Nicholas Karol-Chik testified that he told authorities falsehoods about the murder to protect ‘best friend’ Joseph Koenig
byRylee Dunn
A day after co-defendant Zachary Kwak testified against Joseph Koenig — who allegedly threw the rock that killed Alexa Bartell on April 19, 2023 — Nicholas Karol-Chik, who has pleaded guilty to lesser charges in the case in exchange for his testimony, took the stand.
Karol-Chik said that Koenig was his “best friend” and said that the pair had been “in the habit of (throwing rocks at) parked vehicles.” He described the events of April 19, 2023, and stated that Koenig threw the rock that fatally killed Bartell.
He said that after that, the trio, Koenig, Kwak and Karol-Chik, went back to look at Bartell’s car, and saw that it had careened off the road and that the driver had not exited it. As they drove away, Karol-Chik said Kwak took a photo on Snapchat and sent it to a group chat the trio had, at which point Karol-Chik said he deleted it.
When Karol-Chik was arrested by authorities, he said he misled them by stating that Kwak threw the rock that killed Bartell, which Karol-Chik said he did because he thought he “owed something” to Koenig.
“At the time, Joe (Koenig) was someone who was really close to me, someone who I thought of as a friend — almost close enough to be brothers,” Karol-Chik said. “When I was talking to police, I wanted to protect (Koenig).”
During cross-examination, Koenig’s defense attorney — who, on the first day of the trial, accused Kwak of throwing the rock that killed Bartell — brought up the proffer meeting Karol-Chik had with authorities and members of the District Attorney’s Office, where they worked out his plea deal.
“I have no reason to protect anyone anymore,” Karol-Chik said at the proffer meeting. “I have no reason to care about Joe, or care about Zach; I have no reason to protect anyone. I just want to do what’s best for me. So, what I told you is the truth.”
During cross-examination, Karol-Chik contradicted Kwak’s testimony from the day before. Kwak said that Koenig was driving Karol-Chik’s Chevy Silverado at 103 miles an hour when the rock that killed Bartell was thrown. At his testimony, Karol-Chik said his truck cannot accelerate to that speed.
Defense attorney Martin Stuart said that at the proffer interview, Karol-Chik said, “I can tell you with confidence that I do believe it was Zach.” Stuart pointed to other inconsistencies in Karol-Chik’s statements, such as stating that he remembered both of Koenig’s hands on the steering wheel, but also that he had a “black hole” in his memory regarding the incident.
After the first proffer interview, Karol-Chik was not offered a plea deal. Stuart claimed that Karol-Chik was not given a plea deal because he was not incriminating Koenig. At the fourth proffer interview, Karol-Chik said he was more truthful.
“I believe that what a person believes and the truth can differ,” Karol-Chik said.
At the fourth proffer interview, Karol-Chik said he wasn’t 100% sure who threw the rock, even though at the first three, he maintained it was Kwak. Eventually, at that interview, Karol-Chik said he thought it was Koenig who “seemed more likely because of previous behavior.”
Nevertheless, he maintained that it was Koenig who threw the rock.
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