Going West: True Crime - Lisa Kimmell // 201

Episode Date: May 18, 2022

In 1988, an 18-year-old woman hit the road in Colorado to visit her family in Montana. But when she never arrived, police began their search for her in Wyoming and gathered some incredibly bizarre witness sightings. Sightings that only added more questions when her body was found soon after. This is the story of Lisa Kimmell, also known, as the Lil Miss Murder.  BONUS EPISODES patreon.com/goingwestpodcast CASE SOURCES 1. Unsolved Mysteries Episode: https://unsolved.com/gallery/lisa-kimmel/ 2. Ranker: https://www.ranker.com/list/lisa-marie-kimmell-facts/rachel-souerbry 3. Casper Star Tribune: https://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/crime-and-courts/victims-family-shares-their-anger-as-dale-wayne-eaton-sentenced-to-life/article_96a099f9-e547-5672-bd9a-6f1bd1b4b471.html?mode=comments 4. K2: https://k2radio.com/no-death-penalty-in-brutal-casper-lil-miss-murder-rape/#google_vignette 5. Death Penalty Info Center: https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/news/bungled-resentencing-of-wyomings-only-active-death-penalty-case-revictimizes-victims-family 6. Crime Vault: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5DV-DKhqhA 7. The Missoulian: https://www.newspapers.com/image/352283324/?terms=ricky%20kimmell&match=1 8. Crime Buzz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ5uxP9uL9E 9. Eaton vs. the State of WY: https://caselaw.findlaw.com/wy-supreme-court/1438693.html 10. Background on Dale: http://maamodt.asp.radford.edu/Psyc%20405/serial%20killers/Eaton,%20Dale%20Wayne.pdf 11. Casetext: https://casetext.com/case/eaton-v-wilson 12. Casper Star Tribune: https://www.newspapers.com/image/349755856/?terms=lisa%20marie%20kimmel&match=1 13. Billings Gazette: https://www.newspapers.com/image/411965577 14. Casper Star Tribune: https://www.newspapers.com/image/467450900 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What is going on True Crime fans? I'm your host Tee. And I'm your host Daphne. And you're listening to Going West. Hello everybody. Thank you for tuning in again. and thank you so much again for, you know, getting us to over 200 episodes, we're at 201. I can't believe it, seriously, over 200. I know, I hope everybody loved episode 200 and thought that case was interesting and just the way that we told this story with the whole urban legend aspect, I hope everybody dug that. And also thank you to everybody who listened to the Q&A as well, if you want to know a little bit more about Daphne and I, head over and listen to that one. Yes, please do.

And then also we just released last week a brand new Patreon bonus episode on the murder of Christy Manzinaris. And that case is crazy. It took place a few years ago on a cruise ship. Really devastating. So devastating. So if you want to hear that, and like 65 65 other bonus episodes head on over to patreon.com slash going west podcast and

Thank you so much to Kendra for recommending today's case. Yes. Thank you Kendra This is one of those where I've heard of the name, but I didn't know the details and the details are insane So I mean this story is so heartbreaking and this family at Lisa's family endured so much to bring her killer to justice. So, let's get talking about it. Absolutely. Alright guys, this is episode 201 of Going West. So let's get into it. In 1988, an 18-year-old woman hit the road in Colorado to visit her family in Montana.

But when she never arrived, police began their search for her in Wyoming and gathered some incredibly bizarre witness sightings. Sightings that only added more questions when her body was found soon after her. This is the story of Lisa Kimmel, also known as the Lil Miss Murder. Lisa Marie Kimmel was born on July 18, 1969 to parents Ron and Sheila Kimmel and she was the oldest of four children. At the request of her grandmother, she was named Lisa Marie, nicknamed her My Little Miss Lisa Marie, which was then shortened to Lil Miss, which is what many of her loved ones

called her. And a lot of people actually know of this case as Lil Miss murder. That is what I have heard and had heard previously before Kendra suggested this episode, but I don't know, I didn't want to call it that. I just want to give her her name, Lisa Kimmel. And Lil Miss comes up in another way in this episode as well. So we'll get to that. Absolutely.

