Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - "The Woodford Slasher" John Joseph Joubert

Episode Date: July 5, 2021

John Joseph Joubert was plagued by disturbing daydreams, along with a horrifying urge to hurt little boys, and in the 1980s, he finally acted on both. But when he targeted a teacher's young students, ...her determination signalled the end of his deadly spree. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Due to the graphic nature of this killer's crimes, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes discussions of pedophilia, cannibalism, assault, and murder. We advise extreme caution for children under 13. 13-year-old Danny Joe Eberley started the morning of September 18, 1983, just like any other. A little before dawn, he hopped on his bike, rode to the nearby convenience store, and picked up a stack of newspapers. Then he peddled down the... the winding roads of Bellevue, Nebraska, tossing papers onto the front lawns of his neighbors.
Starting point is 00:00:45 It was an easy, peaceful job, and it was kind of fun to be up and about before everyone else in town. Well, almost everyone. Unbeknownst to Danny Joe, 20-year-old John Jupert was awake, too. For the past few days, he had sat behind the wheel of his tan sedan, trailing the boy on his paper route. He followed Danny Joe through the suburban streets, learning. his routine and keeping his distance, but this morning was different. This morning, he was going to take Danny Joe for himself. Hi, I'm Greg Paulson. This is Serial Killers, a Spotify original from Parcast. Every episode, we dive into the minds and madness of serial killers.
Starting point is 00:01:41 Today we're taking a look at John Joseph Jubert, a man with a pension for hurting young boys. I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa Richardson. Hi, everyone. You can find episodes of serial killers and all other Spotify originals from podcast for free on Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. In the first part of this episode, we'll examine John's tumultuous childhood and the development of his sadistic daydreams. Later, we'll detail how John brought these fantasies to life. We'll also discuss his gruesome method of murder and how a teacher's quick thinking helped put him away.
Starting point is 00:02:17 We've got all that and more coming up. Stay with us. This episode is brought to you by ZipRecruiter. Whether you're hiring for a role or searching for a killer, the hunt can be exhausting. When detectives looked and searched to find any kind of evidence to find the person they were looking for, like Jack the Ripper, the Golden State Killer, the Unit Bomber. It's tedious work to find what you're looking for. So, if you're hiring, I've got news for you. You can skip the lengthy investigation and the tiresome process of sorting through hundreds of resumes. Just use ZipRecruiter.
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Starting point is 00:03:33 That's ZipRecruiter.com slash killers. Meet your match on ZipRecruiter. This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Bonnie and Clyde, the Lonely Hearts Killers, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. These are infamous criminal duels. But you don't need to break any laws to find your perfect business partner because you have Shopify. It's the commerce platform that can help you with literally everything, website design, marketing, shipping, and more.
Starting point is 00:04:02 So start your business today with the best partner, Shopify, and get that. Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at Shopify.com slash killers. That's shopify.com slash killers. Yamava Resort and Casino at San Manuel is California's number one entertainment destination for today's superstars. Catch the Jonas Brothers return to the Yamava Theater stage on April 30th, the powerful vocals of Demi Lovato on May 17th,
Starting point is 00:04:30 and the signature Southern Country Rock of Eric Church on July 19th. Tickets on sale now at yamavaitheter.com, only at Yamava Resort and Casino, celebrating its 40th anniversary. You in? Must be 21 to enter. People deal with stress in different ways. Some exercise, sweating out the negativity and improving their mood with endorphins.
Starting point is 00:05:00 Others relax by sitting in a hot bath, letting all their anxieties wash away. Of course, these are just a few examples of healthy coping mechanisms. Most of us are lucky enough to have learned tactics from our parents, friends, or therapists. We understand that stress is inevitable and that the only thing under our control is our reaction to it. John Joseph Jubert didn't have this luxury. He had no idea how to receive bad news, grapple with uncertainty, or endure trauma. And because he didn't have a strong support system, John had to figure things out for himself.
