The man accused of stabbing to death a small-town Nebraska priest was found lying across him in the shape of a human cross, court documents show.
Rev. Stephen Gutgsell, a priest at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Fort Calhoun, was found mortally wounded in his rectory early Sunday after calling 911 to report an intruder with a knife, an affidavit showed.
The dispatcher heard a struggle, and when an officer arrived, a man yelled, “I’m here” — and then “Help me!,” the documents say.
The 65-year-old priest was found lying near the kitchen bleeding profusely from wounds on his face, hands and back.
The suspect — identified as Kierre Williams, 43 — was lying perpendicularly on top of a bloodied Gutgsell, with his back on top of the priest’s chest, the charging docs say.
A bloody knife was found later next to a large pool of blood in a bedroom in the rectory, which is next door to the Catholic church.
The priest later died at an Omaha hospital.
The documents did not detail any motive for the attack except to say the killing happened during a burglary. There is no mention of any prior connection between Williams and the 65-year-old priest, and the responding officer said that Gutgsell had shouted out there was “an intruder” with him.
Williams faces first-degree murder, burglary, and weapons charges.
He has been convicted of crimes across several states, including a drug possession case in Texas and over a dozen cases in Florida. Most recently, he was charged with misdemeanor assault for a soup kitchen fight in Sioux City, Iowa in July.
Gutgsell also had a criminal history. In 2007, the priest pleaded guilty to theft by deception for embezzling $127,000 from an area church. He was sentenced to probation and ordered to pay restitution before being reassigned to a different church.
Church leaders forgave Gutsell, saying he learned his lesson, admitted wrongdoing and sought forgiveness.
Earlier this year, his brother Rev. Michael Gutgsell also pled guilty to theft charges. His brother told WOWT-TV that authorities did not believe his brother’s death was related to his criminal history.
Gutgsell’s stabbing was the second slaying in Fort Calhoun this year, both of which happened during break-ins, authorities said.
With Post wires.