Francis Nemechek

Case record: Francis Nemechek

Background

Francis “Don” Nemechek killed women and a small boy in multiple incidents in western Kansas. He was 26 when he gave a confession on October 7, 1976. Nemechek later pleaded innocent by reason of insanity at trial.

The offence

On Dec. 13, 1974, Nemechek shot out the tire of a car traveling on Interstate Highway 70 west of Hays. He abducted the occupants of the car: two women and a 2-year-old boy. Nemechek shot and killed the women and left the boy, who wandered away and froze to death.

The women abducted on Dec. 13, 1974 were Cheryl Young, 21, and Diane Lovette, 19, and the child was Guy Young, who was 2 years and 10 months old.

Nemechek drove the victims to a two-story stone farmhouse that had been vacant for 35 years, on a little-used, dead-end road about 15 miles north of I-70. The site was about 15 miles northeast of WaKeeney. Nemechek took the women up a rickety staircase to the second floor, where he raped one or both, then killed them with blasts from his 12-gauge shotgun. Guy Young was wearing slacks and a light T-shirt, but no shoes or coat. Nemechek ignored the child during the episode, and the child crawled from the building and froze to death in the cold night. Graham County Sheriff Don Scott said Nemechek admitted killing both women but denied that a child was involved, and Scott said: “He never, ever would admit to taking the boy. It was just like that was a blank part in his mind.”

On June 30, 1976, Nemechek abducted and killed Carla Baker, 20, of Hays, who was a University of Kansas student at home visiting her parents.

On Aug. 21, 1976, Nemechek abducted a 16-year-old rangerette from Cedar Bluff Reservoir in western Kansas and stabbed her to death. The victim was Paula Fabrizius, 16.

Investigation

A history of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation published in 1990 contended that the women saw Nemechek approach, got into their car, rolled up the windows and refused help. The history also asserted that Nemechek later forced them to go with him at gunpoint.

Authorities were not sure what happened next after the tire was shot out on Dec. 13, 1974. Trappers found Guy Young’s frozen body lying 10 to 15 feet from the abandoned farmhouse about a month later, on Jan. 13, 1975. Graham County Sheriff Don Scott found the bodies of Lovett and Cheryl Young on the dimly lit second floor; parts had been eaten away by rodents.

Authorities investigated with help from the KBI without success.

Shortly before 1 a.m. on Jan. 1, 1976, authorities responded to a sniper attack involving a pickup truck with a topper that fired four .22-caliber bullets at a Denver family’s car eastbound on I-70 east of WaKeeney. The driver of the pickup drove ahead, stopped at I-70’s Ogallah overpass, and fired four .22-caliber bullets at the moving car. One bullet hit a hubcap, two struck the front drivers side door, and another hit the rear driver’s side door, lodging in the back seat. The car’s occupants were not hit. They drove to Hays and reported the sniper attack, giving a detailed description of the truck. Authorities investigated and announced on Jan. 14, 1976, that they had charged Nemechek with firing the shots. Nemechek was jailed and then set free on a $20,000 bond. His trial was set for September 1976. Investigators found it curious that the sniper attack occurred at nearly the same place where Lovett and the Youngs disappeared.

On Aug. 24, 1976, KBI agents questioned Nemechek in connection with the murder of Paula Fabrizius. Nemechek admitted he talked with Fabrizius the last day she was seen alive and that he bought a new CB radio that day. After agents found a thumbprint on a CB radio warranty card matching Nemechek and after hearing that people saw his truck at the reservoir or on the way to Castle Rock, he was jailed quickly in connection with the murder of Fabrizius.

An autopsy was unable to determine how Carla Baker was killed. Authorities learned from a fellow county jail inmate that Nemechek had admitted to killing Fabrizius, Baker, Lovett and Cheryl Young. In October 1976, Nemechek confessed to investigators that he killed those women.

Graham County Sheriff Don Scott testified that he was summoned January 13, 1975 to the abandoned farmhouse on Joe Faulkner’s property where the body of Guy Young had been discovered. Scott also testified that the house had not been lived in since the 1930’s.

Arrest

Authorities announced on Jan. 14, 1976, that they had charged Nemechek with firing the shots in the Jan. 1, 1976 sniper attack. He was jailed and later set free on a $20,000 bond.

Nemechek was quickly jailed in connection with the murder of Fabrizius after Aug. 24, 1976 questioning.

Trial

The confession of Francis Donald Nemechek was read into the record during the second day of testimony in his trial in Salina County District Court on Tuesday, February 8, 1977.