Starting point is 00:05:37 Of course, this took him down a dark and twisted road. He turned his thoughts inward, wallowing in his grief and angst. Daydreams swirled through his mind, and he cocooned himself in fantasy, until he had to turn these fantasies into reality. But John's life wasn't always so glum. Born in July of 1963, he grew up in a relatively happy home. His parents worked hard to keep the family unit close, reportedly making a cozy home for John and his sister in Lawrence, Massachusetts.
Starting point is 00:06:11 Unfortunately, marital difficulties got the best of his parents, and around 1969 they separated. Young John had a hard time processing the split. For years, he'd witnessed his parents' blow-ups and learned to fear them. When things got really bad, he'd run to his room or hide in the corner until his parents calmed down. Though a separation meant that these fights would finally come to an end, a part of him likely felt helpless. There was nothing he could do to keep his parents together. Potentially making him feel worse, his mother, who will call Mary, won custody and dragged John and his sister
Starting point is 00:06:50 away from their father. All of this change seems to have made John feel utterly powerless. So when a new person entered his life, he began imagining ways to take control. John imagined dominating his babysitter, who will call Sarah. But he didn't just dream of being in charge. He thought about strangling Sarah, throttling her until she fell on the floor in a lifeless heap.
Starting point is 00:07:16 He also fantasized about eating her. He wondered what it would be like, to take a bite out of her soft flesh. From the outside, no one could have guessed that John had such horrific thoughts swirling around in his head. His mother certainly didn't know. If she had, she might have sought treatment for her son. Instead, in 1973, when John was only 10,
Starting point is 00:07:40 she moved her kids 88 miles north to Portland, Maine. She hoped that all of their lives would be improved by a fresh start. Unfortunately, relocating apparently, made things worse, and John retreated further from reality. It certainly didn't help that Mary was said to have been an extremely cold and domineering parent. According to later accounts, she disciplined her children through spanking, and she rarely allowed them to see their father or explore Portland with their friends. She also had a short fuse, one that caused her to scream and break things when she was frustrated.
Starting point is 00:08:15 Whenever Mary threw one of these tantrums, her kids ran and hid in their bedrooms. Once the storm passed, Mary might come to find them, apologize tearfully, and promised to change. As far as we know, she never did. Despite his turbulent home life, John was a good student and an active member of the Boy Scouts. He wasn't popular at school, but during his preteen years, he did have one very good friend. A younger boy will call Andy. Some have speculated that Andy and John were perhaps a little more than friends, but this was never confirmed. In any event, the boys were extremely close, and John relied on Andy
Starting point is 00:08:56 for support that he didn't receive at home. Then everything changed. In 1976, when 13-year-old John left town to spend the summer with his father in Massachusetts, he expected that he'd come home and continue hanging out with Andy. Unfortunately, that's not what happened. When John returned to Portland, he discovered that Andy and his family had moved away. John bent. John begged his mother to help him find Andy, but Mary refused. She told John to deal with the situation on his own and said he'd just have to get used to life without his friend. Not only was this not great parenting, it was particularly bad advice for John. He was already having a hard time dealing with his dark fantasies, and after he lost Andy, these thoughts took over.
Starting point is 00:09:46 Sadly, at this point in John's life, there was little hope of him learning a new way to deal with his angst. By 13, it's possible he'd already finished creating his own cognitive map of the world. Vanessa is going to take over on the psychology here and throughout the episode. Please note, Vanessa is not a licensed psychologist or a psychiatrist, but we have done a lot of research for this show. Thanks, Greg. According to psychologist Edward Tolman, the brain processes emotional associations the same way it stores spatial attributes by creating a cognitive map. This map consists of the thinking patterns we use to relate to ourselves and our environment. It also determines how we give meaning to the events that happen in our world.
