WARNING: The following story contains extremely graphic material, including descriptions of rape, torture, and sexual abuse, which some readers may find disturbing.
Discretion is very highly advised.
In 1978, in the small Kansas City suburb of Belton, Missouri, a horrific kidnapping, rape, and murder of a young woman left the entire state in shock. Even in a state like Missouri - which is no stranger to crime - the sheer brutality of this murder stunned even the most hardened, seasoned veterans of law enforcement.
The perpetrators of this murder, it was later revealed, were not an average group of criminals and thugs. They were blood brothers - products of a mysterious, and often criminal, subculture that was as alluring as it was deadly. They bonded over their shared love of riding Harley Davidson motorcycles and love of drugs, proudly embracing their anti-social lifestyle and openly flaunting their status as societal rejects and outlaws.
Though even these "outlaw motorcycle clubs" were, at least outwardly, wary of violence, when violence did occur it was some of the most brutal and barbaric ever seen. And this particular outlaw motorcycle club was no exception. Though it had once been a simple group of motorcycle enthusiasts, it quickly grew into a deadly organized crime syndicate.
The leader of this club was a man who was feared by all. An intimidating and brutal figure, this man was quick to violence, ruling through terror and protecting his criminal enterprise with brute force, sparing nobody who got in his way.
The man's rampage of terror would ultimately be brought to an end, but only at a terrible cost - a chilling tale of how a group built on a subculture of brotherhood and camaraderie could go horribly, horribly wrong.
The Missing Links
To many riders, the motorcycle represents freedom, pride, and adventure. In fact, the Harley Davidson motorcycle has become a staple of American culture almost as much as apple pie.
But to a certain collection of riders, motorcycles aren't just a hobby; they're a way of life. Ever since the end of World War II, a certain subset of motorcycle culture has emerged not just in the United States, but across the world as well. These bikers reject society's rules and norms, and take pride in their status as outcasts and societal rejects.
These are the "outlaw motorcycle clubs" - said to make up only 1% of biker groups in the world. Such groups include the infamous Hells Angels, Mongols, Pagans, and the Sons of Silence, and to them, motorcycles represent a way of life, and sometimes even death. They have a rich subculture centered on fierce loyalty, dedication, commitment, and everlasting brotherhood - a subculture that is as mysterious as it is alluring. They embrace their outlaw status - sometimes calling themselves "one percenters" - and many times they engage in criminal activities.
In 1966, a 31-year-old concrete worker named Billy Dean Clary gathered some old high school friends and founded the Missing Links Motorcycle Club in the tiny community of Stilwell, Kansas, just outside of Kansas City. The club's origins were relatively humble - being little more than a simple group of enthusiasts who shared a love of Harley Davidson motorcycles. But, within years, the club would evolve into something much more sinister.
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| A membership card from the Missing Links MC, showing the club's patch. The Missing Links Motorcycle Club was an outlaw motorcycle club founded in Missouri in 1966. Within years it grew from a group of motorcycle enthusiasts into a major criminal gang in the Kansas City area. |
During the mid-to-late 1960s, the United States was undergoing a massive cultural change. The civil rights movement and the growing opposition to the Vietnam War had given birth to a new rebellious youth subculture in America, as teenagers and young adults began to rebel against long-held traditions, wear brightly-colored clothes, peddle in drugs, and listen to pop music. And as the United States began to draw down its military presence in Vietnam, thousands of returning soldiers found themselves coming home to a country they found completely unrecognizable.
Many of these returning veterans were disillusioned with the government and the new hippie subculture. They missed the sense of camaraderie, patriotism, and brotherhood they had felt in the military, and they felt abandoned and betrayed by a government that had sent them to die and kill in a war that many of them had wanted no part in. And in the outlaw biker subculture, these returning veterans found a culture that spoke to them - a culture that eschewed the federal government and mainstream society, and instead embraced the ideas of brotherhood and camaraderie.
As a result, the size and number of outlaw biker gangs in the United States exploded in the early 1970s, and in Kansas City, Missouri, in particular, these returning veterans began to join the Missing Links in ever-increasing numbers. As a result, the club quickly grew in size to become one of the most prominent outlaw motorcycle clubs in the Kansas City area, with chapters being established in Texas, Oklahoma, California, Ohio, and Louisiana.
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| Members of the Missing Links MC ride their motorcycles during a procession through Kansas City, MO. |
Wherever outlaw motorcycle clubs are active, violent crime has often tended to follow. As motorcycle clubs began to grow in size and in number during the late 1960s and 1970s, they began to turn to illicit ways to raise funds and consolidate power - and conflict inevitably followed. Outlaw motorcycle clubs have been involved in a variety of crimes, including gun-running, extortion, drug trafficking, larceny, assault, armed robbery, and even murder.
And that was no different with the Missing Links. As the Missing Links MC grew in size, so, too, grew their ambition. What had started as a simple motorcycle club quickly began to morph into a dangerous organized crime outfit - where the ideas of brotherhood and camaraderie began to become second to money and power.
In 1974, an incident occurred which would set into motion events that would turn the Missing Links from a motorcycle club into a deadly criminal gang.
On April 13, 1974, the Missouri chapter president of the Missing Links MC - 28-year-old John Ernest "Lucky John" Bedgood - was out camping with his wife of four days and several other club members in Warsaw, Missouri, when they came upon two fishermen - Harold Massey and Edward Cunningham - who were driving through the area.
What exactly transpired next is still unclear, but Massey and Cunningham later claimed that Bedgood and his gang attempted to sell them drugs, and became angry when the pair refused to buy. A fight broke out, and in the melee, Massey attempted to accelerate away in his pickup truck, and in doing so drove straight into John Bedgood and dragged him 93 feet, killing the young biker president instantly.
It was the first time the Missing Links had lost a club member to violence, and when Bedgood was laid to rest, over 200 bikers attended his funeral in an elaborate ceremony, lining his casket with motorcycle chains, knives, peace signs, crucifixes, and placing his coveted patch in the coffin with him.
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| Members of the Missing Links Motorcycle Club pay their respects to John E. "Lucky John" Bedgood, who was killed in a melee in 1974. Bedgood's 16-year-old wife can be seen laying out the biker's beloved patches inside his coffin. Bedgood's death was the catalyst for a series of events that would turn the Missing Links into a deadly criminal organization. |
Under Bedgood, the Missing Links had been involved in little more than low-level drug dealing. But that would soon change. After Bedgood died, he was succeeded as president by a man named George "Tiny" Mercer - and unlike Bedgood, Mercer had far more sinister plans for his club.
A Man Named "Tiny"
If there was anyone who personified the outlaw biker lifestyle, it was George Clifford Mercer Jr.
Born in the city of Seattle on August 31, 1944, Mercer proved to be an intelligent young boy, with an above-average IQ of over 100. As a teenager, he and a classmate won fourth place in an international science fair hosted in Kansas City.
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| George C. Mercer, nicknamed "Tiny" by his fellow bikers, was a large and highly intimidating figure, quick to violence and mercilessly brutal to those who crossed him. |
But Mercer, it turned out, was not cut out for regular life. Though he was highly intelligent, Mercer never put much value in his education, and dropped out of school after 8th grade. In 1969, at the age of 25, he started working a minimum-wage job as a concrete worker at a local construction firm, where he was described as a reliable and hardworking employee.
Mercer, however, had no intention of devoting his life to this sort of work. He had been raised from childhood in the biker lifestyle. Mercer's mother, Beth McClothen, was a longtime biker, and at an early age Mercer became a prospect (member in training) in the Rancid Riders Motorcycle Club - a small outlaw biker gang in southern Kansas City that served as a support club for the Missing Links.
It was in the Rancid Riders MC that Mercer found his calling, and his club became his lifeblood - so much so that after he joined the club, he had the Rancid Riders' patch tattooed on his back. Mercer wholly dedicated his life to his club and his brothers-in-arms, who quickly became something of a surrogate family to him.
Outlaw motorcycle clubs often require prospects to "show class" in order to get their patch - meaning they have to do something extraordinary or extremely sacrificial to oneself to become members. Such tactics are designed to root out the weak, and test just how far prospects are willing to go for the club.
When it came time for Mercer to demonstrate his loyalty, the young prospect was so devoted to the club that, to demonstrate his resolve, he used a pair of pliers to rip out several of his own front teeth.
Mercer quickly rose through the ranks of the Rancid Riders, becoming the club president by the early 1970s and earning a spot as a high-ranking lieutenant in the Rancid Riders' parent organization, the Missing Links. Jokingly nicknamed "Tiny" by his fellow club members, the 300-pound, heavily-tattooed biker loomed large as a violent club enforcer and quickly garnered a reputation for using his fists - upon which he tattooed the words "LOVE" and "HATE".
After John Bedgood's death in 1974, Mercer succeeded him as president of the Missing Links, and the violent biker quickly consolidated his power. When Bedgood's accused killers went on trial for murder a few months later, Mercer and a dozen other Missing Links members were present in the courtroom, brandishing knives on their belts and leering menacingly towards the jury and the defendants' families.
Mercer also quickly garnered a reputation for violence - often fueled by alcohol. Tormented by neighborhood youths who would throw rocks at his door, Mercer would often chase teenagers away from his house with a boot knife, threatening them with expletive-laden insults.
Mercer and his fellow bikers also liked to flout their rejection of societal norms, and would host wild, debaucherous parties at his home in Belton, where the Missing Links would get high on meth, have group sex with multiple women, and drink heavily throughout the night. On some occasions, Mercer and his gang were even known to wander into the local cemetery and beat the tombstone of famous prohibitionist Carrie Nation with iron chains.
Mercer and his fellow bikers also liked to flout their rejection of societal norms, and would host wild, debaucherous parties at his home in Belton, where the Missing Links would get high on meth, have group sex with multiple women, and drink heavily throughout the night. On some occasions, Mercer and his gang were even known to wander into the local cemetery and beat the tombstone of famous prohibitionist Carrie Nation with iron chains.
