Nashville Woman Recalls Fateful Night The Love Of Her Life Was Fatally Shot In Front Of Her As She Fights Convicted Killer's Early Release
Ben Goeser was a "very kind, generous, happy-go-lucky, just fun-loving person." Those are the words of his widow, Nikki, who told RadarOnline.com exclusively that not a day goes by when she doesn't miss her late husband after his murder.
She is now fighting against his convicted killer's early release.
Ben was fatally shot in 2009 by one of their karaoke customers in Nashville, Tennessee. Hank Wise had developed a crush on Nikki and later claimed that Ben was slandering him online, an allegation that was never proven.
"I had already deleted him and blocked him from my social media. We had never seen him at that particular venue ever," Nikki said of that fateful night on April 2, revealing that's when she felt confident that Wise was stalking her.
"It was a good 30-minute drive outside of downtown Nashville, where I normally ran karaoke shows that he attended as a customer."
Nikki said she had a sixth sense that something bad was afoot so she avoided all contact with Wise, requesting that management ask him to leave.
"I stayed right there, looking out from the side of this brick wall ... he had no idea where I had gone," she said, claiming that Wise appeared determined to find her and had gone to the bathroom before being confronted.
"I just stayed right there. The manager had grabbed one of the barback guys and they walked over to him. I learned in the trial what was said," Nikki told RadarOnline.com.
"She said, 'we need to ask you to leave.' and he asked why. And she said, 'I think you know why. You're making someone here feel uncomfortable.'"
RadarOnline.com learned that a manager testified she had seen Wise go to the bathroom not long before and she told him he "should probably leave now," and it was claimed Wise did not look upset.
"That's when he started to back up and unzip his jacket," Nikki said. "He reached up under his arm. Now, I had been a firearms range volunteer at that time, and I knew what that looked like. In that split of a second, I thought to myself, 'Oh my God, I don't have my gun.'
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"I knew at that point, what was happening," she shared. "He pulled a .45 from his shoulder holster under his jacket and came up beside Ben and shot Ben in the head."
She said that Ben fell to the ground. Wise stood over him and "continued to fire six more rounds into him in front of myself and everyone in the middle of that very busy restaurant."
Following a speedy trial, Wise was found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to 23 years in prison.
He could now be released early on "good behavior credits" in 2028, and Nikki fears his obsession is far from over as Wise continued to send love letters behind bars until she obtained Tennessee's first-ever lifetime order of protection in 2021.
In addition to the murder conviction, Wise was charged with felony stalking while incarcerated.
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A witness named Jennifer spoke with RadarOnline.com about the night Ben was killed and said she was subpoenaed to testify about Wise's alleged premeditation, but never got the chance to go under oath.
She shut down speculation that Wise was angered by the fact he was asked to leave. "That wasn't the case, he was hunting [Ben and Nikki] that night," Jennifer told RadarOnline.com.
"I have no doubt" that he will try to find her, Jennifer added. "This wasn't spur of the moment. This man is disturbed."
Nikki said she wants Wise to serve the full "23 years at truly, 100 percent like he was sentenced to" for claiming the life of the man she was planning a bright future with.
"[Ben] always had a smile on his face. All the girls in the karaoke venue, they just loved him," she said.
Nikki recalled how Ben used to mentor a younger boy who needed a male role model in his life, sharing that Ben's passing had crushed the child.
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She added, "Ben was just trying to do good in the world."
"Now, I'm 47 years old. I have never remarried and I'm never going to be a mother. Not only did Hank Wise take my best friend away from me, my husband, he also took the entire family that I would have had. I'll never know the family that I would have had."