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Polk murder suspect's arrest the talk of small Kentucky town

News Channel 8 photo by MICHAEL EGGER

Gene Hockey, 58, was stabbed to death Friday in this home on Suzanne Lane in Lakeland.

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By HOWARD ALTMAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 11, 2009

Updated: 07/11/2009 02:37 pm

Nicky Tolzmann

Gene Hockey

The teletype flashed in the Dawson Springs Police Department about 10 a.m. Friday.

Nicky Tolzmann, suspected of killing his girlfriend's father in front of her 5-year-old daughter, might be heading toward this rural town of 3,000 on the banks of the Tradewater River in a stolen car with two pit bulls.

Authorities said Tolzmann, 28, and his live-in girlfriend, Leah Hockey, 23, got into a fight when they returned to their home at 5:30 a.m. Friday after a night of drinking. Hockey called for her father to help. When 58-year-old Gene Hockey tried to intervene, Tolzmann stabbed him, Polk County Sheriff's Office deputies said.

Neither Leah Hockey nor her daughter was hurt.

After the killing, deputies believe Tolzmann tied up his girlfriend with an electrical cord and fled in Gene Hockey's 1993 beige Honda Accord with two pit bulls.

"She was tied up pretty good by our suspect before he left," Polk County Sheriff's Office spokesman Scott Wilder said. "It took her a while to get out of those and then when she did, she called the police.''

Dawson Springs Police Chief Bill Crider said at first, he had no idea why Tolzmann would head his way.

But he was coming. Possibly armed and dangerous.

To a town with four police officers and three murders in Crider's 15 years with the department.

"We wanted to know why," said Crider, uncharacteristically in his office on a Saturday afternoon.

Crider and his four officers started to do some investigating.

"This is a small town," he said.

By around 2 p.m., the DSPD learned that Tolzmann might be headed to see his father.

Turns out, Crider knows Tolzmann's father – also named Nick.

"He lives outside of town and ran a mom-and-pop type garage with a friend," said Crider. "Like I said, this is a small town."

Around the same time as DSPD found out where Tolzmann was likely headed, U.S. Marshalls found out too. Kentucky State Police were also on the way.

Coordinating with all three agencies, Crider said law enforcement set up surveillance on Tolzmann's family and friends.

Then they waited.

And waited.

Until the hot muggy day turned into a hot, muggy night.

Mosquitoes were out in force.

Around 9 p.m., DSPD Capt. Craig Patterson spotted the stolen 1993 Honda Accord exiting the West Kentucky Parkway. He called other units. State Police tried stopping Tolzmann at the intersection of Kentucky 109 and Kentucky 1220, but the suspect didn't stop.

He took off down the winding, hilly, narrow two-lane highway, until the Accord – some of its tires deflated by stop sticks, could go no more.

State police say Tolzmann got into a brief standoff with the officers, putting a gun to his own head. But the officers talked Tolzmann into surrendering, and took him to Hopkins County Jail in Madisonville, Ky.

Tolzmann is being held without bond. The stolen Honda is now in the custody of the Kentucky State Police.

Tolzmann is being held on an arrest warrant for first-degree murder. He has also been charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, fleeing or evading police, 1st degree (motor vehicle), receiving stolen property (over $300), operating on a suspended/revoked operators license, theft by deception, probation volation, failure to appear (for a misdemeanor offense), and failure to appear (misdemeanor offense).

The Polk County Sheriff's Office and the State Attorney's Office are preparing to have Tolzmann extradited to Polk County.

Crider said he is not sure what happened to the pit bulls.

The whole event, said Crider, "was perfectly coordinated."

"Everyone worked together perfectly," he said. "It came out to a peaceful resolution.

Tolzmann's arrest, said Crider, will be the talk of Dawson Springs.

"Probably for a day or two," he said. "But that's to be expected in a small town."

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