And it's an important piece of this episode as well. So we'll get to that. Absolutely. And it's an important piece of the story as well. So Lisa was born in Covington, Tennessee, which is outside of Memphis, but shortly after, her family settled in Billings, Montana. Lisa's father Ron served as a Marine before getting into real estate and development, meaning they could stay in Billings and he and Sheila could raise the kids there.

And speaking of kids, after Lisa was born, element, meaning they could stay in Billings and he and Sheila could raise the kids there. And speaking of kids, after Lisa was born, she was joined by a younger brother named Ricky, and two younger sisters named Sherry and Stacey. But sadly, in 1976, exactly one week before Lisa's seventh birthday, Ricky was killed in a tragic accident at home. So the family was packing up their pickup truck for a vacation, and while Ricky played with a neighbor friend. And one of the kids accidentally put the car in gear, and it started to reverse down

the driveway. So Ricky got scared and tried to jump out of the vehicle, but he was struck and killed by the car. So just a horrible situation all around in just a freak and tragic accident. Unfortunately, since this episode is about Lisa, this would not be the last time that this poor family had to endure a tragic loss. Lisa was known for being intelligent and hardworking, and she worked at a local Arby's fast food restaurant for years during high school. And actually her mom, who was employed at Arby's as well, worked as a district supervisor.

Yes, so they both worked for the same company. Kind of fun. Exactly. So when Lisa was a teenager, she decided that she wanted to save for a car. And on her own, she purchased a brand new Black Honda CRX valued at $10,000 at the time. And now it would be worth about $24,000. She was doing so well at her job, in fact,

that when she graduated, she was offered a management position at Arby's in Aurora, Colorado. Which is used to live there. Yeah, I actually, pretty close. Yeah, about 10 miles away. So even though she had one scholarship money and an accounting award from her high school, Lisa decided against college to relocate and jumpstart her career. In 1987, after graduating from senior high school and Billings, she drove her Honda CRX South to Colorado to start her new career and her new life. Her mom also visited the Denver area frequently for work, so the two actually wound up renting

apartments in the same complex. Which I love that they did that. They worked for the same company, just very close. They wanted to stay close to each other. Yeah, that's awesome. So on Friday, March 25, 1988, Lisa was getting ready to make the eight-hour drive and 550-mile trip back to Billings, Montana, and this was to visit her family. But she was making a pit stop first at the Cody Wyoming home of her boyfriend, Ed Jerrick.

It was a big weekend for Lisa, as this was going to be the first time that her family would meet her new boyfriend, whom she met through mutual friends. Lisa was planning on driving a little bit out of the way on her usual route to Billings to go to the city of Cody to pick Ed up. I'm going to mention this in a bit as well, but because this case has so much to do with like the map I did post kind of like a root Visual like of the map of Wyoming into Montana so you guys can see how Cody is West of where she would typically be going to get to her her parents house So a little out of the way, but you can still get to Billings

So this drive like I said would take around eight hours. And after spending the night there on Friday, they would continue on the last two hours of her journey together. So she was gonna spend the night at Ed's parents' house. Right, and then they were gonna finish the second half of the drive. Yeah, cause she was gonna get there kind of late

as I'm about to mention. Yeah, and then they were just gonna finish it up and then spend the weekend with her family, which is huge. So it is worth noting that in the Unsolved Mysteries episode about her case, which some of you may have seen, they referred to Ed who was interviewed on camera as just a friend, but every other source

that we found has called him her boyfriend, so that's what we're going with. That day, Lisa was planning on leaving Colorado after her shift at work, which again, this is a Friday. She and Ed spoke at about 4.30 pm with Lisa telling him that she was running a bit behind, but would likely be able to leave by 5 pm, putting her in the city of Cody, Wyoming around 1am. And she was going to drive through Casper, Wyoming, and then down the Tulane Road that led from Casper to Cody. And March 25 was a clear day, and she was making good time on the drive.

However, after falling asleep waiting for her, Ed woke up a little after 7am on Saturday, March 26, to find that a little after 7 a.m. on Saturday, March 26th, to find that Lisa still hadn't arrived. In the age before cell phones, this was, you know, cause for panic, because she could have been anywhere, with no way of getting in touch. Especially because that is six hours later, so he is no way to reach her and he's like, did something happen? Exactly.