The gang leader also developed a hatred for liberals and the new hippie counterculture, and Mercer and the Missing Links began hassling music concerts and socialist rallies. On one occasion, during the Kansas City Republican National Convention in August, 1976, Mercer and six other Missing Links bikers hassled a group of gay liberation activists and anti-war protesters who were camping outside the establishment.
Mercer and his fellow bikers, inebriated from heavy drinking, began trash-talking and harassing rallygoers, throwing beer cans at police and making aggressive advances on several high school girls who were partaking in the protests.
When a Vietnam veteran known as John intervened to protect the young women, and told the Missing Links to back off, the 300-pound Mercer unleashed his fury on the young man, knocking John unconscious with a single punch to the face and bludgeoning him nearly to death with a beer bottle. John survived only due to the intervention of other rallygoers and several policemen, who dragged the battered man to safety.
When a Vietnam veteran known as John intervened to protect the young women, and told the Missing Links to back off, the 300-pound Mercer unleashed his fury on the young man, knocking John unconscious with a single punch to the face and bludgeoning him nearly to death with a beer bottle. John survived only due to the intervention of other rallygoers and several policemen, who dragged the battered man to safety.
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| A poor-quality photograph of the brawl that occurred outside the 1976 Republican National Convention between anti-war protesters and bikers from the Missing Links. The motorcycle club's new leader, George Mercer, nearly beat a Vietnam veteran to death with a beer bottle during the melee. |
But under Mercer's direction, the Missing Links would go far beyond simple public brawling. Just four months after Mercer became the club's president, in August of 1974, the Missing Links would be tied to the horrific murder of a young man - a case that even today still remains officially unsolved.
The Murder of David Eyman
Shortly before 12:45 AM on August 14, 1974, 15-year-old David Lawrence Eyman left his girlfriend's house in Kansas City, to walk home. Before leaving, he phoned his mother and told her he would be home in a few minutes, and he bid his girlfriend farewell, promising to visit again the next day.
But David never returned home. As the teenager walked along Blue Cross Boulevard, he met a sudden and violent end.
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| 15-year-old David Eyman was found tied up and burned to death in a ditch in Kansas City, Missouri, in August of 1974 - the victim of a brutal murder case that still remains unsolved. Though Eyman's killer has never been identified, his mother later suspected that he had potentially run afoul of the Missing Links Motorcycle Club. |
To this day, nobody knows exactly what transpired that night. All that is known is that David Eyman was accosted, bound by his wrists and feet with half-inch rope, and thrown into a ditch off the side of the road. Someone then doused Eyman with gasoline and, while the teen was still alive, set the young man on fire.
Shortly after 3:00 AM on August 14, a patrolman from Raymore, Missouri, discovered the teenager's still-burning remains in a ditch near 155th Street and Peterson Avenue, near the junction between Jackson and Cass Counties. Burned completely beyond recognition, Eyman's remains were only identified by a partial fingerprint and the ring he wore on his finger.
The horrific murder left the entire community in shock, and immense pressure was put on law enforcement to find David Eyman's killers and bring them to justice.
Suspicion quickly fell on the officer who discovered the boy's body. The officer had a history of being a first-responder to a series of unsolved arson fires, and there were musings that he may have killed the boy, possibly by accident after a sexual assault, and then attempted to cover up the crime. But an internal investigation produced no tangible evidence to incriminate the officer, and despite being interrogated and hounded by investigators for years, he was never charged.
To this day, the murder of David Eyman still remains unsolved, though the officer who discovered his body still remains the prime suspect - even by his own colleagues. Even today, the Eyman murder is often paraded as an example of police misconduct. But one avenue the police had not pursued was a lead found by Eyman's own mother.
Until the day she died, Wanda Atkeson spent almost every waking hour of her life searching for the killers of her son. Because she was very secretive about her search, few others knew just how much she had learned. But in 2014, Wanda's daughter came across a trove of her mother's notes. In them, she mentioned having investigated a local biker gang known to frequent that area - a gang she identified as none other than the Missing Links.
It has since emerged that David Eyman had been acquainted with several members of the Missing Links. Wanda Atkeson's notes mention the nicknames "Snake" and "Fat Charlie" - known to be the nicknames of two high-ranking members in the Missing Links MC, though their real names still have not been confirmed.
The connection never led to any arrests, but there is still evidence that connects the club to Eyman's death. Eyman was known to use marijuana - in fact a bag of the substance had been found on his body - and the chief distributors of drugs in Kansas City at the time were the Missing Links.
In fact, the Missing Links had made the vast majority of their income through illicit drug trade, and, if Eyman had been buying his supply of drugs from the club, it would explain the heinous nature of his death. In fact, police initially could find no motive for Eyman's killing. Suspicions that the murder was a mugging-gone-wrong were quickly ruled out when the boy's wallet and money were found on his body.
Though even today the prime theory is that that the killing was committed by a rogue police officer to cover up a crime, this seems to be undercut by the brutality of the murder - something not commonly reflected in similar cases of police murders.
Cases of police officers killing witnesses to silence them - such as the George Gwaltney case - rarely demonstrate the same level of brutality as was seen in the murder of David Eyman. The heinous nature of Eyman's murder instead suggests that the perpetrators were motivated by extreme hatred or vengeance, and that the killing was meant to terrorize and shock their enemies - extremely indicative of a gang-type murder.
If - as seems quite possible - Eyman's murder was the work of the Missing Links, it would have been only the first in a long series of crimes that highlighted a dark shift in the club's nature. Certainly, such a murder would not be out of character for them. Under George Mercer, the Missing Links' criminal behavior would only intensify, both in frequency and in brutality. Over the next four years, as Mercer consolidated power over the gang, it became clear that nobody - not even innocent children - would be safe from their reach.
Rape of a Child
On the afternoon of July 25, 1978, a 17-year-old girl named Debbie Middleton walked to the home of her boyfriend, Randall Boyett, at 7403 East 108th Terrace in Kansas City to hang out with him and his two friends - Brian Christopherson and Dean Coates, the latter of whom lived with Randall.
The four teenagers spent the afternoon chatting and lounging around, and at 7:00 PM, Randall Boyett and Brian Christopherson left to go to work, leaving Debbie and Dean alone at the house.
While Debbie and her friend continued hanging out at the house, George Mercer was also hanging out with his own group of friends - four other members of the Missing Links MC: Russell Pierson, Russ Riley, Bruce Miller, and Charles Hadley. The group of bikers spent the afternoon drinking beer before deciding to pay a visit to the house at East 108th Terrace, as Mercer was a casual acquaintance of Dean Coates.
Later that night, Mercer and his fellow bikers arrived outside the house in Russell Pierson's van and walked inside uninvited. Dean Coates and Debbie Middleton were still alone when the group entered, and the pretty 17-year-old girl quickly caught Mercer's eye.
Sensing the mood becoming increasingly uncomfortable, Dean Coates became unnerved by the aggressiveness of his uninvited guests and after only 15 minutes he decided to leave. Before walking out, Dean asked Debbie if she would like to leave with him, but the girl - likely because she was intimidated - declined his offer, and Dean left her alone with the five bikers.
After Dean Coates left, George Mercer immediately turned his attention to Debbie Middleton. The 33-year-old biker began making aggressive advances and lewd sexual propositions towards the 17-year-old girl, asking if she wanted to "go partying" with him. When Debbie repudiated his advances, Mercer immediately turned ugly. "You're coming with us, no matter whether you like it or not", Mercer snarled to Debbie. As the girl tried to move away from him, the biker yanked the teenager by the hair and slapped her hard across the face, giving her a black eye.
Debbie began to cry as Mercer grabbed her by the arm and led her out the door towards Russell Pierson's van, where the other bikers waited. As they did so, Randall Boyett and Brian Christopherson arrived home from work, and immediately came upon the group.
"Help me!", Debbie cried out to her boyfriend. "They're gonna take me!" Randall immediately intervened to save his girlfriend, and both he and Brian shooed Mercer and his group away as they quickly ushered Debbie back inside. But Mercer wasn't finished. He wanted to take Debbie with him, and wasn't going to let her slip through his grasp.
The five bikers followed the three teenagers back into the house, with Mercer leading the way. "Get the doors", Mercer ordered Pierson and Miller, who went to block the front and back doors as Mercer, Riley, and Hadley walked towards Debbie, who was being comforted by Randall.
When Brian stepped in front of Mercer to block his path, the biker grabbed him by his shirt and punched him three times in the face, shattering his nose and spraying blood all over the wall. As the teenager fell to the floor, Mercer leered over Brian and began mocking him. "Wait, my brother has got something for you", he taunted. Charles Hadley lifted Brian off the floor and began slugging him repeatedly in the stomach. Hadley then threw Brian to the floor, climbed on top of him, and pulled out a knife, which he pressed against the boy's throat.
"Wait", Mercer ordered. He took the knife away from Hadley and turned to Debbie. He motioned towards Brian, who now lay beaten and bloody on the floor. "I want you to see this - this is a model of what is going to happen if I catch any heat from the police or anyone else about this," he snarled to the girl, "because this is mild compared to what's gonna happen to you."
Mercer then turned back to his bloodied victim on the floor. "Say, you wouldn't mind if I took your old lady out partying, would you?", he mockingly asked Brian. The battered boy didn't respond. "I own this whole city", Mercer boasted. "Even the cops are afraid of me, so don't even think about going to them."
Mercer shoved Randall aside and grabbed Debbie again, twisting her arm behind her back. Before leaving with his captive, Mercer turned towards Debbie's terrified boyfriend. "Remember, if I catch any heat, you're dead!", he threatened Randall.
The five bikers dragged their young victim into their van and drove off. First, they stopped by the Blue Seven Lounge, a bar frequented by the Missing Links, to pick up some drinks. In the parking lot, as Debbie watched from the car, Pierson got into an altercation with another patron in the parking lot - Debbie didn't know what about - which ended when Pierson stabbed the man with a boot knife.
