Missing Paperboys /// Chapter 3 /// Boy Scout Killer | Forensic Files

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[music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> This is our missing paper boy series.
Chapter three. The boy scout killer. A knot tied tight with practiced hand in a quiet corner of the land.
A leader's badge upon his chest hiding monsters at unrest. He taught the arrow of light and truth
and smiled upon the face of youth. By day he served country and town while planning how to break them down.
With cold patience, he would watch and wait. Then with his knife he sealed their fate.
A mask of normalcy he tried to hide with nothing but darkness left inside. The biter, the cutter
taking breath. His life a shadow play with death until the day the killing stopped.
The mask of virtue finally dropped. The scout leader, young and small was the killer in the dark behind the
wall. This is True Crime Garage. >> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Returning to Omaha with one case still
open the murder of Danny Joe Eberle was still unsolved. Now, as we talked about last
week, several seasoned FBI agents were already assisting the Sarpy County Sheriff's Office full-time
working the Danny Joe Eberle case. Then, on December 2nd, 1983, the phone calls began.
And a second family's world started to collapse. This was a cold but sunny Nebraska morning that started off with a
walk to school. On this day, 12-year-old Christopher Walden a sixth grader, woke up and did what
kids do. He pushed for a little more freedom. An opportunity to show that he was maturing.
Christopher, or Chris to everyone who loved him, usually went to school with his mother, Sue. But on this morning, he
talked her into letting him walk alone. It was a small victory. Sue and her husband, Steve Walden, a
lieutenant colonel stationed at Offutt Air Force Base located adjacent to Bellevue
in Sarpy County they were protective of their boy. Protective to the point of vigilance. Chris was their only child
and they doted on him. In fact, they rarely let him out of their sight. So, when Sue agreed to let him walk the
roughly 1-mile distance to Pawnee Elementary School it probably felt to Chris like the world had opened up a little.
To Sue, it likely felt like a cautious step toward independence for her son. And she would be watching closely from
the window. In fact, she watched him head out into the crisp morning air, but by the end of the day that 1-mile walk
would become the center of a frantic search for the little boy. As the afternoon wore on Sue waited for
Chris to come home. Around 4:00 p.m., she started noticing something that didn't fit.
Other children, Chris's classmates in fact walked past the house. She wondered where her boy was. In fact,
she goes outside and she approaches the school children and ask one of them, "Have you seen Chris?" And then ask
another, "Have you seen Chris?" And everyone she talked to, all the kids she talked to, said they hadn't seen him at
all. In fact, what's even more scary here they hadn't even seen the boy at school that day. So, Sue called the
school and a secretary confirmed what no parent is prepared to hear. Chris was listed as
absent on that day. The boy who was late to make it home from school now becomes
the boy who never made it to school. Confusion quickly turned into panic. Sue contacted Steve at work.
Together they made the decision no parent wants to make, but every parent must make quickly. They called the Sarpy
County Sheriff's Office and reported their son missing. The community was already on edge because Danny Joe
Eberle's murder was still unsolved. That context mattered. It sharpened everyone's instincts and
collapsed the time between missing and mobilized. We are going to see a much different
effort made in this case than what we had seen in the Johnny Gosch case. And of course, that's going to be for
good reason. Here in Omaha, they already had a kid that was missing. He was missing for a few days and then
he was found murdered. And that boy's killer has yet to be located, yet to be identified, and now we have another kid
same age missing from an area very close to where the other boy, the previous boy, Danny
Joe Eberle went missing before he was found murdered near the river. Well, and this
is 1983. This is a time period where you go to work after dinner things start shutting down
in the family. Mhm. Who are these victims? They're kids. The first one, in the Danny case,
you go, maybe it's just a one-off. But now with Christopher, the the threat level goes to midnight, right?
>> Yeah, the Sheriff's Office alerted their law enforcement partners. This of course
including the FBI. Now, remember we already have agents working the Eberle homicide case. They're going to quickly
pivot and now also get focused in on the Christopher Walden disappearance. The entire Omaha FBI office was called into
action to work alongside other agencies. Right. >> All with the same urgent hope, find
Chris alive and bring him home. From retired FBI agent Harry Trimbach's book this is titled My Life as an FBI special
agent from his dark places series. This is book two, Murders, Motors, The Mob, and
The Money. He says, "How we work a missing child case it's working three paths all at once."
Now, keep in mind, we've reviewed unfortunately a lot of missing child cases here. Right.
>> And they've all been investigated to slightly different degrees and strategies. But what he's
saying in his book is that when given the opportunity and the right amount of resources and people
power, then this is the way that you should work a missing child case. He says it's
working three pathways all at once. He says, "In any child disappearance, law enforcement can't afford tunnel
vision. From the first moments, investigators have to move in three directions all at the same time."
So, three points of focus that could tear you in three different directions. Be prepared to act on all of this. He
says, "One is the inner circle. Identify and scrutinize those closest to the child,
who had access, who last saw the child, who might know what really happened." Two,
work the runaway scenario. Determine whether the child left voluntarily due to trouble at home, at school, or in
other relationships. Three, work the abduction angle. So, abduction by a neighbor or stranger,
consider the possibility that the child was taken, most commonly for sexual reasons, and
more rarely for ransom. At the start, he says, "These possibilities are treated as equal concerns. That means
overwhelming resources must hit the scene immediately because speed is everything." And we all know the brutal
statistics that have been bandied about on this show over the years. The first 3
hours of a child abduction investigation are critical. When a child is abducted by somebody outside the circle of family
and friends, the child is killed within the first 3 hours in 75% of such cases. Well, I think these are difficult, too,
for law enforcement cuz you need to work these cases as separate. You don't have to
if you solve one, that doesn't necessarily mean you're going to solve the other, but there's so so many
similarities. I mean, they're This is these events are happening 3 months apart. Mhm.
