Jon Yount Dead from Suicide at 74

[Zoneboy]

Link

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) - A coroner says a western Pennsylvania man behind bars for a notorious 1966 murder has committed suicide in his state prison cell in Greene County.

Seventy-4-year-old Jon Yount took his own life just days before the 46-year anniversary of the rape and murder of Pamela Sue Rimer on April 28, 1966.

Yount stopped the DuBois Area High School senior as she walked home from her school bus stop. The math teacher beat, raped and stabbed his 18-year-old student before slitting her throat and leaving her to die in the woods near her Luthersburg home.

He walked away from prison detail at SCI Rockview in 1986 and fled with pen pal-turned-girlfriend Diane Brodbeck, who left her family for the convict.

They were caught in Idaho in 1988, when the case appeared on the television show "Unsolved Mysteries."

[justins5256]

Originally Posted by Zoneboy

Link

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) - A coroner says a western Pennsylvania man behind bars for a notorious 1966 murder has committed suicide in his state prison cell in Greene County.

Seventy-4-year-old Jon Yount took his own life just days before the 46-year anniversary of the rape and murder of Pamela Sue Rimer on April 28, 1966.

Yount stopped the DuBois Area High School senior as she walked home from her school bus stop. The math teacher beat, raped and stabbed his 18-year-old student before slitting her throat and leaving her to die in the woods near her Luthersburg home.

He walked away from prison detail at SCI Rockview in 1986 and fled with pen pal-turned-girlfriend Diane Brodbeck, who left her family for the convict.

They were caught in Idaho in 1988, when the case appeared on the television show "Unsolved Mysteries."

Woah. I can't believe this. A part of me wonders if Diane Brodbeck knows.

[TheCars1986]

Good riddance!

[DarkDante]

I wonder if the realization that he was likely to live out the rest of his days in prison finally got to him?

For those who don't know Yount was extremely active while in this prison system and became an advocate of sorts for prisoners rights. While I understand that is a controversial issue for some, it should be noted that Yount wasn't exactly wasting away his days behind bars. Yount also had family on the outside including a daughter.

From what I understand, Yount also believed that he was never going be paroled from prison due to the nature of his crime and the fact that every time he was up for a parole hearing there was still an outcry from the local community to see him stay behind bars.

I guess I'm a bit surprised to see that Yount took his own life since he seemed to be resigned to the fact that he was going to live out his life in prison and despite his escape with Brodbeck had adapted to life on the inside.

If anything I hope this brings some closure to the mother of Pamela Rimer who according to this article was still carrying a heavy burden over the loss of her daughter over forty years ago.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ills-jail.html

EDIT: I need to read these articles a little bit more carefully. Rimer's mother passed away two years ago.

[WishfulDreamer]

Originally Posted by TheCars1986

Good riddance!

I won't deny it. That's exact what I thought when I read it.


DarkDante, that article gave me goosebumps all over. I've definitely had the experience of being around a creepy guy and noting how freaky their eyes look so hearing that the victim said so scared me. I've had the same conversation with my mother about that kind of thing. So I'm guessing that he pulled her into the car and she didn't get in like in the reenactment on UM? Because it sounds like she wouldn't have gotten into the car.


Yount always infuriated me, particularly his attitude about the crime. "You just don't know what it's like to be with a hysterical 18-year-old" he said, as if justifying his crime by saying that he panicked. No, you FOOL, maybe if you hadn't beaten her, raped, and stabbed her then she wouldn't have been hysterical. Moron! I just cannot believe he tried to justify it, the cutting of her throat at the end, by saying something so stupid. And how he thought 20 years was enough. NO. He took an innocent girl's life. She didn't even live to see twenty. She lost her life so you don't deserve freedom to live yours out in society. I have no doubt he would have attacked others if he'd been freed. Thank you to whichever person decided he deserved no parole ever. Finally, some sanity abounds!

[DarkDante]

Originally Posted by WishfulDreamer

I won't deny it. That's exact what I thought when I read it.


DarkDante, that article gave me goosebumps all over. I've definitely had the experience of being around a creepy guy and noting how freaky their eyes look so hearing that the victim said so scared me. I've had the same conversation with my mother about that kind of thing. So I'm guessing that he pulled her into the car and she didn't get in like in the reenactment on UM? Because it sounds like she wouldn't have gotten into the car.

Yeah that always bothered me some as the UM made it sound like he offered her a ride home and she accepted. I don't doubt her mothers words but again it seems odd that UM portrayed it as a scenario where a teacher offered his student a ride home. This was a far more common occurrence forty years ago than it is today. Today, you can't even imagine a teacher offering a student a ride home particularly one of the opposite sex likely due to incidents such as what probably went down between Rimer and Yount. (read on)

Yount always infuriated me, particularly his attitude about the crime. "You just don't know what it's like to be with a hysterical 18-year-old" he said, as if justifying his crime by saying that he panicked. No, you FOOL, maybe if you hadn't beaten her, raped, and stabbed her then she wouldn't have been hysterical. Moron! I just cannot believe he tried to justify it, the cutting of her throat at the end, by saying something so stupid. And how he thought 20 years was enough. NO. He took an innocent girl's life. She didn't even live to see twenty. She lost her life so you don't deserve freedom to live yours out in society. I have no doubt he would have attacked others if he'd been freed. Thank you to whichever person decided he deserved no parole ever. Finally, some sanity abounds!

What I believe happened between Rimer and Yount is exactly what Yount said happened. It doesn't make his crime any less abominable but I believe he either approached her or accosted her in some type of sexual advance and she started screaming. This then escalated to where Yount did panic perhaps fearing all sorts of things and obviously ended up killing Rimer. Was it a crime of passion? In a manner of speaking I suppose but I believe first and foremost this crime was motivated by Yount's libido plain and simple.

Now I'm sure others will disagree with me but I believe that Jon Yount may have had a bit of a case for his parole. He committed a horrendous crime but there are a great many people who commit horrendous crimes and are paroled after serving a sentence in line with what Yount had served. As I mentioned what I believe kept Yount behind bars was two fold. First the age/relationship between him and his victim and second the public outcry whenever Yount was up for parole.

I believe that if Yount murdered his girlfriend or wife or perhaps even a stranger he would have seen parole perhaps even in the twenty year span he mentioned. While I wouldn't go so far to say he wouldn't be a threat to society if released, the fact that during his flight from justice with Brodbeck he was able to live a crime-free existence might speak of the fact that he was in fact a rehabilitated man. I make no claims either way but it's something to think about.

In closing my general feelings on this case are as follows. While I have no problem with Yount or anyone else for that matter living out the rest of his days in prison for such a crime, I do have an issue with the court of public opinion perhaps interfering in whether or not a prisoner sees parole which seems to be what may have happened in this case.

[crystaldawn]

I'm not sad to see him go. One article did say he was found hanging in his cell. He appeared to be in good health before his suicide and was recovering from hip replacement surgery. I wonder if he left a note.

[Uyersuyer]

Originally Posted by justins5256

Woah. I can't believe this. A part of me wonders if Diane Brodbeck knows.

Sorry for necroposting. Diane is my grandmother and I was wondering the same thing. I'm going to text my mom and ask.

Edit: I told my mother that Jon had killed himself in prison last year... her response was "I wonder if Nan knows?" No way I'm actually asking my grandma, so let's hope my mom has the balls to do it.