After 2 grisly killings, a small Nebraska neighborhood wonders if anywhere is de facto protected

FORT CALHOUN, Neb. (AP) — The grisly killings of a retiree after which a priest has shocked everybody in tiny Fort Calhoun, Nebraska, together with Sheriff Mike Robinson.

He’s lived locally simply north of Omaha for 62 years and might’t recall a single murder earlier than these two.

“It truly is out of character,” Robinson mentioned. “It’s an excellent city, good place to stay, good place to lift your loved ones.”

Robinson says folks have been troubled not solely by the killings, however by the terrible particulars of how their neighbors died in what seem like random assaults.

Linda Childers, 71, was killed Aug. 13, when she was shot with a crossbow thrice and her throat was slit at her remoted house close to a creek a couple of mile north of Fort Calhoun. Lower than 4 months later, on Dec. 10, the Rev. Stephen Gutgsell, 65, was fatally stabbed throughout a break-in on the rectory subsequent door to St. John the Baptist Church, the place he had been set to guide Mass later that day.

The brutal killings have shaken residents who’ve grown accustomed to a sure peacefulness in Fort Calhoun, a single-stoplight city of 1,100 nestled in rolling hills alongside the Missouri River. The city is simply 8 miles (almost 13 kilometers) from Omaha however seemingly a world away from the state’s greatest metropolis and its almost half-million residents.

The killings undercut Adam Schutte’s “heat and comfy” picture of a small city.

“It’s scary,” mentioned Schutte, whereas having a drink not too long ago on the Longhorn Bar and Grill. ”It makes you marvel for certain.”

Normally, the discuss in Fort Calhoun revolves round subjects like the highschool boys basketball crew and its inconceivable run to the state match final spring for the primary time in 99 years. However such milestones have taken a again seat recently.

Denise O’Neel has been spending one week a month at her fiance’s house in Fort Calhoun for years, so she is aware of it effectively. She’s not as assured in its security anymore.

“As quickly as he goes off to work my door is locked now,” O’Neel mentioned. “I simply know little Fort Calhoun doesn’t really feel as protected because it used to.”

Fort Calhoun traces its roots to a gathering between explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark and the Oto and Missouri tribes in August 1804 — 63 years earlier than Nebraska turned a state.

The neighborhood has lengthy provided a window into the previous by means of residing historical past applications at a reconstructed fort that dates to 1820. Volunteers gown up in clothes from the Previous West and act out scenes from the interval when the world was first settled. The highschool sports activities groups are known as the Pioneers.

On the time of her loss of life, Linda Childers had lived in Fort Calhoun for almost 50 years. Police arrested William Collins, 30, about two weeks after she was killed. He was present in Texas with Childers’ automotive and a few of her property.

Kierre Williams, 43, was arrested in Gutgsell’s house. When a deputy arrived, Williams was sprawled throughout the priest, who was bleeding profusely.

Each males face homicide, housebreaking and weapons fees, and are due again in courtroom early subsequent month. Authorities say Williams had a job at a meatpacking plant in Sioux Metropolis, Iowa, whereas Collins was a self-described “minimalist” who was tenting out close to the river for a couple of week.

It’s not clear what introduced both of them to Fort Calhoun and investigators haven’t discovered any connection between them and the victims.

Collins’ legal professional has mentioned he plans to plead not responsible however declined to debate the case. Williams’ legal professional with the Nebraska Fee on Public Advocacy didn’t reply to a message.

For some, the deaths have shaken their perception that Fort Calhoun is inoculated from the violence they hear of in Omaha and different huge cities.

Childers’ stepdaughter, Wendy Sue Childers, spent a lot of her childhood in Fort Calhoun together with her dad and stepmother, who she thought of her greatest buddy. Now a Missouri resident, she mentioned the information of Gutgsell’s killing so quickly after her stepmother’s loss of life has her questioning whether or not anywhere is really protected.

“I don’t know what’s taking place,” she mentioned. “It’s simply spreading. It’s spilling over into the agricultural communities which are quiet and peaceable and minding their very own enterprise.”

The priest’s killing resonated so deeply that individuals who don’t often attend St. John the Baptist blended together with his parishioners to fill the small church at a vigil the day he died. On Monday, mourners almost stuffed an 1,000-seat cathedral in Omaha for Gutgsell’s funeral, the place he was remembered as a film buff who was deeply involved about ensuring folks had been prepared to satisfy God, notably once they died violently like he did.

Longtime resident Mike Cimino mentioned the killings have been jarring, however they haven’t modified how he feels about Fort Calhoun. He’s all the time appreciated that he may get his children to their Catholic faculty in central Omaha in solely 20 minutes or so, and anytime he must make a Costco run, the massive metropolis is simply minutes away.

“I might really feel in all probability much less protected in a much bigger metropolis than right here,” he mentioned. “I feel it’s only a coincidence that this had occurred.”

Robinson, the sheriff, notes Fort Calhoun is protected by almost any measure, with virtually no thefts, burglaries or vandalism.

“I’m certain that they’re involved and so they’re scared,” Robinson mentioned of residents. “We simply attempt to reassure them that they’re simply as protected now as they had been for the final 10, 15, 20 years.”

As she picked up a number of present luggage on the Greenback Tree, Debbie Shultz mentioned she nonetheless feels protected however acknowledged the deaths weigh closely.

“In fact it makes you apprehensive, however it’s nonetheless my candy little city and I wouldn’t commerce it for something,” she mentioned.

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Beck contributed to this report from Omaha, Nebraska.