Leonard Pruter, a Kansas Bureau of Investigation Special Agent from Norton, told how the confession was obtained and then read it into the record. Pruter said Nemechek, 26, Wakeeney, gave the confession on October 7, 1976 during a conference at the Ellis County Law Enforcement Center, with Pruter, the defendant, both his attorneys, and the County Attorneys of Graham, Ellis, and Trego counties present.

Former County Attorney Simon Roth, Jr., serving as special prosecutor, asked Pruter to read the portion concerning Carla Baker. Defense Attorney Robert Earnest, Russell, asked Pruter to read the rest of the confession after cross-examination.

Nemechek’s confession included these accounts, as read by Pruter:

Baker killing portion (as read)

On the day of the Baker killing, Nemechek drove to Hays, depressed because he couldn’t find any friends with whom to go out. Pruter quoted Nemechek as saying that he passed Carla Baker on a bicycle, stopped his pickup truck and exposed himself to her, and that she responded, “You stupid bastard, you think you are funny?” Nemechek said the girl’s response angered him and prompted him to grab her and push her into his truck. Pruter quoted Nemechek as saying he then drove her to the south side of Cedar Bluff Reservoir about 50 miles away and forced her to the back of his truck where they struggled. Pruter quoted Nemechek as saying he tore off some of the girl’s clothes, intending to rape her, whereupon she kicked him between the legs: “When she kicked me, I told her she would not kick anyone else again.” Pruter quoted that Nemechek commented in the confession that his wife had once kicked him between the legs and he retaliated by giving her two black eyes. Nemechek said he went to the front of the truck and got a knife, prompting Miss Baker to flee. Pruter quoted: “The accused killer said he caught ‘Miss Baker after she ran away and stabbed her.”

Lovette-Young killings portion (as read)

Pruter then read the portion concerning the Lovette-Young killings. Pruter quoted that in December 1974, Nemechek was depressed because of a visitation problem involving his child and ex-wife. Nemechek got in his pickup and began to drive, and Pruter quoted Nemechek as saying that on Interstate 70 he came upon a car with a flat tire. Pruter quoted that he stopped to help occupants later identified as Cheryl Young, 21, her son Guy, 3, and Diane Lovette, 19, all of Fort Madison, Iowa.

Pruter quoted the confession as saying that the shorter woman, identified as Miss Lovette, “who reminded me of my wife”, declined his help and began to curse him. Pruter quoted that her cursing angered Nemechek and he forced all three victims into his pickup at the point of an unloaded shotgun. Pruter quoted Nemechek as saying, “I decided to go out to the old place on the farm,” referring to a farm southwest of Hill City owned by Joe Faulkner where he was employed at the time. Pruter quoted Nemechek as saying he wanted to teach them a lesson regarding the cursing.

At the house, Pruter quoted that Nemechek had the two women undress and he raped Miss Lovette. After this, Pruter quoted that Mrs. Young kicked him in the side. Nemechek then loaded his shotgun, returned, and shot each woman one time. He said one woman continued to curse him after being shot. Pruter quoted Nemechek as saying he went back to his truck, reloaded his shotgun, returned upstairs and shot Mrs. Young a second time.

Pruter quoted that throughout the episode Nemechek took no notice of the 3-year-old boy, Guy Young, who was found frozen to death outside the farmhouse a month later. Pruter quoted: “When they found the bodies at the house, I was just as surprised as Joe.”

Fabrizius portion (as read)

Pruter then read the section of the confession concerning Paula Fabrizius, 16, Ellis. Pruter quoted that Nemechek said he had gone to Cedar Bluff Reservoir looking for a friend. Pruter quoted that he stopped at Miss Fabrizius’ rangerette station to ask directions; she directed him to the boat ramp but he returned when he failed to find his friend there. Pruter quoted that Nemechek asked Miss Fabrizius for a car permit and after some discussion he grabbed her and pulled her into his truck. Pruter quoted that Nemechek said Miss Fabrizius did not fight him but kept pleading with him to let her go. Pruter quoted Nemechek as driving her to a bluff in Gove County overlooking Castle Rock where he raped her.

Pruter quoted that after the rape, Miss Fabrizius told Nemechek, “My dad will get you for this.” Pruter quoted Nemechek as saying, “I got my knife and pushed it into her.” Pruter quoted that he then threw her body and her clothes off the bluff.