So, Ed called the highway patrol of both Wyoming and Colorado, wondering if maybe if she had been in an accident. Very smart. Please took down the information, but held off on reporting her missing, assuming that she would turn up at one of her destinations soon. But when hours passed, with no sign of her, Ed jumped in the car to drive to Billings

and meet with Lisa's parents to begin the search on their own. And again, this is the first time that he's even meeting them and it's under these very stressful, bizarre circumstances. Yeah, he's like, now I have to meet my girlfriend's family and go search for her. Crazy. So two days passed with no sign of her. But then a highway patrolman reported that he had actually

stopped her for speeding and issued her a ticket on the evening of Friday March 25th, which again is the night that she left Colorado. It was at 9.08pm just outside of Douglas, Wyoming, only about 45 minutes away from Casper where she was going to take the turn you know off to that two-lane road to Cody. The Wyoming State Trooper clocked her at 88 miles per hour and he find her what or he find her 120 dollars, which she was required to pay on the spot. Not having enough cash on her person, the trooper drove behind her to an ATM

where she attempted to withdraw the money for the violation. This is kind of interesting, because I don't think I've ever heard of you having to pay on the spot for a ticket. I have heard of that. I've never had to do that, but that is, is this not such a bizarre thing? Yeah.

Especially if you say it's late at night, there's probably not really anybody out in this area. She's just driving through Wyoming, you know what I'm saying? And she's got to go pay for this ticket. And it totally makes sense to her going 88 on this road in Wyoming. It's probably not a lot of people around, but that's just unfortunate. But her card actually was not compatible with the machine, this ATM in particular, so the trooper did take Mercy on her and told her that she could just mail in a check, which was very nice.

At about 4 hours away from her destination in Cody, she was still on track for her planned arrival time of 1am. But this police officer's sighting of her would be the last confirmed citing of Lisa alive. When days passed with no sign of her or her car, Lisa's dad Ron actually chartered a small plane to fly up and down the route of her trip, believing that her car may have broken down and she may still be stranded,

or that she had gotten into an accident. So that's pretty serious. She's literally chartering a small plane to fly around looking for his daughter. Yeah. So it's so sad. Now luckily her car was distinctive. It had a Montana license plate that read Lil Miss,

which again was her nickname. And that's when we said we were gonna bring up Lil Miss. That's what we're talking about was her license plate. Yes, so it's easy to spot, easy to remember, which will come in handy here in a second when we talk about witnesses. Right. So eight days after Lisa and her car vanished, two men fishing on the North Platte River outside of Casper, Wyoming saw something floating in the water. Great Bradford, one of the fishermen, had just heard about Lisa's

disappearance on the radio and said that he had a bad feeling. Upon further inspection, it was a woman's body floating face down in the water. On April 2, 1988, the body found was confirmed to be that of 18-year-old Lisa Kemel. Her body didn't show many signs of decomposition because the river was extremely cold, so investigators initially thought that she was killed and her body was discarded in the late evening or early morning after her disappearance. However, when an autopsy was performed shortly after the discovery, it was determined that she had been dead for about 36 hours, which meant that she could have been alive for

up to seven days before being dropped off a bridge into the water below. I can't imagine how her parents felt learning that and knowing that her dad chartered a plane to look for her and they were out there searching and she was alive. Yeah, you're just thinking about the fact that she was out there somewhere with somebody for seven days potentially. So the icy temperature made it difficult to estimate, but investigators thought that it was likely that she spent time somewhere else before her death. When they found her, she was naked except for a pair of underwear. Lisa's official cause of death was blood loss due to stab wounds, but she had also been struck in the head, which would have proved fatal had she not bled to death first. She had six stab wounds to her chest and abdomen.

Sheriff Ron Ketchum of the Natrona County Sheriff's Department said that at the time, he couldn't release the manner in which she had been stabbed for fear of corrupting the investigation, but that it was a quote, unique method. Which makes me wonder if it was in some kind of like ritualistic pattern, like we sometimes see in murder cases, because it must have been quite specific if they didn't release it. Like I don't think I've ever looked into a murder that didn't release the stabbing method.

You know? Yeah, and especially using the words unique method. Like what does that mean? What does that mean, right? It's bizarre. So sorry, I feel like I keep saying bizarre. In this case, but it is. It is.

