Sorry there isn't more notice but just saw NND was doing an episode on Kari. It's airing this morning (Saturday) at 9 central. I'm sure it will air again if you miss it, just not sure when. The Episode is titled "Small Town Secret".

I did get a chance to watch this and there was a few things that weren't mentioned in the UM segment. They said that Kari was very thoughtful and always thinking of others and was mature, helping mother her younger 3 siblings. Not really a huge detail but it said that Kari really didn't want to go to the store that night. She was studying a manual for an upcoming job. She asked her sister to go with her but she was tired and didn't want to. While she was gone her parents both went to sleep on the couch. The mother woke up long enough to go to bed and didn't realize Kari wasn't home. The dad woke up from the couch around 1am and checked on the snacks he sent Kari to get and said he went and checked on her in her bed and thought he felt her in bed (but apparently he was mistaken). They did say it was featured on a "tv crime show" once again not giving UM the credit it deserves. There were 600 leads as a result of the UM segment with supposed sightings as far away as Tahiti. The case went cold and then the detective in charge gets a call from a lawyer representing a man and they want to speak. Robert Jones was about to go on trial for bank robbery and his wife was also being charged since she drove the getaway car for one of the robberies. They had two children together and he didn't want his wife to get a prison sentence so he told police that he killed Kari to get his wife probation. He said he was visiting his parents in Ausable Forks that night and he was mad at his wife whom he believed was cheating on him. Was trying to get back at his wife somehow so abducted Kari and took her to a cabin in the woods and raped her. He told her he would take her back to her parents house but was of course lying as while still in the woods he strangled and then shot her twice and buried her out there. What a horrible story. :( Kari's mother and sister Lori were interviewed in the show.

I was sickened to read that after pleading guilty to Kari's rape and murder AND 2 bank robberies he only received 18 years. He was up for parole in 2011 but was denied. I heard that he was up for parole again in August 2013 and just found out it was denied again thankfully! Here is a Facebook page to help keep him from getting parole.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Keep-Kari-Nixons-Killer-In-Prison/220009551357496

I would have liked to have seen that. I hope it airs again. But thanks for the recap.

I keep missing the UM-related cases and can't seem to find them online (ID isn't available where I currently live). Thanks for giving that synopsis, crystaldawn!

Actually I just checked and it is on YT. Just search "Nightmare Next Door Small Town Secret".

Actually I just checked and it is on YT. Just search "Nightmare Next Door Small Town Secret".

You're beautiful! Thanks!

Edit: Looks like all copies to the forbidden site are instantly blocked. But there's a link to the show's site where you might be able to watch.

http://primetv.us/nightmare-next-door-s08e15-small-town-secret-720p-hdtv-x264-terra

Thanks dynoguy! I was also able to find it here: http://watchseries.lt/serie/nightmare_next_door

re-airing tonight at 8 and 10 pm EST, I plan to record it.

re-airing tonight at 8 and 10 pm EST, I plan to record it.

Thanks for the heads up!

re-airing tonight at 8 and 10 pm EST, I plan to record it.

Thanks, buddy. Gonna DVR it.

Thanks, buddy. Gonna DVR it.

Me too.

I almost feel like we should all set a date and have a viewing party online. :happyface

For those with Verizon Fios, it will air at 11pm EST. Thanks Wiseguy for the info.

Me too.

I almost feel like we should all set a date and have a viewing party online. :happyface

:) Love it.

Thanks for the heads up again, I got a twofer, because my tv was automatically on ID for the Kari episode, I got to see a show called "Dead of Night" that was profiling Mia Zapata. Episode name is "Sound of Silence"

Your welcome Meg and Necco.

The Mia Zapata case is everywhere. Forensic Files did an episode on it called "The Day The Music Died". City Confidential coverered it also.

Anyways, Kari Lynn Nixon. Seemed like such a sweet girl and I was am just moritifed over what happened to her. I am glad Robert Jones was caught and he is an evil monster that will hopefully rot. It said that Kari was in training to become a camp counselor.

