California DOJ criminalists assisted with processing crime scene and evidence

“Counties throughout California call upon the expertise of criminalists who work at the California Department of Justice.  The work that they do, both at crime scenes and in forensic labs, is so invaluable to criminal justice.  We thank them for their public safety service.”

CSLEA President Alan Barcelona

OROVILLE – On August 7, 2025, an Oroville woman appeared in Butte County Superior Court and admitted to shooting her husband while he slept. Jessica Rose Nichols, 27, pleaded no contest to first-degree murder with the use of a firearm.

In the early morning of November 6, 2020, Nichols shot her husband, Mateo Lange, 22, three times with a handgun while he slept on the living room floor of the ground-floor apartment they shared with their child on Grand Avenue in Oroville. A neighbor heard the first two shots and walked outside to investigate. That neighbor saw Nichols walk out of the couple’s apartment pushing a baby stroller, which she handed to the neighbor. The stroller contained the couple’s 22-month-old child. Along with the stroller and child, Nichols handed a note to the neighbor, which contained the child’s name and contact info for the child’s paternal grandmother. Nichols then turned and walked back into the couple’s apartment.

At that point, the neighbor called 911 and began speaking with an Oroville police dispatcher. As the neighbor was on the phone with the dispatcher, the neighbor heard a third gunshot from inside the couple’s apartment, which was recorded on the 911 line. Nichols then came out of the apartment and sat down on its front steps to await the arrival of the police.

When Oroville Police officers arrived a few minutes later, they found Nichols and a 9mm Glock semi-automatic pistol sitting on the porch. Inside the apartment, the officers found Lange lying mortally wounded on the living room floor on a makeshift bed with multiple gunshot wounds. Nichols was immediately arrested by responding officers, and the pistol was seized.

During a subsequent interview by police detectives, Nichols claimed she shot Lange in self-defense when he charged at her and threatened to injure her during an argument between the two.

Meanwhile, crime scene experts from the California Department of Justice, Bureau of Forensic Services, responded to the apartment to assist police in processing the crime scene and to preserve evidence. Based upon physical and forensic evidence, the crime scene experts determined Lange had been lying on the floor with a blanket covering most of his body and his head on a pillow. They found a bullet hole in the blanket and bullet fragments on and around the pillow, showing that Lange was lying flat on the floor and not up and “charging” when he was shot.

During a subsequent autopsy, a forensic pathologist determined Lange had been shot twice in the head and once in the chest. The pathologist also determined that the chest wound was a “contact” wound, meaning that the gun was very close to the body at the time it was fired.

Also, during the crime scene investigation, Oroville detectives observed a security camera in the front window of the apartment, pointing outward and covering the approach to the front door of the residence. Detectives were able to access the recordings from the camera and determined that the camera had a microphone and had recorded audio of the murder. The audio recording proved that prior to the shots being fired, there was no argument between Nichols and Lange. The audio also showed that after her first shot, Nichols’ gun jammed, and she could be heard quickly clearing the jam, before chambering a new round and firing the second shot.

Detectives were also able to review audio from the prior evening from the security camera, and could hear Lange arguing with Nichols, with Lange stating that he intended to leave Nichols the next day and end their marriage.

According to the district attorney, the case was delayed for five years by a variety of defense-related factors.

After her plea, Nichols was remanded on a no-bail hold to the Butte County Jail, where she has been since her arrest. Based upon the plea, Nichols is facing a prison sentence of 25 years to life on the murder and 10 years on the gun enhancement when she is sentenced on September 9, 2025.