Gary L. Dirks, Great Bend, a Kansas Bureau of Investigation forensic chemist, testified about examination of a carpet from the bed of Nemechek’s pickup. During questioning about the Baker killing, Dirks said he found Type A blood in the rug and estimated three fourths of a pint had soaked into the rug. Dirks also said he found on the rug a piece of cloth matching a shirt Miss Baker was wearing the night she disappeared.

After the confession portion, court was recessed. When trial resumed, Graham County Sheriff Don Scott began testimony regarding the Lovette-Young murders. Scott testified about being summoned on January 13, 1975 to the abandoned farmhouse on Joe Faulkner’s property where Guy Young’s body had been discovered, and that the house had not been lived in since the 1930’s.

Jurors heard conflicting testimony from psychiatrists about whether Nemechek was sane when he committed the murders. A defense psychiatrist said Nemechek liked to dress in women’s clothing in his late teens and seemed undecided whether he wanted to be a man or a woman in a world where he felt he could not compete; the psychiatrist said he became psychotic when the women reacted to him negatively before he killed them. A prosecution psychiatrist countered that Nemechek knew what he was doing and knew his actions were wrong, and said Nemechek lied to the state psychologist during testing in order to appear insane.

A special prosecutor challenged statements from Nemechek’s confession, contending that Nemechek admitted to a state psychologist that Lovett hadn’t cursed at him before he killed her and that he already must have been carrying a knife when he grabbed Baker.

After nearly four hours of deliberation, a jury found Nemechek guilty on all five counts of first-degree murder.

The trial was moved to Salina on a change of venue order after a judge ruled Nemechek could not get a fair trial in WaKeeney. The slayings took place in four different counties and the cases were combined. Nemechek’s trial took place in February 1977 under a judge’s change of venue order.

Sentencing

On March 7, 1977, Nemechek was sentenced to five life prison terms.

After sentencing, twice the Kansas Parole Board turned down Nemechek’s attempts at parole.

Appeals

No appeals outcome was stated.

Outcome

A jury found Nemechek guilty of first-degree murder in all five deaths. He received five life prison terms.

Aftermath

Nemechek became eligible for release from prison in 1991. Kansas Parole Board members decided to keep him behind bars and not consider him again for the maximum possible period of three years. In 1994, parole board members did the same again. In 1996, Kathleen Fabrizius, sister-in-law of Paula Fabrizius, testified before the Legislature in favor of a law that would give the parole board authority to refuse inmates parole and not consider them again for 10 years. The law passed.

When Nemechek became parole-eligible again in 1997, Kathleen Fabrizius presented petitions containing signatures of more than 15,000 people asking that Nemechek be refused parole and not considered again for 10 years. Signatures were gathered from 38 states and two foreign countries, with most from Kansas. Parole board members agreed not to see Nemechek for another 10 years.

Nemechek was held at the Lansing Correctional Facility. He was to be eligible again for parole in 2007. Now 53 years old, he was described as an inmate at the Lansing Correctional Facility.

Other details

Nemechek’s confession account included a statement about his wife Cindy, including retaliation by giving her two black eyes after she had kicked him between the legs: “When I put in the blade, I remember calling her Cindy (his wife's name), and I thought, 'You will never do that again.'”

The confession account about the Baker killing also included, “When she kicked me, I told her she would not kick anyone else again,” and during testimony the confession was quoted as: “The accused killer said he caught ‘Miss Baker after she ran away and stabbed her.”

Nemechek’s confession account included: “I decided to go out to the old place on the farm,” and “I wanted to teach them a lesson,” and also included: “When they found the bodies at the house, I was just as surprised as Joe.”

Regarding the Fabrizius incident, the confession quoted: “My dad will get you for this.” and “I got my knife and pushed it into her.”

The confession also included a remark about denying the child’s involvement, and Sheriff Don Scott said: “He never, ever would admit to taking the boy,” and “It was just like that was a blank part in his mind.”

In another confession soon afterward, Nemechek told Scott and two other law enforcement officers further details of the killings, admitting he had shot out a tire of the car carrying Lovett and Cheryl Young before killing them.

Afterward, in media interviews, Nemechek insisted in March 1977 that he had changed, said he had found God after years of not accepting religion, said his favorite reading materials were the Bible and hot rod magazines, and said he believed God meant for him to help other prisoners, quoting: “I can't even go out and shoot a dog,” and “The Don Nemechek who killed five people is dead.”

During the investigation, Bob Clester, then a KBI supervisor, was quoted saying: “We knew we had the evidence we could convict with, and we didn't want to take any chances that he'd kill again.”