THE DARK SIDE OF NEBRASKA
Ben West
#36511
photo courtesy NDCS
Full Name: Ben West
DOB: March 26, 1954
Charge: 1st degree murder
County: Douglas
City: Omaha
Current Status: Lincoln Correctional Center
Date of Crime: November 26, 1984
Victim: Mary Rost & Doug Weaver
DOB: March 26, 1954
Charge: 1st degree murder
County: Douglas
City: Omaha
Current Status: Lincoln Correctional Center
Date of Crime: November 26, 1984
Victim: Mary Rost & Doug Weaver
Ben West met Mary Rost in Estherville, Iowa, on June 29, 1984, while he was employed as an over-the-road truck driver. When Mary moved to Omaha to attend nursing school, Ben found employment in Omaha and moved into an apartment with Mary on October 9.
Ben spent Thanksgiving, November 22, at the home he maintained in Wahoo, while Mary entertained her ex-husband and two children overnight in Omaha for the holiday. After her guests left on Saturday, Mary attended a wedding in Wahoo and spent the night with Ben at his home. The couple returned to their Omaha apartment separately on Sunday.
At 2:45 AM, Monday, November 26, a neighbor in the apartment building saw Doug Weaver, from Estherville, Iowa, in the hallway and heard him calling out softly to Mary. Mary answered the door, went back into the apartment, got dressed, told Ben she was going to talk with Doug Weaver, and left the building laughing with Doug's arm around her. When Ben awoke at 4 AM, Mary had not returned, and did not return before he left for work. Ben started to write a note to Mary but changed his mind.
Ben worked from 6 AM to 2 PM and then returned to the apartment. Again, there was no one there when he arrived, but Mary had left a note. "Dear Ben, the clothes...Doug will be going home this evening. I'll call you. Love, Mary." At trial, Ben testified that he did not understand the cryptic note, however, a possible explanation of the note is suggested by the testimony of Mary's ex-husband that he searched the apartment for men's clothing on Friday, November 23, finding none, but when he returned to the apartment on November 27, after Mary's death, he found Ben's clothing in a dresser he had searched four days earlier. Ben denied having moved the clothes himself.
Jim Rost, the victim's former husband, also testified that he had left some money in the apartment when he left with the children on Saturday morning. Mary found it later and called to thank him. This may have been the money Ben referred to in the note he wrote in response: "Dear Mary, No clothes. No Doug. Was he supposed to have been sleeping here or something? I don't remember leaving $20 under your earring box. (over) I need to get to the courthouse in Wahoo yet today. Will be home here 5-6 PM. Love, Ben." These two notes were found in the kitchen wastebasket on December 15.
Ben drove to his Wahoo home which takes 30 to 45 minutes, picked up his mail at a neighbor's house, and went to the courthouse to register a deed. Betty Patzloff, the Saunders County Assessor, saw Ben at the courthouse sometime after 3:00, and the register of deeds noted in the document was that it was completed at 4 PM on November 26, 1984. Ben drove the 30-45 minutes return trip to the Omaha apartment, according to his testimony, had a conversation there with Mary concerning Doug, his fight with his wife, and some sausages that were spoiling in Mary's fridge. Ben testified further that he then left the apartment, went to the nearby Guns Unlimited to check a sale he had seen advertised, and shopped at Shopko and Ace Hardware for a rubber mallet.
Ben testified that it was only when he returned to the apartment for the night and found Mary and Doug together that he had any idea that Mary was not alone. He had assumed that Doug returned to Iowa earlier in the day. The cash register receipt for the Winchester-Western .38 special caliber round nose cartridges Ben purchased showed that the transaction took place at 4:40 PM, and a fellow resident of the apartment building, Steven Apfel, testified that he saw a tall man dressed in a green jacket in the couple's apartment at 5 PM when he returned home from work. The green fatigue jacket Ben wore when he was arrested was admitted into evidence.
These time constraints, and other evidence, tends to show that the more likely course of events is that upon returning to the apartment early, Ben observed Mary and Doug's vehicles parked side-by-side in front of the apartment building. His suspicion already aroused by Mary's early morning departure and her later note, Ben drove to Guns Unlimited without confronting them. After purchasing cartridges that fit the Ruger model Magnum revolver he carried in his pickup.
