Here’s how police think four people helped cover up the apparent murder of a Nebraska couple

Left to right: Ammie Mitchell, Sheena Miller, Matthew Lickliter and Kendall Hawthorne(Lancaster County Jail | Lancaster County Jail)

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - Three of the six people accused in a triple-homicide investigation surrounding the disappearances and presumed deaths of a Stromsburg couple and their unborn child made their first court appearance on Thursday.

Sheena Miller, 40, Ammie Mitchell, 47, and Kendall Hawthorne, 57, were officially charged with two counts of accessory to murder and one count of tampering with evidence in Lancaster County Court.

The judge set their bonds at 10% of $1 million. Each were appointed a public defender.

Matthew Lickliter, 28, appeared in court on Friday and was charged with three felonies: accessory to a Class 1 felony, accessory to a Class 2 felony and tampering with evidence. His bond was set at 10% of $1.5 million.

Court documents show that Lickliter has a pending sexual assault case out of Adams County. He was out on bond at the time of his arrest.

Their next court date is set for March 12 at 10 a.m.

Arrest affidavits released Thursday detailed the alleged events leading up to the presumed deaths of 26-year-old Hannah Neville, who was 32 weeks pregnant, and her 27-year-old husband Roberto Tanner.

Lincoln Police said Miller, Mitchell, Lickliter and Hawthorne live on a property near Northwest 27th Street and West Alvo Road in Lancaster County, two miles south of where the shooting allegedly happened. Hawthorne owns the rural farmhouse.

Police first served a search warrant at Hawthorne’s property on Feb. 1. Multiple people, including Hawthorne, were detained as a result. Around the same time, authorities arrested 24-year-old Sterling James and his 22-year-old wife, Sayde Titus.

James is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, one count of first-degree murder of an unborn child and tampering with evidence. Titus faces similar charges to the three arraigned on Thursday.

Authorities executed a warrant at Hawthorne’s property for a second time on Feb. 10 around 12:15 p.m. At least three people were taken into custody, including Miller, Mitchell and Lickliter. Hawthorne was taken into custody around the same time in a traffic stop near First Street and McKelvie Road.

The four were interviewed by police again, and more details into the disappearance came to light, according to the series of arrest affidavits.

On Jan. 15, James reached out to Miller and told her he was coming to her home on Northwest 27th Street. He said he needed help buying a firearm from his half-brother, Tanner.

At the property, James said he wanted to test fire the firearm that Tanner brought. James and Miller got in a 2011 Chevy Equinox, and Neville and Tanner followed them north in a 2009 Chevy Trailblazer.

The four traveled roughly two miles north of the property where they stopped. James and Tanner met each other on the passenger side of the Equinox, next to Miller.

According to police, Miller witnessed James shoot Tanner several times before he fell to the ground. She then saw James walk to the driver side of the Trailblazer and shoot Neville twice in the head, the affidavit shows.

After the shootings, police think Miller helped James move Tanner’s body into the back of his Equinox before pushing Neville out of the driver’s seat of her Trailblazer. Miller then drove the Trailblazer back to Hawthorne’s property and parked it next to the detached garage, prosecutors allege.

Court records show the two then picked up Neville’s body and put it in the Equinox with Tanner’s body. The ordeal left Miller soaked in blood, according to an arrest affidavit. Police think she later removed her clothes, burned them in Hawthorne’s driveway and took a shower.

Mitchell then found the blood-splattered vehicles parked in the driveway and Neville’s “clearly deceased” body nearby on the ground at some point the evening of Jan. 15, police wrote.

Officer think Mitchell was instructed to move items from Neville’s Trailblazer, many of which have not been recovered. Police speculate that these items could have been collected as evidence.

According to police, Mitchell also witnessed the Equinox’s interior being cleaned of blood in Hawthorne’s garage. Court records did not list who cleaned the vehicle.

Court documents show that Miller asked Lickliter to come home the night of Neville and Tanner’s disappearance. James arrived a short time later and allegedly asked for his help disposing of Neville’s Trailblazer.

Officers think Lickliter saw Neville and Tanner’s bodies in the back of a white vehicle. He also observed Neville’s vehicle with two windows busted out and the inside covered with blood, police wrote.

Lickliter said he was told to hide inside a trailer home while the Trailblazer was set on fire, police wrote. The two later drove back to the Lancaster County property.

Court documents allege Lickliter then provided a location where Sterling could hide Neville and Tanner’s bodies. He told police he led Sterling to an area near Davey, Nebraska, in Saunders County and then went back home, ending his involvement.

As for the fourth suspect, Hawthorne denied allowing anyone to burn evidence on his property, police said. But a witness known to police disagreed.

Police think Hawthorne encouraged James and others to “burn all the evidence”, including a bloody purse, and gave them permission to use a burn barrel on his lawn.

He also gave away multiple baby items from Neville’s vehicle, police allege. Several of those items were recovered.

A search of Hawthorne’s phone also showed that he texted another resident at the home to not go outside for about an hour on Jan. 15 at 10:43 p.m.

One witness later told police that Hawthorne “knows everything.”

“He was like the one like trying to clear footage of us being there and telling him to burn all the evidence,” the witness reportedly told police.

Hawthorne would later tell police that he noticed his Sawzall, tan coveralls and burn barrel were missing from the property in the days following Jan. 15.

Related coverage:

Sterling James and Sayde Titus, who were previously arrested

The Lincoln Police Department has found human remains while searching an area of interest