Insets, left to right: Erika Mims (Douglas County Sheriff”s Office), Lamar Nedd (Obituary), LaRon Hodges (Obituary). Background: The intersection where one of the victim’s bodies was found in Omaha, Neb. (Google Maps).
A Nebraska woman is facing significant time behind bars after luring two men into a home and killing them in a hail of bullets.
On Monday, Erika Mims, 44, was found guilty by a Douglas County jury on two counts of first-degree murder over the deaths of 39-year-old LaRon Hodges and 46-year-old Lamar Nedd.
The jury returned guilty verdicts on all counts, including two counts of tampering with physical evidence and four felony weapons charges over the two killings.
The investigation began when Hodges was reported missing in February 2023. The next month, he was found dead in a trash can inside his car. The vehicle had been dumped at an apartment complex near North 66th Street and Ames Avenue in Omaha, investigators said. Investigators found his body after the car was moved to an impound lot.
In August 2023, Nedd’s body was found near the intersection of 75th Street and Rainwood Road. The slain man was badly decomposed.
In October 2023, authorities linked Mims to both murders.
“Eventually through various interviews, the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office identified a mutual acquaintance of both Nedd and Hodges, as well as the potential location Nedd was killed,” Capt. Eric Sellers told Omaha-based ABC affiliate KETV. “A search warrant was obtained for this potential scene and evidence subsequently determined the person of interest in Hodges’ murder was also the same person of interest in Nedd’s murder.”
Hodges was shot 21 times before being stuffed in a trash can and left in his car. On the day he went missing, Hodges also met up with another woman, Erykha Wilson, 29, with whom he had been in a “contentious” relationship, KETV reported.
Wilson and another man, Kenneth Smith, 46, were charged as accessories to Hodges’ murder in June and August 2023, respectively.
Earlier that year, Mims was arrested on a weapons charge.
“Luckily in Nebraska, we have the tools, that not only allowed us to keep her in custody, on bond but allowed us to continue in this investigation without witness tampering or evidence being destroyed and bring justice to these families,” Sheriff Aaron Hanson said at the time the murder charges were filed.
In October 2023, during a bond hearing, prosecutors shared additional details about the killings, according to a courtroom report by KETV.
“She lured an individual by the name of Lamar Nedd into a residence for the purpose of intentional murder,” the prosecutor told the judge.
Authorities alleged this method was repeated with other victims, including Hodges. Authorities believe the motive was money.
In each instance, after Mims lured the victims into a residence, she repeatedly shot and killed each man and cleaned off their bodies before dumping their remains, law enforcement said.
“Sometimes perpetrators try to do everything they can to make sure they don’t leave any evidence on the body,” the prosecutor added. “It’s kind of the ultimate charge, but there are other details that make it even worse, with regard to multiple murders, where individuals are killed in a premeditated fashion, and things are done to cover that up.”
Authorities believe the defendant also shot another victim in March 2023 — but he survived. She faces an assault charge in that case.
Mims is slated to be sentenced on Dec. 17.
