Kelli Bordeaux's case - A detailed case overview

Kelli Bordeaux was a Fort Bragg soldier whose disappearance in April 2012 set off a large search in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Weeks turned into months with few answers. Two years later, remains were located near River Road, and an arrest followed. The path from the night out to a courtroom sentence is the focus here.

This case is revisited in Dateline: Secrets Uncovered, Season 8, Episode 11, titled Deep in the Woods. A re-air is listed for Wednesday, September 3, on Oxygen at 10 pm ET, bringing the investigation back on screen for new and returning viewers.

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Early timeline and first leads in the Kelli Bordeaux case

Kelli Bordeaux, 23, spent the evening of April 13 at Froggy Bottoms on Ramsey Street, close to her apartment. She was last seen in the early hours of April 14. Police questioned bar hand Nicholas Holbert, then 25, a registered sex offender who said he drove her part of the way home and dropped her near her neighborhood.

Police questioned Nicholas Holbert. (Image via Pixels)

Investigators also looked at cell activity along the Ramsey Street corridor and noted concern for her safety. According to ABC News, Holbert denied involvement while acknowledging the ride.

Family members and soldiers stressed that the missing formation was out of character. Search efforts covered wooded tracts between the bar and the apartment complex while detectives worked leads from the public tip line. ABC News reported those early steps and the focus on the phone ping area.

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Evidence that pointed to Kelli Bordeaux’s location and the arrest

Progress came in May 2014. Fayetteville police announced that apparent remains had been recovered in a wooded area several miles from the bar, and Holbert was taken into custody. NBC News reported that the recovery and the arrest were on the same day. A private investigator, David Marshburn, later described building rapport with Holbert and guiding authorities to the site after Holbert agreed to show the area. Oxygen reported that Marshburn’s approach included repeated contact and a concealed-camera handoff to police once the grave was found.

Holbert was taken into custody in 2014. (Image via Pixels)

An autopsy would later document blunt force injuries. Investigators said the recovery location matched the details Holbert provided after he started talking. Per NBC News, the wooded site lay a short drive from where Bordeaux was last seen.

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Charges, plea, and sentence in the Kelli Bordeaux case

After the recovery, prosecutors charged Holbert with first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping. In court filings and hearings, officials outlined a sequence that started with a ride from the bar, a confrontation about Holbert’s sex-offender status, and a violent assault that continued after Bordeaux regained consciousness. ABC11 reported that Holbert led investigators to the burial site two years after the crime and later entered a guilty plea that resulted in life without parole.

Court statements also describe how Kelli Bordeaux’s remains were found near River Road, with injuries consistent with blunt force trauma. WRAL and WYFF reported that the plea avoided a potential death penalty trial and that sentencing included life without parole for murder alongside a kidnapping count.

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Where to watch the Kelli Bordeaux story, episode details

The case appears in Dateline: Secrets Uncovered, Season 8, Episode 11, Deep in the Woods. The episode originally aired December 27, 2019, and features reporting by Craig Melvin, Kate Snow, and Andrea Canning. Interviews include law enforcement and family voices tied to the investigation.

Kate Snow and Craig Melvin of Dateline: Secrets Uncovered (Image via Oxygen)

A re-air of Deep in the Woods is listed for Wednesday, September 3, on Oxygen at 10 pm ET.

Dateline: Secrets Uncovered is also available for streaming on fuboTV, YouTube TV, NBC, and Oxygen’s platforms. Availability can vary by plan and region.

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