So, the Nightmare Next Door episode. It was good to see Kathy Nixon again. She's always been a favorite of mine. She's older now, of course, and has glasses and blonde-ish hair, but you can still recognize her. I really liked her part in the UM segment where she said something to the effect of her just wanting Kari to be happy, whereever she was.

I also liked the one investigator who spent many nights awake in bed saying to himself "I'm gonna catch that son of a bitch." I admire that kind of determination.

One saddening part of the episode is when it talked about how much the disappearance took a toll on the family. Kari's sister said that the parents would sometimes get their hopes up when new sightings would emerge, and when they would turn out to be false leads, that the parents would say it was like losing Kari all over again. And when they learned of her death, it was also like losing kari all over again. Also stated that Kari's family was very devastated by a lot of the rumors that said Kari had ran away from home, and things like that.:(

Stated that the girl in the NKOTB video was identified and turned out to be a girl from Washington, D.C.

Stated that Robert's parents and Kari's parents knew each other and that Robert's parents were pretty well known in the community. Robert had been visiting his parents that night and I'm unsure if anyone else besides his parents knew he was in the area at the time, so that is perhaps a reason why his involvement wasn't found out initially.

Talked about some of the other tips that turned out to be dead ends. One investigator literally exhausted himself chasing down every lead. One had come from a man who observed another man regularly placing flowers in a wooded area in town, and it had been theorized he was visiting Kari's grave on a regular basis to relive her murder. It was later found out this guy really was visiting a girl's grave, but it was his own daughter's, who had died from cancer at a young age. He had purchased land in the area to build a house on, but she had died before it could be built.

I can't hide the fact that I'm slightly annoyed with Mr. Nixon for sending her out at that hour. Get up off your lazy bum ass and walk the 2 blocks to get your damn Funyuns and Mountain Dew or whatever yourself.

And I read that Robert had a picnic every year over her makeshift grave? Cripes, that is the most disgusting thing I've ever heard. He should NEVER be paroled.

Your welcome Meg and Necco.

The Mia Zapata case is everywhere. Forensic Files did an episode on it called "The Day The Music Died". City Confidential coverered it also.

Anyways, Kari Lynn Nixon. Seemed like such a sweet girl and I was am just moritifed over what happened to her. I am glad Robert Jones was caught and he is an evil monster that will hopefully rot. It said that Kari was in training to become a camp counselor.

So, the Nightmare Next Door episode. It was good to see Kathy Nixon again. She's always been a favorite of mine. She's older now, of course, and has glasses and blonde-ish hair, but you can still recognize her. I really liked her part in the UM segment where she said something to the effect of her just wanting Kari to be happy, whereever she was.

I also liked the one investigator who spent many nights awake in bed saying to himself "I'm gonna catch that son of a bitch." I admire that kind of determination.

One saddening part of the episode is when it talked about how much the disappearance took a toll on the family. Kari's sister said that the parents would sometimes get their hopes up when new sightings would emerge, and when they would turn out to be false leads, that the parents would say it was like losing Kari all over again. And when they learned of her death, it was also like losing kari all over again. Also stated that Kari's family was very devastated by a lot of the rumors that said Kari had ran away from home, and things like that.:(

Stated that the girl in the NKOTB video was identified and turned out to be a girl from Washington, D.C.

Stated that Robert's parents and Kari's parents knew each other and that Robert's parents were pretty well known in the community. Robert had been visiting his parents that night and I'm unsure if anyone else besides his parents knew he was in the area at the time, so that is perhaps a reason why his involvement wasn't found out initially.

Talked about some of the other tips that turned out to be dead ends. One investigator literally exhausted himself chasing down every lead. One had come from a man who observed another man regularly placing flowers in a wooded area in town, and it had been theorized he was visiting Kari's grave on a regular basis to relive her murder. It was later found out this guy really was visiting a girl's grave, but it was his own daughter's, who had died from cancer at a young age. He had purchased land in the area to build a house on, but she had died before it could be built.

I can't hide the fact that I'm slightly annoyed with Mr. Nixon for sending her out at that hour. Get up off your lazy bum ass and walk the 2 blocks to get your damn Funyuns and Mountain Dew or whatever yourself.

