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His wife found out about his criminal background and at one point, Kleasen threatened her with death if she tried to leave him. Being too scared to leave she stayed for almost a decade, only to come up with an escape plan with a close friend. His wife was briefly considered a missing person, possibly
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On
October 28, 1974, Darley and Fisher disappeared in Oak Hill. Police investigation of the disappearance led to the scenario that the missionaries were shot dead after having agreed to meet Kleasen for dinner. Police discovered Fisher's bloody watch and bullet-punctured name tag in Kleasen's trailer
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In 1950, 16-year-old
Kleasen stepped on a rusty nail while hunting in the woods and his mother took him to the hospital. While waiting impatiently for doctors to see him, he hit his mother, got a gun from her car, and returned to the emergency room shooting. No one was hurt, but the outburst landed
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English authorities learned of
Kleasen's U.S. murder conviction, which he had unlawfully omitted from his residency application. The investigation also uncovered several gun law violations. He was given a three-year prison term in 2000 for possession of illegal firearms and munitions and began to
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charity mission. He drew attention from the local media, and police had to be posted near the mission for
Kleasen's protection. He only congregated with the other people living in the mission during church services prior to eating. During this time, the local Buffalo TV channels updated the story
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while living in the US. He ingratiated himself with local residents, and began to amass a huge gun collection. A firearms license officer became suspicious of
Kleasen's claims of being a decorated military veteran and CIA agent, and confirmed from U.S. military officials that Kleasen had never
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in the taxidermy shop where
Kleasen worked. Prosecutors at Kleasen's 1975 murder trial alleged he dismembered the victims and buried the remains. Kleasen was believed to have held a grudge against the LDS Church after he felt church members did not support him during a
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tools were used to obtain new evidence in the 1974 murders of Darley and Fisher, specifically by matching Darley's DNA to blood found near
Kleasen's residence . Extradition was agreed in principle, subject to the UK requirement of binding
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294:'s shop in Oak Hill, on Austin's southwestern outskirts. Despite being warned by their bishop to stop their visits due to Kleasen's behavior, Darley and Fisher decided to see Kleasen one final time.
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After his release from Texas prison, Kleasen relocated to New York, where he was later imprisoned on assault charges. He lived for a time in a
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served in the U.S. armed forces. This information was passed on to police, resulting in a more thorough background check on
Kleasen.
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killed by
Kleasen, until authorities learned she had fled her home during the investigation into his gun law violations.
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for his home was improper and that key evidence should have been excluded. Authorities opted to not retry
Kleasen.
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in 1975 for the murder of two missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, near
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In 2001, while imprisoned in the UK on guns violations, Texas authorities began the process of
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Kleasen was convicted and sentenced to death. In 1977, after two years on the Texas
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but bodies never were found. Investigators also discovered blood and tissue on a
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not to impose the death penalty. Before he could be extradited, Kleasen died at
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him in a psychiatric facility until 1952. In 1971, a year after gaining a
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Kleasen's conviction was later overturned and Kleasen immigrated to the
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499:"Table 1 Deaths in prison custody 1978 to 2014, England and Wales"
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Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government
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Kleasen was the subject of a 2003 British documentary titled
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degree, he shot Dennis Dubois in the foot in the town of
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Robert Elmer Kleasen was born on September 20, 1934, in
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court overturned Kleasen's conviction, ruling that the
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540:Evil Among Us: The Texas Mormon Missionary Murders
406:Evil Among Us: The Texas Mormon Missionary Murders
278:Kleasen was baptized into a local congregation of
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267:operative. He also used several
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