By Staff Writer Tim Miller
Thank you for checking out the first installment of Cold Case Investigations here at ReadersRoom.com. Always with the utmost respect for the victims, the purpose of this column is to bring unsolved cases to light so they may not be forgotten. The cases here are not national or high profile, but rather cases that have gone unsolved with little media attention.
This month's case is the twelve-year old murder of 16-year-old Kari Nunemaker, who disappeared on January 28, 1991 from Elkhart, Indiana. Kari was a student at Bethany Christian High School and loved working on a fashion magazine she sold to her friends and family during her summer breaks. On the night of January 28th, 1991 all of that changed.
According to the Elkhart Truth, Kari and her friend Beth were leaving the YMCA in Elkhart that night. Beth drove separately while Kari dropped off a boy she was with at a McDonald's on North Main Street where he'd left his car. She continued south on Main Street toward the railroad tracks. Details are unclear as to where Kari and Beth were separated. A train stopped Beth's car, but she took a shortcut to an underpass. Kari was new to Elkhart, so wasn't aware of the shortcut. She never made it home.
Two days later, Kari's maroon 1982 Chevy Cavalier was found in an alley off of Morton Street. Eight days later, her frozen body was found nude, strangled and sexually assaulted along a county road near Bonneville Mill Park. Clues were very few.
One of the original suspects was the boy she was with that night. According to Elkhart County police, his version of events had some inconsistencies, and he showed deceptiveness on a polygraph. That person has since hired an attorney and refuses to talk to police.
The other suspect is a man by the name of Fred Mott. He is currently serving time in a California prison for rape, but was out on parole at the time of the murder. According to Lt. Tom Cutler, of the Elkhart Police, his modus operandi was the same as Kari's killer. Kari Nunemaker had blonde hair and blue eyes, and sixteen years old, much like Mott's victims.
DNA tests at the time were unable to produce a match. Technology has improved since then, so police will try to get some of the DNA samples re-tested. It is a time consuming process since the state's crime lab has a two-year backlog.
In the meantime, Fred Mott sits in prison, while local police still try to find that one clue that breaks the case wide open. According to The Goshen News, Elkhart County Sheriff's Detective Rick Drinkwine stated, "There's someone out there who saw what happened. They may think it's insignificant, but if they have it (information) they need to call us. One minor detail could break the case open for us - one minor thing."
Kari's family has moved on. They made several donations to Bethany Christian High School since her death, including the "Friendship Garden" now at the school. Mrs. Nunemaker still thinks about her daughter and hopes someone will be brought to justice.
If anyone reading this happens to have information regarding the murder of Kari Nunemaker, you can contact Lt. Cutler or anyone at the Elkhart Police Department at 574-295-7070. You may also call Detective Drinkwine at the Elkhart County Sheriff's Department at 574-533-8644. If you wish to leave anonymous information, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-342-STOP.
Have a suggestion for a future cold case investigation? Email Tim at:
ColdCases@aol.com
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Cold Case Investigations