And I read that Robert had a picnic every year over her makeshift grave? Cripes, that is the most disgusting thing I've ever heard. He should NEVER be paroled.

I commented to my husband (he watched the second half of the episode with me) that everything about Robert Jones pisses me off. Jones raped and murdered Kari, he explained, because he thought his wife was cheating on him. HOW exactly is that some random teenage girl's problem, and WHY on earth should she suffer anything over it? I was especially upset that Jones told Kari he would take her home after he abducted and raped her (in a cabin in the middle of the woods, no less), but then dragged her into the woods and killed her anyway. I hope he rots in prison. He has committed a variety of serious crimes; I can't think of anyone who deserves parole less, besides maybe someone like Charles Manson.

It was also good to see Kari's sister Lori again, who as everyone might remember played Kari in the UM reenactment. The two investigators interviewed in the segment are also interviewed in the episode. Richard Sypeck of the NY State Police is interviewed at length (and doesn't look much different at all than he did in the UM segment, just a bit older). It is interesting to see him speaking on the other side of this case, as he was quite adamant in the UM segment that it was very likely Kari could still be alive.

The Eutawville, SC sighting is completely omitted, as are the Flint, MI letters (although it is mentioned that the UM segment--it's referred to as something like a "national crime show" and is never actually referenced by name in the episode--generated somewhere around 600 different leads, all of which were tracked down). As wiseguy mentioned, the NKOTB video does get a brief mention, though.

FWIW, it seems Gary Nixon (who was not interviewed for the show) blamed himself for Kari's disappearance, as he was the one who asked her to run down to the store that night for a bag of chips and a coke. Kari also asked Lori to join her before she left, although Lori declined. dynoguy posted a map of the locations of the Nixon home and the store in the "Locations" thread yesterday, and it really is a very short walk away. Lori also mentioned in the segment that at that time it was extremely common for girls of their age to visit the store at that hour of the evening. The crime rate was also extremely low in Au Sable Forks. Gary Nixon clearly didn't anticipate what happened to his daughter as it seemed so greatly unlikely at the time that it would. Otherwise, I don't think he would have sent her out at all.

In any event, I am glad Jones got collared and thrown in the slammer where he belongs.

I thought it was interesting that the "neighbor" Kari exchanged hello's with in passing each other on the way home from the market was not a middle aged man who lived on the block as shown in the UM reenactment, but a young guy named Justin Archer who was just a few years older than Kari. He was in that neighborhood visiting a buddy and he passed Kari as he was walking to his car to leave. He was considered a suspect for a while because of a few minor scrapes with the law under his belt but it never went anywhere understandably.

I'm with Meg on Robert Jones' pathetic explanation for doing what he did. If he thought his wife had cheated on him and he wanted to get revenge so badly, he could have gone to any random bar and found a woman to have a one night stand with. He certainly didn't have to go to the extremes he did with an underage girl. I'm also kind of taken back with the age he was when he did this terrible crime. At 23, he was just a couple years removed from being a teenager. That just seems so young to me.

I don't hold anything against Gary Nixon for asking Kari to take that trip to the market for him. It was around 10:00 p.m., really not that late for a 16 year old who is on summer vacation to make a quick trip to a market 2 blocks away. It was a small town with no reputation for any horrible crimes. It was the 80's and many of those residents didn't even lock their doors at that time. There was really no reason for him or the rest of the family to have any apprehensions about Kari making that short trip that she had done hundreds of times before. Sadly, Gary Nixon will probably spend the rest of his life blaming himself for Kari's fate. Kathy mentioned that on the second day of the search, he came home one day and sobbed uncontrollably for hours saying he failed his daughter. He had no way of knowing something so horrible would happen. Nobody did.

I agree about Kathy Nixon. I like her. She is still the same soft spoken mother that was seen in old interviews. Although she kept her composure in the UM segment and update, she broke down this time when describing the police telling the family that Kari's body had been found. My heart broke for her.

They mentioned that normally at that time of the year, neighbors would be sitting out on their front porches during the time Kari ran her errand. But that night was unseasonably cold and so all the neighbors were inside. I wonder if things would have been different if the weather had been it's usual temperature for that time of year.

