July hearing set to determine if accused Indian Creek serial killer is fit for trial
A July hearing will determine whether accused serial killer Fredrick Demond Scott is mentally competent to stand trial, a Jackson County judge ruled Thursday.
Scott, 29, has been accused in the killings of Steven Gibbons, 57; John Palmer, 54; David Lenox, 67; Timothy S. Rice, 57; Mike Darby, 61, and Karen Harmeyer, 64.
Most of the fatal shootings took place along the Indian Creek Trail. Harmeyer was killed in Grandview.
Scott has been in custody for nearly 8 years since his arrest in the killings.
Judge Charles McKenzie ruled Thursday that since two different judges gave conflicting opinions on Scott’s mental competency, state law dictates that a separate hearing should take place to determine whether he is fit to stand trial.
In July 2021, Scott was initially ruled mentally unfit to stand trial by a Jackson County judge.
A second Jackson County judge ruled in October 2021 that Scott was mentally competent to stand trial.
Due to the discrepancy over Scott’s mental state, trials set for 2022 and 2023 were both canceled. Scott has also been assigned new representation after his first attorney withdrew from the case.
Scott, who is Black, also gained notoriety for saying he wanted to “kill all white people” in 2014 while enrolled at Center Alternative School in Kansas City. All six of Scott’s victims were white, and five were middle-aged men.
The killings began in 2016 and continued until August 2017, when Scott was arrested.
All of Scott’s victims were fatally shot without warning, some right outside of their homes.
Scott will next appear in court at 9 a.m. July 23 for an evidentiary hearing surrounding his mental competency. Both sides plan to bring at least one medical professional to weigh in as an expert witness.
McKenzie said he expects the hearing to last at least a day.
In the moments leading up to Thursday’s brief hearing, Scott conversed in urgent low tones with his attorney, reading quietly from a sheet of paper. His gaze drifted to the side of the courtroom as the evidentiary hearing date was debated and set.
Scott’s mother has previously voiced her belief that Scott suffers from undiagnosed paranoid schizophrenia. She told the Star in 2017 that Scott’s brother was formally diagnosed with the same and she’s noted similarities in their behavior.
Families of Scott’s victims have questioned her motives in attempting to publicly explain her son’s mental state.
Previous reporting by Bill Lukitsch, Toriano Porter, Glenn Rice, Ian Cummings and Joe Robertson was used in this article.
This story was originally published June 6, 2024 at 6:31 PM.
