KAILEE NICOLE CLAPP -14yo- McCook (Hwy 83 nr KS) NE

More details of investigation released


McCOOK, Nebraska -- Charges of tampering with physical evidence, human skeletal remains/prohibited acts and concealing the death of another person were enough initially to jail an 18-year-old Bartley, Nebraska, man during the early stages of the investigation into the disappearance and death of a 14-year-old McCook girl.
Red Willow County Judge Anne Paine declared Thursday morning that the $1 million bail she set Sunday was inappropriate for Stathis Sebastian Mobley Kirkpatrick of Bartley, after he was charged in her court Thursday with first degree murder in the death of McCook High School freshman Kailee Nicole Clapp.
Kailee disappeared from her McCook home between 10:30 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 20, and 7 a.m., Friday, Jan. 21. An investigation by McCook police officers throughout the day Friday led to the identification of Kirkpatrick as "a person of interest" in Kailey disappearance, and then as a suspect in her death after a body tentatively identified late Friday as Kailey was found on property of the Bartley, Nebraska, cemetery.
In court Thursday morning, Jan. 27, Red Willow County Attorney Paul Wood charged Kirkpatrick with first degree murder, a Class I or IA felony punishable by life in prison or death; use of a deadly weapon to commit a felony, a Class II felony punishable by 50 years in jail; and tampering with physical evidence and unlawful burial, each a Class IV felony punishable by 5 years in jail and/or a $10,000 fine.
Judge Paine revoked Kirkpatrick's bond and ordered that he be held without bail.
Members of Kailee's and Kirkpatrick's families and reporters filled the county courtroom to capacity.
The courtroom and the courthouse were guarded by 15-20 officers of the McCook Police Department, the Red Willow County Sheriff's Office and the Nebraska State Patrol.
Police initially contacted Kirkpatrick because Kailee's dad had spoken with a subject named Stathis (about Kailee's disappearance) and that Stathis said he hadn't spoken to Kailee for about two weeks, but then said that they had talked on the phone the night before. McCook police officers contacted Stathis, who said he had received a phone call from Kailee the night before, that they had spoken for a short time.
Kirkpatrick was then called to the McCook police station because officers felt he may have been the last person to speak to Kailee before or during her disappearance and that she may have told him where she was going and had gone. Kirkpatrick told officers that he had talked to her twice, possibly between 10 p.m. and midnight, Thursday.

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http://www.mccookgazette.com/story/1698851.html

Posted: Friday, February 11, 2011 11:35 am

Kailee Clapp (courtesy Photo)

A suspect in the killing of a 14-year-old Nebraska girl whose
burned body was found in a cemetery waived his right to a
preliminary hearing Friday, and his case was moved to district
court, where a hearing decide whether he'll stand trial.

Stathis Kirkpatrick, 18, of Bartley, faces charges of
first-degree murder, a weapons count, tampering with evidence and
unlawful burial in Kailee Clapp's death.

He is in the Phelps County jail on $1 million bail. His
attorney, Derek Mitchell, said Kirkpatrick will plead not guilty at
his March 7 arraignment in district court.

Kailee's burned body was found the evening of Jan. 21 in a
Bartley cemetery. She had been reported missing that morning from
her McCook home.

According to a police affidavit, Kirkpatrick initially denied
seeing Kailee around the time of her disappearance but later told
investigators he tried to save her from an abductor who killed the
girl and set fire to her body.

http://journalstar.com/news/state-and-regional/nebraska/article_4fa59273-2cba-5fff-b40e-d3cec78af901.html

Defense seeks psych evaluation
Monday, March 7, 2011
McCOOK, Nebraska -- The brother of the 14-year-old McCook, Nebraska, girl murdered in January repeatedly thumped his chest and mouthed a barely-audible alpha male gorilla growl/Tarzan yell as a Red Willow County sheriff's officer escorted him past the family of the man accused of killing Kailee Nichole Clapp and out of the Red Willow County district courtroom Monday afternoon.
The scratching slide of handcuffs being snapped shut echoed in the marble hallway outside the courtroom door as officers took Nick Clapp from the courthouse shortly after the start of the arraignment of Stathis Sebastian Mobley Kirkpatrick of Bartley, Nebraska, who turned 19 on March 5.
Red Willow County Sheriff Gene Mahon said after Kirkpatrick's arraignment, during which Kirkpatrick pleaded "not guilty" to four felony charges in Clapp's death and his attorney requested a psychological evaluation for his client, that Nick Clapp was taken to jail and will probably be charged with disorderly conduct.