I was amused that they referred to Unsolved Mysteries as a 'TV Crime Show,' and New Kids on the Block as a 'popular boy band.' I wonder if that's a copyright thing.

I'm going to copy and paste this from the UM Locations picture thread. The Nightmare Next Door episode finally helped me pinpoint these spots...

The Nixon home on Palmer Street in Au Sable Forks, NY.

http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad64/andy80_bucket/Kari2_zpsfbcbed74.png

The little market where Kari bought milk, soda and a bag of chips for her father around 9:45 p.m. It's called Home Town Deli & Bakery today.

http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad64/andy80_bucket/Kari1_zpse9a88f20.png

An overhead shot to show the distance between the store and the Nixon home which looks about 2 blocks.

http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad64/andy80_bucket/Kari3_zps0e2a936c.png

This last photo is a guess on my part of the spot where Robert Jones abducted Kari at gunpoint. It happened 700 feet from her home on Palmer Street which would be approximately a little over a block. If this isn't the spot, it's very close to it.

http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad64/andy80_bucket/Kari4_zpsc0729021.png

I don't blame the father at all. I know someone who grew up in Au Sable Forks. It's tiny. It's peaceful.

Sixteen year olds routinely get sent to the store for their parents. It's as much about fostering responsibility in the kid as it is a division of labor. It's just like any other chore.

I thought it was interesting that the "neighbor" Kari exchanged hello's with in passing each other on the way home from the market was not a middle aged man who lived on the block as shown in the UM reenactment, but a young guy named Justin Archer who was just a few years older than Kari. He was in that neighborhood visiting a buddy and he passed Kari as he was walking to his car to leave. He was considered a suspect for a while because of a few minor scrapes with the law under his belt but it never went anywhere understandably.

I thought that was interesting, too. All these years I thought that exchange was ultimately rather innocuous--I never realized it was actually a substantial part of the investigation for a time.

I agree about Kathy Nixon. I like her. She is still the same soft spoken mother that was seen in old interviews. Although she kept her composure in the UM segment and update, she broke down this time when describing the police telling the family that Kari's body had been found. My heart broke for her.

Me too for sure. I always thought the Nixons seemed like a really nice family.

I was amused that they referred to Unsolved Mysteries as a 'TV Crime Show,' and New Kids on the Block as a 'popular boy band.' I wonder if that's a copyright thing.

I would imagine so, if I were guessing. I blurted out "New Kids On the Block!" when the 'popular boy band' was mentioned. :p

Sixteen year olds routinely get sent to the store for their parents. It's as much about fostering responsibility in the kid as it is a division of labor. It's just like any other chore.

I remember my dad giving me twenty dollars and telling me to go out and pick up something for dinner for us multiple times when I was a teenager. I'm sure if we'd lived down the street from one of those restaurants I'd probably opt to just walk there.

I hadn't realized until recently that Jones had told Kari he would take her home. I had thought he had shot and strangled her inside the cabin until reading recent articles and watching this segment. That's just horrible. One of the parole commissioners said it best:

"You violated a sacred trust in taking advantage of this innocent youth, showing your moral wickedness. ... you have failed to complete the sex-offender program which this panel feels you require," the decision read. "One can only guess the sheer terror this child felt in the last hours of her life. The sense of violation she endured in this forced sexual intercourse upon her and in the realization she must have known that you were going to kill her."

I think Jones is full of it saying that he did the crime because he thought his wife was cheating on him. He is absolutely a predator. Remember how he nearly abducted a woman from a bank robbery and then said it was because he wanted to rape and maybe kill her? I think he used rage as a (poor) excuse for this despicable crime.

I must admit that while I found the Nightmare Next Door episode informative, I didn't care for some of the re-enactments:

-Actually, not only is NKOTB not mentioned by name, the real video isn't even shown, just a re-creation.

-One of the worst examples was when somebody said that the cashier had put the groceries in a paper bag for Kari to take home, and then we immediately see Kari walking with a plastic one. Interestingly, the UM segment depicted a male cashier and the Nightmare Next Door had a female one.

