A Need to Kill: The True-Crime Account of John Joubert, Nebraska's Most Notorious Serial Child Killer by Pettit Mark

Author:Pettit, Mark [Pettit, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mark Pettit, John Joubert, Serial Child Killer, Serial Killers, Nebraska Killer
Publisher: Mark Pettit
Published: 2013-09-23T00:00:00+00:00

TWELVE

“That guy held this county and the metropolitan area hostage, wondering where he was going to strike next. I mean, this community was in fear…like I’ve never seen before and like I hope I never see again.”

-Prosecutor Mike Welknan

Christopher Walden

The Waldens were no strangers to Omaha, but neither were they thrilled about coming back to the city.

Steve Walden, an air force meteorologist, had met his wife, Sue, in Omaha thirteen years before, when both had been in the service. Sue had grown up in Syracuse, New York. Steve was a Missouri boy; with his blond curly hair and boyish face, he looked something like Wayne Rogers. Their son Chris had been born in Omaha. Now the service had brought them back; Steve had been transferred to Offutt in July.

Like most parents after the Eberle murder, Steve and Sue kept a closer watch on their son. Chris had turned twelve only ten days after Danny Joe’s death, and he knew better than to talk to strangers. Because they didn’t have many friends, the Waldens had grown closer to their son during the summer, much closer than they had been just a year before.

A bright, freckle-faced youngster with a shock of sandy-brown hair, Chris had reached the age when only two things seemed to interest him: girls and video games. Unfortunately, his small allowance fell pitifully short of paying for his weekly video game fix, so he resorted to stealing.

His parents discovered this while stationed in Hawaii. After grocery shopping in the base commissary, Sue took out her wallet to pay and found it empty.

“That’s funny” she said, embarrassed, knowing she’d had money the night before. “I was sure…”

This was not the first time cash had mysteriously vanished. Several weeks earlier, after hosting an air force wives dinner, she’d missed twenty dollars from her wallet. Immediately she suspected Chris.

“We’ve talked about stealing,” Sue told him that night before he went to bed. “You know how your Dad and I are about honesty. Did you take that money?”

Chris put on his best poker face. “I didn’t take it, Mom.”

Sue wasn’t convinced.

A few weeks before, some friends had gone on vacation to Europe and left their son Philip with the Walden family. Philip’s parents had given Sue two rolls of quarters for his lunch money. Slowly it dawned on her that Chris and Philip were playing more video games than usual at the snack bar down the road, and the more they played, the fewer quarters Philip had for lunch.

The clincher came a few days later when Chris couldn’t eat any of the chicken dinner his mother had worked so hard to prepare.

“What’s wrong, Chris?” Sue asked.

“I don’t feel good.”

“Come on, son,” his dad demanded. “What’s the problem?”

Chris hesitated. “I think I had too many milkshakes.”

“How many?”

“Five.”

“Where’d you get the money?”

There was nothing for Chris to do but confess; he’d taken his parents’ money and spent it on his friends. Chris’s sudden confession almost made Sue laugh, but she fought down that urge. To learn that her son was stealing hurt her deeply.

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