It's same hour of the day, and similar victims. Young boys, I mean, they're what?
A year apart. Danny's 13, Chris is 12. So, I think there would be especially in law enforcement, to go,
"Do we work these separate? Do we work these collectively?" Well, and one advantage you're going to, and I hate to
use that term here in such a case that's shocking and heartbreaking all at the same time.
But, one advantage that you might have is, as we said, there were seasoned FBI agents that were working the Danny Joe
Eberle case. You've already pointed out how similar they are. And we'll we'll get into the nature of each in
comparison of the two. But, the one advantage you have is if they are connected, you have already worked
portions of the Eberle case that might speed your investigation in similar directions or different based
off of what you learned or mistakes that you know you made during the course of that investigation. The other thing,
too, is when you bring in an agent, so you're bringing in a bunch of agents from the Omaha office here.
And as said, what Agent Trimbath says in his book is that everybody was brought in to search for the boy
because the biggest fear immediately was, "Oh my god, we're going to end up with the If we don't find this kid,
we're going to end up with the same result in the last case." And in the last case, it's not it Of course, it's
the murdered kid, but it's beyond that. It's a We have a murdered child, and we don't know who
the offender is. Keep in mind, Ressler did say with with his Mindhunter, Robert Ressler said when he reviewed the Eberle
case, he really thought that the killer would strike again. And you have to be wondering,
everybody's It's not lost on anybody brought into this case or anybody already working the Eberle case, this is
probably connected. And my god, Robert Ressler might be right. Agent Trimbath worked the Christopher
Walden case, but he he wasn't working on the Danny Joe Eberle case. We mentioned Peter Klismet from the FBI
who was working it as well as Robert Ressler. Harry Trimbath is brought in for a different purpose on this case,
but what's interesting is you have this this convergence that all of these almost better known FBI agents who had
all ended up working on the same case or same series of of cases right here in Omaha, Nebraska.
Now, Agent Trimbath working, you know, now involved with the Christopher Walden case, he's called in immediately.
He's working with that statistic, with that number. Those statistics sitting in the back of
his mind. And he said it was like a weight that you couldn't put down even while you're forcing yourself to operate
with discipline and hope. Hope that you're going to find this boy, Christopher Walden, alive and well and
bring him home. All right. Let's go back to that three-pronged investigation. He says, "The hardest questions first.
We have to interview the parents." In this case, it's Sue and Steve. And he says, "The first prong is ugly, but
necessary. Sometimes parents or caregivers kill their own children and report them missing to conceal
involvement." Right. >> Because of that reality, Sue and Steve were interviewed immediately
and separately. It was almost an an unbearable thing to have to ask parents who are terrified and grieving and still
hoping. He said Sue and Steve understood the logic, and they cooperated fully and
immediately. Investigators walked away with no doubt that Sue and Steve were not suspects.
They were exactly what they appeared to be, Captain. Two parents living a nightmare. And with this crime happening
within 3 months of Danny's case, law enforcement has to wonder, is there possibly a situation
that a parent or a loved one or somebody close to inner circle wants Christopher Walden gone,
and basically uses Danny's case as a blueprint to get rid of him, to make it look like it could be connected to that
case, if that makes any sense. Took advantage of the Nebraska nightmare. Right. So, second prong, did Chris run
away? Well, this fell apart pretty quickly as well. Interviews with Sue and Steve, relatives, neighbors,
friends, and Chris's teachers all painted a consistent picture of the youngster. Chris was happy, he was loved
and well cared for, he had friends, his school experience was very positive. So, that left the third prong rising to
the surface as the most likely, that Chris had been abducted on his way to school,
with immediate action being canvassing the neighborhood, obviously, and preparing for a ransom,
if that were to be the case. So, law enforcement pulled in every available resource
for an immediate neighborhood canvas, door-to-door, going along the path that Chris most likely took
on that December morning on his way to school. At the same time, FBI Agent Trimbath was
asked to respond directly to the Walden family residence and set up for the possibility,
you know, however rare, that Chris had been taken for the purpose of ransom. An FBI electronics
technician set up a tape recorder to capture incoming calls in case a ransom demand came in. Right. The telephone
company was alerted so that any call to the residence could be captured and the number identified.
So, the assignment is clear. It's simple, and it's clear. If a call comes in, activate the recorder.
Sue or Steve Walden, the parents, would answer the phone at all times, one of them, and keep the
caller talking while also writing down anything important. If the call turned out to be unrelated,
right? If it were just a family member or a neighbor, somebody calling offering support, then Sue or Steve would signal
the officer, the agent, and the recorder would be shut off. If a ransom call came in,
the agent was to notify the assistant special agent in charge immediately so the FBI could respond accordingly, quick
and accordingly. A lot of effort went into trying to locate Christopher Paul Walden,
the son of an officer at Offutt Air Force Base. We do have a witness, a potential witness. Can't I get a witness
here, Captain? A woman came forward after seeing the media coverage on television. So, she says that on the
morning that Chris disappeared, December 2nd, 1983, she had been driving through the area
where he would have walked to school. And she says that she noticed a young man approach a young boy. She says she
didn't know who the young man was, but the young boy matched Chris's description. So, this is
a person that doesn't know Christopher Walden, but based off of what she's seeing on the news, she's saying,
"I think I saw that kid talking to somebody." Her description of this is that the two spoke briefly, then the
young man, the older of the two, put his arm around the younger boy, and they both walked together toward a
tan sedan. So, toward a tan vehicle, car. >> Damn the tan sedan. >> Damn, we were on this.
At the time, of course, the witness said she didn't think anything of it. You know, it's just
normal everyday life. And from her perspective, though, this to me, I I want Give me Don't just tell me what you
saw. When When taking a witness report, always always always I don't know if this was asked of her or if she just
offered it up. Always ask them, "Well, what did you think in the moment?" You know, when you witnessed that, what did
you think you were witnessing? We don't know if it was an abduction. We don't even know if it was our missing boy.