I must admit that while I found the Nightmare Next Door episode informative, I didn't care for some of the re-enactments:

-Actually, not only is NKOTB not mentioned by name, the real video isn't even shown, just a re-creation.

-One of the worst examples was when somebody said that the cashier had put the groceries in a paper bag for Kari to take home, and then we immediately see Kari walking with a plastic one. Interestingly, the UM segment depicted a male cashier and the Nightmare Next Door had a female one.


Not showing the video may have been a licensing issue. I don't know if NKOTB owns the rights to the video or not. I would think if they did, they'd have allowed them to use it for free, as they tried to help with the case and are pretty well known for their charitable stuff, particularly after the Boston Marathon bombing, but there may be some management or record company getting some royalties that may have complicated the issue.

I
I was amused that they referred to Unsolved Mysteries as a 'TV Crime Show,' and New Kids on the Block as a 'popular boy band.' I wonder if that's a copyright thing.

For a show whose influence is felt by so many other similarly themed shows that have been created in it's wake UM unfortunately still gets a lot of disrespect from the general public. I was recently reading a review of one of the UM cases (I believe it was Lisa Marie Kimmell) that was featured on ID and the reviewer mentioned that the Kimmell case was profiled on UM during "one of their breaks stalking bigfoot or trying to communicate with extra-terrestrials" or something of that nature.

Kind made my blood boil when I read that.

I'm sorry but there is something kind of lame about a man prying his daughter away from studying to be a camp counselor at 10 p.m. to get snacks for him when she clearly doesn't want to go AND not staying awake the few minutes she is gone AND not conclusively identifying that she made it home AND not realizing her disappearance to the next morning. Lame. Trust me, there is a reason UM glossed over all that and just simply said that Kari "ran an errand" for her father.

I know that television shows are frequenty prohibited from mentioning or showing brand names. Often times you will see a familiar product with the brand name blackened out or altered or partially obscured. Perhaps they can't mention UM for a similar reason. Being that the ID show also talked trash about UM, I can see why they wouldn't mention it by name as to not provoke a bigger backlash.

Are there any updates on the killer's parole? I read an article from 2016, but after that I didn't find anything.

http://www.cnhi.com/featured_stories/mother-seeks-parole-denial-to-keep-daughter-s-killer-behind/article_05029686-370d-11e6-9eca-c72389a3fe98.html

It says "when the inmate was denied parole last August, at his most recent biennial hearing, Kathy Nixon breathed a sigh of relief, believing she could set her fears aside until the summer of 2017."

In case it hasn't already been mentioned (please pardon me if it was), there is a Facebook page called "Keep Kari Nixon's Killer in Prison." Recent posts indicate that her killer is still incarcerated.

I just read through this entire thread - very interesting information in here. I had no idea, despite having seen the UM segment multiple times since the original NBC airing, that Kari was portrayed by her own sister.

I remember thinking, how did they find an actress that looked so similar to her picture - it seems like most of the UM actors don't really look like their real-life counterparts, aside from a similar build, hair color, and age.

I'm going to copy and paste this from the UM Locations picture thread. The Nightmare Next Door episode finally helped me pinpoint these spots...

The Nixon home on Palmer Street in Au Sable Forks, NY.

http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad64/andy80_bucket/Kari2_zpsfbcbed74.png

The little market where Kari bought milk, soda and a bag of chips for her father around 9:45 p.m. It's called Home Town Deli & Bakery today.

http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad64/andy80_bucket/Kari1_zpse9a88f20.png

An overhead shot to show the distance between the store and the Nixon home which looks about 2 blocks.

http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad64/andy80_bucket/Kari3_zps0e2a936c.png

This last photo is a guess on my part of the spot where Robert Jones abducted Kari at gunpoint. It happened 700 feet from her home on Palmer Street which would be approximately a little over a block. If this isn't the spot, it's very close to it.

http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad64/andy80_bucket/Kari4_zpsc0729021.png

She must have been walking back by going down AuSable Street, turning left on Shaw Street, then right on Palmer Street just as she got approached. She must have been walking on the sidewalk on the right (in the pic) because it would have been a bit more difficult to approach her in one's vehicle if she was on the left sidewalk (possibility of oncoming traffic).