Starting point is 00:10:32 We typically finish developing the major components of our cognitive maps by about age 12. After that, it's incredibly difficult to change our worldview, and instead of working to change our perspective, or even seeing the possibility of a new one, we'll often sink deeper and deeper into the view we already have. His parents' divorce, his mother's behavior, and the unexplained loss of his best friend, convinced John that the world was a hostile place. He couldn't turn to others for emotional support, so he learned to turn his thinking inward to stimulate himself with fantasy.
Starting point is 00:11:08 But soon enough, these fantasies stopped being enough to quell the pain in his life, and John felt the need to act on them. he was ready to bring them to life. One day in 1976, 13-year-old John was riding his bike down the sidewalk in Portland, fiddling with a pencil in his pocket. Down the block, he saw a young girl who will call Polly, walking by herself.
Starting point is 00:11:34 John approached Polly, and once he was close enough, he stabbed the pencil into her back. Before she could even register what happened to her, John sped away. While Polly survived her wounds, she was unable to identify her attacker, and John got away with his crime. He felt both a sadistic and sexual high from the act, and he couldn't wait to do it again. Days later, he hopped back on his bike with a razor blade.
Starting point is 00:12:03 He rode around until he saw another girl. Using the same tactic as the last time, John crept up on his unsuspecting victim, slashed her with a razor, then rode off. Like Polly, this girl suffered. only minor injuries, but she also didn't see who'd attacked her, and once again, John got away with the assault. While he certainly could have continued to attack more girls, it appeared John had other things to distract him. As a small guy who was often picked on, he decided the local high school was
Starting point is 00:12:37 way too dangerous for him. So he worked to earn a place at a private Catholic high school, where he hoped the kids would be nicer. But Mary either could not or would not front the money for John's tuition, so he got himself a paper route to pay his own way. And as far as we know, John got through most of high school without any further incidents. He was an honors student, ran track, and played clarinet in the band. He also continued to stay involved with the Boy Scouts. But despite John's involvement in so many clubs, he was still a loner, and he remained a target for bullying. He was apparently tormented because the other kids suspected he was gay.
Starting point is 00:13:18 Meanwhile, John's home life continued to frustrate him. On weekends, he dreaded spending time at home with his mother and frequently asked her to drive him back to Lawrence to be with his dad. Whenever Mary refused, John made the 88-mile journey by bicycle just to get away from it all. But wherever he went, dark clouds followed. After graduating high school in 1981, 18-year-old John enrolled in Norwich University in Vermont.
Starting point is 00:13:50 He'd been a good student in high school, but once he got to college, all that changed. He started skipping class to drink or played Dungeons and Dragons, and ended up missing so much school that he flunked out his freshman year. He returned home to Portland and spent the summer of 1982 sad and dejected. Of course, his mother only made things worse. She belittled her son for his academic failures every chance she got. And by the end of August, John was downright. miserable. He was ready to do whatever it took to feel better, and the only thing that he knew
Starting point is 00:14:25 helped was hurting people. Coming up, John claims his first victim. The CIA. They're the first line of defense for the United States, analyzing intelligence to thwart any possible threats and keep us safe. Some of their involvements are made public, and others aren't. Hi, it's Carter from PARCAST, and in honor of America's birthday, we're uncovering the cases you were never supposed to know about in the new series, Conspiracy Theory's CIA Edition. From international assassination plots and mind control experiments to catastrophic cover-ups and secret societies fit for film, sift through the agency's most questioned and controversial affairs. Each week, conspiracy theories CIA edition exposes the showers.
Starting point is 00:15:23 the covert operations intended to protect us from conflicts, but end up creating conspiracies. Where does the truth lie? Where do the lies end? And how much do we really want to know? Follow the new Spotify original from Parcast, Conspiracy Theory's CIA edition. Listen every Thursday, free and only on Spotify.
Starting point is 00:15:48 Kayak gets my flight, hotel, and rental car right. So I can tune out travel advice that's just plain wrong. Bro, Skycoin, way better than points. Never fly during a Scorpio full moon. Just tell the manager you'll sue. Instant room upgrade. Stop taking bad travel advice.
