As the name suggests, Criminal addicts hosts Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat are obsessed with anything and everything true crime. Every week they look at some of the most compelling and chilling cases from the 1940s and beyond to more recent convictions. The podcast has been named one of the best true crime podcasts by Vogue. and the Rolling Stones.
Flowers spoke at length about the Anaqua Springs shooting to her best friend and co-host Pravat, revealing what most San Antonio residents know and have read about the case. She cited several sources from the San Antonio Express-News and TV channels. Here’s what we know:
San Antonio hairdresser Nicol Olsen, 37, and her boyfriend Charles Edward Wheeler lived together in the $1 million Wheeler home in the Anaqua Springs Ranch neighborhood near Leon Springs. Wheeler has since sold the house and moved to Austin.
Photo courtesy / Crane Creatives for KeVa ColShooting in Anaqua Springs
On January 10, 2019, San Antonio hairdresser Nicol Olsen, 37, and her two daughters, London Bribiescas, 10, and Alexa Montes, 16, were found shot to death in their $1 million home in an affluent neighborhood near Leon- Springs in the Far East. Northwest side of Bexar County. All three were found by Olsen’s boyfriend, Charles Edward Wheeler, who owned the house where the four lived.
Wheeler, now 35 and living in Austin, said he had an argument with Olsen and left home to stay at a relative’s house before the shooting. According to the San Antonio Express-News, he called 911 after he returned the next morning to find the bodies.
Flowers noted that Wheeler, a rodeo rider turned businessman, was named a “person of interest” but not a suspect in the case. No charges were ever filed against Wheeler, who stated that he had nothing to do with the deaths.
Nicole Olsen and her two daughters, Alexa Montes, 16, and London Bribiscus, 10, were found shot to death in this home on the Anaqua Springs ranch property two years ago. They lived there with Olsen’s boyfriend, Charles Edward Wheeler, now 33, who owned the house. He has since sold the property and moved to Austin.
William Luther/San Antonio Express Newsdeath decree
During the investigation, the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Bureau ruled Olsen’s death a suicide and the deaths of both children homicides. According to Express News, a handgun was found next to Olsen’s body.
Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar had hoped to close the case by the end of 2020, but it ended up being sent back to investigators. In September 2022, the sheriff’s office told Express News that the case was still being worked on.
The statement said the designated investigator “will continue to exert its efforts until all aspects of this investigation are completed to ensure the families of Nicol Olsen, Alexa Montes and London Bribiescas are closed.”
Carlos Montes Jr (left), father of Alexa Montes, 16, stands with Hector Bribiescas, father of London Bribiescas, 10, in San Antonio Park last November. Both sued Charles Edward Wheeler for the murder of their daughters. The girls were found dead with their mother at Wheeler’s home at Anaqua Springs Ranch two years ago.
Lisa Krantz / Staff PhotographerWhere is the business now?
Salazar said the case has been turned over to a cold case investigator who will use the group’s resources to see if he can find new information as the investigation progresses. Since then, few details have been revealed. The sheriff’s office did not release the autopsy reports of Olsen and her daughters, nor the 911 records made by Wheeler the morning he found the bodies.
The fathers of both of the murdered children, Hector Bribiescas and Carlos Montes Jr., sued Wheeler, accusing him of negligence. Each father is seeking more than $1 million in monetary compensation. According to a September 2022 Express-News report, both civil suits are pending.
The families of the two daughters also sent a letter to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton asking him to intervene and allow the Texas Rangers to conduct their own investigation into the deaths. Paxton confirmed that his office had received the family’s letter and said it had been turned over to investigators for proper examination and review.
“Alexa and the families of London continue to beg for answers and communication,” Flowers said in the podcast. “…but the truth is still unknown who actually pulled the trigger that night, why, what led to it, or what might have prevented it.”
You can find the podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcast.
