Trial for accused Kansas City serial killer Fredrick Scott set for fall 2026
After a near decade-long delay, accused Kansas City serial killer Fredrick Scott will face trial next fall.
Scott will stand trial starting Sept. 3, 2026, on six counts of first-degree murder and armed criminal action. Jury selection will happen over the three days before the first day of trial.
Scott, 30, has been accused of the killings of Steven Gibbons, 57; John Palmer, 54; David Lenox, 67; Timothy S. Rice, 57; Mike Darby, 61; and Karen Harmeyer, 64. The killings took place between 2016 and Scott’s arrest in August 2017.
All of the fatal shootings, except for Harmeyer, who was killed in Grandview, took place along the Indian Creek Trail in south Kansas City. All of the victims were shot without warning, some outside their homes.
Prosecutors asked for the trial to begin later this year, but the public defender assigned to Scott told Jackson County Judge Charles McKenzie, who is presiding over the case, that the defense would not be ready for trial this year. Just a week ago, Jackson County Judge Charles McKenzie issued his finding that Scott was mentally fit to proceed with his defense, allowing the case to resume.
The case, which began in 2017, has been delayed for more than seven years while the court deals with issues surrounding his competency.
In June 2020, a judge ruled Scott was incompetent to proceed. In June 2021, a judge also ruled Scott was incompetent to stand trial. After a re-evaluation of Scott’s mental fitness that summer, a judge ruled that Scott was mentally fit in October 2021. Intended trial dates for Scott were canceled in 2022 and again in 2023.
Scott has also been assigned new representation after his first attorney was allowed to withdraw from the case. Last June, Judge McKenzie ruled that since two different judges had given conflicting opinions on Scott’s mental competency, state law dictates that a separate hearing should take place in July 2024.
But McKenzie committed Scott to a state behavioral health program through the Missouri Department of Mental Health for a mental health evaluation after an outburst during that hearing, placing trial proceedings on hold again.
McKenzie held a hearing on Scott’s mental competency on June 16, taking the matter under advisement before he issued his ruling, determining Scott was competent to stand trial.
This story was originally published July 10, 2025 at 5:22 PM.