Debbie Middleton was now alone in the hands of five members of a dangerous motorcycle club - men who would have no trouble killing her or anyone else to get what they wanted. The 17-year-old girl knew that she would have to try her best not to upset or anger her captors, or she would undoubtedly lose her life.
Unknown to any of her captors, Debbie had survived a similar experience before. When she was 12, Debbie and several others had been taken hostage during an armed robbery at a pharmacy, and her experiences in that incident had helped her learn how to survive such situations. Now, finding herself in a similar scenario, Debbie knew she had to do her best to not give her captors any excuse to kill her. Her primary focus would be not on escape, but survival.
The five men got back into Pierson's van and drove to an isolated field in neighboring Cass County, Missouri. There, Mercer ordered Debbie to take off her clothes and allow his "brothers" to "do whatever they want to you".
The girl was then raped sequentially by Pierson, Russ Riley, and Bruce Miller. Charles Hadley declined to have sex with the girl, and, feeling uneasy with the situation, decided to leave with Pierson, Miller, and Riley. The four bikers drove off in their van, leaving Mercer and Debbie alone in the field.
Mercer pulled a knife and, holding it to Debbie's throat, sodomized and raped the teenager for twenty minutes until Bruce Miller returned in his panel truck to pick up the pair. Debbie was forced into Miller's panel truck by Mercer, and as Miller drove back into the city Mercer continued to rape Debbie in the backseat.
The truck arrived at Miller's house in Kansas City, near the junction of 87th St. and Prospect St., where Debbie - still naked - was forced into the house where Miller proceeded to rape her while Mercer watched.
Debbie - still holding onto hope that her captors would let her go alive - made no attempt to resist the repeated sexual abuse inflicted upon her by Mercer and his gang. She knew that cooperation with her kidnappers was her only shot at survival.
After Miller was finished raping the young girl, he and Mercer forced Debbie back into the panel truck and drove her back to Randall Boyett's house at East 108th Terrace. There, Mercer finally released his brutalized and exhausted young captive. As he and Miller left, Mercer gave Debbie a warning. "I will be digging your grave", he threatened her. "If you don't wanna end up in it, you better keep your mouth shut!"
After her attackers left, Debbie Middleton burst into tears. The entire ordeal had left the girl exhausted and Mercer's threats had terrified her into silence. She pleaded with Randall Boyett and her friends not to call the police. But after Debbie's mother learned of the gang-rape of her daughter, she refused to let the incident go unreported, and she informed police of the assault.
On August 5, 1978, George C. Mercer was arrested at his home in Belton, Missouri, on charges of kidnapping, rape, and forcible sodomy. A few days afterwards, Russell Pierson, Bruce Miller, Russ Riley, and Charles Hadley were also arrested for the same crime.
On August 11, 1978, Mercer was released on $20,000 bond, and was allowed to return home to await trial. But the gang leader now harbored a festering rage at the girl he had victimized. As he was led from court, Mercer made an ominous comment to Russell Pierson, in an exchange witnessed by Dean Coates: "The house will go up in two weeks if charges aren't dropped".
It was a threat that, in time, would prove to be far from empty.
Karen Keeton
On the afternoon of August 30, 1978, George Mercer - still out of jail on bond - decided to meet up with other members of the Missing Links for a night of drinks and to discuss the upcoming rape trial.
Mercer's 10-year-old daughter, Roberta Dawn Mercer - who still remained under her father's custody despite the rape charge - remained at Mercer's home with Missing Links member John Campbell.
John Campbell was a former helicopter gunner who had served in the Vietnam War, and who had been one of the thousands of Vietnam veterans who had turned to the outlaw motorcycle subculture after returning home. Campbell quickly become a full-patch member of the Missing Links MC and had grown to be one of Mercer's closest and most trusted friends.
Campbell had no idea that he would soon become an unwitting partner in a brutal crime that would prove to be the ultimate test of his loyalty to Mercer and the club.
Mercer and fellow Missing Links members Steven "Big Bird" Gardner and David Gee went to the Blue Seven Lounge in nearby Grandview, Missouri - the same lounge where Mercer's gang had taken Debbie Middleton to after kidnapping her, and where she had witnessed Russell Pierson stab a man.
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| The Blue Seven Lounge in Grandview, MO |
That same night, a young waitress at the Blue Seven Lounge was on duty - 22-year-old Karen Ann Keaton. A college student living in nearby Lake Lotawana who was working to pay off her student loan bills, Karen Keeton had worked part-time as a waitress at the Blue Seven Lounge for several weeks as she prepared to commit to a full-time career. She had never met Mercer before, but she was mutually acquainted with Steven Gardner, who frequented the bar with other members of the Missing Links.
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| 22-year-old Karen Ann Keaton was a college student who worked as a waitress at the Blue Seven Lounge in Belton, MO. On the night of August 30, 1978, Karen Keeton had a fatal encounter with George Mercer and several other members of his club. |
That night, as Karen Keeton worked her shift, the pretty young woman caught the predatory eye of George Mercer. "I'd like to take that piece of ass to bed", he slyly remarked to Gardner, motioning towards Keeton. Gardner got the message, and he walked over to the bar to talk to the young woman.
Gardner returned a few minutes later. "I just talked to her and she agreed to have breakfast with us", he told Mercer. "I'll take her to the house later".
Mercer and David Gee returned to Mercer's home at 615 C. Street in Belton, where John Campbell was babysitting Mercer's daughter. Gardner stayed behind with Karen Keeton and the two had an early-morning breakfast and left with a six-pack of beer. Shortly after 12:30 AM, Gardner arrived at Mercer's home with Karen Keeton - who he'd lured to the house under the pretense of partying. Gardner, Keeton, Campbell, and Mercer spent a few minutes drinking and chatting.
The 22-year-old woman had no idea she had just walked into a death trap. Karen Keeton would never leave the house alive.
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| The house at 615 C Street in Belton, MO, where Mercer lived in 1978. It would become the scene of one of Missouri's most infamous murders. |
Inside the house, George Mercer was already prepared to commit his heinous crime - and this time, he meant to ensure that his victim would never be able to go to the police. After a few minutes of talking to his guest, Mercer walked into another room, loaded a sawed-off double-barreled shotgun, and returned.
Mercer approached Karen from behind and tapped her on the head with the shotgun's barrel. "Get your ass upstairs, bitch", he sneered.
Karen hesitated, perhaps believing Mercer was playing a cruel joke. But Mercer was deadly serious. He grabbed the young woman by the hair. "I said get your ass upstairs!", he snarled as he pulled Karen up the stairs.
Karen hesitated, perhaps believing Mercer was playing a cruel joke. But Mercer was deadly serious. He grabbed the young woman by the hair. "I said get your ass upstairs!", he snarled as he pulled Karen up the stairs.
Karen fought back, clawing at Mercer's face and trying to struggle out of his grasp, but the young woman was no match for the massive, 300-pound biker, who pushed her to the ground and ripped off Karen's dress.
Karen turned towards Steve Gardner - the friend she believed would have her back. "Help me, Steve!", she pleaded. But instead of helping his terrified friend, Gardner sat back and laughed. "Happy birthday, Tiny!", he yelled to Mercer with a sneering grin on his face. "Seconds!"
Mercer threw Karen's dress downstairs. "Put these clothes away; you know where they go", he ordered Gardner as he forced his naked captive into his bedroom. Gardner threw Karen's dress into a closet and stole her wallet from her purse, before walking up to join Mercer.
Mercer briefly returned downstairs to talk once more with his friends. "She's a good piece of ass", he remarked to his fellow bikers,. "I'm gonna go back and fuck her up the ass, so come up if you want some". Mercer then returned to his bedroom and both he and Gardner spent the next several minutes brutally raping the young woman.
When they were finished, Gardner yelled for David Gee to come upstairs. When Gee entered the room, he found Karen Keeton sitting nude on the bed, sobbing. Mercer paid little attention. "This here is my brother", he said to his captive. "Take off his clothes and start sucking his dick."
The terrified woman complied with Mercer's orders. "How is she doing?", Mercer asked Gee. "Pretty good", Gee replied. But Mercer wasn't satisfied. "You leaky cunt!", he yelled to Karen, slapping her across the face. "You'd better do it better!"
After Keeton finished performing oral sex on Gee, Mercer and Gardner left the room, leaving Karen and Gee alone in the bedroom. As Gee got dressed, Karen Keeton began to plead for her life. "What's gonna happen to me?", the young woman asked. "You'll be fine", Gee reassured his captive. "I've never seen him like this, but just go along with what he tells you and we're gonna let you go."
Gee left the room and headed downstairs to join his friends, but Mercer was concerned about John Campbell - who had so far played no role in the crime. The gang leader wanted to ensure everyone was involved to some extent, so they'd be less likely to cooperate with the police.
"We're all in this together", Mercer told Campbell. "Now it's your turn. Get up there and fuck the bitch."
Campbell walked upstairs into the bedroom to find Karen Keeton lying battered on the floor, crying hysterically. Rather than rape the woman - as Mercer had ordered him to - Campbell tried to console Karen Keeton. "What are they gonna do to me next?", Karen asked Campbell. "I don't know", he replied. "I've never seen him like this before." The biker tried to give the terrified woman advice for staying alive. "Just play along with what he does", he told her, "and tell him you'd like to see him again. I'll make sure he lets you go after all this."
Campbell returned downstairs to sleep, leaving only Mercer and Gardner still awake.
By this time, the night was starting to wane, and the gang knew they had to get rid of their captive.
"What should we do with her?", Mercer asked Gardner.
Gardner didn't mince words. "Kill the bitch", he ordered. "I don't want her causing us trouble".
Mercer smiled. "It will be done, brother!".
"Do you need any help?", Gardner asked.
"No, I'll do it myself", the biker replied. "I'll get rid of the body where it won't be found".
Mercer ran upstairs into the bedroom, threw his victim onto the bed, and began strangling Karen Keeton with his bare hands.
