Wesley Harms Peery: Convicted Murderer and Suspected Serial Killer
Early Life and Criminal Background
Wesley Harms Peery was born on August 19, 1924, in Lincoln, Nebraska. Although he is frequently described as a serial killer, only one murder was conclusively proven against him in court. Peery later reportedly confessed to the murder of Nancy Parker and claimed responsibility for additional killings in several states. Because most of those alleged victims were never publicly identified and the confessions were not tested at trial, he is more accurately described as a convicted murderer and suspected serial killer.
Peery developed an extensive criminal record involving burglary, armed robbery, abduction, sexual assault and repeated acts of violence. His history demonstrated a pattern of using firearms to control victims and committing new offenses shortly after being released from custody. By the time he was convicted of murder in the 1970s, he had spent most of his adult life in jails or prisons.
Early Violence and Imprisonment
In 1947, Peery was convicted of escaping from custody. The offense reportedly involved overpowering and robbing a jailer. The following year, he was convicted of participating in an armed robbery in which masked gunmen held up a service-station attendant and a customer. He received a ten-year prison sentence.
Peery was released in 1955, but his freedom was brief. On January 15, 1956, he burglarized the Lincoln residence of E. H. Masters, an assistant chief of police, and stole a .38-caliber Colt Detective Special revolver and its holster. Six days later, on January 21, Peery used a firearm to stop a woman driving near Gretna, Nebraska.
The victim, Mary Billingsley, was forced from her automobile at gunpoint and ordered into Peery’s vehicle. He drove her to an isolated location and sexually assaulted her. Billingsley survived and later identified Peery. He was convicted and sentenced to ten years, although the Nebraska Supreme Court subsequently reversed the sexual-assault conviction because it found that the evidence did not satisfy the state’s legal corroboration requirement. Peery’s separate burglary conviction was upheld.
Crimes in Ohio
While free on bond during an appeal in 1957, Peery traveled to Columbus, Ohio. On September 22, 1957, he stole an automobile and began committing robberies while armed with a sawed-off shotgun. He pleaded guilty to at least three robberies and received sentences totaling between 30 and 75 years.
Peery also admitted robbing and sexually assaulting a woman who was approximately seven and one-half months pregnant. According to information later reviewed during his Nebraska murder sentencing, he told Ohio prison officials that he had participated in numerous robberies. He claimed that as many as 26 robberies had occurred, although he attempted to minimize his role by saying he had been involved in only some of them.
On January 16, 1958, Peery attempted to escape while appearing in court on the Ohio charges. He climbed through a transom in a secure holding room and reached the courthouse roof. After entering the courthouse library, he struck a librarian in the head with a wooden board. The librarian suffered a relatively minor injury, and Peery was recaptured.
Murder of Marianne Mitzner
Peery’s only judicially established murder occurred in Lincoln in 1975. Marianne Mitzner operated the Mitzner Rare Coin Shop with her husband at 6106 Havelock Avenue. On the morning of June 6, 1975, she went to the business and was attacked inside the shop.
Mitzner was tightly bound by her hands and feet and gagged. She was taken to a bathroom at the rear of the store and shot three times in the head with a .22-caliber firearm. One bullet entered through her mouth. The pathologist estimated that she died between approximately 9:00 and 10:30 that morning. Her son later discovered her body.
The killer removed cash, watches and a large quantity of collectible coins. The stolen property reportedly included hundreds of silver quarters, half-dollars, silver dollars, Canadian coins and foreign coins. Investigators placed Peery in the immediate area because his employer, Nebraska Wesleyan University, had sent him to a locksmith shop near the coin store that morning.
A .22-caliber revolver belonging to Mary Blazek, the woman with whom Peery was living, had disappeared shortly before the murder. The weapon was never recovered, but its rifling characteristics were consistent with the bullet fragments recovered during Mitzner’s autopsy. Instructions and warranty materials for the revolver were found in Peery’s apartment.
Police also found 139 silver quarters hidden in a locked ammunition box at Blazek’s residence. A key on Peery’s keychain opened the box. Kenneth Mitzner identified the coins as being of the kind stolen from the shop, and some displayed distinctive cleaning and lacquer treatments used by the business.
