19 Action News is digging deeper in a case now 6 months old.
You may remember, a man's body was found buried in the back yard of a Seven Hills home.
Frank Dienes, the home owner, remains jailed on murder charges. He'll go on trial next month. But a source close to the case says there are important things the public needs to know.
"I knew that something was going to happen to one of us," said Nicole.
Nicole lived for a time with Frank and Char Dienes. At times, Joe Kopp lived there, too. Kopp was a drifter was known by many in Seven Hills because of his walking the streets.
"I would never be scared by him," said Nicole.
Almost without exception, Joe Kopp has been described as a nice guy, despite his nickname of Crazy Joe. Nicole says that was the public Joe. The Joe she knew in the privacy of the Dienes home more closely resembled a Crazy Joe.
"He was very threatening. I witnessed a lot of yelling and screaming and I witnessed a lot of threats made by Joe against their lives," said Nicole.
Nicole says Joe threatened to burn the house if he couldn't stay there, and on several occasions turned Char's oxygen supply off. After a blow up where Joe refused to leave, Frank went into the basement, there was a fight and he shot Joe in the head. He buried the body and told his wife Char a month later. She told Nicole, who told police but they needed a reason to search the property, so she called Char and police taped her call.
"Frank had been considering moving the body at that point and I asked her if he moved it. I said has he moved Joe's body yet and she said no I can't talk about this right now on the phone," said Nicole.
That was enough for police to get a search warrant to look for the shallow grave. But Nicole says they should have done more, far before things got to this.
"The Seven Hills Police Department was called on numerous occasions, not only by Char and Frank, but by me as well," said Nicole.
Nicole says she believes the killing was self-defense, adding that didn't justify it. Seven Hills confirms defense attorney's have requested records of how many times there were calls for help at the Dienes residence in weeks before the shooting.
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