“She’s is just something else. You never knew what she was going to do,” said Ethel Burns.
Burns watched in disbelief Wednesday morning as investigators brought out hundreds of knives, swords and other bizarre finds from the home next door.
In all, the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office says deputies found about two thousand bladed weapons of one kind or another.
“We knew she had a knife. But we didn’t know she had that many. Let’s just put it that way,” said Burns.
Deputies say Nickole Dykema was staring out of a broken window when they came to serve warrants on her late Tuesday.
And she refused to come out.
They say Dykema tried to stab one of them with a machete.
And she used a blanket to shield herself when they fired a bean bag round, before hiding in one of her rooms filled with knives.
After a standoff that lasted five hours, she still wouldn’t give up.
When she tried to run off again, deputies said they used a Taser and arrested her.
That’s when investigators discovered the large stash of weapons and Halloween props set up in satanic scenes.
“My people tell me there’s even some bones in there, we are relatively sure they are chicken bones or something similar,” said Sheriff Al Neinhuis.
“It’s a just a wonder that she didn’t hurt somebody really,” said neighbor Ken Russell.
While her neighbors say Dykema never got violent with them, the family next door got fed up with her antics and set up security cameras.
Those cameras caught her destroying their window last month and air conditioning just last week.
That’s why everyone here is so glad she’s now behind bars.
“I am absolutely thankful. I mean my family has been through hell for two years with this woman. With her screaming and carrying on and banging and doing damage to our house. Tormenting our other neighbors. It’s been pure hell. Pure hell,” said neighbor Paula DeFord.
Dykema was arrested last year at a Dollar General for shoplifting. During that arrest, deputies found three knives and a sword hidden under her clothing.