The already-tense courtroom, a single narrow aisle separating friends and family members of Clapp and Kirkpatrick, intensified when Nick Clapp apparently said something to the grandmother of Kirkpatrick. Clapp was removed, but the drama continued as Kirkpatrick's uncle turned to say something to someone sitting on the east half of the courtroom where family and friends of Kailee sat, and was ordered by a sheriff's officer to be quiet.

Someone on the Clapp side of the courtroom told officers, "Well, take him away too," before officers restored order and the attorneys continued their discussion of a psychological evaluation.
Nick Clapp had had a brief disagreement with sheriff's officers earlier in the afternoon before Kirkpatrick's arraignment, as he walked through a metal detector not yet set to scan those attending the Kirkpatrick arraignment, and into a district courtroom proceeding in progress before Kirkpatrick's. Officers told him he had to leave, and Nick complied, hitching up saggy jeans, grumbling as he walked away, " ... just tryin' to keep up with ma homies."



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Most of Kailee's friends and family members wore white "Justice for Kailee" T-shirts.

Many of Kirkpatrick's friends and family members carried bright purple bandanas, possibly in reference to the long, shaggy purple-maroon hair that Kirkpatrick wore at his first court appearances in January. Kirkpatrick appeared at his Fb. 11 county court appearance and Monday with short brown hair and long sideburns. He wore a bright orange Phelps County Jail jumpsuit, leg shackles and handcuffs and a chain around his waist.



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District Court Judge David Urbom told attorneys he would take under consideration the request by Derek Mitchell, Kirkpatrick's attorney, for the psychological evaluation of his client.

Mitchell said that "as a layman," he needs outside help to determine "the state of mind" of his client. Mitchell told Judge Urbom that a plea of "not responsible by reason of insanity" is not an issue now. He said that he did not know what would come out of the evaluation.

Corey O'Brien -- who, with Mike Guinan, another member of the Nebraska Attorney General's office, is assisting Red Willow County attorney Paul Wood with Kirkpatrick's prosecution -- told the judge that the state would not object to the evaluation as long as its findings and evidence are shared with prosecution.

O'Brien also asked that the time consumed by the evaluation be calculated within the six-month speedy trial time frame; Kirkpatrick subsequently waived his right to a speedy trial.

Judge Urbom asked that Mitchell submit his legal argument for the psychological evaluation and O'Brien his response by March 24.

Other motions by the attorneys, including possibly a motion to suppress evidence, will be heard Monday and Tuesday, July 11 and 12.

Mitchell asked Judge Urbom to set "some bond," possibly the $1 million initially set by Red Willow County Court Judge Anne Paine in January, but Urbom ordered that Kirkpatrick continue to be held without bond.

Sheriff's officers returned Kirkpatrick to the Phelps County jail in Holdrege Monday afternoon.

Kirkpatrick is charged with:

* First degree murder, a Class IA felony punishable by life in prison;

* Use of a knife or other deadly weapon to commit a felony, a Class II felony punishable by one to 50 years in prison;

* And tampering with physical evidence and unlawful burial (throwing away or abandoning human skeletal remains), each a Class IV felony punishable by five years in jail and/or a $10,000 fine.

Judge Urbom explained to Kirkpatrick that the law requires that if he is convicted and sentenced, Count 2 must be served consecutively to any other charge.

Kirkpatrick is accused of killing Kailee Clapp, a freshman at McCook Senior High, sometime during the night of Jan. 21/22. Kailee was discovered missing when her sister went into her room to wake her up for school about 7 a.m., Friday, Jan. 21.

An investigation by McCook police throughout the day led them to Kirkpatrick, who told conflicting stories about not talking to Kailee for a couple weeks and talking to her twice during the previous night.

