JOHN JOUBERT

Bibi Haniff • Bryan Payne

John Joubert

Biography

Joubert’s parents divorced when John was six years old

Joubert went to live with his mother in Lawrence, Massachusetts

Joubert was not allowed to visit his father and grew to hate his controlling mother.

Biography

His mother moved him to Portland, Maine in 1974.

When Joubert was 13, he stabbed a young girl with a pencil and felt sexually stimulated when she cried in pain.

The next day, he took a razor blade and slashed another girl as he biked past her.

In another incident, he beat and nearly strangled another boy. He relished the power of bullying, and began to stab or slash others.

History of Murders

Three victims were known to have been murdered by John Joubert Danny Joe Eberle Ricky Stetson Christopher Walden

Ricky Stetson

Went missing from Portland, Maine on August 22, 1982

11 Years old Body found the next day on the side of I-

295

Clues from the body

The attacker appeared to have attempted to undress him.

Attacker appeared to have stabbed and strangled him

Bite mark found on the body of Ricky Stetson

Suspect arrested and held for a year and a half, released when they finally realized his teeth did not match the bite marks on Stetson

Teeth Marks and Star Pattern

Joubert bit his victims and tried to disguise the teeth marks by carving a star pattern above the marks

Analysis of teeth marks is done by: Taking accurate casts of the

suspect’s teeth Excising the skin with the bite mark

from the victim (only of the victim is dead)

Observe for whorls, indentations, chips, abrasions, striations, distances between cuspids, tooth width and thickness, alignment and mouth arch.

http://crime-scene-processing.suite101.com

Christopher Walden

Disappeared on January 11th 1984 in Papillion, Nebraska

3 miles from Eberle’s body Witnesses saw white man in tan car

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Clues from the body

Walden’s body found stripped to his underwear

Throat cut so deep that Walden was nearly decapitated

Walden’s body seemed to have been concealed better than the previous

Evidence

Two sets of footprints were found leading to Christopher Walden’s body

One set of footprints lead away from Walden’s body

No struggle was shown and this lead FBI to believe that the killer was involved with Walden in some way Struggle would have showed dragged

footprints in the woods Clean footprints indicated no struggle

Footprints

Joubert left footprints at the site where Christopher Walden’s body was found

While footprints are circumstantial, they can tell a lot about a person. For instance height, sex, anatomic deformities, and if

they were walking, running, or carrying something.  

British Police are currently working on a system to identify criminals by footprints Treadmark Footprint Analyser

Footprints Cont’d

Footprints are analyze by Using special lighting such as oblique

lighting to identify footprint indentations if they are not clearly visible

Forensic scientists will then cast the print, the same way they would cast the teeth to identify bite marks

Once they have a comparative source they can look for similarities to tie a suspect to a crime

Witness

Unknown female witness was put under hypnosis to help remember what she had seen Woman saw a young man walking toward a

tan sedan prior to abduction Woman described the stranger as being of

similar build to the victim and wearing a woolen hat pulled down

Woman noticed the first couple of letters from license plate

Danny Joe Eberle

Delivering newspapers on Sunday, September 18th 1983 in Bellevue Nebraska

Brother had not seen him but remembered being followed by a white man in a tan car on previous days

Danny delivered 3 newspapers, at the 4th stop his bicycle and newspapers were found, no apparent struggle

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Clues from the body

Body found 4 miles from the bicycle Stripped down to his underwear Feet and hands bound with rope and

mouth taped with surgical tape Stabbed 9 times FBI called in because of kidnapping

The Rope

Was braided with several colors not found in local stores

The rope found with the body was made of several different colored yarns and had an unusual construction

Used comparative microscopy to examine the rope

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Worldwide search for rope

Every manufacturer in the united states was checked

Government and military outlets abroad checked

FBI field conducted inquiries in the Far east where much of the world’s rope is made

Every lead fizzled out

Hair

Found Hair on Danny Joe’s body that seem to be from a different source

Once they had a comparative source (hair from the suspect) they could have analyzed the hair with: Light Microscopy to analyze similarities and

differences in hair Compound Microscope Comparison microscope which allows

observation of two things in the same field

Hair Cont’d

They could look for differences in: The scale pattern of the cuticles The pigmentation of the cortex The medulla patterns

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Individualizing evidence

Rope used to bind Danny Joe seemed to offer the best chance of a lead

The more unusual the rope, the more useful it is as evidence

Rope used to bind Danny Joe was so unusual that no one recognized it

Events leading to Capture

On January 11, 1984 Barbara Weaver who ran a Bellavue day-care center noticed a young man in a car slowly cruising the street outside

She made note of the car’s license plate The driver saw her do this and stopped,

he demanded that she give him the paper and when she refused he threatened to kill her, then roared off.

Within seconds she phoned the police.

Events leading to capture…Part 2 Vehicle was traced to a local Chevrolet

dealership, they learned the car was on lease to an enlisted airman at Offutt while his vehicle was being repaired

His vehicle, a cream-colored sedan which matched the first description exactly even down to the license plate seen by the woman under hypnosis

FBI evidence tied Joubert to 2 murders In a duffel bag belonging to Joubert,

officers found a hunting knife and a length of rope.

FBI laboratory technicians compared the rope found in Joubert’s quarters with that used to bind Danny Joe Eberle

Teeth marks from Ricky Stetson’s body matched Joubert’s teeth

Trials and Appeals After initially pleading not guilty, he changed

his plea to guilty Joubert Confessed to killing the two Nebraska

boys. Several psychiatric evaluations were performed

on Joubert One characterized him as having obsessive-

compulsive disorder and sadistic tendencies, and suffering from schizoid personality disorder.

Joubert filed a writ of habeas corpus to the United States federal courts over the death sentences.

Sentencing

The state of Nebraska appealed to the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska, which overturned the appeal

Joubert was executed on July 17, 1996 by the state of Nebraska with the electric Chair.

Further Analysis

This case was based on strong circumstantial evidence

Had DNA been developed they… Could have gotten DNA from the bite marks

on the victims and compared it definitively to the suspect.

Could have done DNA analysis of the hairs found on the body

Since Joubert was an enlisted man samples of his DNA would have been in army databases and comparative DNA analysis might have saved some of the victims.

References

www.truetv.com www.komazacare.com http://crime-scene-

processing.suite101.com www.prlog.com www.howstuffworks.com

Questions