Starting point is 00:16:09 Start comparing hundreds of sites with kayak and get your trip right. Kayak, got that right. Now back to the story. In the summer of 1982, 19-year-old John Jubert felt terrible about himself. And in his whole life, the only thing that ever seemed to make him feel good
Starting point is 00:16:33 was hurting other people. So on the evening of August 22nd, he grabbed a length of rope, pocketed a knife, and headed out into the city of Portland on his bike. A little after 5 p.m., he spotted 11-year-old Richard Stetson, also known as Ricky, who was out for a jog.
Starting point is 00:16:52 The blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy had waved goodbye to his parents roughly an hour earlier, assuming he'd see them for dinner. But he'd... but he was wrong. The specifics of Ricky's abduction are unclear, but somehow John managed to get the boy within his grasp.
Starting point is 00:17:10 The two of them ended up on a hillside next to a highway viaduct, and it was there that John attacked. He throttled the young boy and stabbed him in the chest, killing him, but he wasn't done. As John stood over Ricky's corpse, he was overcome with old memories. Back when he was six, he'd imagined himself strangling and eating his babysitter. Now he'd acted out half of that fantasy,
Starting point is 00:17:37 and it was time to finish it. John bent down and bit the back of Ricky's leg. For a moment, he savored the metallic tang of human blood, but then he snapped his head back with concern. He realized that he just left a very identifiable mark. If, for some reason, Ricky's murder was traced to him, All the police needed was an impression of his teeth, and they could put him away. Annoyed with himself, John grabbed his knife and started slashing up his bite mark.
Starting point is 00:18:09 He hoped to disguise it, or at the very least, make it difficult for the authorities to use in an investigation. Then he fled the scene, leaving the dead and mutilated boy alone in the grass. A passer-by discovered Ricky the next morning. His body was so mangled that initially the woman, believed the boy had been hit by a car. But once the police arrived and examined the corpse, they knew that this was no hit and run. It was a premeditated, sadistic murder.
Starting point is 00:18:40 As the authorities began looking into the crime, John laid low, thinking about his next move as well as his future. He wasn't interested in going back to college, but he did want to leave town. He just lacked the money to relocate. If he wanted to start over, he'd have to find a job to help him.
Starting point is 00:18:59 him do just that. John eventually thought back on his Boy Scout days and about how much he enjoyed the group atmosphere and the lessons he'd learned. He figured that the armed forces might provide a similar comfort and decided to join the Air Force. So in 1983, 19-year-old John moved to San Antonio, Texas and began basic training at the Lackland Air Force base. Overall, John greatly benefited from the move, as he apprenticed.
Starting point is 00:19:29 in avionics maintenance. He impressed his superiors and his peers, and even made a friend, a fellow airman who will call Anthony. John and Anthony grew very close, very fast. They reportedly developed the kind of deep friendship that John had been missing since his best friend Andy moved away when he was 13. In the summer of 1983, John and Anthony finished their training and were both transferred to the Offutt Air Base near Bellevue, Nebraska. There, they continued to do everything as a pair. They roomed together, took the same assignments, and spent all of their free time with each other. John and Anthony were so close that soldiers started teasing them about the intimacy of their friendship. They asserted that the men were lovers and began referring to them as the
Starting point is 00:20:16 girls. John was used to this type of bullying and was likely prepared to deal with it for the sake of the friendship. Anthony evidently was not. Without telling John, Anthony asked to be transferred. One day in early September, John returned to their room and found that Anthony was gone. It was Andy all over again, and John was incredibly upset. The stress caused his mood to plummet fast, and within days he was deeply depressed and desperate to lash out. In his book, Whoever Fights monsters, FBI profiler, Robert K. Ressler, discusses pre-crime situational stressors and how they encourage organized killers to act on their darkest impulses. Wrestler explains that organized killers are usually moved to action by external factors,
Starting point is 00:21:09 as opposed to their own mental illness. Robert interviewed John Jubert for his research and cites him as an example of an organized serial killer affected by pre-crime stressors. His fantasies started due to the stress of his parents' divorce. His slashings began after the loss of his childhood friend, and his first murder was a result of his flunking out of college. Robert asserts that pre-crime stressors can often be thought of as the straw that breaks the camel's back. It's not that organized killers don't have something askew mentally.
