John Joubert, Eagle Scout/Serial Killer

"To prepare young people to make ethical and moral choices over their lifetimes by instilling in them the values of the Scout Oath and Law" is the stated mission of The Boy Scouts of America (BSA). Established in 1910, the BSA is recognized worldwide as a distinct part of American culture, portrayed in countless movies, books and other forms of media. As of 2017, the BSA has 2.3 million members and about one million adult volunteers nationwide.

There are a collection of traits one would expect to see in a Boy Scout. These include loyalty, bravery, trustworthiness and kindness, to name just a few.

Eagle Scout is the highest rank a scout can achieve, and it is no easy feat - only 4% of scouts have reached the rank of Eagle Scout since the establishment of the BSA.

John Joubert in his Boy Scout uniform (source: Youtube)

One Eagle Scout, however, outwardly portrayed himself as a model scout, but was nothing of the sort. His name was John Joubert, and he was a master of deception. Joubert achieved the highest rank in the BSA, before becoming an assistant scout leader. Nobody knew how dangerous he was, until it was too late.

An Unhappy Childhood

Born July 2, 1963 in Lawrence, Massachusetts, John Joubert was the eldest of Joseph and Beverley Joubert’s two children. His sister, Jane, was born in 1965.

Joubert’s home life was an unhappy one. When he was six-years-old, his parents divorced and his father moved out. Beverley Joubert was a domineering and controlling woman who did not let her son make friends with other children. She was quick to anger and humiliated her son by spanking him until he was 12-years-old.

As a result, Joubert had very few friends. School was also a miserable place, as he was bullied for being the smallest in his class. For the most part, he kept to himself. He had an above-average IQ and excelled in his classes, particularly English and History.

The family moved from Lawrence to Portland’s Oakdale neighborhood when Joubert was 11, and to earn some of his own money, Jourbert began a paper round. He also took on a series of jobs during the summer. With this money, he paid much of his tuition to Cheverus High School, Portland's all-boys Catholic secondary school.

The Oakdale Slasher

Joubert’s rage towards those around him, a result of years of bullying at school and humiliation from his own mother, grew significantly after he entered high school. He concealed it well at school however, coming across as the quiet, bookish boy he had always been. At the same time, Joubert became a Boy Scout and advanced to the highest rank of Eagle Scout.

In December 1979, the first in a series of random, violent attacks occurred in Oakdale. Six-year-old Sarah Canty was playing in her front yard when a young man on a bicycle rode by and stabbed her with a pencil. She cried out in pain, but by the time her parents came to her aid, the man who stabbed her was long gone.

About six weeks later, in January 1980, 27-year-old Vicky Goff was walking along Deering Avenue towards the University of Southern Maine. A young man grabbed her from behind and proceeded to stab her in the side with a knife. He covered her mouth with his hand to stop her from screaming. Before she could get a look at him, he had fled.

In March 1980, nine-year-old Michael Witham was walking on Deering Avenue when a young man on a bicycle lured him into a wooded area and began asking him a series of personal questions. Michael answered the questions, and the man told him he could go, but once he turned away, the man grabbed him from behind and cut his throat with a knife. Miraculously, Michael got away. He needed 12 stitches to close up his wound. The attack easily could have been fatal, his doctors told him. He was extremely lucky to be alive.

These attacks, committed by Joubert, would remain unsolved until after he committed more sinister, deadly crimes. While they were unsolved, the perpetrator became known as “The Oakdale Slasher”.

A Big Move West

In 1981, Joubert graduated high school and became a student at Norwich University, a small, private military college in Northfield, Vermont, where he studied engineering. However, he dropped out after just a semester. When he couldn’t find a job, he enlisted in the United States Air Force in August, 1982.

Four months later, 19-year-old Joubert moved 1500 miles west to Bellevue, Nebraska, where he was stationed at Offutt Air Force base. A suburb city just south of Omaha, Bellevue had a population of around 22,000 in 1980 (now it is much larger, with closer to 53,000 residents). Joubert trained as a radar technician, and joined the local scout troop, becoming an assistant scout leader.

Portland, Maine

The largest city in the U.S. state of Maine, Portland is a popular tourist destination known for its 19th-century architecture, cuisine and lively nightlife. The city has a highly active port, which is an important hub for the fishing and commercial shipping industries.

On August 22, 1982, 11-year-old Richard “Ricky” Stetson left his home at 7:45pm for a jog along a trail in Back Cove, in north Portland. Being summertime, it was still light out, and the trail was populated with cyclists, joggers and promenaders enjoying the last of the warm evening sun. Several people saw Ricky jogging. They also saw a young man on a bicycle riding closely behind Ricky, but didn’t think anything of it.

