Judge orders release of child serial killer John Joubert’s graphic drawings

Joe Jordan | Nebraska Watchdog

Child serial killer John Joubert’s drawings depicting “violent acts” will be going public—sort of.

A Lincoln judge has ruled that author-former Omaha anchor Mark Pettit will be allowed to “inspect, examine and reproduce” the drawings within the next 60 days.

In an earlier interview with Nebraska Watchdog, Pettit said he’s not sure he’ll include the illustrations in a revised edition of his 1990 book “A Need to Kill” but Pettit says he does plan to turn the artwork over to the FBI for its analysis.

Joubert died in Nebraska’s electric chair in 1996 after confessing to the 1983 slayings of 12-year-old Christopher Walden and 13-year-old Danny Joe Eberle—murders that found Omahans terrorized for weeks until Joubert’s arrest. Following his arrest Joubert also admitted killing 11-year-old Richard Stetson of Portland, Maine in 1982.

Danny Joe Eberle

In his ruling District Court Judge Steven Burns notes the Nebraska Department of Corrections, which confiscated the drawings from Joubert’s cell in 1987, fought their release arguing they posed a threat to prison security.

But the judge, who says Joubert wanted Pettit to have the drawings, disagrees:

“These drawings are nearly 30 years old. The inmate who made them is no longer alive…The court accepts that the drawings may be useful to law enforcement officers in further understanding the psychology of serial killers; at least those similar to Joubert.”

Contact Joe Jordan at joe@nebraskawatchdog.org.

Joe can be heard on Omaha’s KFAB radio every Monday at 7:40 a.m. and KHAS-AM in Hastings every Wednesday at 7:30 a.m. and 12:45 p.m.

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