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter and burglary.
He received a sentence of just over 28 years in prison.
His accomplice, Jacob Kinttonia, was also convicted of manslaughter and received a sentence of just over seven years.
What Solved the Damon Nicholson Murder Case?
The Damon Nicholson murder investigation shows how several small clues can eventually come together.
The missing cell phone helped police locate a building where the phone had been discarded.
The garbage can provided DNA evidence.
Damon’s phone records revealed his relationships and helped investigators build a list of people who had recently seen him.
And the final DNA match connected the crime scene to Matthew Dragna.
At first, the case looked like it could have been a random robbery or a personal killing.
The unlocked door suggested that almost anyone could have entered.
But the investigation eventually showed that the killer had learned about Damon’s open door through a personal connection.
The phone that the killer took to hide the crime ultimately helped police find the evidence that led them to him.
Conclusion
Damon Nicholson’s murder initially left investigators with more questions than answers.
There was no forced entry. The murder weapon was gone. His phone had disappeared. And his personal life created a long list of possible suspects.
But the investigation kept following the evidence.
The missing phone led police to a new location. The garbage can produced DNA. And the DNA match finally identified Matthew Dragna.
Matthew was arrested less than a month after Damon was killed.
The case is a reminder that even when a crime scene appears confusing, small pieces of evidence can eventually connect the entire story.