But, if it is, I want to know what this woman thought she was seeing in the moment. So, she says from her
perspective, it just looked like an older brother helping a younger brother. Like older brother talking to younger
brother, puts his arm around him, and they walk away together, and she happens to see
this tan sedan. Now, again, the tan sedan is part of this description, but they were just simply walking toward it.
So, she doesn't know if they got into this vehicle or or not. But, thankfully, she saw a vehicle
with this uh There's a vehicle that is part of this description. Yeah, like we know law
enforcement, it's easier to find a car than it is to find a individual. But, at least we have two identifiers.
She kind of gets a a look at this individual with his arm around this boy, and then
she gets a look at his car. So, at least that's something. Yeah. And the thing here, too, is
obviously later, this is going to mean something to her. The you know, it's going to click into
place. And thankfully, it did and sends her in the direction of police to give this
information. So, the the sheriff wanted to and planned to hypnotize the witness in hopes of improving recall,
in hopes of getting more detail about the what she saw, the suspect, potential suspect, the potential suspect vehicle.
Right. Maybe saw a license plate. With the idea of maybe moving toward releasing a composite sketch of this
individual. So, the hit the witness was hypnotized. Yeah. And a composite was produced from this.
The description she provided was I mean, some might describe this as specific, some might describe it as
vague. I think it's somewhere in between. Have you ever been hypnotized? Uh once or twice once or twice, but I don't
know if it took. Yeah, the only time I was hyp- hypnotized, I turned into a half Freddy Mercury and half chicken.
So, I don't think I was good with law enforcement here. Yeah, truth be told, it was 20 years
ago, and I never woke up. Yeah, still hypnotized. Yeah, the the the description here, Captain, is white
male, 18 to 25 years old, approximately 5 ft 8 in tall, around 160 lb, dark hair, brown
eyes, wearing a dark toboggan hat. Yeah, but this this type uh predator scares me
in the sense of we have two victims roughly the same age. I mean, there's similar looks to
these victims as well. But, is this the victim type, or is it "Hey, I'm fine with any victim under the
age of 15." So, it's putting more of society at risk. But, also, let's say your victim type was a 6-year-old. Well,
they're they're not going to be able to fight back as much. The There's There's not I I hate to say it this way,
but it's not as much of a risk. And But, in these cases, you got a 12-year-old and 13-year-old boy. You don't think
they're going to put up a fight? Rules of the game or the strategy has to be completely different.
>> There are a lot of people that will argue me to death, and who knows? They might be right. We're still trying to
figure this out. But, I believe in what my studies, reading, following these cases
have told me over the years or taught me is that with serial offenders, when you
know, we talk about so many serial killers that are prowling, that are looking for adult female victims. Right.
>> And I always state in those cases, it appears to me more so with those types of
serial killers, that their ideal victim or their type, if you will, comes down to three different abilities.
One, desirability. Right. Two, availability, and three, vulnerability. With child predators, I firmly believe
that they have much more of a type as a as as it would be more commonly discussed,
right? When people talk about Ted Bundy, they go, "Well, all of his victims were
college-age uh girls with brown hair." Well, that's ac- actually not true. A lot of them
were, but that's that he didn't stick to that Right. template, if you will. Where I think
that I've reviewed enough cases with child predators, they they are much closer to having
an actual type. Now, the sheriff and the assistant special agent in charge at the
FBI brought the composite to the So, a a composite was conducted. They bring it to the Walden residence so
that the parents, Sue and Steve, could take a look at it and see if it resembled anyone familiar to them.
Because it's not uncommon for someone who knew who would know a victim to abduct them. Right.
And Steve, who had remained relatively composed through all of this in the beginning, studied the drawing and said
it didn't remind him of anyone. Sue, the mother, trembled as she looked at the composite, knowing that that face
in the sketch might belong to the person who took her son. But, she also said [snorts] it didn't
look like >> [music] >> anyone she knew. >> [music] [music] [music] [music] [music]
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>> All right, we are back. Thanks for joining us here in the garage. Tall cans in the air. Cheers to the
people in the back. Power to the people. Cheers to you, Captain. Power to the people.
But, this these cases are different. It's it's very haunting. You hear about people
uh especially college-aged victims or young adults going to bars late at night, meeting a strange individual,
maybe going to a party where they don't know a lot of individuals, or heading off somewhere.
But, it's it's dark. It's the night. Mhm. There's predators at night that I think there's a
something built into our systems that go, "Hey, be careful. It's nighttime." These
crimes are not taking place at night. And like I said in a previous episode, is this individual starting
their hunt, if you will, in the early mornings just like, you know, a hunters get up early and go out hunting in the
in the morning? Or is it a continuation? Is it is is it something that they are starting
in the dark, but just capturing their prey, if you will, in the morning because of the opportunity? Yeah, it's
different difficult to say. >> But you know what I'm saying? Like most of the time it's like
these crimes happen, especially when there's multiple crimes in a in one location, the Phantom Killer case,
right? We we see these cases where law enforcement or the or the community sets these curfews. Hey, don't go out at
night. Be careful. And and yes, there's probably a threat level during the day, but it's like, okay, it's getting dark,
everybody getting your houses. This is different. This is the threat level is right when you wake
up. The threat level is on your way to school. The I I think that's terrifying. Oh, absolutely. And with the Gosh case
and with the Eberly case, they they were paper boys. So you do have the cover of
darkness, but but it's in the morning hours. Yeah. >> It's in the the early morning. Here, we
have a kid who vanishes in in daylight. And the only good part about that is that it might have
produced, if this witness actually saw the abduction or the start of the abduction, then it did produce a a
witness with a description. And law enforcement tells the Waldens that they intend to release the composite sketch
to the media hoping it will generate additional tips. The witness had also provided a partial license plate number.
