John Joubert - Murders

Murders

In the city of Portland, Maine on August 22, 1982, 11-year-old Richard "Ricky" Stetson had gone jogging. When he had not returned by dark, his parents called the police. The next day, a motorist saw the boy's body on the side of the I-295. The attacker appeared to have attempted to undress him, and then stabbed and strangled him. A suspect was arrested for the murder, but his teeth did not match a bite mark on Stetson's body, and so he was released after a year and a half in custody. No additional leads presented themselves in the case until January 1984.

Danny Joe Eberle disappeared while delivering the Omaha World-Herald newspaper on Sunday, September 18, 1983, in Bellevue, Nebraska. His brother, who also delivered the newspaper, had not seen him, but he did remember being followed by a white man in a tan car on previous days. It was found that Eberle had only delivered three of the seventy newspapers on his route. At his fourth delivery, his bicycle was discovered along with the rest of the newspapers. There appeared to be no sign of a struggle. Joubert would later describe how he had approached Eberle, drawn a knife, and covered the boy's mouth with his hand. He instructed Eberle to follow him to his truck and drove him to a gravel road outside the town.

After three days of searching, Eberle's body was discovered about four miles (6 km) from his bicycle. He had been stripped to his underwear, his feet and hands had been bound, and his mouth had been taped with surgical tape. Joubert had stabbed him nine times. As a kidnapping, the crime came under the jurisdiction of the federal government of the United States, so the FBI was called in.

The investigation followed several leads, including a young man who was arrested for molesting two young boys about a week after the crime. He failed a polygraph test and had a false alibi but did not fit the profile the FBI had created for the murderer. He was released due to a lack of evidence. Other known pedophiles in the area were also questioned, but the case went cold due to a scarcity of evidence.

On December 2, Christopher Walden disappeared in Papillion, Nebraska, about three miles (5 km) from where Eberle's body was found. Witnesses again said they saw a white man in a tan car. Joubert said that he had driven up to Walden as he walked, showed him the sheath of his knife and ordered him into the car. After driving to some railways lines out of town, he ordered Walden to strip to his underwear which he did. But then Walden refused to lie down. After a brief struggle, Joubert overpowered and then stabbed him. Joubert cut Walden's throat, so deep that he was almost decapitated. Walden's body was found two days later five miles (8 km) from the town. Although the crimes were similar there were differences. Walden had not been bound, had been concealed better, and was thought to have been killed immediately after being abducted.