So Lisa had bruises and abrasions on her wrists, ankles, arms, and legs, consistent with being bound by nylon or hemp rope, which only made, you know, investigators believe even more that she had been held somewhere before she was killed. And due to the lack of defensive wounds, authorities assumed that she was unconscious when she was struck in the head and thrown into the water. She had also been sexually assaulted as there was male DNA found on her genitals and on the underwear that she was wearing. Detectives scoured the area near where she was found and on government bridge, a little used suspension bridge over the North Platte River,

on government bridge, a little used suspension bridge over the North Platte River, a pool of blood was found that matched Lisa's blood type. So this is how they could confirm that she was thrown from that bridge, right. Detectives believed her killer was likely someone local because this particular bridge was fairly inaccessible and rarely used. So it didn't seem likely that a drifter or out of towner would have known about it.

Locals reported seeing headlights on the bridge in the dead of night within the last few days, and eerily enough, Lisa's mother Sheila Kimmel says that because of a sacred experience she had, she believes her daughter died on March 31, 1988, six days after she was last seen. And I always think it's interesting in cases where a young woman dies, where the mother senses something. And we've talked about this a lot on the show, but every time like the mom says, wow, on that day

or I woke up in the night to this nightmare, I had this really bad feeling it just like shakes me oh yeah i remember there was one specific case that we talked about little side note here uh... where this that that exactly happened i think the mom woke up in the middle of the night and she was had this crazy panic to that there we cover that within months and i can't remember the case but yes yes, but so sad

Since Lisa and her mom worked for Arby's three Arby's restaurant locations one in Casper and two in Billings Actually offered their profits from one day of sales to Lisa's reward fund for information about her death But with no leads, please ask the public for help and the the weeks following, over 1,000 tips came in regarding spotting Lisa and her car, sometimes alone and sometimes with a male companion. That's a lot of tips. That's a ton of tips. And just a ton of tips saying that, you know, I think I saw her. Right.

Yeah. And these sightings came in from as far away as Canada. So these are now people thinking that she was not even in the state of Wyoming anymore or Montana, but that she was in a completely other area, which then we have to question because, you know, how reliable are those ones? Yeah, exactly.

How would you know, right? And I feel like this kind of happens with cases like this too. It's like somebody in, like something will happen in like Oregon and then in someone in Florida is like, oh, I saw that person. And it's like, and it's like, yeah, we don't know, you know. It's great when people come forward. I love when there's a lot of tips though, it does make it very difficult because it's like,

oh, well, someone said they saw her in Canada at the same time that someone else says they saw her in Missouri or whatever, you know. You have to sift through what you feel is like reliable. Yeah. So composites were made of 17 different men reported to investigators as the man in the car with Lisa, but none were close enough to to each other to justify issuing a wanted poster, meaning that these are a lot of different descriptions.

Yes. A lot of different types of men. All the guys look different. So three of the sightings believed to be the most reliable were in Casper, Wyoming and Buffalo, Wyoming, which obviously makes sense. And Buffalo is about an hour and a half north of Casper. So the day after Lisa was last seen on Saturday, March 26, 1988,

Donna Kirkpatrick, the Johnson County Sheriff's wife of Buffalo, Wyoming, saw what she described as a little black sports car, pulled out in front of her on the road while she was out driving. She said she remembered this car in particular because of Lisa's little miss Vanity license plates. When she pulled up next to the car, she described seeing a blonde woman in a pink sweater. For reference, Lisa could be described as blonde, though her hair was more of a brownish blonde, not full blonde, but this could have been her. The odd thing is this is the next day, and Buffalo is just around two and a half hours from

Douglas where she was pulled over and it's technically both on the way to Cody where her boyfriend was and her final destination billing. So if this was her that would mean that she would have stayed the night somewhere after getting pulled over. But why would she do that when she knew Ed was waiting for her and she was supposed to stay at his house? And again, we posted a map so you can see where all the different cities are

and how they connect to get a better visual. But it's just weird to think this sighting was around like 4 p.m. or something. So even if she had stayed the night, why would she still be in this part of Wyoming at 4 p.m.? And also even if she was going to be, let's say, she slept and she did some sightseeing, I don't know. Like she could have easily called Ed