>> Ooh. >> But but the sheriff explained that they were hesitant to release the partial plate
because more than a thousand vehicles in the state of Nebraska contained some variation of those letters and or
numbers. Yeah, but I can't imagine all thousand of them were colored tan. So publicizing it would likely generate too
many false leads. So Right. You say that, but if they're only getting two letters and a number or three numbers no
letters, I don't know exactly what she gave to them. Well, and they might not want to release
that they believe that the vehicle is the color of tan, right? >> Well, and a lot of times you you would
release something a little more vague because you don't want people to rationalize away a potential good tip.
So you don't you wouldn't say a tan sedan, you would say a light colored vehicle.
And so again, though, this is their statements that this we we So here's what they do.
They worry that publicizing it would generate too many false leads. They are working against the clock here. But
they're going to work that angle in house. So those partial digits then went to the state DMV. A computer
search produced nearly a thousand possible matching cars statewide. So in house they were working that with here's
the information we think we have with the plate, cross reference it with vehicles that match the vague
description, what what's our total that we come up with? It's nearly a thousand possible matching cars statewide. Now,
if you narrow that down to Sarpy County, which you don't know, we don't know if the plate was Sarpy County or not,
Right. but that that will reduce that number probably somewhat greatly. I don't know how
greatly. I don't have those numbers in front of me, but it's going to be a grind. It's going to be a slog. Police
were prepared for the grinding work of checking each one of those vehicles that were on that list.
>> And I think you point out something great here. You do have a ticking time bomb
because you don't have this victim. You you don't know what has happened to this victim,
but I think you actually have two ticking time bombs. You have first, we got to try to find Christopher.
Yeah. But if we don't find Christopher or if we find him, but he's not alive, we have another ticking time bomb
because if these cases are connected, we only had a three-month gap. And is that gap going to get shorter?
Is it going to be we find Chris and then two weeks later another kid gets abducted? You know, as I said, it's
going to be a slog getting through that list, but if but well before those leads
could all be chased down, and this puts us at the marker of just three days after the boy went missing, Right.
two bird hunters found Christopher's body in a heavily wooded area. This is about I've have a few different
descriptions here. Some say 4 miles, some say 5 miles. So let's go with about 4 to 5 miles away from where he had been
abducted. The two hunters had been out hunting and discovered him lying in the woods. Chris had suffered multiple stab
wounds. Now, it's a bit of luck here for the investigation and really for the community. The hunters had been
fortunate to find Chris when they did because snow had began coming down heavily that day. So one The way that
this worked out was one hunter shot a pheasant. And they walked to where the bird fell.
And the pheasant actually landed at Chris's feet. Jesus. >> Chris's body was almost completely
covered by snow, but the hunters could make out the shape. And when they got closer, they said that
they recognized him from the photographs that had been circulating in the media.
So they backed away and they called the sheriff's office. Now, Chris's body was found
approximately 3 miles from where the offender, if it if it were the same person, Right. had disposed of Danny Joe
Eberly. >> Yeah, so we have similar age, same like I said, the three-month window,
same time of day, very similar looks. Same build. Same Yeah, same build and then found in
similar location and it's not unreasonable to go, well, he didn't want to he didn't want to dispose
of the body in the exact same location, but I'd say 3 miles in a wooded area is pretty much the same location. And I
want to be clear when I'm talking about luck here because I often point out that
the victims never get lucky. And of course, in this case, it's the same thing. Christopher was killed. Danny Joe
Eberly was killed. It's usually the killer that gets lucky. What I mean here, it's a narrow stroke of luck
inside of the horror that's going on. Yeah. >> Because Christopher was found just as
heavy snowfall began. So even just a few more hours, one more day could have completely buried the scene and delaying
discovery until spring. We know a lot of victims are found in the spring time. And by then,
if it is the same killer, this killer might have struck multiple times. Christopher's case also clarified
something every investigator learns the hard way. The abduction site is often not the
murder site. The murder site is often not where the body is found. The place where the body is discovered becomes the
crime scene because it yields the most evidence. But the mechanics of the abduction and the killing can remain
hidden to investigators. We'll circle back into that thought here in just a second here, Captain. Let's
get into some of the more finer points, some of the details that are not so nice to discuss.
The injuries were extensive. We have numerous stab wounds over Chris's chest and shoulders, and his
neck had been cut ear to ear. The conclusion was grim, but clear. Chris had died violently and appeared it
had happened quickly. Christopher was wearing only his undershorts. He was the same height and almost the
same age as the first victim, Danny, but he was about 15 lb lighter. For the investigators who saw what had
been done, the conclusion came quickly. This was the same killer. Remember, both of them found just
wearing their undershorts. So let's let's take a look at these two murders. In Danny's case,
we have FBI Peter Klismet and Robert Ressler. They're they're going to be called back in
to work on Christopher Walden's case. Now, Peter Klismet, because he's more local, was there before Ressler. Ressler
does not arrive until after Christopher Walden's body is found. >> But Ressler told us, if we if we don't
catch this guy, he will offend again. >> Yes. Now, in the first case, in Danny's
case, both Agent Klismet and Ressler believed that Danny had been killed elsewhere and then
dumped near the river. In Christopher Walden's case, the evidence suggested the opposite. The dump site was also the
murder site. So his clothes were found piled neatly near his body. And in fact, footprints, nearly by snow showed two
sets of feet walking into the area where the boy's body was found, but only one set walking
out. So, that detail mattered. It suggests one offender. It suggests a relatively slight offender, too, and
we'll circle back to that. I guess we don't need to. The The idea here is that and Ressler believed this,
that your offender's probably on the smaller side because he chose to walk the victim to the murder site
rather than carry the body deep into the woods. Right. >> So, he forced the boy to walk out there
under threat. And Robert Ressler said that this revealed a coward at the core, choosing small victims unlikely to fight
back, easy to intimidate. He also says that at the same time, the killer had improved.