When it had gotten dark outside, but Ricky still had not returned home, his parents called the police.

It did not take long for Mr and Mrs Stetson’s worst fears to be confirmed. The following morning, a motorist discovered Ricky’s body in a grassy area just off the jogging path. He had been strangled, both manually and with a ligature it seemed. He had not been sexually assaulted.

Bite marks were present on Ricky’s right calf, but in an attempt to distort the dental impressions, the killer had gouged them with a knife. Such an act was completely unheard of to detectives and forensic dentists who consulted on the case; by attempting to cover his tracks, the killer had made himself more vulnerable to being caught by leaving his “signature”.

A suspect, Joseph Anderson, was arrested for Ricky’s murder, but was released as the bite marks on Ricky’s leg were not a match to his dental impressions.

Despite the best efforts of the Portland PD, Ricky’s case went cold.

Bellevue, Nebraska

More than a year later, on Sunday, Sept. 18, 1983, 13-year-old Danny Joe Eberle was up early for his paper round, delivering the Omaha World-Herald. Danny’s prize possession was his bicycle, which he used to deliver the newspapers.

When Danny did not return home after his paper round, his parents became worried. The police were called, and a large-scale search began. Danny’s bicycle, along with the vast majority of the newspapers, were discovered near the fourth home on his route.

Three days later, on Sept. 21, Danny’s body was discovered in a grassy area just off the road near Offutt Air Force, about 4 miles from where his bicycle had been found. Danny was lying face down, and had been stripped to his underwear. His wrists and ankles had been bound with rope. He had been stabbed 11 times.

A shape that looked something like a star had been carved into his chest. There were bite marks on his body, which had been gouged with a knife.

Less than three months later, on Dec. 2, tragedy struck once again. Another boy, 12-year-old Christopher Walden, was walking to school in Bellevue when a young man driving a tan colored car approached him. The two had a short exchange, and Christopher got into the car. When Christopher did not arrive at school, he was reported missing.

Two days later, two men out hunting pheasants discovered Christopher’s body in a wooded area, about 3 miles from where Danny’s body had been found on the side of the road. Being a typical freezing winter in Nebraska, Christopher’s body was frozen and covered in snow. Like Danny, Christopher was wearing only his underwear. He had been stabbed to death, and his throat had been cut so deep he had nearly been decapitated. The odd star-shaped pattern was also discovered carved into his skin, as well as the knife-gouged bite marks. Unlike Danny, Christopher had not been bound. Neither Danny nor Christopher had been sexually assaulted.

The Investigation

The Profile

FBI profiler Robert Ressler travelled to Nebraska to assist in the investigation by providing a profile of the killer. The discovery of Danny’s body so close to the side of the road suggested to Ressler that the killer was small and not particularly strong, as he had not been able to carry Danny’s body very far.

The location also gave Ressler reason to believe that the killer was not very experienced and may not know the area very well, given that the body was not very well concealed. Someone who knew the area better may have been more successful in hiding the body.

The evidence from Christopher’s murder gave Ressler more material to work with in creating his profile. He predicted that the killer of the two boys was likely involved in an organisation or club in which he spent time with pre-teen and teen boys, such as sports coaching or scouts.

Ressler also suspected that the killer had some knowledge of criminal investigations, given that he tried to obscure his bite impressions on his victims’ bodies. This knowledge likely came from reading detective magazines or novels.

The Rope

The rope which had been used to bind Danny’s wrists and ankles was not one detectives had ever seen before. It was sent to FBI Headquarters in Washington D.C. for examination. What made the rope so unique was that the inside was composed of so many different types of fibres, and over 100 different colored yarns. Experts who were consulted agreed with detectives; it was not a type of rope they had ever come across.

Eye Witnesses

Witnesses came forward with descriptions of the man they had seen with Christopher Walden the day he disappeared. He was a smaller man, not much taller than Christopher, with dark hair and dark eyes, between the ages of 18 and 25. From the descriptions, investigators came up with a composite sketch of the suspect.

The composite sketch of the suspect in the murders of Danny Joe Eberle and Christopher Walden (source: Youtube)

A woman who was out walking her dog that morning was quite sure she had seen Christopher being abducted. She told detectives that the man was driving a tan colored car which had a licence plate starting with the letter R.