John Campbell had fallen asleep on the downstairs couch when he was awakened by the sounds of a struggle in the upstairs bedroom. "John!", Mercer screamed from the bedroom. "Get your ass upstairs!"
Stirring awake, Campbell ran upstairs and encountered a horrifying sight. Mercer was straddling Karen Keeton's nude body, with his hands wrapped around the young woman's throat, choking the life out of her. Human waste covered the bed and part of the floor. The man's face was bright red and contorted with rage - a demonic sight that terrified Campbell as he stepped into the room.
"Check her pulse! Check her fucking pulse!", Mercer screamed at Campbell.
Campbell put his hand to Karen Keeton's wrist. He found a faint heartbeat. "She's still alive", he informed Mercer. "She's not dead. She's got a beat".
"Why won't you fucking die, you fucking cunt!?", Mercer screamed with rage as bashed Karen Keeton across the left side of her head with his fist. "Die, you bitch!", he hollered as he punched Karen a second time in the face. The biker again began throttling his victim. "This is a leaky cunt!", he shrieked. "Die, you fucking bitch! Die!"
Mercer again screamed to Campbell to check Karen Keeton's pulse. This time, Campbell found no pulse. The young woman was dead.
Mercer pulled Karen Keeton's corpse off the bed. "Clean up that shit", he told Campbell, pointing to the soiled bedsheets. "I'll take care of the body".
After Campbell cleaned up the soiled sheets, Mercer carried Karen Keeton's body to Campbell's truck and threw her in the back. Both he and Campbell drove off into the night, while Gardner stayed behind to burn Karen Keeton's purse.
After driving for several miles in the dark into the neighboring state of Kansas, Mercer ordered Campbell to stop his truck at the edge of a field by a wooden fence. He and Campbell dumped Karen Keeton's body over the fence and covered her remains with grass.
As Mercer returned to the truck with Campbell, he continued boasting about what he'd done. "Now if only I'd killed that leaky 17-year-old cunt like I did her, I wouldn't be in this mess right now with the rape charges", he ruminated.
It was a threat that would, in the coming hours, ring hauntingly true.
Trial by Fire
At the same time Karen Keeton was being raped and murdered, 21-year-old Thomas Schwartz Jr.; his 21-year-old wife of five days Patricia Ann Schwartz; and Patricia's 18-month-old daughter Venessa Ticknor, were asleep in their home at 7403 E. 108th Terrace - the very same home where Mercer and his gang had assaulted Randall Boyett and Brian Christopherson and abducted Debbie Middleton.
By this time, the house was now occupied by the Schwartz family and four others, including Thomas Schwartz's father - Tom Schwartz Sr.
Debbie Middleton, Randall Boyett, and Brian Christopherson had moved out of the house only a few days earlier - a fact apparently unknown to either Mercer or his gang.
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| Patricia Schwartz |
At around 3:47 AM on August 31st, 1978, 24-year-old Dean Nelson - who was sleeping on a couch in the home - was awakened by noises on the back patio. As he stirred awake, Nelson saw a young white man pouring liquid along the back door of the house. The man then lit a match, threw it at the door, and took off running into the night.
Immediately, a massive fire ignited and exploded through the back door, spewing flames into the house. Dean Nelson attempted to phone the fire department, but quickly discovered that the phone lines to the house had been cut.
The fire spread quickly, engulfing the house within only a few minutes. Tom Schwartz Jr. was awoken by extreme heat of the blaze.
Gasping for breath, and with his hair smoldering and skin peeling from the extreme heat, Tom Jr. tried in vain to awaken his wife and her daughter in the bed next to him, but they had already succumbed to the rapidly-billowing smoke that was quickly filling the house. Unable to save his wife or stepdaughter, Schwartz jumped out the window and staggered away before collapsing on the ground outside.
Gasping for breath, and with his hair smoldering and skin peeling from the extreme heat, Tom Jr. tried in vain to awaken his wife and her daughter in the bed next to him, but they had already succumbed to the rapidly-billowing smoke that was quickly filling the house. Unable to save his wife or stepdaughter, Schwartz jumped out the window and staggered away before collapsing on the ground outside.
By the time the blaze was finally extinguished, the entire one-story house had been thoroughly gutted, with only the walls and roof still intact. Tom Schwartz Sr., Dean Nelson, and the two other occupants managed to escape the burning house with minor injuries, but Patricia Schwartz and Venessa Ticknor never made it out alive.
The charred, blackened, and badly-burned bodies of the mother and daughter were found still lying on what remained of their bed, having died of smoke inhalation in their sleep.
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| Police, firefighters, and EMTs remove the bodies of Patricia Schwarz and her daughter, Venessa Ticknor, following a deadly arson attack on their home at 7403 E. 108th Terrace in Kansas City - the same house where George Mercer had abducted Debbie Middleton from. Mercer had threatened to burn down the house after Debbie Middleton filed rape charges; unknown to him, Debbie had moved out of the house only a few days before the attack. |
It didn't take long for police to determine that the fire was caused by arson. Investigators discovered a five-gallon can of gasoline in the back yard, apparently discarded by the arsonist as he fled the crime scene.
Suspicion immediately fell upon George Mercer and the Missing Links MC. Not only was the house the same one where Debbie Middleton had been abducted, but Mercer himself had threatened that the house would "go up in two weeks" if the rape charges against him weren't dropped.
Now, Mercer's threat had rung eerily true, and though they were still unaware of the murder of Karen Keeton, police now considered Mercer their prime suspect in the arson attack.
Even so, the occupants of the house - who were aware of the kidnapping and rape that had occurred there - were extremely hesitant to speak to police. Even though one occupant told investigators he knew who had set the blaze, he refused to identify the man to police, fearing further retaliation. None of the other occupants could give much useful information.
A neighbor later came forward to investigators, saying she had seen the arsonist running away and dropping the gasoline can as the house erupted in flames. She identified the man as 22-year-old Beau Gerard Appleton. Not only was Appleton a frequent patron at the Blue Seven Lounge - the very same lounge where Karen Keeton had been abducted from - but he was also a well-known "hangaround", or gang associate, of the Missing Links MC.
Appleton himself was arrested on September 8, 1978, for the arson attack, but Mercer and the rest of his gang remained free on bond. Despite her family reporting her missing, Karen Keeton's body had still not been found by this time, and police did not yet have enough hard evidence to tie the arson attack to George Mercer and the rest of his gang.
But one member of Mercer's motorcycle gang would not stay silent. John Campbell's participation in the horrific murder of Karen Keeton had been haunting him, and, wrought with guilt and regret, he would eventually break the cardinal oath of the Missing Links MC and tell police about the horrific crime he had helped commit.
Snitches Are a Dying Breed
Karen Keeton had been reported missing by her family only a few days after she had disappeared from the Blue Seven Lounge, but despite several witnesses reporting seeing her leave with a man at the bar, nobody could identify who the man was. Karen Keeton's car had been found parked at the Blue Seven Lounge, but nothing was missing from it. Similarly, police searched her apartment room but found no signs of forced entry or any missing items. Police would question over 100 people over the next month in connection with her disappearance, but would turn up nothing.
Soon, rumors began swirling around that Karen Keeton was dead, and that the Missing Links had had something to do with her disappearance, but police had no solid leads on the location - or the fate - of Karen Keeton. George Mercer and his gang remained free, ready and capable of killing again.
John Campbell, however, was one of the select few who knew the truth. The biker now found himself between a rock and a hard place. When he had become a full-patch member of the Missing Links MC, Campbell had sworn an oath to stand by his brothers no matter what, and to put the club above all else. Snitching on his brothers was the cardinal sin any member could make - an offense that could be punished by death.
For nearly a month, Campbell kept the dark secret to himself. Kansas City police, having heard rumors of Karen Keeton's death, had questioned Campbell three times over the past month about her disappearance. All three times, Campbell had stood by his brothers, and denied knowing anything about the young woman's whereabouts.
But the horrific crime Campbell had participated in haunted him for several long, sleepless nights. Ultimately, his conscience would overcome his commitment to the brotherhood he had sworn allegiance to.
On September 27, 1978, Campbell phoned his attorney, Sidney Willens - who was at a speaking engagement in Naples, Florida - and told him he wanted to tell him about something; something horrible that had happened in his presence. Campbell wouldn't elaborate over the phone, but Willens could sense it was something ghastly.
Two days later, on September 29, Willens returned home to Missouri and met Campbell at a diner in Kansas City. There, Campbell told his attorney the horrific story of the murder he had witnessed. He described to Willens how he had been at Mercer's home, babysitting the daughter of the gang leader, when Mercer and Steven Gardner returned home with Karen Keeton.
Mercer had forced the young woman upstairs at gunpoint, brutally raped her, and then strangled her to death as Campbell watched in horror - unable to do anything. He described how, after Karen Keeton had died, he and Mercer had gotten into Campbell's truck to dump her body in a remote area across the state border in Kansas.
Willens listened carefully to the ghastly story his client recounted to him. "You realize", he told Campbell, "you could be an accessory, of course."
Campbell burst into tears. "I know, I know", the biker sobbed into his hands. "I just wanted to get this off my chest. I don't know what to do anymore."
Willens knew what to do. "Let's go find that body", he told Campbell.
Willens and Campbell climbed into Campbell's truck and began driving along the highway to search for Karen Keeton. It had been dark out when the body was disposed of, and Campbell couldn't recall too many details. However, he did remember crossing a metal bridge shortly before dumping the body with Mercer, though he didn't know exactly where.
Willens stopped the car to ask a road crew for help. "Will you help us find a dead body?", he asked a startled road worker. "We think it might be near a metal bridge near here".
The road worker knew which bridge they were referring to, and directed Willens to an overpass bridge in Johnson County, Kansas, which was just over the state line on Highway 207. After several more hours of searching, Campbell spotted something familiar - a worn wooden fence on the side of the road by a field. The pair stopped the car.
