Trial of accused serial killer Fredrick Scott begins Thursday after years of delays

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — KSHB 41 News anchor Caitlin Knute is interested in hearing from you. Send her an e-mail.

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The trial of accused serial killer Fredrick Scott will begin Thursday after years of delays. KSHB 41’s Caitlin Knute has extensively covered the case.

Scott is accused of fatally shooting six people in 2016 and 2017: John Palmer, Michael Darby, David Lenox, Steven Gibbons, Timothy Rice and Karen Harmeyer.

Most of the killings occurred on or near the Indian Creek Trail.

The case has been delayed repeatedly over the last nine years; Scott was charged in 2017. The continuous pushback has been especially difficult on the friends and family of the victims.

“What comes to mind when I think about Mike and everything that he did is that phrase that you say, ‘I wanna leave this world a better place than when I entered it.’ And I think he did that,” Bob Darby, brother of Michael Darby, said in 2024.

Over the years, the case has evolved. There have been changes in the judge, defense attorney and Scott’s mental health.

He has slipped in and out of mental competency and has been diagnosed as schizophrenic. There have also been concerns he wasn't taking his prescribed medication while in the Jackson County jail.

KSHB 41’s Caitlin Knute previously asked Lucas Castilleja, of the jail, if inmates can be forced to take their medication.

"No, not here in our facility,” he said. “We have to allow them the opportunity to decline taking their medication."

As a result, Scott has been shuffled back and forth from the county jail to the Missouri Department of Mental Health, where medical professionals ensure he takes his medication. But a lack of available beds has repeatedly delayed moving Scott into their care.

John Batten/KSHB 41

“So 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 previously told Knute.

Scott pleaded not guilty, yet he admitted to the shootings in a probable cause statement filed when he was first charged. According to the court document, Scott muttered under his breath, “They didn’t see it coming,” when talking with detectives.

However, that does not mean the trial will be a slam dunk, per local attorney Craig Divine.

“You could have the defense go down the route of at the time he was apprehended and made the statement, he was in the throes of a psychotic schizophrenic episode…” Divine said.

Chase Lucas/KSHB 41

Purely speculating, Divine says it’s unlikely the defense will try to poke holes in the DNA evidence, instead leaning into the length of time since the killings.

“These are things that often work to the benefit of the defendant," Divine said. "Time is kind of on the defendant's side, and the longer a case goes, the more likely you have critical witnesses whose memory fails, they don’t remember key details."

Despite nearly a decade passing, Bill Darby has attended nearly every court hearing over the years.

“Well, we have to because Mike can't ... he’s no longer here,” he said.

Knute will be in the courtroom Thursday and every other day of the trial. She will continue to provide updates on air and online.

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