or her parents from her hotel if she stayed at one or, you know, stop at a gas station, use the phone and call them. Yeah, I just don't see it as likely because there's no reason why she would be there. She has plans. Right, so but then who was that? Because that was her far. Yeah, I just don't see it as likely because there's no reason why she would be there. She has plans. Right. So, but then who was that? Because that was her far. Yeah, I don't know. But it gets even more strange. So the next day, about 22 hours after this sighting on Sunday, March 27th, around 145 in the afternoon, a Casper woman named Diana Houston was driving through downtown Casper, which

is an hour and a half behind Buffalo. So it's an hour and a half in the opposite direction of where Lisa was headed on this trip. So Diana was from Montana, so she says the Montana plates caught her eye, and her roommate happened to have a dog named Lil Miss. And because of these coincidences, she was curious about the driver when she came across this car that said Lil Miss and made a point of scoping her out. Diana saw a woman she described as blonde wearing a yellow sweater. Interesting, so not pink, but yellow. Right, and the police man who stopped Lisa on Friday night remembered her wearing a black and white sweater. And oddly, her parents didn't recall her owning a pink or yellow sweater at all.

So this is why it gets so weird because again, someone is claiming to see a blonde woman and Lisa was wearing this black and white sweater Friday, then this woman is seen in Lisa's car wearing a pink sweater on Saturday, and then a yellow sweater on Sunday. So, these are on different days, of course, changing clothes makes sense. But what doesn't make sense is, again, the location. So, she was pulled over in Douglas on Friday night. While 30 minutes from Douglas is Casper where she was seen on Sunday. And an hour and a half past Casper is Buffalo where she was seen the day before which was Saturday. So if

this was Lisa, why that would mean she turned around, but why? Yeah, that makes no sense. Yeah, it doesn't make sense. And either this or this wasn't Lisa, but then where was Lisa and who the hell is this blonde woman driving around Wyoming? In her car. In her car. But that's why it doesn't make sense to me, especially knowing that she's changing clothes.

She's still driving around this general area of Wyoming and not caring for Ticote to pick up her boyfriend nor to Billings to see her family, which is why she took the trip in the first place. Yeah, which is her plans. That's why this case is baffling to me, because this is so... just odd. I couldn't agree more. So the third potential eyewitness sighting was a few hours later on that same Sunday back

in Buffalo, Wyoming, where she had been spotted on Saturday. An employee at a gas station described spotting a young woman driving Lisa's black Honda CRX with vanity plates, and in the passenger seat was a man between 135 and 140 pounds, with a dark complexion, dark hair, and dark eyes. He claimed that this man had aquiline or eagle-like features. So usually that means like when I look this up it's like the nose is maybe tilted down a little bit. Yeah, makes sense. So police had no way to explain the sightings, nor why they bounce between Buffalo and Casper, or why Lisa, if it was even Lisa, didn't seem to be putting up a fight from the man who

would likely kidnapped her. After this, the leads just kind of stopped. Lisa's story was featured on Unsolved Mysteries in March of 1989, one year after her disappearance and murder, and many of the key players, including her mother Sheila, boyfriend Ed, and a few of these supposed eyewitnesses were interviewed. But the trail, unfortunately, stayed cold. In October of 1988, Lisa's parents found a suspicious note taped to her headstone at

her grave in Billings, Montana, that red quote, Lisa, there aren't words to say how much you're missed. The pain never leaves. It's so hard without you. You'll always be alive in me. Your death is my painful loss, but heaven's sweet gain. Love always, string fellow hawk. The signature was a reference to a character of the same name from the television series Airwolf, which ran for four seasons on NBC. String fellow was a test pilot known for being handsome, brooding, and reclusive, so it's really strange that this note was left there and signed that.

And it was months after she was murdered. So this is months later someone who is not saying their real name is signing this very heartfelt letter about missing her and her families like who is this from yeah you can only imagine seeing the signature string fellow hawk you're like uh... okay also it's a it's such a like uh... you know it sounds like this person knows her right and at this time it was not known who left this note or if they were involved in her murder, but definitely interesting.