There, Willens came across the badly-decomposed body of Karen Keeton. Over a month of exposure to the elements had taken their toll, and the body was practically unrecognizable. After photographing the body, Willens called the police and informed them that he and his client had found the remains of the missing woman. Then, Willens telephoned Jackson County prosecutor Ralph Martin, explaining how Campbell had implicated Mercer and Gardner in the murder, and how Campbell - having broken the cardinal oath of his biker gang - was now in serious danger of retribution from Mercer. He pleaded with Martin to place Campbell under witness protection.
But Martin said he had no authority to place Campbell under protection, as the case had occurred in Belton, which was located in neighboring Bess County, not Jackson County. Because Willens was bound by duty to protect his client from prosecution, and because he did not know the Bess County prosecutor, Willens could not guarantee the safety of Campbell if he were to contact him.
With no ability to place Campbell in witness protection, Willens gave his client several hundred dollars in cash and told him to leave town. The further Campbell put himself from Mercer - especially since the gang leader was still a free man - the better.
Meanwhile, police had responded to Willens' tip on the location of Karen Keeton's body. The young woman's remains were in such bad condition that her identity could not immediately be confirmed, but a check of dental records finally told police what they already knew. The month-long search for the missing waitress had come to an end.
On September 30, 1978, Stephen Gardner was arrested in Johnson County, Kansas, for Keeton's murder. Three days later, George Mercer - who had returned to jail to await trial for Debbie Middleton's rape - was also arrested and charged with the same crime.
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| George Mercer glares at a reporter outside his jail cell shortly after his arrest in September, 1978, for the murder of Karen Keeton. |
The case of the arson attack on Debbie Middleton's home, however, would prove far more difficult to tie to Mercer. Despite the seemingly-damning circumstantial evidence implicating Mercer as having ordered Beau Appleton to carry out the firebombing, the case stalled just before it was set to go to trial. In April, 1979, only a few days into jury selection for Appleton's murder trial, the primary witness who identified Appleton as the arsonist in multiple lineups suddenly chose to recant her testimony.
Without the witness testimony, the case against Appleton was effectively destroyed. To make matters worse, the police - inexplicably believing the firebombing to be "narcotics related" rather than a retaliatory act - declined to further investigate Mercer's connection to the attack. The murder charges against Appleton were ultimately dropped and he was released.
Whether or not Mercer ordered the arson attack will never be known for sure. Though the circumstantial evidence strongly indicates that he was responsible, the firebombing that killed Patricia Schwartz and Venessa Ticknor still remains officially unsolved to this day.
No Angels
On October 12, 1978, George Mercer was escorted back to court for another hearing regarding his earlier rape charges. Mercer remained defiant and arrogant - even striding ahead of the sheriff to enter the courthouse by himself.
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| Mercer sprints ahead of the sheriff as he enters the courtroom to face a preliminary hearing for Debbie Middleton's rape. Later that day, Mercer would be charged with Karen Keeton's murder. |
Inside the courtroom, Mercer once again came face-to-face with Debbie Middleton, who testified once more of the horrific ordeal of rape and humiliation that Mercer and his gang had put her through.
Even though it appeared quite evident that Mercer had attempted to follow through on his threat to silence her, 17-year-old Debbie Middleton remained steadfast in her commitment to see Mercer put away for his crimes. She knew her rapist was suspected of killing another woman and of ordering the deadly firebombing of her old home, but the brave girl refused to be terrorized into submission.
After the hearing, Mercer was transferred to Cass County court along with Stephen Gardner - this time to face formal arraignment for the rape and murder of Karen Keeton. Now, instead of coming face-to-face with his former victim, Mercer came face-to-face with his former brother - a man who had once idolized and worshipped the very ground Mercer walked on, but was now his most sworn enemy.
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| George Mercer (left) and Stephen Gardner (right) are escorted by police into Cass County court to be charged with the murder of Karen Keeton. |
John Campbell had returned from hiding to testify in the preliminary hearing against Mercer and Gardner, but he remained under protective custody as a precautionary measure. The former patched member of the Missing Links MC knew that he had committed the ultimate transgression against his club, and that his former comrades wouldn't hesitate to kill him.
Now, Campbell met his former brother again. He testified in detail about how Mercer and Gardner had arrived at Mercer's home on the night of August 30, 1978, and how Mercer had forced Karen Keeton upstairs where she was brutally gang-raped and tortured. Campbell described how Gardner had ordered Mercer to kill Karen Keeton - an order Campbell admitted was possibly "in jest" but one that Mercer had taken deadly seriously. He explained how Mercer had forced everyone in the home to take part in the crime to ensure their silence, and he described how Mercer had throttled the life out of the young woman in front of him.
Mercer said very little during the hearing. Mercer and Gardner simply glared silently at Campbell as he recounted the night of horrors he had witnessed at the hands of his former comrades. Despite attempts by Mercer and Gardner's attorneys to have the case thrown out, the judge determined there was enough evidence for the case to go to trial. Both George Mercer and Stephen Gardner were charged with capital murder in the death of Karen Keeton, and were ordered held without bail.
Faced with the prospect of a murder conviction, David Gee - the fourth participant in Karen Keeton's murder - decided to follow John Campbell's lead, taking a plea deal to testify against Gardner and Mercer in exchange for immunity.
Proceedings in the Debbie Middleton case continued as Mercer and Gardner awaited trial for Karen Keeton's murder. In early 1979, Missing Links members Charles Miller and Richard Pierson were each found guilty in separate trials of kidnapping and sexual assault. Miller was sentenced to 20 years in prison, while Pierson - who had been acquitted on the more serious counts - received a five-year sentence.
On August 23, 1979, after a two-day trial, a jury in Cass County, MO, found George Mercer guilty of the kidnapping and rape of Debbie Middleton. The jury deliberated for only two hours before sentencing Mercer to 30 years in prison - the maximum punishment available for rape under Missouri law.
Debbie Middleton had received justice, but the case against Mercer wasn't done yet. The following month, in September of 1979, Mercer would go on trial for capital murder. this time in neighboring Greene County. Prosecutors hoped that when he was returned to prison, he would have a date with the gas chamber.
The Trials
On September 12, 1979 - only a few days after being sentenced to 30 years for the rape of Debbie Middleton - George Mercer's trial for the capital murder of Karen Keeton began in a courtroom in Greene County, Missouri, before a jury of six men and three women.
Prosecuting the case against Mercer was Cass County Attorney Joe Hamilton, who had announced he would seek the death penalty against the gang leader. It was the first time a death penalty case would be prosecuted in Greene County since Missouri reinstated the death penalty only four years earlier.
In his opening statement, Prosecutor Joe Hamilton told the jury that the evidence would show that George "Tiny" Mercer had been the ringleader in the heinous kidnapping, rape, torture, and murder of 23-year-old Karen Keeton. The evidence, he said, would show that the gang leader had - with the help of Stephen Gardner - lured Karen Keeton to his home in Belton, Missouri, where he then forced her upstairs at gunpoint to a bedroom and brutally raped her before strangling her to death.
This evidence, Hamilton added, would be supported by the testimony of one of those closest to Mercer: John Campbell - a man who had once pledged his life and total loyalty to the Missing Links and its leader, but had made the courageous decision to turn on his club after witnessing the true depravity that had occurred at the hands of the man he had once admired.
Representing Mercer was Cenobio Lozano, a renown public defender in capital cases, and attorney Nick Fiorella. Mercer's case rested mainly on discrediting the two witnesses to his murder - John Campbell and David Gee. From the outset, it was clear that Mercer would be a difficult client to defend.
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| Mercer talks to reporters as he is led into court for his 1979 murder trial |
Lozano gave the opening statement for the defense, alleging that John Campbell and David Gee - two men that Mercer had once considered his brothers - had been the "real" perpetrators of the heinous murder of Karen Keeton. Campbell and Gee, Lozano alleged, were "manufacturing stories" to cover up what they had done, and had put the blame on Mercer to frame him for their crimes.
The defense attempted to sow doubt among the jurors about the prosecution's story. Mercer's daughter, they told the jury, had - by the prosecution's own admission - been at the home the night of the supposed murder, and yet, they said, she hadn't seen anything unusual that night.
"I am confident that, once you have seen and heard everything there is in this case, you will vote to acquit the defendant", Lozano told the jury.
The following day, on September 13, John Campbell himself once again testified on the stand about the crime he had been forced to partake in. He described how he had been at Mercer's home, babysitting the gang leader's daughter, when Mercer and Stephen Gardner arrived with Karen Keeton and forced her upstairs at gunpoint.
"He had told her to get her ass up the stairs, and then he started pulling her up the steps", Campbell testified. "She yelled back 'Help me, Steve!' and then Steve said 'Happy Birthday, Tiny!' "
"Afterwards, Tiny asked Stephen Gardner what to do with her, and Steve said 'Kill her', and then Tiny said 'It will be done'. Steve then asked him if he'd need any help and Tiny said that he didn't' ", Campbell continued.
Campbell seemed to choke back tears as he described seeing the hellish scene unfold in the bedroom a few minutes later. "Mercer was straddling Miss Keeton's nude body, and his hands were on her neck", he told the jury. "He then screamed for me to take her pulse".
The defense continued to attempt to sow doubt among the jurors, in some cases inventing outlandish excuses. They argued there was no solid evidence that Karen Keeton had been murdered in the home. No forensic evidence put Karen Keeton in the house, they said, and Mercer's daughter had said there were "no disturbances" at the house on the night in question.
Lozano and Fiorella even went as far as to directly accuse John Campbell of lying to the jury. The defense introduced Campbell's ex-wife as a rebuttal witness, grilling her about Campbell's supposed "mental health problems" and "history of lying".
"He can tell you lie after lie. He's so accomplished, you have to believe him", Lozano told the jury. "She [Karen Keeton] was not murdered at 605 C Street in Belton."