I wish she would have screamed as loud as she could. I doubt he would have shot her right there (as he presumably threatened her that way to get her in his vehicle). It probably would have made him drive off but I also understand that this is much easier to say unless you have actually been in that situation (and also in hindsight).

Found this episode online and can't get through it due to the horrendous narration and music.

Mods you can delete this is it's not allowed, but I just can't get past a parent asking their child, much less a girl child, to go out at night, much less late at night to walk to the store for them. Why didn't dad just jump in his car and go? I never let my daughter walk down the road to the store in daylight alone, much less at night. This death did not have to happen if dad had drove her to the store or went himself.

I'm sorry but there is something kind of lame about a man prying his daughter away from studying to be a camp counselor at 10 p.m. to get snacks for him when she clearly doesn't want to go AND not staying awake the few minutes she is gone AND not conclusively identifying that she made it home AND not realizing her disappearance to the next morning. Lame. Trust me, there is a reason UM glossed over all that and just simply said that Kari "ran an errand" for her father.

I know that television shows are frequenty prohibited from mentioning or showing brand names. Often times you will see a familiar product with the brand name blackened out or altered or partially obscured. Perhaps they can't mention UM for a similar reason. Being that the ID show also talked trash about UM, I can see why they wouldn't mention it by name as to not provoke a bigger backlash.


I didn't go back and read the thread until after I posted. I totally agree with your post. Kari didn't have to die that night if dad had got off his lazy butt and went to the store himself.

I didn't go back and read the thread until after I posted. I totally agree with your post. Kari didn't have to die that night if dad had got off his lazy butt and went to the store himself.

I'm not going to delete your post. I think, honestly, Kari's death serves as a commentary that one can never be too careful. I'm sure her parents thought they lived in a safe neighborhood and that at Kari's age, she'd be perfectly safe walking the short distance to and from the store.

I guarantee you there is nothing that we could say that Kari's father hasn't already thought to himself. I'm sure the guilt must weigh heavy on him. :(

I did get a chance to watch this and there was a few things that weren't mentioned in the UM segment. They said that Kari was very thoughtful and always thinking of others and was mature, helping mother her younger 3 siblings. Not really a huge detail but it said that Kari really didn't want to go to the store that night. She was studying a manual for an upcoming job. She asked her sister to go with her but she was tired and didn't want to. While she was gone her parents both went to sleep on the couch. The mother woke up long enough to go to bed and didn't realize Kari wasn't home. The dad woke up from the couch around 1am and checked on the snacks he sent Kari to get and said he went and checked on her in her bed and thought he felt her in bed (but apparently he was mistaken). They did say it was featured on a "tv crime show" once again not giving UM the credit it deserves. There were 600 leads as a result of the UM segment with supposed sightings as far away as Tahiti. The case went cold and then the detective in charge gets a call from a lawyer representing a man and they want to speak. Robert Jones was about to go on trial for bank robbery and his wife was also being charged since she drove the getaway car for one of the robberies. They had two children together and he didn't want his wife to get a prison sentence so he told police that he killed Kari to get his wife probation. He said he was visiting his parents in Ausable Forks that night and he was mad at his wife whom he believed was cheating on him. Was trying to get back at his wife somehow so abducted Kari and took her to a cabin in the woods and raped her. He told her he would take her back to her parents house but was of course lying as while still in the woods he strangled and then shot her twice and buried her out there. What a horrible story. :( Kari's mother and sister Lori were interviewed in the show.