And we will find out soon who left that note. Finally, after 12 whole years with no answers, police got a hit. DNA taken from a prisoner in Colorado matched with the DNA from Lisa Kimmel's rape kit. A man named Dale Wayne Eaton was serving time at the Inglewood Federal Prison in Littleton, Colorado, which is about 20 minutes south of Denver and ironically is the same city that Lisa's rape kit, again Dale E. Tin, was serving a sentence for kidnapping and a legal possession of a firearm, and he had a pretty long rap sheet and was known to have some behavioral problems.

His DNA had actually been in the system since 1997, when he had served time for a separate offense after kidnapping an entire family at gunpoint. So here's the story. Dale had stopped to offer help to a family whose car had broken down and he wound up kidnapping them. Scott, Shannon, and five-month-old Cody Breedon had been stranded on a barren stretch of highway along I-80. Dale had pulled over and offered them a ride,

if- or a ride, no, a ride. Sorry. A. Arride, if Shannon would be willing to drive saying that he was tired. But once they were on the road, she saw Dale E10 pointing a rifle at Scott and their son. So she spun the van in a tight circle, hoping to knock the rifle out of his hand. But Dale lunged toward her to regain control of the car, and this gave Scott a chance to flee with the baby. With the car stopped, Shannon ran after them, but Dale was able to grab her and pull her back into the car, attempting to stab her with a knife that he pulled from under the passenger seats.

After putting Cody down somewhere safe, Scott ran back to the vehicle where Dale was attempting to stab his wife. Then he grabbed the rifle and hit Dale over the head so hard with it that it broke the wooden butt of the gun. So Dale and Scott struggled a bit and Dale was eventually stabbed, slowing him down enough for the three of them to get back into the car and drive away. So they like took his car. What an idiot.

What a loser. I know. And then the family stopped about a mile down the road on a maintenance area for help. Sweetwater County Sheriff Deputy Attorney Anthony Howard, who was prosecuting his case, said the statement Dale made was one of the strangest he had ever heard. So here it is. He wanted to commit suicide but didn't have the guts.

He was hoping they would kill him, suicide by stranger. No, I don't think that's no. That's what he said. Well that's what he told his attorney, so that doesn't mean it's true, but it might be. I think Dale is an opportunist. He saw an opportunity to potentially, I don't know. I don't know what his intentions were. Like pick up this family and then try to kill them

shortly after they get in the car. Why? I just think he's trying to make himself a victim. Like, oh poor pitiful me. I was trying to have know have somebody kill me now I don't think so who knows anyway either way he's a bad dude carry on Dale's a douche so after being arrested Dale actually escaped but was eventually apprehended in the Shishoni National Forest near Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming

at the time of his arrest he possessed an illegal weapon piling on to the kidnapping charge and putting him in a federal prison, where he was forced to submit a DNA sample. So that's how it got entered, sorry, into the system in 1997. Yes, and this is how this really helped this case. So please were careful not to reveal any information to Dale or the public just yet, but please begin investigating his property. His neighbors reported having seen him dig a massive hole which is never good sign, the year of Lisa's death, which he claimed was for a septic tank.

The only structures on the land were a trailer and a shed, which was littered with car parts, discarded clothing and animal droings, and the bathroom was covered in feces. Police dug up the ground on his compound, and actually found Lisa's black Honda CRX, buried in that pit, still bearing her vanity license plate, Lil Miss. I can't believe he buried her car. Never heard of that happening. Crazy. And just the way all of this unfolds, the fact that they get his DNA, they're like, okay,

now we're going to search his property. Then they find her car buried. It's just like one thing after another. So crazy. Insanity. So here's a bit more information on Dale before we continue. Dale Wayne Eaton was born on February 10th, 1945, and he was one of eight siblings. When he was 16 years old, his mother was sent to a psychiatric hospital for trying to set

their house on fire. Dale claimed later that his father was verbally and physically abusive, often hitting him and his siblings, and in one instance, even breaking a beer bottle over his head. He was an extremely poor student, likely due to his difficult home life, and he was held back in school. When he was a teenager and the family was living in Greeley, Colorado, he assaulted a woman and was sent to reformatory school, but never obtained a high school diploma. He served his first jail sentence at just 19 years old, and at the age of 26, he married an 18-year-old girl named Melody, who apparently asked for a divorce on their wedding night.