The defense also began to take a truly ugly and reprehensible approach - attacking the character of the victim Karen Keeton herself. Mercer's attorneys alluded several times to the jury that Karen Keeton was "a known drug addict" who had "a history of addiction". Lozano claimed that the young woman's body was in such bad condition when it was found that it was impossible to determine the exact cause of death. Perhaps, he surmised, she had died not of strangulation, but of a drug overdose.
But Lozano's unfounded theories couldn't stand up to scrutiny. Not only did multiple friends and relatives of Karen Keeton testify that she had never had a drug problem (the young woman didn't even smoke), the prosecution also uncovered major inconsistencies in the defense's case.
Though the defense had previously indicated that Roberta Dawn Mercer had said that Karen Keeton never showed up at the house, on the stand Roberta gave a very different story.
The 11-year-old girl testified that she had, in fact, seen both her father and Stephen Gardner return home that night with "a blonde lady" who fit Karen Keeton's description, and that she had seen her father force the woman upstairs in the same manner as John Campbell described.
Further evidence emerged during the trial as well. John Campbell had described how Karen Keeton had soiled the bedsheets as she was strangled by Mercer, and investigators were able to corroborate that part of the story.
A prosecution witness testified that, despite Mercer destroying the bedsheets and cleaning the bedroom floor, he had found traces of human waste all over the house, and that the traces were most concentrated in the bedroom where Campbell said Karen Keeton had been raped and strangled.
"It's reasonable that a girl was strangled and her bowels released on the bed", Hamilton said. "The man who actually did the killing was George Mercer."
On September 14, 1979, after hearing two days of testimony from both sides, the jury retired to deliberate. Mercer seemed unconcerned and indifferent throughout the entire ordeal, smiling and joking with his attorneys as he waited for the jury to return.
The jury deliberated for less than an hour before returning with their verdict. George Mercer was found guilty on all counts of the indictment, including kidnapping, rape, and capital murder.
As soon as the guilty verdicts were read, the jury prepared to return to deliberate the punishment. Guilty of capital murder, Mercer now faced either life imprisonment or the death penalty.
Despite his client having been found guilty, Lozano continued to assert Mercer's innocence. He pleaded with the jury to spare the biker's life, saying it would give police time to find the "real" killer of Karen Keeton.
But Lozano's pleas fell on deaf ears. Only two hours after finding him guilty of murder, the same jury unanimously voted to recommend that George Mercer die in the gas chamber for his crime. An official sentencing date - in which the presiding judge would decide to either reject or uphold the jury's recommendation - was set for November, 1979.
On November 9, 1979, Greene County Circuit Judge John Crow upheld the jury's recommendation, and sentenced George C. Mercer to death for the murder of Karen Keeton. Judge Crow then set Mercer's execution date for December 12, 1979, though this was only a formality as the date was certain to be stayed pending further appeals.
Mercer showed little emotion as he was sentenced to die. When given the chance to make a statement, the biker made a bizarre request. "I'd like to keep my beard and my hair, your honor", he said, "because when I die I'd like to go with my hair and my beard. It's part of me."
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| Mercer's Department of Corrections mugshot, taken the same day he was sentenced to death. He did not keep his hair or beard. |
A few weeks after Mercer was sent to death row at Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City to await execution, his co-defendant Stephen Gardner went on trial for Karen Keeton's murder in neighboring Boone County, MO. Like Mercer, Gardner also faced the death penalty if convicted.
Gardner maintained his innocence. Though he conceded that he had, in fact, taken part in the kidnapping and rape of Karen Keeton, he denied having ever ordered Mercer to kill the young woman, instead claiming that he left the house before the murder occurred and had no idea what happened to her until later.
But, as with Mercer, Gardner's claims of innocence were easily refuted by the prosecution. William Brown, one of Gardner's acquaintances, testified that he had spoken to Gardner shortly after Karen Keeton's murder, and that Gardner had told him that he and Mercer had "wasted a girl" a few nights earlier. Both John Campbell and David Gee also testified against Gardner, repeating the story they had told the jury in Mercer's case.
On November 29, 1979, after deliberating for less than an hour, the Boone County jury convicted Stephen Gardner on all counts. As the guilty verdict was read, Gardner's mother - overcome with emotion - rushed over to her son, hugged him, and then fainted onto the defense table.
Gardner's penalty phase began the same day, with prosecutor Joe Hamilton again seeking to convince the jury to sentence him to death on the capital murder charge. Though Gardner did not participate in the actual killing, Hamilton told the jury that it was Gardner who lured Karen Keeton to her death, and that he was just as deserving of the death penalty as Mercer was.
"There was only one man she could trust that night - the man who set her up for this. That's her friend - her only friend", Hamilton told the jury as he gestured towards Gardner. "He took her to breakfast, gave her roses, and then led her to a rape and to her death".
But, in the end, the jury in Gardner's trial proved to be more merciful than Mercer's. On November 30, 1979, after deliberating for two hours, the jury voted to spare Stephen Gardner from the death penalty. The judge subsequently sentenced Gardner to life in prison, with no chance of parole for fifty years - a sentence which would be reduced to 30-life on appeal.
As of July, 2022, Gardner remains incarcerated at the Western Diagnostic Correctional Center in St. Joseph, Missouri. Having been denied release multiple times (most recently in 2021), he will not be eligible for parole again until 2024.
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| Stephen Gardner was spared the death penalty for his role in Karen Keeton's rape and murder, but was instead sentenced to life in prison. He remains incarcerated today (as of the time of this writing), having been denied parole multiple times. |
In Mercer's absence, the Missing Links MC found itself without a leader. The outlaw motorcycle club had lost what public support it had once had before the infamous murder of Karen Keeton, and now with their leadership imprisoned and the club itself facing increased law enforcement scrutiny, the once-powerful biker gang began to fragment apart.
The Missing Links MC now split into three factions within the Kansas City area, each vying for control over their respective territories. But the power vacuum would not last long.
In 1980, two new and much larger outlaw motorcycle clubs - the Galloping Goose MC and the El Forastero MC - arrived in Kansas City, and with no centralized leadership, the Missing Links were powerless to resist.
The final nail in the coffin occurred in 1981, when the Missing Links' Kansas City clubhouse was stormed, ransacked, and burned down by rival gang members, who destroyed everything with the Missing Links' logo on it.
It was a symbolic and decisive defeat for the club. With no centralized leadership, and facing the wrath of two much larger and more powerful rival biker gangs, the Missing Links MC crumbled apart, with some members joining the larger Outlaws MC chapter in the area for protection. By 1982, the club that Mercer had once dedicated his life to - and had led into a lifestyle of murder and mayhem - was dead.
It was a fate their former leader was soon to share.
It was a fate their former leader was soon to share.
Jailhouse Jesus
George Mercer was only the second person to join Missouri's death row when he arrived in late 1979, but he would soon be in good company. Over the next ten years, dozens more heinous murderers would fill up the death row cellblock at Missouri State Penitentiary.
Only a month after arriving on death row, Mercer was interviewed by a team of reporters who visited the state penitentiary in Jefferson City. Once an intimidating figure with long hair and a thick beard, Mercer was now clean-shaven and powerless.
"All I am is a statistic", he told reporters. "You're not a human being in here. You just exist in a place like this. They've taken away my identity. All they can do now is execute me."
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| George Mercer (left) and fellow death row inmate Rayfield Newton speak to reporters in Missouri State Penitentiary in December, 1979. Mercer and Newton were the only inmates on Missouri's death row at the time, but they would quickly be in good company. |
Despite his somewhat defeatist attitude, Mercer tried to remain optimistic. "I've got a lot of hate inside of me", he said. "But I'm trying to keep my mud together. I'm just trying to do my time as easy as I can".
Mercer also took to blaming "government persecution" of outlaw bikers for the predicament he now found himself in. "I've been persecuted for who I am", he raved angrily. "I'm being made an example of because I'm a biker. I didn't get a fair trial. I got the railroad job of all railroad jobs".
In early 1981, Mercer's first appeal of his conviction reached the Missouri Supreme Court. Mercer argued that his conviction should be overturned because the prosecution had allegedly inappropriately excluded anti-death-penalty jurors from the jury pool, but in October of that year, the court rejected his appeal and affirmed his conviction. A new execution date for Mercer was set for November 30, 1981, but this date would once again be stayed as Mercer filed a second round of appeals.
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| George Mercer speaks to reporters during a 1980 prison interview. The biker claimed to undergo a religious conversion only a few years after being sent to death row. |
Mercer remained committed to fighting his death sentence. "I'm not afraid of death", he said in an interview, "but I'm gonna fight this until the last minute so I can help others in my position".
Abruptly, at this point, Mercer seemed to undergo a strange and drastic change in his life. The biker gang leader who had once sought to intimidate and terrify his rivals - and who had shown no compunction about resorting to acts of violence - now abruptly took on the persona of a born-again Christian. Mercer announced that he had undergone a religious experience that had transformed him into a changed man - a man free of his violent, alcohol-fueled past.
The biker gang leader began decorating his cell on death row with Bible calendars, crucifixes, and religious iconography. He began sleeping on the floor instead of his bunk bed, and he began spending his free time reading scripture. Mercer began socializing with the prisoners in his neighboring cells, sharing jokes, laughs, stories, movies, and cigarettes. He became best friends with A.J. Bannister - a fellow death row inmate who lived in the cell next to him, and the two bonded over their shared love of the Mel Gibson movie Road Warrior.
It was a drastic and extraordinary change for Mercer, and a far cry from the life of debauchery, terror, and violence he had once lived.
"The Lord's done this to me. I'm a changed man. I'm not the man I used to be", Mercer told a Kansas City radio station in a 1981 interview. "The old Tiny is dead now. He's buried; he's gone. I'm a new man in my way of thinking, my attitude towards life and everything."
The same year he converted to Christianity, Mercer began corresponding with a woman named Christy Angel - who was also in prison serving time on drug charges. The two became close, and after Christy was released, she and Mercer fell in love and married in late 1981.