He was learning from his first murder. He was adjusting. The first murder had involved tape and
rope. Remember, they found those at the body discovery scene. Right. These are tools that would have gave the killer
confidence and control over the victim. But after the first case, those items became liabilities. Why?
They were recovered at the first scene. So, if rope and tape were being analyzed, if fibers could be traced, if
brands could be identified, then repeating those materials risked connecting him to the first killing. So,
perhaps he grew smarter. He evolved thinking, "I won't use these items again, or at the very least, if I do use
them, I won't leave them there for the police to find." He's also likely learning he could control a child victim
without binding him. He could do it with authority, with fear, pressure, and threats. Right.
And depending on your weapon, I mean, obviously, we have some evidence that there's a knife involved, but a knife
could be the murder weapon, but not the threat. So, uh or the weapon used to control. So, you could use a gun to
control the victim, but a knife in the attack. But I also think it's teaching this killer that I don't have to have
this crazy ruse to get the the the uh victim into the car. I just got to get in proximity where
this can the the weapon used to control, I just have to get in the proximity, so
then I can show them the weapon that I'm going to use them to control, if that makes any sense. And Christopher's
murder revealed another detail here that was different. He took this boy further into the woods, much
more further into the woods. So, he's managing risk. And he also avoided They didn't find the
clothing in the first one. So, at some point, you run you run the risk of getting caught with
the clothing. So, this is evidence, right? You get caught with evidence in your possession or in your vehicle.
Right. And so, he kept the victim clothed longer, moved into isolation, then forced the victim to undress only
once the killer, the offender felt safe. He And he wanted to better conceal the second body, maybe in hopes that it
would delay the recovery, or potentially not at all be found. Right. So, another victim,
another murder meant Robert Ressler updating the offend the offender profile, or at least adding more context
to his original profile. Ressler commented later on the repeated stripping of the victim, right? In both
cases, they're found in their undershorts. So, this is now confirmed in the second
murder. He said that this action looked more decisively sexual, tied to humiliation and fantasy, even without
conventional sexual assault. The lack of penetration in both cases hardened another conclusion that the
killer was likely profoundly dysfunctional sexually, driven by ritualized fantasy more than
adult intimacy. He says, "In everyday life, I believe this offender would have difficulty associating with peers. If he
dated, it would be performative or dysfunctional, and likely with significantly younger girls, partners
that he could dominate." The physical medical examination, the injuries were stab wounds and deep lacerations
concentrated on the chest and neck. There was a star-shaped cutting. So, they find a pattern, a pattern cut
on the second victim. But what's intriguing to the investigators is rather than this being
something that they thought was signature for the killer, it actually they thought was to conceal something
else that had occurred. So, they say that this star-shaped cutting took place over what appeared to be a
bite mark. There were two locations on the second victim where they believe that skin was removed to
cover up what was the offender biting the victim. Ressler is thinking that this killer is not
that experienced, but obviously is learning, and then there's no bite marks in the first case,
but the second case, there's bite marks, or or some reason that skin is removed.
So, maybe that's a escalation of the fantasy of the this whole crime. Well, and if they're correct and the cases are
correct, which that's what they're saying right away when when discovering the body, they
>> If they're connected, yeah. Yeah, they they were convinced the FBI was convinced it's connected. And now you're
kind of learning something about your offender. If in fact he did bite the first victim as well, he may have
covered that up in some form or fashion as well, right? Correct. So, the the bite marks would be something
that he wasn't able that he that he had to do, right? It's part of his fantasy, it's part of Right.
>> of why he does what he does. It a signature, almost, if you will. I mean, that's one of the craziest things is
when you learn this idea that they're reenacting the fantasy over and over. They might be
changing some of the the methods because there is a criminal mind aspect of it, right? So, the the major thing is I have
a fantasy I want to live out that fantasy. But in order to do so, and and in order to continue that fantasy, or
escalate the fan fantasy, or to perfect the fantasy, like that that's fascinating to me that they're they're
they're basically trying to put themselves in the situation and control the situation, so the fantasy becomes
more defined in the moment Yeah. to to match whatever sick perversion is in their head.
Well, and I I always say it's it's like a drug. It's like chasing the dragon, and that dragon is
a violent sexual fantasy. A fantasy that's all wrapped up in sex and violence and strange, sick, deviant
behavior all into one. But the offender, when they are thinking or living out that fantasy alone prior
to any murders or abductions, it's they are the writer, the director, and the actor in the movie
in their head. There's other There's the role of the victim, or other victims that are being played
out in that person's fantasy, in that evil person's fantasy. But But the cast members haven't been filled yet. These
victims are the cast members. This is He's written this fantasy, he's directed it, and he's acted in it many times.
Now, we have a situation where there's somebody casted to play the role of the victim. Right.
>> And but But what's interesting to me here as well, what we're seeing is while
there's all that fantasy involved, and he can't control himself to the point where he would bite the person, because
you would think he would want to, knowing that he chooses to cover it up later, knowing that that Oh, this might
get me caught. But it also this victim and the scene tells us the body tells us, just like in the first case, that
this person isn't completely insane. It's not a frenzied killer. He's not just killing, doing whatever he wants to
do, and just leaving the body. He's making attempts to get away with it, to not be detected, to not be identified,
and he's increased his level of concealment and covering it up with the second murder. Yeah. And he's reduced
his risk with the second with actions that he took with this second abduction and
murder. And Ressler said the progression between the murders also looked like escalation. The first killing read like
an experiment, testing whether he could do it or not. The second showed fascination,
repetition, and increased postmortem cutting. And Ressler became convinced of several details. One, there were no
accomplices. This was one offender acting alone. Well, the the evidence doesn't definitively prove
that because there could be another actor as far as abducting. But I think the footprints is evidence
that there is at least in the Walden case. We know where the crime scene is. It's the It's where the body's found. So
if we only have a singular footprint leaving or a singular footprint alongside the
victim's footprints then there's only one killer. The other portion of this too that he
became convinced of was geography tightened the net. We talked about the proximity of the close proximity with
everything involved here between the two cases. He's now of the belief the offender knew the area too well to be
transient. Remember he went with his first profile he left the door open on the possibility that it could be a
transient offender. And now he he had already kind of circled and hovered around this with the first profile but
now he was really leaning on this extremely heavily saying that he believed the offender was from
Bellevue or the airbase off it. And he he he pointed the detectives once again in the direction of the airbase.
