The shocking case of a model who murdered and dismembered her husband just months after their wedding continues to disturb, decades after the gruesome crime took place in Southern California.
Omaima Nelson, then 23, offered a chillingly brief five-word apology for her actions after admitting to the murder: "I'm sorry I dismembered him." Her husband, Bill Nelson, was stabbed, bludgeoned, and his body parts were cooked and mixed with leftover Thanksgiving turkey.
A Relationship That Turned Deadly
Omaima Nelson, originally from Egypt, met Bill Nelson in a bar in October 1991. Despite a 33-year age gap, their attraction was immediate, and they married less than a month later.
Bill Nelson, an ex-pilot, had a criminal past, having recently finished a four-year prison sentence for attempting to fly 100 tons of marijuana across the Mexican border. His boss at his new computer programming job described the couple as "real quiet, mysterious people."
However, the honeymoon period was brutally short. Omaima testified that her husband's demands for sex, which frequently involved bondage and S&M acts, quickly turned violent. She claimed he raped her on multiple occasions, telling her, "I paid for you, I'm getting what I paid for."
The Night of the Murder and its Grisly Aftermath
On November 28, 1991, the situation reached its horrific climax. Omaima stated that her husband grabbed her by the throat and attempted to rape her. In fear for her life, she said she hit him with a lamp and then stabbed him repeatedly with a pair of scissors.
What followed was even more macabre. According to court testimony, Omaima then entered a "trance-like state" for 12 hours while dismembering her husband's body.
She told a court-appointed psychiatrist, Dr. David J. Sheffner, that she fried Bill's hands in an attempt to erase his fingerprints and boiled his head. She also stated she castrated him in revenge for the sexual assaults.
In a bid to disguise the remains, she mixed body parts with leftover Thanksgiving turkey before disposing of them. Police later discovered 11 containers holding Bill's remains, a severed head in a cooler, two hands in a deep fat fryer, and a garbage bag in the car.
Most disturbingly, Omaima made claims of cannibalism to Dr. Sheffner, stating, "I did his ribs just like in a restaurant... It's so sweet, it's so delicious. I like mine tender." She later retracted these claims during the trial.
Trial, Conviction, and Future Parole
During the trial, the jury was presented with deeply disturbing evidence and photographs. Jury foreman Famous Hooks told reporters, "You had to see the pictures. The pictures were bad enough."
Dr. Sheffner testified that in his 20-year career, he had never encountered a case "so bizarre, so psychotic." While the defence pointed to a life of abuse, including childhood genital mutilation, the prosecution portrayed Omaima as a calculated "predator."
Prosecutor Randolph J. Pawloski noted she had asked a former boyfriend to help dispose of the body and planned to flee with Bill's cash and credit cards. Evidence also suggested Bill had been tied up before his death.
On January 12, 1993, Omaima Nelson was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 27 years to life in prison. Her first parole eligibility was in 2006, but she was denied after commissioners found her "unpredictable and a serious threat to public safety."
While incarcerated, she reportedly married a pen-pal in 2006, gaining conjugal visit rights before his death in 2011. Omaima Nelson will not be able to seek parole again until 2026.
