True Crime: Lincoln, Nebraska

True crime is something that many people have become infatuated with. It’s something that many people take time to learn about. Lincoln has its own share of true crime.

The very first killer recorded in Lincoln lived back in the 1950s. Between 1957 and 1958, Charles Starkweather killed eleven people. His first murder was that of Robert Colvert, a gas station attendant who refused to sell him some items on credit. He was captured in 1957 after a high speed chase with the police forces of three different counties.

In September of 2020, 17-year-old Felipe Vazquez shot officer Luis Herrera, who at the time was serving Vazquez with a warrant. Vazquez was arrested for the use of a firearm and then charged with murder after Herrera passed away 12 days later in the hospital. Just recently, the courts decided that Vazquez would not be able to be tried here due to negative media coverage, so the court date was moved to March 7, 2022 in Columbus, Platte County.

On January 21, 2022,, Jason Pratt was pulled over for suspected driving under the influence. He was then arrested for possessing many different illegal substances, including cocaine and LSD. The substances in his car also included several bottles of liquor and hallucinogens. Police believe that it was his intent to sell the drugs. 

Kathleen Jourdan, a medical resident, was accused of killing her husband on I-80 on June 17. 2020. As the couple was stopped with their kids along the road driving back from Scottsbluff, they got in an argument and Jourdan ended up murdering her husband, who was a doctor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Jourdan claims that it was done in self-defense. After being arrested, her bail was set for one million dollars. Her trial is set for March 3, 2022.

By TJ Pittenger