And then he even goes further with this saying that he made a sharper occupational prediction for the
offender. He said you're looking for a low-ranking airman. E4 class or lower that would be working
in light maintenance or administration perhaps a mechanic someone who would blend in move around without drawing
attention and understand the rhythms of the area. Back to the bite marks again this
Let's let's use his words cuz I used a lot of my own before and he says that You can use whoever's words you want to
use. Certain Certain wound patterns also suggested something else concealment of bite marks
a person trying to hide bite marks likely new bite patterns could identify an offender. That wasn't universally
public knowledge at the time but it was discussed in detective and police magazines. Ressler wrote that the
offender likely read such publications. And we see this in most serial offenders, right?
There's a criminal mind. There's a criminal interest there. And the ogre Rex Heuermann you know he pled
guilty, right? Uh but you know they're now talking about some kind of mind hunter
type investigation with him or like a psychiatric investigation I guess you will the same
that Edmund Kemper Edmund Kemper did with FBI agents and and other serial killers
have done. So it's it's I would almost assume that that's more commonplace in serial offenders
to have an interest in the true crime genre. Absolutely. Absolutely. Uh especially the ones that aren't
heavily involved with with being intoxicated whether it be alcohol or drugs or both. Right. With
the ease that this perpetrator was able to commit the abductions the FBI also believed that the offender had likely
had involvement with boys in a social acceptable setting. Boys of this specific age so they
pointed to things like Boy Scouts coaching youth programs something that gave him proximity to
uh these age of boys. Now the big concern here was of course now we have two unsolved murders. Now we
have another victim but also the calendar. Look at the calendar look at what's ahead. School holidays were
coming and they knew that this killer if it was one in the same this killer would
strike again and it would be soon and it would be sooner it'll be quicker than the last time.
And with children outside of school his opportunities would multiply. So there was an all-out media blitz newspapers TV
radio and it was repetitive over and over again. They hit the people hard with information. Children should play in
groups parents should watch for suspicious cars write down license plates and call a
heavily advertised task force number. So they gave out the task force number. The other thing that we've seen
in these types of investigations too where they start to become very public and want the public to know that they
are there and there is a strong law enforcement presence Right. >> you will see often times that the a
person in charge or like I like to call the the champion right? The the Who are we going to champion in law enforcement
to become the enemy of the offender. The enemy of You have the face of evil. I talk about this
in the Delphi book. You have the face of evil but you need the face of law enforcement of the person who's going to
apprehend whose unit and team is going to find this guy. >> Yeah you need the Batman to the Joker.
Exactly. Need Batman to the Joker. So you're constantly putting pressure on your offender by announcing how big
and what is the number of the law enforcement presence in the area. They established something here called a code
17. So if another abduction was reported Sarpy County could this is something they practiced. Sarpy County could seal
off the entire county roadways within 11 minutes. Wow. So the goal stop the abductor before they could
leave or before they could become isolated with the victim trap the offender. The media
campaign was tremendous and the public responded. There were there were no immediate abduction
attempts after they were really digging in on the Walden case and still working the Eberle
case. Well this is another part of the ticking time bomb, right? So you have a in the first case we have multiple
scenes. We have the abduct the abduction site. We have the kill site then we have the disposal site. So we
have three. But then the second case we have abduction site and then the the disposing of the body site is the
same as the kill site. Meaning when that when this predator gets their victim there there's no stopping at
Starbucks to get a coffee. They're going straight to the disposal {slash} kill site.
>> Yes that appears to be the case. Um it it gets a little difficult because in none of the information that I could
find were they did they sound convinced of the the time of death. It was you know I've reviewed a lot of
information on both of these cases and some were leaning towards shortly after the abduction others were leaning
towards closer to the time that the body was discovered and we know that both cases oddly enough there was roughly a
three-day window. Okay so that's fascinating. So what you're saying is that well in the second case it could be
well I'm going to take you to this other location that's not going to be where I
kill you but I am going to hold you for a time period and maybe that's part of the fantasy. Absolutely.
So on January 11th 1985 the case shifted dramatically. On this day there was an incident that led
to a major break in the case. This is January 11th 1985 at a church daycare center early that morning a preschool
teacher arrived for work at a Methodist United Methodist Church in Bellevue. She
parked her car stepped out of the vehicle and began walking toward the preschool entrance located in the
church's basement. She says that she noticed a young man sitting in a white vehicle
near the church. For a brief moment their eyes met but nothing was said. She continued on pushing forward.
The man startled her. He was a He was slight in stature and matched the partial description of the offender
of the abductor in the Walden case that had been broadcasted throughout the media. The teacher began
writing something down and the young man saw her do this. So he gets out of the car. He walked to
the daycare door then he pushed his way inside telling her that he needs to use the telephone.
