HUDSON, Wis. – As witness testimony began Monday in the trial of Nicolae Miu, the man charged with murder in the stabbing on the Apple River in Wisconsin in 2022, the court reviewed a video that showed the deadly moments during the stabbing.

The video shows the confrontation between Miu and two groups of tubers on the river leading up to and during the July 2022 stabbing that injured four people and left a Stillwater teen dead. It doesn’t show exactly what preceded the confrontation, but rather the moments as the verbal altercation escalated into a fight and then eventually a stabbing.

Miu was on the river with a group of friends before the confrontation with another group of tubers. Court records explain that Miu, using snorkeling gear, said he was looking for a friend’s phone lost in the river when the confrontation began.

The video shows Miu approaching the tubers, who are recording him, with his snorkeling gear in hand. From that moment on, there is yelling between the group and Miu, with the tubers telling Miu to go away. At one point, someone yells, “He’s looking for little girls” at Miu.

Miu then argues with a blonde woman who also appears to be telling him to walk away.

Midway through the video, a knife appears in Miu’s hand. Shortly after, Miu is knocked into the water twice and slapped in the face, as some of the tubers laugh.

Miu gets up, holding the knife, and begins swinging. One of the girls near him appears to get cut, with blood visible on her torso. Next, Miu’s hand holding the knife appears to be covered in blood.

The camera then pans to a young man in yellow trunks lying in the water, clutching his stomach. He too appears to have been stabbed. A bloody streak in the river is also visible.

The tubers are now visibly shocked, screaming and asking what happened and “Is this real?” Shortly after, the video ends.

On the stand, 18-year-old Ryan Nelson, who was among the tubers who confronted Miu, recalled the encounter. Nelson said the group of six had met up for a day on the river.

Elaborating on the video, Nelson says Miu ran up to the first tubing group but didn’t say why. Nelson said he felt scared and the group asked Miu to leave multiple times. Nelson said his group didn’t know the members of the other group of tubers that intervened and also asked Miu to leave.

Nelson said Miu never explained what he was doing. Nelson says Miu was knocked to the ground after he struck the blonde woman.

Prosecutor: “When you say he punched the lady, was it possible he was flailing his arms?”


Nelson: “No, it looked like he struck her definitively with his right hand.”

Nelson says, after the woman was struck, her friends “tried to come to her rescue” and pushed Miu down.

Nelson says he wasn’t hurt, nor did he have any physical contact with Miu, but his friend, Isaac Schuman was killed.