Starting point is 00:21:43 They very well might act without the stressor present, but when it occurs, it serves the same purpose as gasoline thrown on. on a fire. The need to kill becomes irrepressible, and the murderer has no choice but to follow through. This was exactly the case for John when Anthony left. His sadness and anger became untenable, and he felt a powerful urge to soothe himself. He began driving around Bellevue just before dawn, stewing in his own sorrow. Almost no one was out and about at that time of day. In fact, the only people John saw regularly were the local newspaper delivery boys, a 13-year-old named Danny Joe Eberley, and his brother, who will call Mark.
Starting point is 00:22:28 John followed the boys around, watching them as they biked from house to house, tossing the Omaha World Herald onto porches and lawns. Mark noticed that a man in a tan car seemed to be following them, but he wasn't certain. Unfortunately, he didn't say anything about it to anyone. On September 18, 1983, John took advantage of that silence. Early that morning, John parked at the local convenience store and waited for Danny Joe to pick up his usual stack of papers. Then he watched as the boy set off on his bicycle. While Danny Joe was making his fourth delivery, John approached him with a knife.
Starting point is 00:23:08 He covered the boy's mouth with his hand and instructed him to walk with him back to his car. When they reached the tan Chevy, John told Danny Joe to lie down on his stomach and not make any noise. Then John tied his hands and feet behind his back and placed a piece of tape over his mouth. Afterwards, John put Danny Joe in the trunk and drove off. John stopped at a remote cornfield several miles away. He took Danny Joe out of the trunk and carried him away from the road, where they'd be hidden among the stalks. There he untied the boy's hands and feet and ordered Danny Joe to undress. When he was down to his underwear, John bound Danny Joe's feet back up.
Starting point is 00:23:53 Then he pulled out his knife and stabbed the boy several times in the back and chest and watched him die. When the boy was still, he stabbed and slashed the body several times just to make sure. While he stood over the corpse, John was reminded of his ultimate. at fantasy. He remembered how good it felt to bite down on Ricky Stetson's flesh. And though it had been a risky move, he hadn't been caught. So in John's mind, it was safe to try again. He bit down on Danny Joe in several places, savoring the taste of blood. When he had his fill, he slashed up each of the marks with his knife to disguise them, just like before. Then he stomped through the corn husks back to his car and drove off.
Starting point is 00:24:42 When he returned to the Air Force base, he calmly walked into the barracks, laid down on his bunk, and took a nap. Meanwhile, Danny Joe's parents were frantic. They'd reported him missing a few hours after his abduction, and police immediately launched an investigation. It took them three days, but they eventually found his corpse. Needless to say, investigators were horrified. The grisly nature of the murder put them on high alert.
Starting point is 00:25:12 an officer scoured the crime scene. But besides the unique rope John used to restrain Danny Joe, they didn't have much evidence to work with. Of course, they did have a description. Danny Joe's brother, Mark, had seen John following them. He worked with a sketch artist to capture his image, and the authorities plastered the picture all over Bellevue. Frustratingly, it didn't bring in any new leads.
Starting point is 00:25:38 So police focused their attention on registered sex offenders and reported pedophiles in the area. The Sarpie County Sheriff also made pleas to the community to come forward with information. But it seemed no one had anything to say. Eventually, Danny Joe's case grew cold, and the memory of the murder gradually faded from locals' collective memory.
Starting point is 00:26:01 However, John couldn't stop thinking about Danny Joe. The thrill he got from the kill was too intoxicating, and he wanted to feel it again. But he knew better than to act on his impulses. Police were still on the lookout for a young man stalking boys, so he curbed his fantasies for a bit and bided his time by pouring over detective magazines in his bunk. John loved the magazines because they taught him about mistakes other killers had made.