A Frightening Confrontation

On January 11, 1984, a Bellevue preschool teacher, Barbara Weaver, was going about her morning work routine of preparing her classroom for when her students arrived. Barbara had been closely following the cases of the murdered boys, Danny Joe Eberle and Christopher Walden.

Barbara briefly glanced out the window and saw something that struck her as suspicious: a car she had never seen before sat alone in the parking lot. When she looked closer, she saw a young man sitting in the driver’s seat. To Barbara, he looked a lot like the young man in the composite sketch she had seen on the nightly news. Barbara and the young man made eye contact. His stare gave her a bad feeling. She grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled down the licence plate number of his car.

All of the sudden, the door to Barbara’s classroom flew open and the young man was in front of her, threatening her with a knife. Barbara was able to run past him, however, escaping out the door and running across the street to a nearby home. She banged on the door and told the occupant of home about her encounter. They allowed her to use their phone to call the police. Meanwhile, the young man jumped in his car and sped away.

Joubert’s Capture

Detectives tracked the licence plate number Barbara had written down to 20-year-old John Joubert, a radar technician for the United States Air Force who was living at Offutt Air Force Base in Bellevue.

Joubert matched Robert Ressler’s profile to a tee: he was young, small and not very strong, and he volunteered at a local scout troop. During a search warrant of Joubert’s room on the base, investigators found several softcore porn “detective” magazines.

On searching his car, they collected head hairs, which were analyzed and discovered to be those of Danny Joe Eberle. Also found in the car was duct tape and a knife. In the glove compartment there was a piece of rope, the same unique kind Danny had been bound with.

Connecting the Maine and Nebraska Murders

Robert Ressler was giving a presentation at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, on profiling the killer of the boys in Nebraska. The presentation sparked the attention of a police officer from Portland, Maine. The murder of Ricky Stetson in Portland in August of 1982 sounded eerily similar to the killings Ressler described. Perhaps most striking was that Ricky Stetson, Danny Joe Eberle and Christopher Walden had all been bitten by their killer, and the bite marks had subsequently been gouged with a knife in a (failed) attempt to cover them up.

The officer approached Ressler with the information about Ricky Stetson. A quick look into Joubert’s past revealed that he was living in Portland before he joined the Air Force; he had moved to Nebraska just four months after Ricky’s murder. Investigators obtained a cast of Joubert’s teeth and a forensic dentist confirmed that they matched the bite marks on Ricky’s leg.

For the investigators in Portland, things were finally falling into place; clearly, Joubert had panicked after killing Ricky and in an attempt to get as far away as possible, he joined the Air Force. His plan worked (for a while, anyway).

When questioned by authorities in Portland, Joubert also admitted to being The Oakdale Slasher. He told detectives that those attacks had been “practice” for future killings.

Joubert’s Arrest and Convictions

On January 12, 1984, Joubert was arrested and charged with the murders of Danny Joe Eberle and Christopher Walden. Joubert pled guilty to both murders and gave detectives a graphic rundown of exactly what happened.

While under arrest, Joubert underwent several psychiatric evaluations. Psychiatrists concluded that Joubert suffered from schizoid personality disorder, which is characterised by a lack of interest in other people or in forming relationships, and a desire to isolate oneself from others. Those with schizoid personality disorder may come across as cold and lacking in empathy, rarely showing much emotion. Joubert was also characterized as having sadistic tendencies, made clear by the torture he inflicted on his victims.

Sarpy County Sheriff Patrick Thomas, who had been involved in the case since the disappearance of Danny Joe Eberle, sat down with Joubert after he had admitted to the killings of the boys. Thomas asked Joubert, if he were to release him there and then, did he think he had learned his lesson and would not go out and murder another boy. Joubert thought about it, before responding that no, he had not learned his lesson and he likely would kill again if he were given the chance. He just couldn’t help himself. For that reason, he was glad he got caught, he told Thomas.

Joubert was convicted of all three murders. In Maine, a state without the death penalty, he was sentenced to life in prison. In Nebraska, Joubert was sentenced to death.

John Joubert the month before his execution in 1996 (source: Wikipedia)

On July 16, 1996, John Joubert died in Nebraska’s electric chair. He was 33 years old.

Nothing can bring back Ricky, Danny or Christopher. But once Joubert had taken his final breath, their families could finally take comfort in the knowledge that their sons’ killer was gone and could no longer hurt other children. I hope they have been able to find some peace.

If you’re interested in serial killers and want to read more pieces like this one, check out the case of Robert Hansen, "The Butcher Baker" or Herb Baumeister / The I-70 Strangler.