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| In 1981, while he awaited execution on death row, George Mercer fell in love with and married Christie Angel, a fellow ex-convict who had previously served time on narcotics charges. This picture shows Mercer and his wife during a prison visit in the 1980s. |
But despite his transformation, Mercer still refused to accept responsibility for his crime. As usual, he instead took to blaming everything and everyone for Karen Keeton's murder except himself.
"There's no justice in these courtrooms. I never got a fair shake from the judges or anybody. When they put those charges on me, I was condemned to die right then and there", Mercer complained.
Mercer also turned his blame to the media. "The press can either help you or they can condemn you. And condemn me they did", he said. Mercer again tried to play the "persecuted biker" persona, claiming yet again that he had been targeted by a government that hated the outlaw biker lifestyle he lived.
"They never wanted to talk to me about the way I lived. All they want to hear about is blood and guts, and bikin' and dopin' and killin' and rapin'. That's what they thrive on", Mercer whined. "What's so bad about it is the public is so gullible that they believe whatever the newspaper writes. That's the gospel to them."
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| George and Christie Mercer read the Bible together during one of their prison visits |
As Mercer wasted away on death row, with his appeals running out, it became clear that Missouri would one day resume executions, and that Mercer would be one of the first to receive a serious execution date. But even with his avenues narrowing and his fate slowly approaching, the convicted murderer remained stubbornly optimistic about his chances. In fact, a recurring theme of Mercer's persona throughout the years was that he was not afraid of death.
"I laughed at them when they gave me the death sentence. I've been there too many times", Mercer said in one interview. "I've been shot, stabbed, beat up and run over by cars, you name it. I've got holes and scars all over this body, so what harm can they do me now? If I'm executed, I will walk down there like a man and they don't have to strap me in that chair, because the Lord's with me", he continued. "But the Lord has let me and my wife know that I will be set free from this penitentiary. I know it."
But Mercer's fearless and overconfident boasting disguised the truth. Beneath his posturing and bragging, Mercer was secretly terrified of death - and it was a fear that he would reveal to the very man who designed the machine that was to kill him.
Mr. Death
While Mercer was on death row, the state of Missouri was busy preparing to resume executions for the first time since 1965. In 1987, the state of Missouri passed a law that changed its method of execution from the gas chamber to lethal injection.
Missouri did not have a facility equipped to carry out this method of execution at the time, but the state soon contracted a talented (and highly controversial) engineer named Fred Leuchter to design a special machine to carry out lethal injections.
The machine was a sophisticated computer that would automatically carry out injections without the need of a person to physically inject the drugs into the inmate - all it needed was two people to activate the machine from the control module.
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| The control module of Fred Leuchter's lethal injection machine, used by Missouri for executions until the early 2000s. George Mercer was to be the first person put to death with Leuchter's device. |
As I was writing this article, I spoke to Leuchter about his interactions with George Mercer, whom he briefly met as he went to the prison to install the machine.
On October 11, 1988, George Mercer's final appeals were rejected by the US Supreme Court, and an execution date was set for October 20, 1988, at 12:01 AM. This time, the date was a serious one.
Missouri State Penitentiary's gas chamber was modified to accommodate Leuchter's lethal injection modules, and Leuchter himself arrived at Missouri State Penitentiary to personally install the device.
When Leuchter arrived at the prison to install his machine only a few days before the execution was to occur, he was approached by the warden, Bill Armontrout, who had an odd request. "Tiny asked me to say that he'd like to speak with you", Armontrout told Leuchter. "He said he wanted to speak with you alone".
"That's fine", Leuchter replied. He went downstairs to the holding cell where Mercer was being held on suicide watch.
Entering the cell, Leuchter came face-to-face with the inmate his machine was going to kill. The years of wasting away on death row had taken their toll on Mercer. The once fearsome, muscular biker - who had been quick to violence and ruled his criminal organization through terror - was now a pitiful, "soft", and "flabby" husk of man - as Leuchter later put it - devoid of the power he had once thrived on.
Mercer turned to speak to Leuchter. "I understand that you're the person who made the machine that's going to be used to kill me with the chemicals", he said nervously. "I'd just like to know, Mr. Leuchter", he continued, "...is it going to hurt?"
Leuchter consoled Mercer. "No", he replied, "no it won't hurt at all. It's just like going to sleep." He explained to Mercer how the machine would end his life. "First your lungs will stop functioning and then your heart will stop functioning, and you'll just go to sleep."
Mercer breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you", he said, "I was just worried about that."
The fear in Mercer's demeanor resonated with Leuchter. "It's interesting. I'll always remember him, and I'll always remember the expression on his face", he would later say of his encounter.
Mercer would ultimately avoid his October 20, 1988 execution date less than an hour before it was to be carried out, when a three-judge panel from the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals granted him a last-minute stay to allow Mercer to challenge the method of execution that was to be used. But on December 20, 1988, the same three-judge panel lifted Mercer's stay of execution, allowing the state of Missouri to once again seek a new death warrant.
On January 4, 1989, the Missouri Supreme Court issued its final denial of Mercer's appeals, and immediately scheduled his final execution date for only two days later - on January 6, 1989.
George Mercer now had only one last avenue to avoid execution; to file a petition for clemency to the governor of Missouri asking him to commute the sentence. But Missouri governor John Ashcroft showed no interest in granting Mercer clemency. In fact - in an unprecedented move - Governor Ashcroft would deny Mercer clemency before the convicted murderer had even filed his mercy petition.
"After more than 10 years of intense judicial proceedings, all the available evidence shows that the judicial process has functioned properly", Governor Ashcroft wrote in his denial. "Justice must be done. For this reason, I will not block the execution."
End of the Line
On January 5, 1989, George Mercer bid farewell to his fellow death row inmates and was transferred to a holding cell a few feet from the execution chamber. In preparation for Mercer's execution, Missouri State Penitentiary's gas chamber had its seats removed to accommodate a gurney, and one of the windows removed so that the lethal injection machine would be installed in its place.
Mercer spent much of his final hours reading his Bible, and thumbing through some of his favorite motorcycle magazines. He also spoke with his wife, Christy, and an old friend from his days as an outlaw biker. Mercer showed off his large Harley Davidson tattoo on his back and shared happy memories with his friend of their old motorcycle days.
For his last meal, Mercer ordered a barbecued steak and ribs, french-fried potatoes, a burrito, several tacos, a salad with vinegar and oil dressing, and a large cola. Unable to finish the burrito, he offered it to warden Bill Armontrout instead.
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| Mercer spent his final hours in this holding cell a few feet away from the execution chamber at Missouri State Penitentiary. |
Mercer's attorneys had filed a last minute petition to the US Supreme Court to stay the execution, but the chances of it succeeding were very slim. Still, Mercer continued to hold out some faint hope that he could somehow, yet again, escape his impending punishment.
But nine hours before Mercer was to be led to the execution chamber, the US Supreme Court denied his final attempt for a stay. The decision was 7-2 in favor of rejecting the appeal, with only Justices William Brennan and Thurgood Marshall dissenting.
When warden Armontrout informed Mercer that the Supreme Court had denied his stay, the convicted murderer appeared "stunned", but otherwise, "didn't show any outward emotion", according to Armontrout. "It's in the hands of the Maker", Mercer said defeatedly.
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| Over 200 death penalty opponents protested in the cold rain outside of Missouri State Penitentiary ahead of George Mercer's execution. Due to the notoriety of the case, security around the prison was very tight, with hundreds of police officers and state troopers encircling the facility. |
At 11:40 PM, Mercer was led from his holding cell for the last time. It was an emotional experience for all involved. In the ten years he had spent on death row, Mercer had grown close with warden Armontrout, and considered him a close friend.
Before he was led to the death chamber only ten feet away, Mercer gave the warden a hug and shook his hand. "Goodbye", he said to Armontrout, thanking the warden for the kind treatment he had received. "Look after my shipmates for me."
After requesting and receiving a light sedative, Mercer - wearing a dark blue hooded sweatshirt and a black bandanna, and clutching a Bible under his left arm - was then led to the gas chamber, which had been modified to accommodate the lethal injection gurney and equipment. Mercer had requested to be executed wearing his leather biker jacket with his Missing Links colors, but this was denied.
In two adjoining rooms, a total of 12 witnesses - among them Christy Mercer, her friend, and eight reporters - had gathered to witness the execution.
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| Missouri State Penitentiary warden Bill Armontrout shows the modified gas chamber used as a makeshift lethal injection chamber for the execution of George Mercer. The white gurney Mercer died on can be seen inside. Mercer's execution was the first to be carried out in Missouri since 1965, and the last to be carried out at Missouri State Penitentiary. |
At 12:01 AM on January 6, 1989, the plastic window shades covering the gas chamber windows were raised up, revealing Mercer to the witnesses. The convicted murderer - who appeared visibly agitated and nervous - lay strapped to the gurney, covered up to his neck with a white sheet. Intravenous tubes had been intended to be inserted into Mercer's arms, but the biker's history of repeated drug abuse had left the veins in his arms unusable, so they were instead inserted into his groin.
Mercer craned his head upward and surveyed the room, apparently looking for his wife. When he made eye contact with Christie, he smiled, laid back on the gurney, and began to speak, but the witnesses weren't able to hear him.
"I can't understand you", Christy said to her husband. Mercer stopped talking. "I love you", he mouthed to Christie as he gave her a sad smile. "I love you", Christy replied, raising her fingers in a V-sign. Mercer kept smiling, fixing his eyes on his wife as Bill Armontrout read the death warrant.
"I can't understand you", Christy said to her husband. Mercer stopped talking. "I love you", he mouthed to Christie as he gave her a sad smile. "I love you", Christy replied, raising her fingers in a V-sign. Mercer kept smiling, fixing his eyes on his wife as Bill Armontrout read the death warrant.
