Alleged serial killer's trial still pending, more than seven years later:
Fredrick Scott, the man charged with killing six people, most of them on or near Kansas City, Missouri's Indian Creek Trail, was arrested in 2017.
But, more than seven years later, he still has yet to go to trial.
We wanted to know how a case like this could be delayed so long, and what we learned is some of this is tied to delays in the state's mental health system.
But, that answer does little to ease the minds of victims' family members enduring the agonizing wait for justice.
That includes the Darby family.
Mike Darby's story:
If you visit Coach's Bar and Grill, you'll see signs of the original co-founder, Mike Darby, adorning the walls, from a painting of the original location to a picture of him as a young Mizzou fan dressed up as a KU Jayhawk, making good on a lost bet.
His brothers Bob and Bill have countless stories of Mike's great sense of humor, as well as his giving heart.
He founded Tour de Hope, a bike ride that raised money for various causes, including the Hope Center in Kansas City.
"What comes to mind when I think about Mike and everything that he did is that phrase that you say, 'I want to leave this world a better place than when I entered it,' and I think he did that," Bob shares.
Mike's brothers remember him as a glass-half-full kind of guy.
But, their family has struggled to maintain Mike's optimism when it comes to his murder considering the trial for his alleged killer has been delayed time and time again over the past almost eight years.
Timeline of Indian Creek Trail killings:
Scott is accused of fatally shooting six people, five of them on or near the Indian Creek Trail in Kansas City, Missouri.
The first death was in August 2016. 54-year-old John Palmer, a local cook, was shot multiple times and dragged into the nearby woods just off the trail.
"He was a good person good man family man," his friend Angela Sadler shared with us in a 2016 interview shortly after his murder.
Six months later in February 2017, 66-year-old David Lenox, a Vietnam War Veteran, was shot and killed while walking his dog in the parking lot of the Willow Creek Apartments.
"Not having my dad here, the way he died for absolutely no reason is gut-wrenching for us," Lenox's daughter lamented to us in a previous interview.
A little over a month later the body of 57-year-old Timothy Rice, who was homeless, was discovered under a shelter house near the trail.
The following month, Mike Darby died from a single gunshot wound to the back of his head. His two beloved dogs he'd been walking were still sitting near his body when police arrived.
Then, a couple of months later, 57-year-old Steve Gibbons, a husband and father of two, was fatally shot in the back of the head after departing a KCATA bus.
Security video and DNA evidence at that scene led police to then-22-year-old Fredrick Scott, who admitted to routinely using the Indian Creek Trail.
Later, police would attribute yet another death to Scott, the only one that didn't meet the previous pattern of white men ages 54-67.
65-year-old Karen Harmeyer, a homeless woman, was shot in the 1200 block off Blue Ridge Boulevard in Grandview. Detectives later speculated that because of the way she was dressed, she might have been mistaken for a man.
Scott initially admitted to killing Palmer and Gibbons but said the latter was an accident, claiming the gun went off as he pulled it from his pocket.
There was no possible motive given by police.
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For the families of the victims, the murder charges against Scott marked the start of finding justice, but their relief would be short-lived, as the trial has been delayed multiple times since then.
"So, it’s just a snowball effect and there’s got to be a different processor somehow to change this dang thing, it doesn’t make sense," Mike Darby's brother Bill exclaims in frustration.
Department of Mental Health delays:
Part of the problem is Scott has fluctuated in and out of mental competency while in the Jackson County jail.
"I will say, I can't speak to the specifics of any pending case, I won't do that, But I will say that particular case has been extremely, extremely high frustration on our end because we've been ready, we've been ready," former Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker shared with us before leaving office.
In addition to changes in judges and defense attorneys, Scott's case most recently was delayed when the judge ordered another mental health evaluation and referred Scott to the DMH, referencing concerns about him taking his medication while at the Jackson County Detention Center.
We asked a spokesperson for the Jackson County Detention Center if they could force inmates to take mental health medications while in their care.
"No, not here in our facility. We have to allow them the opportunity to decline taking their medication," Lucas Castilleja explains, adding, "Well a lot of our population does have mental health issues. We do try to provide care for those individuals. But, often the people who are dealing with competency issues have significant issues that go beyond our general care."
In most cases, those individuals are then referred to Missouri's Department of Mental Health.
For those who can possibly be restored to competency so they can stand trial, three state-run facilities fill that need, including Fulton State Hospital.
"So the average length of time to restore is anywhere between four and six months. So we can get folks turned around once we get them in," explains Jeanette Simmons, PhD, the Deputy Director of the Missouri Division of Behavioral Health.
But, that's the issue, in Scott's case and many others. Missouri's DMH said they don't have any available beds.
As of Jan. 9, the Missouri DMH said there were 418 individuals in Missouri jails awaiting admission to Division of Behavioral Health hospitals under court orders for competency restoration, with an average wait time of 14 months.
And that's after DMH has a chance to do a mental health evaluation, something else that's facing a major backlog.
"So we presently have 278 people that we are in the process of doing an evaluation on, so it can take anywhere from that 60-day mark, to about 90 to 120 days," Dr. Simmons clarifies.
At his last court hearing six months after he was most recently referred to the Department of Mental Health, Scott was still #65 on the waitlist to get in.
Those mental health delays along with changes in judges and defense attorneys have Scott's alleged victims' families and the Jackson County Prosecutor's Office frustrated.
Darby's brothers say they can't help but think more could have been done to speed up this process, including having the prosecutor's office push for the death penalty, with the hopes this would encourage Scott to accept a plea deal, allowing them to avoid a trial.
"Her comment was, 'We don’t do business that way,' alluding to the fact that it wasn’t ethical or honest," Bill Darby said, recalling a previous conversation with Jean Peters Baker.
We asked her about that.
She said not only is she ethically bound from seeking the death penalty to pressure someone to take a guilty plea, but the court also would not allow an individual to plead guilty if he or she is in an incompetent state.
However, she said she does empathize with families in these situations.
"So for us, for me, it's really really painful to watch what they have to go through so that the rule of law is followed and we get it right the first time," she exclaims.
Currently, Mike Darby's brothers wonder if the case will ever go to trial.
But, they say they do find some consolation in Mike's legacy living on, through the Tour de Hope bike ride that continues to this day, and a scholarship they formed in his name covering tuition for students to attend Mike's alma mater, Rockhurst High School.
"That’s a $225,000 check that we have accumulated over donations to the Mike Darby golf tournament for seven years," Bob proudly points out.
Meanwhile, his family attends every hearing, in the hopes of keeping his memory and this case alive.
"Well, we have to because Mike can't, he’s no longer here," Bill manages to explain, fighting obvious emotion.
Everyone we spoke to for this story agrees there's no easy fix for the issue of long wait times to get into the DMH.
One possible solution we did hear from multiple people is the need for more jail space with beds dedicated solely to DMH.
A new Jackson County jail is in the works, as is a partnership with University Health, although those locations won't open till 2026.
DMH will have 10 beds each in Jackson County, Clay County, St. Louis County, and the city of St. Louis which will allow them to do some competency restoration in the jails, themselves.
Other possible solutions we heard included legislative change providing for more funding for these facilities, and hiring more social workers and mental health professionals on the outside to provide mental health care to people before it escalates to criminal activity.
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