GEORGETOWN -- A woman went missing 22 years ago, and now her husband is on trial for her murder.
Investigators never found Vicki Nisbett's body. Prosecutors say the couple was in the process of getting a divorce, but Vicki allowed Rex to stay with her and their three sons for the holidays.
They believe Nisbett got mad about her relationship with another man and killed her on Dec. 14, 1991.
The jury deliberated for the past two days on the guilt or innocence of Nisbett, and each juror seems to be set in their decision.
They deliberated for 11 hours Tuesday, before being sent to a hotel by the court. They returned to deliberate Wednesday morning at 10:00 a.m.
Just before 4:00 p.m. Wednesday the jury sent a note to the judge reiterating a note from the day before, that they are split 7-5 and have been since 2:00 Tuesday afternoon. They asked about the possibility of a hung jury.
The judge told them it is their duty to reach a verdict, and the judge encouraged them to be open to other jurors opinions. The judge also told them it is their job to make a final decision.
Earlier the jury asked if they could convict Nisbett on a lesser charge, but the district attorney did not include that option in this case. The jury must reach a guilty or innocent verdict.
It is assumed they are stuck on the evidence that was presented, and what the state couldn't show them.
"Ladies and gentlemen, how much evidence does there need to be," Williamson County Assistant District Attorney Mark Brunner asked the jurors during closing arguments Tuesday.
Defense attorney Robert McCabe countered that thought in his closing, telling jurors, "Juries convict on fact. Not theories."
McCabe also reminded them of all the state didn't prove during the trial.
"We don't even know, for sure, their words, 'For sure,' that she's deceased. That's a fact. It's not a fantasy. We don't know for sure. No body. No bones," McCabe said.
Attorney Robert McCabe called the state's timeline for the murder - an hour to an hour and a half - impossible. He insisted one of the Nisbett's three children, or a friend in the apartment watching the boys, would have seen something.
McCabe also reminded jurors the state's first witness said he saw Vicki 15 days after she disappeared.
"Ninety-nine percent sure, that that was Vicki. His quote was, 'I saw Vicki. It was Vicki,'" McCabe told the jury.
But the state presented damning quotes against Nisbett.
"More evidence against Rex, his own words, 'I thought about killing her, but it wouldn't be the Christian thing to do. But if she leaves me and tries to take the boys, I will kill her. He made good on that promise,'" Williamson County District Attorney Jana Duty said.
Duty said the prosecution presented the jury with several pieces to the puzzle, but they couldn't bring them the missing piece: Vicki's body. Duty said Nisbett found a "good way" to hide Vicki's body. Duty said the two were involved in a violent struggle when Vicki was killed, and despite Nisbett's efforts to clean, investigators found blood in the carpet pad and a bloody hand print in the room.
"This is the way she said somebody is going to find out what happened to me, and someday I am going to get justice. That hand print, that bloody hand print, that is his palm print, his fingerprint, her DNA, his DNA, that's her voice," said Duty.
Shortly after 6:00 p.m., the jury placed a dinner order, an indication that it could be another long night before a verdict is reached.
