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By Kent Larsen
NEWSFLASH: Indictment in 1974 Missionary Murders
AUSTIN, TEXAS -- A grand jury in Austin, Texas has indicted Robert
Elmer Kleasen for the second time in the 1974 murder of LDS
missionaries Mark Fischer and Gary Darley, 24 years after his first
murder conviction for their deaths was overturned. Travis County
Assistant District Attorney Claire Dawson Brown opened the case
Wednesday and sought and obtained an indictment today. According to
District Attorney Ronald Earl, advances in DNA analysis made it
possible to connect Kleasen to the murders. The indictment means that
Kleasen will likely be extradited to the US after he completes a
sentence in England in November.
Kleasen allegedly murdered the two missionaries when they came to his
10-foot camper for a venison dinner in October 1974. The missionaries
disappeared, leading police and local Church members to search for
them for several days before investigators discovered evidence that
they had been killed and probably dismembered by Kleasen. A jury took
just 20 minutes to convict Kleasen of the murders in 1975, but an
appeals court threw out the conviction in 1977 because crucial
evidence was obtained illegally.
Kleasen then spent time in federal prison on firearms violations and
moved to England a few years after he was released in 1988. He again
caught public notice in 1999 when investigators discovered he had
accumulated a cache of illegal firearms. Convicted in June 2000 of
the weapons charges, Kleasen has since been serving a prison term
there.
The murders of Elders Fischer and Darley were the subject of a book
last year by Atlanta attorney Ken Driggs, who spent four years
researching the story and Kleasen's subsequent movements.
Sources:
Prosecutors revisit '74 missionary slayings
Austin TX American-Statesman 8Aug01 P2
By Jason Spencer: American-Statesman Staff
Man indicted for 1974 murders
Minneapolis MN Star-Tribune (AP) 8Aug01 P2
Associated Press
See also:
More about "Evil Among Us: The Texas Mormon Missionary Murders" by Ken Driggs at Amazon.com
Mormon News' Coverage of Robert Elmer Kleasen
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