Kids’ deaths shock Idaho town
HAGERMAN, Idaho – This southern Idaho community, known across the state for its famous fossil beds and the scenic springs that gush from a nearby mountainside, is trying to cope with a tragedy: Three children are dead, a father is in jail – and community leaders say they are left wondering why it all happened.
Jim Junior Nice was charged last week in 5th District Court in nearby Twin Falls with three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his 6-year-old twin sons, Justin and Spencer, and his 2-year-old daughter, Raquel Anna.
The children were found Wednesday morning at Nice’s Twin Falls home. The twins attended school in Hagerman. Their mother, Leslie Nice, had primary custody during the school year.
Hagerman School District Superintendent Lee Mitchell, standing in the halls of quiet Hagerman Grade School where Justin and Spencer were in kindergarten, directs his attention to the youngsters’ desks, which are still adorned with crayons and workbooks.
“There will be residue of this tragedy for a long time to come,” Mitchell told the Twin Falls Times-News. “This is a very close-knit community. Everybody is feeling the loss.”
Prosecutors allege Nice, 33, used rat poison and over-the-counter medication to kill his children. Police said Nice told them he “didn’t want the kids to suffer through the divorce.”
Court records from Jim and Leslie Nice’s divorce earlier this year said the children had been previously removed from their custody by state welfare officials after the May 2004 death of a fourth child, 22-month-old Ian Nice, who drowned in a ditch at a local park.
Justin, Spencer and Raquel Anna were placed in the custody of their grandparents for several months. The kids came back, but the marriage didn’t survive.
Still, Mitchell said he didn’t foresee the impending tragedy.
“They were good kids and mannerly,” he said. “They seemed to be enjoying life.”
Police have said Jim Junior Nice acknowledged purchasing over-the-counter medication and rat poison to kill his children, then taking prescription medication along with over-the-counter medication in an unsuccessful attempt to take his own life.
When classes at Hagerman Grade School resume Jan. 2, counselors will be on hand to help students and faculty work through their grief.
The boys’ crayons and workbooks will remain on their desks, for now.
“Their desks and other personal items will remain in the classroom for a period of time and gradually removed,” Mitchell said. “Children will adapt quicker than adults in situations like this, but you don’t want to remove those visuals right away, but work through the loss as the kids come to understand that they won’t be coming back to school.”