Starting point is 00:26:31 He also enjoyed the pictures that accompanied the articles, ones that featured corpses. The photos aroused him and made him excited about killing again. For months, these magazines satisfied John, but by the end of November, he needed more, and he quietly started stalking young boys again. Whether it was because he felt cocky or because he already knew the area well, we'll never know. But John returned to the same general area where he'd kidnapped Danny Joe. And now, instead of getting up at dawn, John ventured out a little bit later in the morning
Starting point is 00:27:08 and watched groups of children as they made their way to school. He sussed out which boys traveled in groups and which ones made the track solo. Eventually, he zeroed in on one. On the morning of December 2nd, 1983, John followed 12-year-old Christopher Walden along his route to school. After making sure they were alone, John parked his car and strolled over to the boy.
Starting point is 00:27:34 John discreetly showed Christopher his knife and threatened to kill him if he didn't get in the car. Then John clamped a hand on the boy's shoulder and firmly walked him to the car, carefully concealing the knife he held at his back. Knowing that time was against him, John put the boy into the passenger seat and told him to lie down. Then John got behind the wheel and drove off,
Starting point is 00:27:59 feeling untouchable. But John Jubert was anything but, and though he didn't know it, his crime spree was nearing its end. Coming up, John messes with the wrong teacher. Now back to the story. On the morning of December 2nd, 1983, 20-year-old John Jubert kidnapped 12-year-old Christopher Walden
Starting point is 00:28:29 as he walked to school. John threatened the boy with a knife, guided him into his car, then drove off unseen. Or so, he thought. A woman, we'll call Gladys, was down the street and watched a decent amount of the interaction take place. While she hadn't seen the knife that John was secretly pushing into Christopher's back, she knew something was off about the exchange. But even though 13-year-old Danny Joe Eberley had been abducted from the same area just a couple months earlier,
Starting point is 00:29:02 Gladys couldn't imagine the criminal would strike in the same place twice. So after dwelling on it for a few minutes, Gladys decided that she'd probably witnessed a parent scolding a child. Meanwhile, John sped down the road with Christopher. He drove a few miles away toward a secluded, wooded area. Christopher cried the whole way there, so much so that John considered letting the boy go. Weeping wasn't a part of John's fantasy,
Starting point is 00:29:30 and it was starting to ruin the excitement for him. But John knew that the boy would tell someone about him. He imagined what might happen to him, how he'd go to prison and perhaps even be executed. No, he couldn't risk it. So John plowed ahead. He parked the car, checked to make sure they were alone, then ordered Christopher to get out.
Starting point is 00:29:54 They walked across the snow along some railroad tracks until they were farther away from the road. Then John told Christopher to take off his clothes and lie down on his back. That's when John started to strike. the young boy. And when Christopher struggled against him, John took out his knife, stabbed him a couple of times, and slashed his throat. At some point during the attack, Christopher lost consciousness. And here's where John deviated from his usual routine. Instead of biting down onto the boy or leaving him altogether, he began to carve an image into Christopher's stomach. It was a plant,
Starting point is 00:30:38 complete with a stem and seven leaves. He was developing a new seed. signature. According to Robert K. Ressler and his fellow FBI profiler, Roy Hazelwood, ritual and signature actions helped stoke the fantasy in the killer's mind. Some of them may have been dreaming about their ritual or signature for years before acting it out. As such, it's possible that John's rituals were born of his fantasy of murdering and eating his babysitter. The plant carving suggests that his fantasies were evolving. Perhaps after so many years, the babysitter daydream wasn't quite doing it for him anymore, and he had started to dwell on something new.
Starting point is 00:31:20 But it seems this new process exhausted John both physically and emotionally. When he was finished with Christopher, John trekked slowly back to his car. Then he drove back to his barracks and once again went to sleep. Later that afternoon, when Christopher's parents discovered that he'd never made it to school, they reported him missing. and it wasn't long before Gladys came forward to tell police what she'd seen, a boy who matched Christopher's description being led into a car by a short, slim, white man.