She refused and the refusal didn't seem to slow him down. It seemed to provoke him. He pulled a knife and threatened to
kill her and he demanded the slip of paper the one that she was writing something down on. Now she
was writing down his license plate number. Yeah smart move. In a split-second decision powered by fear
and instinct the teacher resisted. She shoved him away and ran hard toward the pastor's residence
located very nearby. She reached the residence pounded on the door. When someone answered she yelled
to them to call the police. The man fled back to his vehicle and drove off. Bellevue police arrived within minutes
but the white vehicle and the young man were already gone. But now there was something
investigators had needed for months a license plate number and one that wasn't based off of memory or hypnosis
or trying to piece together some letters and numbers. Police run the plate. The result immediately raised the
stakes. Running the plate led investigators quickly to the registered owner, but this at first glance kind of
fell flat. The registered owner was a nearby Chevrolet dealership. So, this vehicle wasn't privately owned.
It was actually a loaner. So, it was checked out to an airman stationed at Offutt Air Force Base while
his car was being repaired. >> Yeah, and that detail immediately mattered. >> Well, all right. So, there you go,
Captain. The airman's personal vehicle was sitting inside the dealership garage.
And it fit what witnesses had been describing. It was a tan Chevy Nova. Closely matching descriptions witnesses
had provided in connection with the slayings of Danny Joe Eberle and Christopher Walden. And the Nova had
reportedly remained untouched because the dealership was so busy with cars to fix that [snorts] the mechanics
simply hadn't got to it yet. So, they go over and as they're approaching it, they
immediately notice that the Nova, the license plate shared the same couple of digits that the hypnotized
witness had recalled. Yeah. And when the officers look inside the vehicle, they saw rope and a knife. The plate for this
vehicle, Captain, came back to a one John J. Jupert. Again, an Offutt Air Force man stationed at Offutt Air Force
Base. Jupert had the loaner because his car had broken down due to engine trouble.
And I for my understanding, it had been towed. So, now this dude, we're going to look at this guy, but we
have one benefit when we go to look at him, right? It It appears he was a involved in some kind of attempted
assault on this woman at the church. So, we we're not just going there with, "Hey, a plate number and your vehicle
was seen." We're we're going there with somebody telling us, "You You assaulted somebody." We We already have pending
charges on you. So, when they get to Offutt at the air base, they encounter John Jupert. He's in his
quarters. He's sitting on his bunk. He's initially arrested for the attempted robbery and assault involving the
preschool teacher, but it didn't take long for the focus to broaden given the ongoing panic, the
previous murders, and the increasingly urgent need to stop whoever was responsible for this Nebraska nightmare.
They began questioning him and told him, "Look, man, you are a suspect in these two child abductions and homicides."
And they're telling him, "Your vehicle's matching a description that we were looking for. Your plate's
matching a description that we were looking for. Your appearance is matching a description we were looking for. And
oh, by the way, we found rope and knife." Not to mention that we also have footprints that probably match as well.
But it is it is quite disturbing how much or how much this individual doesn't look much older than the victims. Well,
and the thing here, too, is Yes, and I'm I mean, he looks like a child to me. Like if somebody said to
me, "Look at Jupert's arrest photo, how would you describe this individual?" I'd be like, "I don't know. Maybe 15, 16
years old?" Yeah, I was going to say 16. And and also like and that's just off this picture, but he's only 5'6". If I
saw him out at a grocery store or the local vinyl shop cuz I'm picking up some Elvis Presley or Notorious B.I.G.,
I'm going, "Well, this guy might be 15, 16 years old." Which would only be a couple years older than the victim.
>> See, that's what That's We'll peel open the curtain here a little bit and let you peek behind the scenes, but
truth be told, we 99% of the time we don't compare notes here in the garage. But I But our observations often
overlap. And here's the exact same thing. I look at this this booking photo and I go, "My
god, that guy's 16 years old. He's He's but a kid himself." Now, the rope is what they wanted to talk to him about.
Initially, he tells them that, "Look, that that rope is not rare. It's not unique."
Um later, they determine that it was in fact unique. And it's going to be the rope that's going to put the killer at a
disadvantage when he tries to deny having any involvement. He eventually breaks down and tells them that he he
was the killer, that he did abduct both of them. And they learn a lot about John
Jupert very quickly. He had joined the Air Force a little more than a year before
the murder and abduction of Danny Joe Eberle. He received training in Mississippi and Texas before being
stationed at Offutt Air Force Base. He was stationed there um about 2 months or so prior to Eberle's
murder. And at the time, he was also serving as an assistant scoutmaster or denmaster
for a Boy Scout troop in Bellevue. So, Ressler was right with his thought that you would find the guy at
the Air Force Base. He was also right that he would have some kind of regular interaction with
boys similar in age to the two victims. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. My My concern about that item in the profile
was when they were talking about, "Oh, maybe it's somebody from this Air Force Base."
But like you said, it's you're bringing individuals in and out. They're being transferred. So,
I I mean, to me, I think that's a little crazy that somebody's able to get transferred and within
weeks of being transferred, they're already involved in in an organization that would put them around their victim
type. Yeah, so I had just read a from my notes that a stationed at the Offutt Air Force Base
about 2 months prior to the Eberle murder. I I actually think he might have been there quite a bit before because
remember, Ressler encouraged them to look for individuals that had been stationed
there within 6 months prior to the Eberle murder. I I think it was prior to 6 months. I'm This might just be bad
note-taking on my behalf. >> Well, get your [ __ ] together. >> Well, no, I'm just being transparent that I
don't know if he was I know [snorts] he was in the Air Force. Signed up for the Air Force 1 year prior
to the murder. Right. I don't know how soon he got to Offutt because there is some thought that often times these guys
will have triggers. There's thought that his trigger here was he had developed a
closeness, a relationship with his roommate at the barracks there. And that these two roommate mates, two airmen,
were being picked on by the other airmen. And that the the one, his friend, the his one and only friend at
the Air Force Base, decided to move to another room or or relocate. >> Mhm. And they think that maybe the
stress of that could have pushed this guy who was Look, he was already on the edge if he hadn't already gone over. But
if he was on the edge, that may have been the thing that the tipping point here. And Some people are not good with
having being alone with their thoughts. Because then that fantasy becomes more enticing. Where if you had a roommate,
you wouldn't be left alone with your thoughts. So, maybe the escalation in your mind of these fantasies doesn't
escalate. But a lot of these killers, we we see that they spend so much time alone. But I think that's because
they're losing control of of this fantasy that most of them they have to know that it's not natural because
they're not having conversations with a lot of people about these unnatural thoughts. But like I said, when you're
alone with these unnatural thoughts, they they manifest. Absolutely. And the thing, too, in regard to the rope, they
also found the rope in his in his quarters at the air base. So, it wasn't just in his car. They find this rope.
