Jackson County jurors on Tuesday found Fredrick Scott, 31, guilty of four counts of first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the deaths of four people a decade ago along south Kansas City trails.
Scott was found not guilty on two additional charges of first-degree murder and armed criminal action.
The verdict closed out one of the longest-running criminal cases in Jackson County, Prosecutor Melesa Johnson said. The killings, which took place along south Kansas City’s walking trails between 2016 and Scott’s 2017 arrest, fueled years of fear that a serial killer was targeting people on the trail system.
The victims were John Palmer, Mike Darby, Karen Harmeyer, Steven Gibbons, David Lenox and Timothy Rice.
Scott’s trial began Sept. 3 and stretched over three weeks, with prosecutors presenting hundreds of pieces of evidence and more than 70 witnesses.
“The families of these victims waited nine years to see justice served today,” Johnson said in a statement.
Scott will be sentenced at a later date. Prosecutors will seek life in prison without the possibility of parole for each of the first-degree murder convictions.