I was sickened to read that after pleading guilty to Kari's rape and murder AND 2 bank robberies he only received 18 years. He was up for parole in 2011 but was denied. I heard that he was up for parole again in August 2013 and just found out it was denied again thankfully! Here is a Facebook page to help keep him from getting parole.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Keep-Kari-Nixons-Killer-In-Prison/220009551357496
Can somebody who knows more about the law or legal angle explain to me how someone who rapes and murders a 16 year old only gets 18 years in prison and/or is eligible for parole? I find it hard to believe that would fetch anything less than life in prison, let alone an 18 year sentence

Edit: I actually read that it was 18 to life, not just 18 years. That still seems unusually light, paired with the fact that he's eligible for parole

Can somebody who knows more about the law or legal angle explain to me how someone who rapes and murders a 16 year old only gets 18 years in prison and/or is eligible for parole? I find it hard to believe that would fetch anything less than life in prison, let alone an 18 year sentence

Edit: I actually read that it was 18 to life, not just 18 years. That still seems unusually light, paired with the fact that he's eligible for parole

Most "life" sentences are in actuality something like 25 years to life. "Life without the possibility of parole" isn't an option in an option in every jurisdiction in my experience and even when it is an option isn't used often enough in my experience. Given that Jones plead to Kari's murder rather than being found guilty, most plea bargains are a negotiation that result in a reduced sentence of some sort.

Unfortunately, that's just the way it works to keep cases flowing through the system sometimes.

I guarantee you there is nothing that we could say that Kari's father hasn't already thought to himself. I'm sure the guilt must weigh heavy on him. :(

Well said. My initial reaction was "he should have gotten his own damn funyuns!", which is true, but my God...what that man must live with every day of his life for 3 decades now.

Most "life" sentences are in actuality something like 25 years to life. "Life without the possibility of parole" isn't an option in an option in every jurisdiction in my experience and even when it is an option isn't used often enough in my experience. Given that Jones plead to Kari's murder rather than being found guilty, most plea bargains are a negotiation that result in a reduced sentence of some sort.

Unfortunately, that's just the way it works to keep cases flowing through the system sometimes.

It just aired again and I found this thread to see if you guys noticed all the points I did. 600 false sightings, wow! We can't all blame just that one lady for being wrong! Also about being aggravated with Kari's father for all the reasons given but we could never heap on him the sort of remorse he must have lived with the rest of his life.

UM taught us a lot of things. Don't go in the back of a store. Don't drink cold medicine. Don't drive your car into the woods twice. Don't ignore torturous screams.

It really has completely altered the way I would handle a lot of the situations seen on the show. I agree that she should have screamed and ran. That was her best chance for survival, and I feel certain the attacker would have just driven off.

I think a lot of the murder cases on the show, and in general, are committed by people who have already decided what they're going to do before they commit the crime. There's a couple where it escalated out of their control or differently than they expected and they felt they had to kill, but most of the time if they're going to kill you then they're going to kill you, regardless of what you do. I'd take my chances running and screaming versus negotiating in a secluded place.

UM taught us a lot of things. Don't go in the back of a store. Don't drink cold medicine. Don't drive your car into the woods twice. Don't ignore torturous screams.

It really has completely altered the way I would handle a lot of the situations seen on the show. I agree that she should have screamed and ran. That was her best chance for survival, and I feel certain the attacker would have just driven off.

I think a lot of the murder cases on the show, and in general, are committed by people who have already decided what they're going to do before they commit the crime. There's a couple where it escalated out of their control or differently than they expected and they felt they had to kill, but most of the time if they're going to kill you then they're going to kill you, regardless of what you do. I'd take my chances running and screaming versus negotiating in a secluded place.

Self-defense classes always teach don't let anyone take you to a second location. This saved the life of a realtor raped, robbed, and would have been murdered by a would-be client, and would have saved the Yosemite victims had they followed some basic rules.

Well said. My initial reaction was "he should have gotten his own damn funyuns!", which is true, but my God...what that man must live with every day of his life for 3 decades now.

My god, I can only imagine the internal grief he experiences (unsure if he is even still living) for this.

But in reality, there was a lot more innocence back then. Or if not innocence, evil was not as well known. (I have heard older people say that bad stuff still happened in their generation, just it was not as well known as it is now)

As previously mentioned, UM taught us a lot.

My god, I can only imagine the internal grief he experiences (unsure if he is even still living) for this.

But in reality, there was a lot more innocence back then. Or if not innocence, evil was not as well known. (I have heard older people say that bad stuff still happened in their generation, just it was not as well known as it is now)

As previously mentioned, UM taught us a lot.