Ben returned to the parking lot of the Citadel apartment complex but parked in front of another building one-tenth of a mile away from, and out of sight of, the couple's apartment. He parked in that location even though there were parking spaces available near the apartment. Ben removed the revolver from it's box, and finding a cartridge case containing six hollow-point bullets, he loaded the handgun with those more destructive bullets and placed it in the waistband of his trousers under his fatigue jacket. Although Ben explained that he was taking the gun into the house simply because he was not planning to go out to his vehicle again that evening, other important items were found in the pickup, including the cartridges that he had just purchased, the box he kept the handgun in, the lunchbox he took to work daily, a briefcase containing banking and personal papers, and a zippered portfolio. These items were left neatly behind despite Ben's complaints of recent vandalism in the parking lot.
When he entered the apartment, Ben found Mary and Doug engaged in sex in the bedroom. Ben testified that the three exchanged words, and at one point, when Mary approached Ben, he pushed her back on the bed. Ben said that his handgun was not visible to Mary or Doug until Doug asked for more time alone with Mary. Ben explained that he lost control upon hearing that request. Ben emptied his handgun, firing two shots into Doug and four into Mary. At about 5:15 PM, Steven Apfel, in the apartment above, heard "several sharp tapping noises" and a thud. Both of Doug's wounds and three of Mary's would have proved fatal if sustained alone.
At 5:34 PM, Ben called 911 and reported that he had shot his girlfriend and another guy. He did not report that the victims were dead, rather, he asked that the operator hurry and send help. When officers arrived, they ordered Ben to step outside. Ben complied and was taken into custody. When officers asked if anyone else was inside, he replied that he had shot the victims in the apartment. About 15 to 20 minutes after the police arrived, Ben became incoherent, shaking his head and repeating "No." Eventually Ben was taken to the hospital for psychiatric evaluation.
According to Ben's testimony, Doug was lying on his back when he entered the apartment and remained on his back throughout the confrontation, rising to his elbow as they talked. Doug's body was found lying diagonally on the bed on its back. However, the autopsy of Doug showed that one bullet entered the chest under his left arm, passing straight across the chest through both lungs and the heart, coming to rest just beneath the skin under the right nipple. The other bullet entered the back of the left side of the chest to the right of the shoulder blade, striking the heart and lodging itself beneath the skin under the left nipple. Since Ben was at the foot of the bed when he entered the bedroom, it is difficult to understand how Doug sustained the gunshot wounds he did while lying on his back.
Ben spent Thanksgiving, November 22, at the home he maintained in Wahoo, while Mary entertained her ex-husband and two children overnight in Omaha for the holiday. After her guests left on Saturday, Mary attended a wedding in Wahoo and spent the night with Ben at his home. The couple returned to their Omaha apartment separately on Sunday.
At 2:45 AM, Monday, November 26, a neighbor in the apartment building saw Doug Weaver, from Estherville, Iowa, in the hallway and heard him calling out softly to Mary. Mary answered the door, went back into the apartment, got dressed, told Ben she was going to talk with Doug Weaver, and left the building laughing with Doug's arm around her. When Ben awoke at 4 AM, Mary had not returned, and did not return before he left for work. Ben started to write a note to Mary but changed his mind.
Ben worked from 6 AM to 2 PM and then returned to the apartment. Again, there was no one there when he arrived, but Mary had left a note. "Dear Ben, the clothes...Doug will be going home this evening. I'll call you. Love, Mary." At trial, Ben testified that he did not understand the cryptic note, however, a possible explanation of the note is suggested by the testimony of Mary's ex-husband that he searched the apartment for men's clothing on Friday, November 23, finding none, but when he returned to the apartment on November 27, after Mary's death, he found Ben's clothing in a dresser he had searched four days earlier. Ben denied having moved the clothes himself.
Jim Rost, the victim's former husband, also testified that he had left some money in the apartment when he left with the children on Saturday morning. Mary found it later and called to thank him. This may have been the money Ben referred to in the note he wrote in response: "Dear Mary, No clothes. No Doug. Was he supposed to have been sleeping here or something? I don't remember leaving $20 under your earring box. (over) I need to get to the courthouse in Wahoo yet today. Will be home here 5-6 PM. Love, Ben." These two notes were found in the kitchen wastebasket on December 15.