Starting point is 00:31:54 As Gladys worked with a sketch artist, search parties formed throughout the county, but Christopher was found through a different kind of exploration. On December 5th, the pheasant hunter stumbled upon the body while looking for game. After three days and a recent snowstorm, Christopher's body was frozen stiff. His clothes and school books were lying next to him. Based on the MO, investigators guessed the culprit was the same person who'd murdered Danny Joe. So after collecting all the evidence they could, authorities got to work. They updated the original sketch with Gladys' contribution, and new posters were plastered all over town.
Starting point is 00:32:36 The posters were also hung all over the Air Force base. Christopher's father was a military officer, and he wanted to make sure everyone in the area was on the lookout for his son's killer. And everyone was, except, of course, for the murderer himself. John must have made a concentrated effort to ignore the sketches, especially since they were posted in areas that he likely frequented. But if that made John nervous, he never let on,
Starting point is 00:33:05 He behaved normally while at work and hanging around the base. Off the clock, John was itching to take another life. Perhaps because his tan car had already been noted by police, John rented a different vehicle, then lurked in the shadows near local schools, looking for his next target. On the morning of January 11, 1984, John drove to the Alders Gate United Methodist Church
Starting point is 00:33:32 and pulled slowly to a stop next to the building. Inside, teachers were preparing for a preschool class, and John watched from his car, thinking about his next victim. At some point, he looked up and saw that a teacher, who will call Nancy, was staring right at him. Nancy made eye contact with him, and he immediately drove out of the parking lot. Nancy had a bad feeling about John, but wasn't sure whether he was a predator or just a creepy parent. She also didn't get a great look at him. Evidently, John had the same thought. So rather than forgetting about the church, he turned around and came right back.
Starting point is 00:34:13 This time, he parked down the street and waited. He could still see through the windows, so he watched the preschool for several minutes. As far as he could tell, things appeared to have returned to normal. Nancy wasn't talking frantically on the phone, which was a good sign. But then she looked up and saw John again. Without hesitation, Nancy's story. stormed outside. When John saw her coming, he drove away, but Nancy was prepared.
Starting point is 00:34:42 She wrote down the license plate number as the car sped off, ready to pass the information to police. Behind the wheel, John started to panic. He knew Nancy definitely suspected him of something, and he thought frantically about what he could do to throw her off the scent to make her feel like he wasn't a threat. An idea came to him, and he pulled a U-turn. John drove right back to the church, parked outside, and walked up to the front door. A concerned and cautious Nancy left her class under the supervision of another teacher and went to answer.
Starting point is 00:35:18 When she opened the door, John told her that he was lost and asked for directions to somewhere in town. Then he shot her a friendly smile, hoping this would convince her. Though Nancy gave him directions, John could tell that she wasn't buying his act. Getting desperate, he asked if he could use the church's phone. Nancy lied and told him they didn't have one. An annoyed, John shoved Nancy backwards and said, Get back in there, or I'll kill you. But Nancy, like most teachers, was not to be messed with.
Starting point is 00:35:51 She pushed past John and ran down the street. She made it to a neighboring house and pounded on the front door. The homeowner let her in, and Nancy called the police. While John fled from the church, Nancy reported that she'd been threatened by a man who looked like the composite sketch of the murderer posted around town. Then she gave the authorities his license plate number. The police ran the plates and saw that the car had recently been rented to John Jubert. Believing they finally had their man, the cops headed toward the Air Force base. And John, it seems like he knew the jig was up.
Starting point is 00:36:29 When the authorities stormed into his barracks, they found him sitting on his bunk, almost as if he was waiting for them. They asked if they could search his belongings, and he told them to go ahead. The officers rummaged around and found a duffel bag under his bed. In it, they discovered the same kind of rope that had been used to tie up Danny Joe Eberley. It was the smoking gun they needed, and they placed John under arrest. Soon after, John confessed to murdering both Danny Joe Eberley, and Christopher Walden.