Gary Nixon passed away in 2011 and was predeceased by two of his four children.

https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=174299783

https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=73254206

https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=31844940

Are there any updates on the killer's parole? I read an article from 2016, but after that I didn't find anything.

http://www.cnhi.com/featured_stories/mother-seeks-parole-denial-to-keep-daughter-s-killer-behind/article_05029686-370d-11e6-9eca-c72389a3fe98.html

It says "when the inmate was denied parole last August, at his most recent biennial hearing, Kathy Nixon breathed a sigh of relief, believing she could set her fears aside until the summer of 2017."

He is still in prison and will be up for parole again in 2019

Gary Nixon passed away in 2011 and was predeceased by two of his four children.

Ugh. That family has had it pretty rough. :(

Just saw the UM segment on KLN (S01, EP24). Since this was the first time I saw the episode, I did not know ahead of time that they later realized what happened to her & caught the perp. - until the "Update" at the end of the segment. What this perp. did to this innocent young woman was heinous & sickening. I can't believe he's been eligible for parole. He needs to rot in prison, forever.

It's unfortunate that the family may have had false hope over the years (before they find out what happened in 1994) - due to their being told that KLN may have still been alive, re: the false sightings of her over the years. The "alleged" sighting of her in NC was the most convincing, but was obviously just a false lead.

I don't blame the father at all. I know someone who grew up in Au Sable Forks. It's tiny. It's peaceful.

Sixteen year olds routinely get sent to the store for their parents. It's as much about fostering responsibility in the kid as it is a division of labor. It's just like any other chore.

Agree completely with all of this. There is no way KLN's father would have known that this was going to happen. The town was (or at least seemed) safe; the store wasn't that far away; and, yes - it's a good idea for teens to help their families with shopping/chores, and is a preparation for adulthood/adult responsibilities.

Just saw the UM segment on KLN (S01, EP24). Since this was the first time I saw the episode, I did not know ahead of time that they later realized what happened to her & caught the perp. - until the "Update" at the end of the segment. What this perp. did to this innocent young woman was heinous & sickening. I can't believe he's been eligible for parole. He needs to rot in prison, forever.

It's unfortunate that the family may have had false hope over the years (before they find out what happened in 1994) - due to their being told that KLN may have still been alive, re: the false sightings of her over the years. The "alleged" sighting of her in NC was the most convincing, but was obviously just a false lead.



Agree completely with all of this. There is no way KLN's father would have known that this was going to happen. The town was (or at least seemed) safe; the store wasn't that far away; and, yes - it's a good idea for teens to help their families with shopping/chores, and is a preparation for adulthood/adult responsibilities.

I agree. I saw on some other sites some people blamed Gary Nixon, that's just insanity. If he had sent her out in downtown Chicago or Detroit that would be one thing, but this was a small town in upstate New York of like 500 people. Where she had walked the streets many times. The odds of what happened to Kari would have to have been astronomical even today, much less in 1987. He had no way of knowing that a creep like Jones was hanging around or he no doubt would never have sent her out. The way I understood it Jones saw her in the market and seeing a sick opportunity followed her home. Its incredibly sad, if she had left fifteen minutes earlier or later, he probably would never have seen her and she'd be alive today. Gary Nixon had to be in his own personal Hell with guilt the last 24 years of his life

I agree. I saw on some other sites some people blamed Gary Nixon, that's just insanity. If he had sent her out in downtown Chicago or Detroit that would be one thing, but this was a small town in upstate New York of like 500 people. Where she had walked the streets many times. The odds of what happened to Kari would have to have been astronomical even today, much less in 1987.

Agree with this 200%. I never like it when I hear about parents/guardians being blamed when something like this happens to kids. Anyone that says something like this is completely wrong. It wasn't the parents' fault, it was the fault of the sickos who victimized these innocent children/young adults :mad:

I myself grew up in the '80's and was only a little older than KLN when this happened to her in '87. Granted, I'm male - but well remember the era/time period. I was fairly independent as a pre-teen/teen & did go out on my own (or with friends) plenty of times growing up, without adult supervision. I.e., even before I learned to drive I was walking/riding my bike everywhere around my area - during the day & sometimes at night.