This rope was unique enough. Apparently, he got it from uh somebody he worked with in the Boy Scouts there in
Bellevue. Pretty much when they had him dead to rights, he asked if he could speak with the troop leader that he
worked with. And he also wanted to to speak with one of the boys, a specific boy that was a member of the
scout troop. And what did he want to tell this boy? Well, they they granted him both wishes, but told him it was
going to be strictly supervised, especially with the child there. I mean, the child The boy was the same age as as
the victims. I guess he had befriended the boy, and the boy had befriended him, and he he simply told the boy, "Look, I
did this, but I never would have have hurt you. I just want you to know I didn't do this because of you. I didn't
do it in spite of you. And I never would have hurt you." I don't know why that was important to him, but cool because
and good by them to allow this to happen in the way that it did because I can't say that he wouldn't have
confessed, but he absolutely did confess to both murders after talking to these individuals
uh when they were supervised. And then he gave details of both that were significant enough
that they knew that only the killer would know these details. And according to Juper, again, they always lie about
portions of this. Of course they do. But according to Juper, he said he approached both boys, displayed a knife,
threatened to kill them if they didn't come with him. He denied that the abductions and murders were sexually
motivated, but he did say he enjoyed the power and control over the victims. Now,
I'm glad that you pointed out how young he appeared because when I was first looking into this case and without
having the details of his confession, my suspicion was that he looked young enough that even had even with there
being a a boy who had previously been abducted and murdered, that a 13-year-old boy
>> Right, might let his guard down because who are you scared of? You're scared of
the the the scary old white dude, right? You're scary scared of the the creepy looking guy in the van. You're not
scared of the 16-year-old that pulls up in a car that looks like a car that a 16-year-old would drive. Of course, he
he wasn't 16 years old, he just he just looked he just looked that because of his his slight stature. And that's the
other part of this, too. His victims were very small. I think that his when we we were talking about type earlier, I
think his type was of this age, but I think that there was some strategy involved in seeking out smaller victims
because he was himself slight. He was 21 years old at the time, baby-faced, which
that's an understatement. He looked like he was 15 or 16. Was he 12 years old at
the time of the murders, but 21 when he was arrested? Correct. Yep. Um well, and
we have a couple of we have a span of of many months that go by here. But he's only 5'6",
160 lb. He's a small little piece of [ __ ] Yeah, and he and even smaller than that, um
I you know, I forgive me because this the some of these measurements might be uh from later, from his time in prison.
So, to put it short though, he confessed, but catching Juper didn't end the story. Of course, it's going to move
into the courts, and then they're going to dig into his past, but John Juper, his case proceeded through the legal
system. He did confess, but despite confessing, he initially played not guilty to the charges, and then later
changed that plea to guilty. The boy scout that ended up having the conversation,
you're approached by law enforcement, hey, it's going to be supervised, but you still have to talk to this individual.
And so that that kid should be a that kid should be awarded because that would that takes some uh
big brass balls, my friend, to sit in a room or across the table from somebody that you know
murdered two individuals that probably look like you and then probably by all accounts the same description as
you. And as I said, he later changed his plea to guilty and was sentenced to die
in the electric chair after a three-judge panel concluded that John Juper understood right and wrong at the
time of the murders. Appeals followed, but John J. Juper remained on death row. >> [music]
[music] >> Want to thank everybody for joining us here in the garage. Thanks for telling
your mother. Thanks for telling your brother. For everything True Crime Show, go to
truecrimegarage.com. There's so much more in this series, so much more for us to
tickle your ear balls. Until the next episode. Be good, be kind, and don't litter.
>> [music] [music] [music] [music]

Missing Paperboys /// Chapter 3 /// Boy Scout Killer

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In the early eighties middle America experienced tragedies that no parent could imagine. Newspaper boys were disappearing. They would step out into the dark of the early morning hours to deliver the daily news to their neighborhoods and some of them did not return. It started in Iowa and then moved to Nebraska. Kids were plucked off the street just a few steps into their routes and some have vanished forever. The first boy gone was Johnny Gosch. The second was Danny Joe Eberle. The third boy didn’t have a paper route at all. Christopher Walden was abducted near his home while walking to school, on December 2, 1983.

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Brief Summary

The episode details the abduction and murder of Christopher Walden and Danny Joe Eberle, leading to the capture of suspect John J. Jupert.

Key points

The Missing Boy. 12-year-old Christopher Walden goes missing on his way to school, sparking a frantic search.
Urgent Investigation. Law enforcement mobilizes quickly, fearing a connection to another unsolved murder.
The Ticking Time Bombs. The urgency to find Christopher intensifies as investigators fear for other potential victims.
The Discovery of Christopher's Body. Two hunters find Christopher's body just as heavy snowfall begins, revealing critical evidence.
The Profile of a Killer. Investigators believe the same killer is behind both abductions, learning and evolving from each crime.
The Fantasy of Control. The offender plays multiple roles in their fantasy, from writer to actor.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Hope that you're going to find this boy, Christopher Walden, alive and well.

15:21WatchApr 14, 2026

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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Missing Paperboys /// Chapter 3 /// Boy Scout Killer | Forensic Files