The rope used to bind Marianne Mitzner was scientifically compared with rope from Peery’s workplace. An FBI examiner concluded that the material could have originated from the same roll. A cloth found at the scene was also similar to industrial rags supplied to Nebraska Wesleyan University. Biological evidence on the gag was consistent with Peery’s blood-group secretion characteristics.
Additional stolen silver coins appeared in vending machines at locations Peery visited. A tag from an Enicar watch, the type sold at the coin shop, was found in his automobile. A witness also testified that before the crime Peery had asked for a gun and said he was tired of being broke and wanted to commit a major robbery.
Peery denied killing Mitzner and suggested that another man was responsible. The jury rejected his account and found him guilty of first-degree murder and robbery. He was sentenced to death for the murder and received a consecutive prison term of 16 to 50 years for the robbery. His conviction and death sentence were upheld during repeated appeals.
Confession to the Murder of Nancy Parker
Nancy Parker was killed in her Lincoln home on December 14, 1955. Her husband, Darrel Parker, returned home during his lunch break and found the 22-year-old woman dead. She had been sexually assaulted, beaten and strangled.
Investigators focused on Darrel Parker despite the absence of physical evidence conclusively placing him as the killer. Following an intensive interrogation, authorities claimed that he confessed. Parker immediately disputed the account, but he was convicted of first-degree murder in 1956 and sentenced to life imprisonment.
While incarcerated, Wesley Peery reportedly confessed to his attorneys that he had raped and murdered Nancy Parker. The confession was protected by attorney-client confidentiality, and Peery instructed his lawyers not to reveal it while he was alive. After Peery died, the information became an important part of the effort to clear Darrel Parker.
Darrel Parker was eventually pardoned in 1991. Nebraska later formally recognized his wrongful conviction, apologized and awarded compensation. Peery was never prosecuted for Nancy Parker’s murder because his confession was not disclosed until after his death. Although the confession has been widely credited, responsibility for the crime was therefore never established against him through a criminal trial.
Known and Reported Victims
- Nancy Parker — December 14, 1955 — Lincoln, Nebraska: The 22-year-old victim was sexually assaulted, beaten and strangled inside her home at 3200 Sumner Street. Her husband, Darrel Parker, was wrongfully convicted. Peery reportedly confessed to the murder through his attorneys, but the confession was not disclosed until after Peery’s death.
- Marianne Mitzner — June 6, 1975 — Lincoln, Nebraska: Mitzner was bound, gagged and shot three times in the head inside the Mitzner Rare Coin Shop at 6106 Havelock Avenue. Peery stole cash, watches and collectible coins. He was convicted of her first-degree murder and the accompanying robbery.
Unidentified Alleged Victims
Peery reportedly told his attorneys that he had committed several additional murders in Nebraska, Oregon, Illinois, Missouri and Ohio. Some accounts attribute as many as eight killings to him. However, publicly available records do not provide verified names, dates or locations for most of these alleged victims.
Because Peery’s additional claims were not revealed until after his death, investigators had limited opportunity to question him, test the details of his statements or compare them with unresolved cases. No unidentified or uncertain victims should therefore be presented as confirmed murders. The available evidence conclusively establishes the murder of Marianne Mitzner, while the killing of Nancy Parker is supported by Peery’s reported posthumous confession.
Death and Legacy
Wesley Harms Peery remained on Nebraska’s death row while pursuing challenges to his conviction and sentence. He was never executed. On July 3, 1988, he died from a heart ailment at the Nebraska State Penitentiary in Lincoln. He was 63 years old.
Peery left behind a record of persistent and escalating violence. His known crimes included armed robbery, burglary, abduction, sexual assault, escape attempts and murder. His reported confession to Nancy Parker’s killing also exposed one of Nebraska’s most notorious wrongful convictions.
The full number of Peery’s victims remains uncertain. His conviction proves that he murdered Marianne Mitzner, and his confession strongly associates him with Nancy Parker’s death. Claims that he killed additional people across several states remain unresolved, making him a suspected serial killer whose complete criminal history may never be known.
