THE DARK SIDE OF NEBRASKA
Ozzy Tilden
#75623
photo courtesy NDCS
Full Name: Ozzy A. Tilden
DOB: March 6, 1991
Charge: 2nd degree murder
County: Platte
City: Columbus
Current Status: Tecumseh State Correctional Institution
Date of Crime: October 8, 2011
Victim: Jerry Garcia
DOB: March 6, 1991
Charge: 2nd degree murder
County: Platte
City: Columbus
Current Status: Tecumseh State Correctional Institution
Date of Crime: October 8, 2011
Victim: Jerry Garcia
A 21-year old Columbus man was sentenced to 40 to 50 years in prison for second-degree murder in the stabbing death of another city man in a motel parking lot last fall. Ozzy Tilden was sentenced for his murder conviction in connection with the early morning stabbing of 36-year old Jerry Garcia during a drunken fight on October 8, in the parking lot of the Sundown Motel, Eighth Street and 33rd Avenue. The prosecutor said that Ozzy's criminal history was peppered with alcohol and drug offenses that dated back to 2004.
The crime was aggravated by Ozzy's motive for revenge for getting beaten up earlier that night and by Ozzy leaving the scene with the murder weapon while Jerry was lying on the ground bleeding to death. Ozzy tossed the knife out of his car onto the street after leaving the murder scene. A large knife with Jerry's blood on it was later recovered along Eighth Street about 1½ blocks from the motel.
Ozzy had returned to the motel to retrieve his car. He had no plan to go back to the motel to kill somebody. That's when the second quarrel broke out. An eyewitness said "I watched it," when asked who had stabbed Jerry during a recorded phone call. The witness, who had been at a Duncan bar drinking with Ozzy in the early morning hours of October 8, said that Ozzy became combative when the pair was returning from Duncan to Columbus in Ozzy's car. When they arrived at the motel, a fight erupted in the parking lot with Jerry being drawn into the scuffle. The witness described Ozzy being knocked down several times until he left the motel parking lot covered in blood and without taking his vehicle. Then Ozzy returned to the scene with some friends, he ran to his room in fear they were armed with guns. The witness said that Ozzy then confronted Jerry, stabbing him multiple times and re-enacted how Ozzy reached around Jerry to stab him in the left side.
Results of an autopsy revealed that Jerry was stabbed three times in the left side, with one wound severing his aorta.
The crime was aggravated by Ozzy's motive for revenge for getting beaten up earlier that night and by Ozzy leaving the scene with the murder weapon while Jerry was lying on the ground bleeding to death. Ozzy tossed the knife out of his car onto the street after leaving the murder scene. A large knife with Jerry's blood on it was later recovered along Eighth Street about 1½ blocks from the motel.
Ozzy had returned to the motel to retrieve his car. He had no plan to go back to the motel to kill somebody. That's when the second quarrel broke out. An eyewitness said "I watched it," when asked who had stabbed Jerry during a recorded phone call. The witness, who had been at a Duncan bar drinking with Ozzy in the early morning hours of October 8, said that Ozzy became combative when the pair was returning from Duncan to Columbus in Ozzy's car. When they arrived at the motel, a fight erupted in the parking lot with Jerry being drawn into the scuffle. The witness described Ozzy being knocked down several times until he left the motel parking lot covered in blood and without taking his vehicle. Then Ozzy returned to the scene with some friends, he ran to his room in fear they were armed with guns. The witness said that Ozzy then confronted Jerry, stabbing him multiple times and re-enacted how Ozzy reached around Jerry to stab him in the left side.
Results of an autopsy revealed that Jerry was stabbed three times in the left side, with one wound severing his aorta.
Source: Jim Osborn, Columbus Telegram