Ben drove to his Wahoo home which takes 30 to 45 minutes, picked up his mail at a neighbor's house, and went to the courthouse to register a deed. Betty Patzloff, the Saunders County Assessor, saw Ben at the courthouse sometime after 3:00, and the register of deeds noted in the document was that it was completed at 4 PM on November 26, 1984. Ben drove the 30-45 minutes return trip to the Omaha apartment, according to his testimony, had a conversation there with Mary concerning Doug, his fight with his wife, and some sausages that were spoiling in Mary's fridge. Ben testified further that he then left the apartment, went to the nearby Guns Unlimited to check a sale he had seen advertised, and shopped at Shopko and Ace Hardware for a rubber mallet.
Ben testified that it was only when he returned to the apartment for the night and found Mary and Doug together that he had any idea that Mary was not alone. He had assumed that Doug returned to Iowa earlier in the day. The cash register receipt for the Winchester-Western .38 special caliber round nose cartridges Ben purchased showed that the transaction took place at 4:40 PM, and a fellow resident of the apartment building, Steven Apfel, testified that he saw a tall man dressed in a green jacket in the couple's apartment at 5 PM when he returned home from work. The green fatigue jacket Ben wore when he was arrested was admitted into evidence.
These time constraints, and other evidence, tends to show that the more likely course of events is that upon returning to the apartment early, Ben observed Mary and Doug's vehicles parked side-by-side in front of the apartment building. His suspicion already aroused by Mary's early morning departure and her later note, Ben drove to Guns Unlimited without confronting them. After purchasing cartridges that fit the Ruger model Magnum revolver he carried in his pickup.
Ben returned to the parking lot of the Citadel apartment complex but parked in front of another building one-tenth of a mile away from, and out of sight of, the couple's apartment. He parked in that location even though there were parking spaces available near the apartment. Ben removed the revolver from it's box, and finding a cartridge case containing six hollow-point bullets, he loaded the handgun with those more destructive bullets and placed it in the waistband of his trousers under his fatigue jacket. Although Ben explained that he was taking the gun into the house simply because he was not planning to go out to his vehicle again that evening, other important items were found in the pickup, including the cartridges that he had just purchased, the box he kept the handgun in, the lunchbox he took to work daily, a briefcase containing banking and personal papers, and a zippered portfolio. These items were left neatly behind despite Ben's complaints of recent vandalism in the parking lot.
When he entered the apartment, Ben found Mary and Doug engaged in sex in the bedroom. Ben testified that the three exchanged words, and at one point, when Mary approached Ben, he pushed her back on the bed. Ben said that his handgun was not visible to Mary or Doug until Doug asked for more time alone with Mary. Ben explained that he lost control upon hearing that request. Ben emptied his handgun, firing two shots into Doug and four into Mary. At about 5:15 PM, Steven Apfel, in the apartment above, heard "several sharp tapping noises" and a thud. Both of Doug's wounds and three of Mary's would have proved fatal if sustained alone.
At 5:34 PM, Ben called 911 and reported that he had shot his girlfriend and another guy. He did not report that the victims were dead, rather, he asked that the operator hurry and send help. When officers arrived, they ordered Ben to step outside. Ben complied and was taken into custody. When officers asked if anyone else was inside, he replied that he had shot the victims in the apartment. About 15 to 20 minutes after the police arrived, Ben became incoherent, shaking his head and repeating "No." Eventually Ben was taken to the hospital for psychiatric evaluation.
According to Ben's testimony, Doug was lying on his back when he entered the apartment and remained on his back throughout the confrontation, rising to his elbow as they talked. Doug's body was found lying diagonally on the bed on its back. However, the autopsy of Doug showed that one bullet entered the chest under his left arm, passing straight across the chest through both lungs and the heart, coming to rest just beneath the skin under the right nipple. The other bullet entered the back of the left side of the chest to the right of the shoulder blade, striking the heart and lodging itself beneath the skin under the left nipple. Since Ben was at the foot of the bed when he entered the bedroom, it is difficult to understand how Doug sustained the gunshot wounds he did while lying on his back.
Source: Justia US Law