Nicholas Markowitz lived in West Hills, Los Angeles with his parents, Jeff and Susan Markowitz. The feud between Nicholas’ older half-brother, Ben Markowitz, and Jesse James Hollywood, a mid-level drug dealer, began over an alleged $1,200 debt owed to Hollywood by Markowitz. On August 6, 2000, Hollywood, and his friends Jesse Rugge, and William Skidmore decided to confront Benjamin. However, on their way to see him, they saw Nicholas walking on the side of the road, having run away from home, and decided to abduct Nicholas in order to hold him for ransom in lieu of Benjamin’s debt. They chased, assaulted, and abducted Nicholas, then escaped in a van. Hollywood and his gang then picked up Brian Affronti (another one of Hollywood’s friends) and drove up to Santa Barbara, California. When Hollywood and his gang informed Nicholas of why they were holding him, he allegedly panicked at first, however, after they offered him drugs and alcohol he felt that he was a part of the group. Hollywood left Rugge in charge of watching Nicholas and went back to Los Angeles apparently to talk to Ben. While in Santa Barbara, Nicholas met Rugge’s friends Graham Pressley, Natasha Adams-Young, and Kelly Carpenter. The group attended various house parties together; reports indicate that many witnesses — parents and teens alike — saw the group together but did not realize anything was wrong. Although up to 32 witnesses knew he had been kidnapped they did not notify the police, as Nicholas appeared to be safe and having fun.

After Hollywood told Rugge that Nicholas Markowitz would be returning home, Rugge, Markowitz and several others held a going away party in the pool area of the Lemon Tree Inn. However, after learning of the legal ramifications he could face for kidnapping, Hollywood called Ryan Hoyt, another member of his gang who owed him $1200, to kill Nicholas, giving him a TEC-9 semi-automatic fire arm. The decision was made to commit the murder in the Santa Ynez Mountains, close to West Camino Cielo Road, north of Goleta, California. After the party, Hoyt, Rugge, and Pressley drove Nicholas to the mountains, and walked up a trail to a grave dug by Pressley earlier that night. Rugge bound Nicholas’s hands behind his back and covered his mouth with duct tape. Hoyt then hit Nicholas Markowitz in the back of the head with a shovel, knocking him into the grave, and shot him nine times with Hollywood’s semi-automatic pistol. The members of the group then tried to hide the gun by placing it between the legs of Nicholas’s body and covering the body with dirt and branches. However, the grave was too shallow and close to the popular Lizard’s Mouth Trail. Nicholas’s body was found on August 12, 2000. Ryan Hoyt, Jesse Rugge, William Skidmore, and Graham Pressley were all arrested following numerous leads to the sheriff’s office following Nicholas’s death. Hollywood went on the run but was finally caught in Rio de Janeiro five years later.