A former WWE wrestler’s ex-wife and her new boyfriend have been charged with murdering him three days after their divorce was finalized.
Kevin Nikel, who competed under the name Knuckles Madsen, died in July after being found on the side of an Arkansas highway with a gunshot wound to the abdomen. He was rushed to hospital before succumbing to his injuries.
Four months on from his death, the 41-year-old’s ex-wife Amanda Penny, 40, has been arrested and charged with his murder, according to court documents seen by the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette.
Penny and Nikel had been married for 13 years before filing for divorce, which eventually went through on July 8 – three days before he was found dead.
Her new boyfriend, 51-year-old Michael Hogue, is accused of pulling the trigger. Both Hogue and Penny were arrested by the US Marshals Service on charges of murder in the first degree and possession of firearm by certain persons.
The pair were being held Tuesday in the Benton County Jail with no bond set. A bond hearing is scheduled to take place on Wednesday.
Ex-WWE wrestler Kevin Nikel’s ex-wife and new partner have been accused of murdering him
Nikel’s ex-wife Amanda Penny (left), 40, and new boyfriend Michael Hogue (right), 51, were arrested on charges of first-degree murder and possessions of firearm by certain persons
Penny and Nikel married in 2012 after first meeting in high school before divorcing on July 8 – three days before he was found dead
Penny and Nikel married in 2012 after first meeting in high school almost a decade earlier.
‘She was his first friend that he met in high school. They were dating, then they got married. They were happy for a long time, and then I guess they started to grow apart,’ Nikel’s mom, Susan Kinderman, told 5News.
‘And, you know, neither one of them were happy. Kevin took a job where he could be gone two weeks at a time, and things just progressively got worse, until they divorced.’
‘We still don’t know exactly what happened when he got shot,’ Kinderman added. ‘The detectives have been pretty close lipped on that, which is good, but we’d still like to know exactly what happened and who did what.’
Nikel’s mom claims there was ‘some kind of argument’ and ‘texting going back and forth’ before her son was shot and killed on that night in July.
‘I think they enticed Kevin to meet up with them,’ she alleged. ‘I was told by the detectives that there was some kind of altercation. Shots were fired, and Kevin was killed, and that’s all we really know.’
Nikel wrestled in WWE NXT between 2012 and 2013, before competing in Ozark Mountain Wrestling under the name Ivan Warsaw.
