State Trooper Nik Green was an everyday hero – a devoted dad to three daughters, a loving husband and someone who wore his police badge with pride. But when Nik tragically crossed paths with drug fiend Ricky Ray Malone, he was executed in cold blood by th

DEALER OF DEATH: Car’s dashcam shows Malone blasting Nik in the head

HONEST AND DECENT: But cop Nik Green was shot with his own gun

Colleague Cpt Bret Camp described him as “one of the best men I have ever known” and trooper Duane Johnson added: “Nik Green was one of the kindest, most decent and honest people ever to have lived on this earth. He was as good as they get as a trooper and a lawman. I miss him every day.”

When Malone was sentenced to death for the ghastly crime in May 2005, Nik’s wife Linda buried her head in her hands and wept uncontrollably – she still had to take care of their daughters Cortni, Brooklyn and Morgyn.

Linda, who was forced to quit her job as a primary school teacher to deal with the fallout from her husband’s slaying, says her faith in God somehow kept her strong through the bleak, dark days.

Speaking in 2015, Linda said: “Nik’s first priority was God, then myself and the girls.

“When everything happened, I had to stay focused on living because I had to take care of my children.

“That’s what God wanted and that’s what Nik would have wanted. We were the remnants. We were what was left. We just had to carry on.”

Linda and Nik had been sweethearts as teenagers, having first met at Pasture High School in Randlett. On the morning of his murder – the day after Christmas – Linda was woken early by her husband.

Nik had got up three hours early for work, kissing her goodbye while she dozed.

Court documents state: “Linda Green testified about what she overheard from their bedroom on the morning of December 26, 2003.

“She said someone had come to their door, then her husband came to kiss her goodbye, already in uniform, and told her he was going to go in early that day.

“She then described her mounting anxiety that morning as she began to get information that something might be wrong, before eventually being informed by a dispatcher that her husband was dead.”

So who had come to the door, rousing Nik from his sleep?

It was Abigail Robles, a woman who delivered newspapers and who knew Nik.

While out driving, she’d spotted a white car parked at the side of a rural dirt road.

Inside the car there was a man slumped in the driver’s seat, his feet hanging out of the car.

Abigail was worried the man might be dead so she drove straight to Nik’s house to ask him to help.

Despite not having clocked on yet, Nik was more than happy to answer the call of duty.

Court files reveal: “Nik Green had been sleeping but was woken by the knock on the door.

“He listened to Robles’ story, told her not to worry about waking him and reassured her that he would check out the situation.”

The man lying slumped in the car was Malone, a former firefighter who’d fallen on hard times.

He’d started making his own methamphetamine, a drug known to trigger vivid hallucinations and violent behaviours.

When Nik arrived at the scene, it must have been obvious to him that Malone had been making meth in his car, using it as a mobile laboratory.

The legal files reveal: “According to statements made by Malone, Trooper Green arrived at the scene and attempted to rouse Malone by talking to him and shining a light in his face.

“Green informed him he was under arrest.

“He was able to get a handcuff on Malone’s right wrist before he decided that he wasn’t going to go quietly back to jail.

“Malone somehow broke free and a battle ensued between the two men that tore up the grass and dirt and knocked down a barbed wire fence.