By Tiffany Gee and Seth Lewis
Tiffany@newsroom.byu.edu
After 25 years, a case involving the murder of two LDS missionaries in Austin, Texas, may be reopened.
In 1975, Robert Elmer Kleasen, now 67, was convicted for the murder of Elder Mark Fischer, 19, serving in Austin.
Fischer and his companion, Gary Darly, 20, had gone to dinner Oct. 28, 1974, at Kleasen's trailer home behind a rendering plant west of Austin, according to the Associated Press.
Austin 1st Ward bishop Frank McCullough had warned the missionaries of visiting Kleasen, a less-active member.
'Bishop McCullough had instructed them not to go back and see him,' said Darryl Townsend, then a member of the neighboring ward.
'They had been trying to fellowship and reactivate him. They decided to go back one more time. They weren't seen again.'
When investigators searched the house, they found Fischer's bloody wristwatch and his missionary tag with a bullet hole through it, according to the AP.
Police suspect Kleasen disposed of the bodies at the rendering plant, the AP reported.
At the advice of one local sheriff, church members from around the state joined in searches, each walking two-mile stretches of local highways for clues.
'There was a lot of emotion,' Townsend said. 'It was a daily thing: 'Have they found anything today?''
Kleasen was sentenced to die, but a Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ruled the search warrant insufficient, said Rosemary Lehmberg, first assistant district attorney for the district attorney's office in Travis County.
Kleasen was released and the case closed - leaving some church members confused.
'It was such a stupid thing that let him off in the first place,' Townsend said. 'The evidence they had on him was incredible.'
Travis County officials are considering reopening the case after Kleasen recently resurfaced in England, where he was arrested for breaching a bail agreement, the AP reported.
'I would be delighted to have it reopened if they could convict him,' Townsend said.
With forensic science's more sophisticated technology, things such as DNA testing may be used in a retrial, Lehmberg said.
'We are doing a legal review of the entire matter,' Lehmberg said.
'We have to review what is available in terms of physical evidence and in terms of legal evidence.'
A problem with cases more than 25 years old is that some of the witnesses will not be available, Lehmberg said. However, sometimes in a retrial, past testimonies can be used, she said.
'We are making an initial assessment,' Lehmberg said. 'If we determine we can have a retrial, we would proceed to court. Then there's just the matter of retrieving him from England.'