The nightmare began with a simple invitation from two girls on Facebook. For University of Rochester football players Nicholas Collias and Ani Okeke-Ewo, it was just another Friday night out. But within hours, the college students would find themselves trapped in a house of horrors, tortured for 40 hours by a masked gang armed with bats, knives, and guns.
The ordeal ended only when a SWAT team breached the door of 22 Harvest Street in Rochester, New York, rescuing the two young men from what police believe was a planned execution.
Nicholas Collias, 21, grew up in an upscale Chicago suburb, a star football player and classical pianist. He was the first in his family to attend college. On December 4, he and his teammate Ani were hanging out when Ani received a message from two women wanting to meet.
The women suggested they go to their place instead of Nicholas’s apartment. The students agreed, jumping into a nice car. But as the neighborhood deteriorated, Nicholas felt a chill.
They arrived at a house that seemed decent from the outside.
Once inside, the trap snapped shut. The lights went out, and five to ten masked men emerged, armed with bats, bars, knives, and guns. Nicholas tried to run for the side door but was shot in the leg.
He felt his leg go limp, like jelly. He managed to get back up and reach the door, only to find two women holding it closed from the outside. He was then hit over the head with a bat.
The two women who had lured them were part of the plot.
The captors tied their hands and legs and dragged them into a bathroom. Nicholas was beaten with a hedge trimmer, a bat, a pipe, and then hit over the head again with a fluorescent bulb. He was covered in blood.
The men recorded the torture on a cell phone, laughing and enjoying themselves. After hours of 𝓪𝓫𝓾𝓼𝓮, the masked men left, but returned early the next morning for more. They had nicknames and roles.
They washed Nicholas in the shower, trying to cover their tracks. He had been shot twice.
The captors forced Nicholas to call financial institutions to increase his withdrawal limits, all while holding him at gunpoint. They were waiting for Monday morning to drain his accounts. Meanwhile, friends and family noticed the two were missing.
The University of Rochester Public Safety alerted Rochester Police. Detectives quickly realized something was wrong: both phones were off, and the normally active social media users had gone silent.
Police tracked down the two women, Samantha Hughes and Leah Giliotti. They gave evasive answers, but eventually admitted, “Don’t worry, they’re not going to be hurt.” That chilling statement led investigators to suspect the worst.
After six hours of interrogation, the women provided two addresses. Undercover officers monitored both locations. Deputy Police Chief Scott Peters ordered a hostage rescue plan with a SWAT team.
On Sunday night, nearly 40 hours into the kidnapping, the SWAT team hit the first house: 22 Harvest Street. A figure emerged from inside, saw the heavily armed officers, and ran back inside. The caretaker, as the captors called him, rushed to untie the victims.
The SWAT team set explosive charges, breached the doors, and entered. They found two suspects in the living room and took them into custody. Then they moved through the kitchen and saw a closed door.
Inside, the two football players sat on the floor, remnants of tape around their ankles and hands. They looked like they had been through hell.
Nicholas thought the house was being burned down. In reality, the SWAT team was saving his life. He was terrified, thinking the armed men in body armor were more attackers.
He put his hands up and said, “I’m innocent. Please don’t shoot me.” They got him into an ambulance.
He spent the next 25 days in intensive care.
The investigation revealed that the kidnappers had a cell phone video showing the torture. The video was stomach-churning: Ani bleeding on the floor, prodded with a hedge trimmer, and Nicholas curled up in pain as the attackers threw slurs and prodded his injured leg. The plan was to drain all bank accounts.
Nicholas had a substantial sum, but the money was inaccessible over the weekend. The kidnappers were waiting until Monday morning at 8 a. m.
to access it. Police believe they would have killed the victims afterward.
A month later, all nine perpetrators were in custody: five men and four women. Among them were the two women who lured the victims, Samantha Hughes and Leah Giliotti. The ringleader, Lydell Strickland, was seen in other videos using Nicholas’s bank card at multiple ATMs, still wearing a mask from the torture.
After a month-long trial, all four defendants who went to trial were found guilty. Strickland received 155 years to life. The other five pleaded guilty and received sentences of 13 to 35 years.
But the motive was not just money. It was revenge. And in a 𝓈𝒽𝓸𝒸𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 twist, the kidnappers had the wrong guys.
The target was Isaiah Smith, another University of Rochester football player, a star athlete and 𝒹𝓇𝓊𝑔 dealer. Smith had used a spare key to Ani’s apartment to rob Strickland’s gang. The gang wanted revenge and told the girls to bring the football players who had ripped them off.
They got Nicholas and Ani instead.
Nicholas says the university is also responsible. He claims that after Isaiah Smith was arrested, football coaches bailed him out and failed to inform the student body about the severity of the crime. He plans to file a civil suit against the University of Rochester.
The university responded, saying they disagree with his assertion but wish him the best.
The friendship between Nicholas and Ani did not survive the ordeal. Nicholas believes he received more 𝓪𝓫𝓾𝓼𝓮 because Ani may have had more involvement than he admits. But prosecutors say there was no evidence that Ani was anything other than a victim.
Ani declined to comment.
Nicholas is now trying to move on. He says surviving is sometimes harder than dying. He refuses to let the trauma define him.
He wants to be optimistic and move forward. The nightmare of 22 Harvest Street will never leave him, but he is determined to reclaim his life.