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| From this witness room adjoining the gas chamber, twelve witnesses - among them Christy Mercer - watched George Mercer die by lethal injection. |
At 12:03 AM, two guards each pressed a button on the lethal injection control module, beginning the automated injection process that would end Mercer's life. The chamber was eerily silent, with the only noises being the clicking and whirring of the injection machine.
The machine first administered a dose of sodium thiopental to put Mercer to sleep. As the drug took effect, Mercer briefly jerked his head back, straining against the straps that held him to the gurney, before relaxing.
One minute later, the machine administered the second drug, pancuronium bromide, to collapse Mercer's lungs. The murderer coughed three times, shuddered once, and went still. His face turned bright red as his breathing began to slow.
Finally, at 12:05 AM, the final drug, potassium chloride, was injected to stop Mercer's heart. The inmate didn't move, and fixed his gaze on the single light fixture on the ceiling of the gas chamber.
The murderer's blue eyes remained open as he took his last breath.
At 12:08 AM, a physician entered the death chamber to check Mercer for vital signs. He found none.
44-year-old George Mercer was formally pronounced dead at 12:09 AM on January 6, 1989.
As the plastic curtains were lowered over the witness windows, Christy Mercer turned away and began to cry.
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| A hearse carrying the body of George Mercer departs Missouri State Penitentiary following the execution. |
Several days later, Mercer was laid to rest in the small town of Nevada, Missouri. Hundreds of bikers - some of them former members of the Missing Links - attended the funeral in an elaborate procession to pay their respects. In accordance with biker tradition, Mercer was buried with his leather biker jacket and gang colors.
Though Mercer had died proclaiming himself to be a changed man, reminders of his criminal past and legacy would continue to reappear long after he was dead.
Legacy of Fear
Less than a year after Mercer was executed, on October 22, 1989, a man named Michael Coy was driving through Springfield, Missouri, with his wife when a nail-packed bomb planted in his car exploded, destroying the vehicle and critically injuring both occupants.
Donna Coy would ultimately survive her injuries, but Michael Coy would not. The 48-year-old Florida resident would die from his wounds after being airlifted to the hospital without ever regaining consciousness.
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| The remains of Michael Coy's car following the bomb blast on October 22, 1989. |
It later emerged that Michael Coy had a mysterious and highly-criminal past. According to his brother Coy had once been closely associated with the Missing Links MC in Belton, Missouri - the same gang which George Mercer belonged to. In fact, Coy had personally known Mercer for many years, and had allegedly served as a "fence" for the gang, selling stolen motorcycle parts for them and earning over $150,000 a year.
Coy had also bragged to his brother that, at one point, he had been involved in the killings of six people, whom he had "eliminated" on the orders of a member of the Missing Links. Coy had never identified the member by name in question, but he mentioned the member's nickname: "Tiny".
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| 48-year-old Michael Coy was killed in a still-unsolved car bombing on October 22, 1989, ten months after George Mercer was executed. Coy, it was later revealed, had allegedly been an associate of George Mercer and the Missing Links MC, and had sold stolen motorcycle parts for the club. Coy even bragged to his brother that he had killed six people on the gang's orders - a claim that is still unproven. |
In fact, as they searched the wrecked vehicle for evidence, police found more evidence of Coy's checkered criminal past. In the glove box, officers found several fake IDs with Coy's picture on them, and in the trunk they found a bag with over $10,000 in cash.
Whatever connection Michael Coy had between George Mercer and the Missing Links will never be fully known. To this day, despite police looking into former members of the Missing Links as potential suspects, the bombing that killed Michael Coy still remains unsolved.
But Coy wasn't the last figure from Mercer's life to wind up dead in bad circumstances. In 2013, another figure from the biker leader's past would make the headlines again.
On the night of April 18, 2013, in the town of Warrensburg, Missouri, a SWAT team from the Warrensburg Police Department launched a no-knock raid on a home at 406 9th Street Terrace, acting on a warrant to search for illegal narcotics.
As the SWAT team breached the door with a battering ram and entered the house, one occupant emerged from a bedroom with a double-barreled 12-gauge shotgun. Ignoring the SWAT team's commands to halt, the man fired a single shotgun blast at the officers, blowing a hole in the door behind them. A SWAT officer immediately returned fire ten times with his .40-caliber UMP submachine gun, striking the 57-year-old gunman five times and killing him instantly.
The dead man, it turned out, was none other than Beau G. Appleton - the very same man who had once been considered the primary suspect in the firebombing of Debbie Middleton's home.
In the years since his initial brush with the law, Appleton had been married and had fathered two teenage daughters, but even then it seemed he had been unable to shake himself free of his criminal past.
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| The bullet-riddled front door of the Appleton home in Warrensburg, MO, following the 2013 police shootout that left Beau Appleton dead. Appleton had once been accused of carrying out the fatal 1978 firebombing of Debbie Middleton's home, but had been released when a key witness recanted. |
Even decades after he was executed, the criminal legacy of George Mercer continued to cast a long shadow - an eternal reminder of the terror he had inflicted upon countless people.
Best Witness
When I first started writing about this story a year ago, I never imagined it would get as complicated as it has since become. The case of George Mercer is one of the most obscure - and yet most intricate - stories I've ever examined. Above all, it shows how even an all-American subculture - one based on brotherhood and loyalty and adventure - can lead people astray and inflict untold destruction upon innocent lives.
The motorcycle is as much a staple of American culture as apple pie, and it has been for decades. Biker culture is ingrained in the American lifestyle and has been portrayed in countless movies, TV shows, video games, books, and other forms of media. Even outlaw motorcycle clubs such as the Hells Angels - who are no stranger to criminal activity - have become legendary American icons, admired and respected as much as they are feared.
And there is a lot of this culture to admire. For many veterans, motorcycle clubs offered them the camaraderie and brotherhood they missed from their time in the military. For former soldiers suffering from the trauma of war, and returning home to a nation that they found unrecognizable, these clubs offered them a life of adventure and fun - a way to bring purpose and meaning back into their lives. In fact, many of these outlaw motorcycle clubs host annual charity drives to raise money for humanitarian causes and bring awareness to problems that would otherwise go under the radar.
Certainly this was the case with the Missing Links MC. The Missing Links were originally founded as a group of motorcycle enthusiasts - people who bonded over a shared love of riding Harley Davidsons and formed their own brotherhood. But, inevitably - once the Missing Links fell under the control of George Mercer - things went south.
In the four years that Mercer led the Missing Links, the club transformed from a simple gathering of motorcycle enthusiasts into a violent, terroristic criminal empire - a criminal empire that profited off of narcotics, robbery and extortion, and was linked to up to 10 different murders. Under Mercer's leadership, brotherhood and camaraderie would become secondary to violence and terror.
In the four years that Mercer led the Missing Links, the club transformed from a simple gathering of motorcycle enthusiasts into a violent, terroristic criminal empire - a criminal empire that profited off of narcotics, robbery and extortion, and was linked to up to 10 different murders. Under Mercer's leadership, brotherhood and camaraderie would become secondary to violence and terror.
But even in the darkest moments, there was one man who was willing to stand up to Mercer's reign of terror - a man who had been forced to partake in one of the most brutal murders the state of Missouri has seen. John A. Campbell is the unsung hero in this story, and is one of the most courageous individuals I have ever examined, and to understand the level of courage he possessed, it is once again necessary to examine the outlaw biker subculture.
In outlaw motorcycle clubs, loyalty to the club is paramount. To members of these types of gangs, the club comes first before all else. To them, it isn't just a hobby - it's their life. The club patches worn by outlaw bikers aren't just for show; to them those patches are sacred symbols to be defended at any cost. Members of these clubs are expected to do anything and everything to protect their patch, their club, and their brothers. They are expected to be fully willing die for the club, or even to kill for the club.
And above all, the worst thing any member of an outlaw motorcycle club can do is to turn on the club - especially as an informant, or a "rat". In the outlaw biker world, "rats" are considered the lowest of the low, worthy of less respect in their eyes than even law enforcement or rival gang members. To become an informant and turn in the club is considered the ultimate form of treason, and often warrants death.
John Campbell found himself in this position. A Vietnam veteran who had become a fully-patched member in his club, Campbell had dedicated his life to the Missing Links and had vowed to do anything and everything to protect his gang when he joined. They weren't just his friends; they were his brothers, his own surrogate family. Even when George Mercer was involved in the brutal rape, torture, and murder of Karen Keeton, Campbell was expected to stand by his president and his fellow club brothers, and he knew the potential consequences if he didn't.
But even the rigid bonds of brotherhood couldn't shake Campbell's moral compass. For a month he struggled with the guilt of knowing what he had partaken in, and he was plagued by crushing moral dilemma: stay quiet and stand by his family, whom he had vowed to defend at all costs; or, sacrifice everything he stood for and everyone he loved to do what he knew, in his heart, to be the right thing to do.
Campbell could have easily stayed quiet. For an entire month, the body of Karen Keeton lay undiscovered, and police could find no evidence that would tie Mercer and the gang to the woman's disappearance. Had Campbell remained quiet, it is very likely that Karen Keeton's murder would have never been solved.
That John Campbell made the decision to do the right thing and turn in his club president - knowing full well that it would not only make him a marked man but would also totally destroy the beloved club he considered his family - speaks volumes. That he would sacrifice everything he loved to bring justice for a young woman he didn't even know - that is a testament to the level of courage and bravery he possessed.
(Despite extensive research, I could not find out what happened to John Campbell after George Mercer's trial. I sincerely hope he is safe, wherever he is.)
And this brings me to my final point. For those who would argue that murder - and, by extent, a devotion to a violent criminal lifestyle - is the result of hardship, family loyalty, or other extenuating factors, I want this story to serve as an example of how flawed that thinking is.
In the end, we all have a choice. We all have the ability to do the right thing even in the face of the most dire consequences.
John Campbell had everything to lose and nothing to gain by turning in George Mercer. He had every chance to live out his life without revealing the horrible secret he possessed. He knew full well of the sacrifices and consequences it would cost; yet he did it anyway because he knew, above all, it was the right thing to do.
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