Starting point is 00:37:03 Then he was charged with two counts of kidnapping and first-degree murder. While in police custody, John was subjected to psychiatric evaluations. He was examined by several doctors, all of whom tried to determine if John was mentally fit to stand trial. They all agreed he was. They believed John was an extremely intelligent individual who knew what he was doing when he committed these horrific crimes. Eventually, John also spoke to FBI profiler, Robert Ressler,
Starting point is 00:37:36 who was interested in learning about the inner workings of his mind and figured out that it was periods of stress that seemed to trigger his violent tendencies. Following John's capture, Ressler brought his case notes back to Quantico and presented them to a class of police officers learning about the art of profiling. When his class ended, one student asked to see Ressler immediately, Dan Ross was a lieutenant in the Portland Maine police force.
Starting point is 00:38:02 He said that the Sarpie County cases reminded him a lot of an unsolved murder from back home, that of 11-year-old Ricky Stetson. So as John waived his right to a trial and pleaded guilty to killing Danny Joe and Christopher in Nebraska, the state of Maine began building its own case against him. Their hard work paid off. In 1986, John was in. indicted for the murder of Ricky Stetson in Maine, and in 1990 he was found guilty. He was sentenced to life in prison for this murder, but the sentence felt symbolic more than
Starting point is 00:38:40 anything. Nebraska had already sentenced John to death. But John wasn't prepared to die. Over the next six years, he tried desperately to appeal his sentence. He poured over legal volumes and exchanged letters with fans to gain sympathy. The years following his conviction might have been the most stable years of John's life. It appears his visits to the prison library and sessions with psychiatrists contributed to a noticeable personality change. In June of 1996, John gave a TV interview just a couple of weeks before his scheduled execution. It was a last-ditch effort to save his own life, and he swore that he was no longer a threat.
Starting point is 00:39:24 But it was no use. John's taped confession was so chilling that it convinced anyone who seemed to waver on his punishment. He could claim he was a changed man, but it made no difference. People only saw a monster. So on July 17, 1996, the state of Nebraska executed 33-year-old John Jubert via electric chair. It was a gruesome death, but when confronted with different, situations, some states, like some people, turn to violent answers. Thanks again for tuning into serial killers. We'll be back soon with a new episode.
Starting point is 00:40:17 For more information on John Jubert, amongst the many sources we used, we found Whoever Fights Monsters by Robert K. Ressler, extremely helpful to our research. You can find more episodes of serial killers and all other Spotify originals from Parkast for free on Spotify. We'll see you next time. Have a killer week. Serial Killers is a Spotify original from Parcast. Executive producers include Max and Ron Cuddler,
Starting point is 00:40:46 sound design by Michael Motion, with production assistants by Ron Shapiro, Trent Williamson, Carly Madden, and Bruce Kitovich. This episode of Serial Killers was written by Ellie Reid, with writing assistance by Jane O. and Joel Callan, fact-checking by Bennett Logan and research by Brian Petrus and Chelsea Wood. Serial killers stars Greg Polson and Vanessa Richardson.
Starting point is 00:41:10 Hi, it's Carter from Parcast. Every Thursday on Conspiracy Theory's CIA edition, we're uncovering secrets hidden deep within the archives of the Central Intelligence Agency to bring you a special collection of episodes from shows across our network. Follow the new Spotify original from Parcast. Conspiracy theories CIA edition.
Starting point is 00:41:39 Listen free only on Spotify. A beloved 75-year-old man washing up getting ready for bed is brutally beaten and killed. Despite an exhaustive investigation, the killer avoids arrest and then strikes again. I'm Global News crime reporter Nancy Hicks. You might listen to a lot of true crime podcast this year, but they're not crime beat. Search for and follow the award-winning podcast Crime Beat on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you find your favorite podcasts. Do you want to hear something spooky? Some Monster, it reminded me of Bigfoot.
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