Five LSUPD Officers Caught Trashing Michael Nickolette On Voice Activated Recorder

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One LSU police officer has resigned and four others have been disciplined after a recording surfaced of officers making degrading comments about the family of a missing LSU student and the investigation into his disappearance, LSU said Friday.

The officers had no idea their conversations were being recorded as they worked the case of missing LSU student, Michael Nickelotte, last year.

LSU officer, Kevin Scott, resigned as part of the investigation, LSU said. However, sources say Scott already planned to leave LSU prior to this incident. Four other officers were given “letters of caution” and ordered to undergo more training. They include Capt. Steve Kazusky, Lt. David Abeles, Officer Sara Drake, and Officer Chris Gresham.

While officers were inside Nickelotte's LSU campus apartment searching for clues last September, they confiscated several items, including a recorder that the student often used to record class lectures.

What the officers did not realize was the recorder is voice-activated and nearly two hours of their own conversations were recorded on the device. The recordings include the time that officers were inside Nickelotte's apartment, as well as when they were back at the LSU police station with the recording still in the possession of one of the officers.

Nickelotte, 21, of Covington, was missing for nearly two weeks before being found dead on September 29, 2017 in a wooded area near campus. His death was ruled a suicide. However, his family still questions the circumstances of his death.

After his death, the student's family was given his personal belongings. As they listened to his personal recorder, hoping to hear their son's voice again, they discovered the disturbing conversations.

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Another part of the recording focuses on a phone call the missing student’s father made to LSU police:

'Dad sent me a two-page email last night, a big manifesto, about what he's going to do and what he's not going do and the sheriff's office and the FBI.'

'Oh my goodness. Man.'

'Yeah, Yeah. Out the box.'

The officers are also heard discussing the father’s plea that they search the LSU lakes for his son:

'The lake? It's four foot deep and bodies float. So unless, unless, unless the kid went and made him some concrete shoes, he uh, or concrete belt, he should be floating around if he's in the lake.'

While it’s unclear the exact date the recording was made, it seems one of the officers had an opinion about what happened to the student. "At this point, I honestly think ole' boy went somewhere and off'd himself, killed himself,” he said. “We just gotta' find him."

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