Eleven-year-old Richard “Ricky” Stetson was murdered in August 1982 after leaving his Portland, Maine, home to go for a run; his body was found beside Interstate 295.1Portland Press Herald. Nebraska Court Closes Access to Drawings by Serial Child Killer Who Struck in Maine The Ricky Stetson murder went unsolved for years. His killer, John Joubert, was a 19-year-old with no criminal record at the time. Joubert went on to kill two more boys in Nebraska, was arrested there in 1984, later confessed to killing Stetson, was convicted of the Maine murder by a jury in 1990, and was executed by Nebraska in 1996.
What Happened to Ricky Stetson
In August 1982, Ricky Stetson left his home in Portland to go for a run and never came back. His body was later discovered next to Interstate 295 in Portland.1Portland Press Herald. Nebraska Court Closes Access to Drawings by Serial Child Killer Who Struck in Maine Investigators had no suspect. The case sat open.
The reason no one was looking at John Joubert in 1982 was straightforward: he was 19, had no prior arrests, and lived an outwardly unremarkable life. Behind that, according to a later case study, he had been attacking children since he was 13, stabbing one girl with a pencil, slashing another with a razor, and nearly strangling an 8-year-old boy. He was never caught for any of it.2Radford University. Joubert, John – Serial Killer Case Study
How Joubert Was Caught in Nebraska
Sometime after Stetson’s death, Joubert joined the Air Force and was stationed at Offutt Air Force Base near Bellevue, Nebraska.3WOWT. Today in History: Offutt Airman Charged in Deaths of Two Boys Within about a year of arriving, he killed two more boys.
On September 18, 1983, 13-year-old Danny Joe Eberle disappeared while delivering newspapers for the Omaha World-Herald. His body was found several days later in rural Bellevue, roughly four miles from where he was last seen.4Sarpy County. Crime Victims’ Memorial On December 2, 1983, 12-year-old Christopher Walden vanished on his walk to school. It was the first day his mother had let him walk alone since Eberle was killed. Walden’s body was found on December 5 near the intersection of Giles Road and Portal Road outside Papillion. He had been stabbed to death.5WOWT. Today in History: Child Goes Missing, Murdered Outside Papillion
Joubert had been cruising Nebraska neighborhoods in a tan car looking for victims. On January 11, 1984, he pulled a knife on a preschool teacher and was arrested.3WOWT. Today in History: Offutt Airman Charged in Deaths of Two Boys That same day he confessed to kidnapping and murdering Eberle and Walden.4Sarpy County. Crime Victims’ Memorial He was formally charged the next day, January 12, 1984.
Before his execution, Joubert also confessed to the earlier murder of Ricky Stetson in Portland, tying the three killings together as the work of one offender.6Sarpy County. Eberle-Walden Crime Victims Memorial
The Nebraska Sentences
On July 3, 1984, Joubert pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder in Nebraska for the Eberle and Walden killings under a plea agreement.2Radford University. Joubert, John – Serial Killer Case Study A sentencing panel found multiple statutory aggravating factors, including that the murders were committed to conceal his identity, that they were “especially heinous, atrocious, and cruel” and reflected “exceptional depravity,” and, for the Walden killing, that he had a substantial history of serious assaultive criminal activity based on Eberle’s murder.7FindLaw. Joubert v. Hopkins He was sentenced to death on each count on October 9, 1984.
The Maine Trial for Ricky Stetson’s Murder
Joubert was tried separately in Maine for Ricky Stetson’s murder. By then he was already on death row in Nebraska. Because of extensive pretrial publicity in the Portland area, the trial was moved to Wiscasset, a coastal town about 35 miles northeast of Portland. A Maine jury found him guilty of the Stetson killing in October 1990.8UPI. Death Row Killer Convicted of 1982 Maine Slaying Eight years had passed since Ricky went out for that run.
Execution
Joubert spent more than a decade on Nebraska’s death row. Execution dates set in 1988, 1990, and 1991 were each stayed by appellate courts.9Amnesty International. John Joubert – Urgent Action In 1995 he challenged his sentence on the ground that the statutory language on aggravating factors was unconstitutionally vague. The Nebraska court rejected the argument and upheld the death sentence.2Radford University. Joubert, John – Serial Killer Case Study
Nebraska Attorney General Don Stenberg said of the case: “There is no killer on death row for whom the death sentence is more appropriate. It is unfortunate that 11 years have already been consumed in the courts in this case.”9Amnesty International. John Joubert – Urgent Action
John Joubert was executed by electrocution on July 17, 1996, in Lincoln, Nebraska. He was the second person executed in the state and the 332nd executed in the United States since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976.10The Marshall Project. John Joubert – Next to Die No public memorial to Ricky Stetson in Portland has been documented; his name survives in the record chiefly through Joubert’s confession and the 1990 Maine trial that convicted him.