Oh, man. That's pretty intense. That says something about Dale. It does. They had a very volatile relationship. They broke up a lot and got back together multiple times. And this relationship produced two sons and one daughter. In 1986, when Dale and Melody officially divorced,

Dale suffered a major depressive episode, threatening to kill himself and was sent to a psychiatric hospital and diagnosed with depression and a thought disorder. In 2001 while serving time for the assault on the Breeden family and the weapons charge, he got into a fight with his cellmate Carl Palmer and actually killed his cellmate. He was convicted on yet another charge this time for voluntary manslaughter. While he was busy adding time to his sentence, police were on to him and obtained a search warrant for his home. Dale lived on a plot of land in Manita, Wyoming, an unincorporated town

in Neetrona County, about an hour's drive outside of Casper, so very close to the exact geographical center of the state. Once investigators had a nurse Lisa's vehicle, they had enough evidence to try him for the case. So on April 17, 2003, Dale Wayne Eaton was officially charged with the kidnapping, rape, and murder of Lisa Kimmel. So nearly 15 years after her murder. Yeah. During Lisa's trial, a fellow inmate of Dales,

Joseph Francis Dax, testified that Dail told him he had seen Lisa at a rest stop outside of Casper Wyoming and that she offered him a ride which he accepted. Somehow I doubt this. Yeah, I doubt this too. He then made sexual advances towards her during the ride, which Lisa refused, and when she pulled over to kick him out of the car, Dale resorted to kidnapping,

then eventually raping and murdering her. She was held in a dilapidated bus with no electricity or plumbing on his desolate monieta compound, tied up and repeatedly assaulted before being killed. They were even able to match his handwriting to that strange note found on her grave shortly after her death. So weird that he would even do that. Yeah, so let's just read that again now that we know who wrote it. And you know, what he did to her while she was alive and how long he knew her, mere days. So it said, Lisa, there aren't words to say how much you're missed.

The pain never leaves. It's so hard without you. Ah. You'll always be alive in me. Your death is my painful loss, but heaven's sweet gain. Love always, string fellow hawk. So he knew her for days and assaulted her repeatedly and then murdered her. And then he said that your death is my painful loss.

Yeah, and you like have the audacity to say that you miss her and it's hard without her. What? Just makes, just makes you want to throw punch Dale. I was just about to say he's so punchable. Okay, so in his trial, Dale, however, claimed that he returned home on the evening of Friday, March 25, 1988, T'lysa and her car on his property and that he trapped her, assuming she was robbing him. Oh, yeah. What?

Sure. See, that's why I don't believe him is because he just makes shit up. You're so right. So his attorney, Wyatt Skags, initially argued that he should be acquitted of all charges. Why? In response to claims made that she was sexually assaulted, get this. Why it retorted, quote, there's no evidence it was done without her consent. And him saying this made the courtroom audibly gasp. You have to be kidding me. Another person who needs a thorough punch. He absolutely agree. So on March 20th, 2004, Dale Wayne Eaton was found guilty on all charges and sentence to death.

Thank God. This was a huge deal because Wyoming had not seen a death sentence since its last death row inmate was killed by lethal injection in 1992. He was scheduled to be killed in February of 2010, but in December of 2009, he received a stay of execution. In 2014, a federal judge took him off of death row. Dale's legal team began to push for a retrial and lighter sentencing, claiming that he was not intellectually or psychologically fit to stand trial and that he had not received a fair trial initially. Your DNA was found on her body and her car was buried under the ground of your property. Yeah and you made enough excuses as to, you know, oh, like, you know, she was, I thought she was trying to rob me, like now, now you are completely competent. No retrial is deserved.

Nope. In January of this year, 2022, the Kimmel family traveled to Wyoming to read victim impact statements at Dale's recentencing hearing, but Dale never showed up. According to the Wyoming Department of Corrections, there was a miscommunication, and they failed to transport him to the Wyoming Department of Corrections, there was a miscommunication, and they failed to transport him to the hearing. The Kimmel family came back to Casper once again in March of 2022, 34 years exactly since Lisa was taken from them. While he's no longer

on death row, Dale remains in prison where he will stay until his death. He's now had multiple strokes and is reported to be losing capacity rapidly, even claiming it as trial that he was 10 years older than he actually is. But one really great part about this story is that the Kimmel family was awarded his Monitopropperty in a wrongful death lawsuit and in 2006, on what would have been Lisa's 36 birthday, they burned it all to the ground, such an epic move. Yeah, God, that must have been so cathartic to do that knowing that that's likely