Finally confronted by officers about his involvement in Kailee's disappearance, Kirkpatrick blamed her injury/death on someone driving a black Dodge pickup who attacked both of them physically and struck each of them with his pickup, in the alley behind Kailee's home in McCook. Kirkpatrick said he put Kailee in the back of his own pickup to take her to the hospital, but the man in the Dodge put her body in the back of his pickup and drove out of town to the east.

Kirkpatrick said he followed the man, at speeds of up to 90 miles an hour, to the Bartley Cemetery, where the man burned Kailee's body. Kirkpatrick told police officers he never thought of calling for help as they drove east.

Police and sheriff's officers found Kailee's body in the cemetery late Friday evening; an autopsy in Omaha Saturday and Sunday confirmed that the body was Kailee Clapp's.

During a first appearance in Judge Paine's county courtroom, Kirkpatrick was initially ordered jailed and held on $1 million bond on suspicion of tampering with physical evidence, prohibited acts against human skeletal remains and concealing the death of another person.

At a subsequent appearance in county court Jan. 27, Kirkpatrick was charged with first degree murder, use of a knife or other deadly weapon to commit a felony, tampering with evidence and unlawful burial. Kirkpatrick waived a preliminary hearing on Feb. 11 and Judge Paine ordered that Kirkpatrick appear next in district court.

http://www.mccookgazette.com/story/1708696.html

Defense: Kirkpatrick 'not competent' to stand trial

Thursday, September 8, 2011
Bruce Baker
McCOOK, Nebraska -- The Bartley man accused of killing a McCook girl in January is not competent to stand trial now, according to a psychological examination submitted by defense attorneys.
However, the defendant, Stathis Sebastian Mobley Kirkpatrick, 19, could be made competent by following a treatment plan, according to prosecutors.

Kirkpatrick is charged with first degree murder in connection with the death of Kailee Nichole Clapp, 14. Defense attorney Derek Mitchell, told Red Willow County District Court Judge David Urbom that it was the opinion of the doctor who completed the report that Kirkpatrick was not competent to stand trial at this time.

Prosecutors had no objection to entering the report into evidence this morning during a motions hearing, but Corey O'Brien of the Nebraska Attorney General's office pointed out that the report does indicate that a prescribed treatment plan would make Kirkpatrick competent in the near future.

O'Brien added that the prosecution had just received the report earlier this morning and asked for 10 days to examine it.

O'Brien said that if during that time the Lincoln Regional Center agreed with the findings in the report, the prosecution would likely ask that the court order Kirkpatrick participate in the recommended prescription, so that the case could continue. He also said that their findings could result in a request for an independent examination or a full-blown competency hearing.

Urbom granted the 10-day continuance request and scheduled a status hearing via conference call at 1 p.m. Sept. 19.

The body of Kailee Nichole Clapp was found at the Bartley Cemetery the evening of January 21, 2011. Kirkpatrick was subsequently charged with first degree murder, a Class IA felony; use of a knife or deadly weapon to commit a felony, a Class II felony; tampering with physical evidence, a Class IV felony; and unlawful burial, also a Class IV felony.

He faces life in prison on the murder charge and a combined 60 years on the other three charges.

http://www.mccookgazette.com/story/1760627.html

Kirkpatrick committed for mental health treatment

Thursday, September 22, 2011
McCook Daily Gazette
McCOOK, Nebraska -- The 19-year-old Bartley, Nebraska, man accused of killing a McCook girl in January has been deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial.
Red Willow County District Judge David W. Urbom Monday committed Stathis Kirkpatrick to the Lincoln Regional Health Center for mental health treatment until he is considered competent to stand trial for the murder of 14-year-old Kailee Nichole Clapp.

Kirkpatrick's defense attorneys earlier this month cited a recent psychological examination indicating that Kirkpatrick was not competent to stand trial.

Judge Urbom found, however, that there is a substantial probability that Kirkpatrick will become competent within the foreseeable future. He ordered that Kirkpatrick be committed to the Lincoln facility until the disability may be removed.

Kailee Clapp disappeared from her McCook home some time during the night of Jan. 20/21, and her burned body was found Friday, Jan. 21, in the Bartley Cemetery.

Kirkpatrick is charged with first degree murder, use of a knife or deadly weapon to commit a felony, tampering with physical evidence and unlawful burial.

http://www.mccookgazette.com/story/1766213.html