where she had been killed. And she, they didn't have answers for so many years. And then finally, he's in prison. He was sentenced for all the horrible things he did to their beloved Lisa. And then they just get to burn his property. Yeah and it's just a way of them to, you know, feel something. Some kind of release something. Yeah, some sort of justice out of this whole situation. So because Dale kept her car as like a trophy and it held on to articles printed about her death and disappearance, which he actually did, which

is gross. Police felt that he may be a serial killer, with other victims still unaccounted for. Oh, I believe that. Right. The Kimmel's also still believe that this is the case, and Ron and Sheila have tried to visit him in prison to talk about this being a possibility and just encourage him to confess, but he has refused. They've also written him letters which have gone ignored. There was a series of murders in Wyoming that took place between 1983 and 1996,

whose victims usually disappeared initially and were then found to be murdered. Law enforcement has labeled these the great base in murders, and wonder if Dale has maybe killed one or more of these victims. One famous unsolved case that you guys may have heard of is Amy Bechtel, who disappeared from Lander Weilming, which is about a two and a half hour drive from Casper in 1997.

She was jogging in the Shoshone National Forest when she just seemed to vanish. Her car was found the next day with no sign of a struggle and no sign of her. Dale's brother, Richard Eaton, even contacted authorities claiming that Dale liked to hunt and fish in that area and that he suspected his brother was involved. But police didn't pursue the lead until it was too late when Dale was already detained for Lisa's murder and then he refused to admit to anything.

Yeah, that's crazy that even your own brother thinks that you're involved. We always say this like when a family member thinks you're involved in something, you probably are, because they know you very well. Very true. So Lisa's parents created a memorial scholarship fund in her name at Senior High School in Billings, Montana that started with what was left over in the reward fund. While Ron passed away in 2020, Sheila still resides in Colorado.

She wrote a book about her experience called The Murder of Little Miss, detailing the horrifying experience and offering hope to others who have had to endure the death of a child. Sheila said that asking for the death penalty was the hardest decision anyone in the family ever had to make, and that they would have been open to Dale asking for a life sentence instead if he had only asked for forgiveness. It seemed like they really gave this guy a lot of chances. They wanted to talk to him, they wanted to try to help him. Well, it's because they're good people.

Right, but it's just so sad that they were really trying with him and he was just totally shut off to them. Absolutely. And what will probably be her final confrontation with her daughter's killer, Sheila said directly to Dale's face, quote, can you remember Lisa's face? Can you remember her cries? Can you remember her tears? Can you remember her screams? Can you remember the fear in her eyes? Can you remember her screams? Can you remember the fear in her eyes? Can you remember her pain? Can you remember her last breath?

Can you remember her last heartbeat? The judge asked Dale if he wanted to respond, and after conferring with his legal team, his attorney said, quote, he wants to say that he's sorry. Thank you everybody for listening to this episode of Going West. Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode, and on Friday we'll have an all-new case for you guys to dive into. What a strange and frustrating story, right? Yeah, it just makes me hate Dale so much. Especially knowing that he never properly confessed, and there's still so many questions that we have, like, was that her in the car?

Because if it wasn't, that would mean that a woman was involved. But if it was her, why was it her? How was it her? Yeah, so many questions here, and I just really hope that if he is, in fact, a serial killer, that someday DNA will connect him to these other cases. I agree, because there are so many cases that he could be connected to. Right. Let's hope for justice for those.

Thank you so much everybody for checking out this story and listening to Going West. And don't forget, if you want more going west, head on over to patreon.com, p-a-t-r-e-o-n, dot com, and subscribe. And then you have access to so many more episodes from Heath and I on True Crime cases that we do not cover ongoing West. There's so many in there full length. They're full length and they're ad free. Yes.

Also thank you guys for just sharing this show with your friends and your family. It means a lot to us. It helps our show grow and also thanks for leaving us reviews. Yes, it all helps. Heath and I, just your kindness. We love you guys. All right, guys, so for everybody out there in the world, don't be a stranger. 1.5% 1.5% 1.5%

1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.5%

1.5% 1.5% 1.5% You