John Joseph Fautenberry’s father abandoned his family when Fautenberry was 2 years old. His mother remarried 8 years later. His step-father adopted Fautenberry and his sister, but it wasn’t enough for Fautenberry. He spent years trying to reconnect with his father, and was always rejected. He became moody and dropped out of school. He committed “petty” car theft in his youth, and was put on probation.
In 1986, Fautenberry robbed and beat his girlfriend. He used a gun to force her to withdraw money from her bank account, and sign over title to her truck. He was convicted in January, 1987 of misdemeanor assault and carrying a concealed weapon. He was placed on probation. By April 1987, he connected with his birth father and began to live with him on a farm.
The two men did not get along, so Fautenberry moved in with his father’s ex-wife. They had a 3-year sexual relationship. Fautenberry tried to work as a truck driver, but was fired for poor performance.
In November, 1990, Fautenberry met Don Ray Nutley in a bar. He suggested the two men go target shooting. After his arrest, Fautenberry admitted to robbing Nutley of $10,000 in cash. Nutley was declared dead on March 30, 1991, based on Fautenberry’s statement.
On February 1, 1991, Gary Wayne Farmer was shot to death in his truck. He was found 4 days later in the sleeping compartment of the tractor trailer. Fautenberry was broke, and stole a small amount of money and a watch. Fautenberry alleged Farmer came on to him, offering money for sex. Instead of sex, Fautenberry shot him in the head.
On February 17, 1991, Joseph William Daron Jr. fails to report to work. He has been shot and killed with the same gun used to kill Farmer. He is not found right away. In the meantime, his car, a white Subaru, has been spotted. His credit cards have been used. His father and police believe he is dead, and the killer is using the car and cards.
On February 26, 1991, Fautenberry’s only female victim, Christine Ann(e) Guthrie, went missing. She and Fautenberry shared a hotel room, and she was never seen alive again.
Jefferson Frank Diffee, 39, is Fautenberry’s last victim. He was found in his apartment overlooking the Mendenhall Glacier outside Juneau, Alaska on March 14, 1991. He was found 2 days later. He was handcuffed, beaten and stabbed 17 times. Fautenberry had stolen his credit cards.
The same day Fautenberry murders Diffee, he is indicted by a Grand Jury in Claremont County, Ohio. The charges are grand theft and theft related to Daron’s credit cards. Fautenberry had been using Daron’s cards and identification around Oregon and Idaho. He had already been indicted for Guthrie’s kidnapping and aggravated murder in Portland.
Fautenberry is arrested in Juneau, Alaska on March 17, for the Oregon murder charge of Guthrie. Police considered him a suspect in the other murders. Murder charges against Fautenberry begin to roll in.
Daron Jr. is found March 18 down an embankment, on the riverside near US Highway 52. Fautenberry had dumped him there.
On March 26, the killer is charged with the murder of Farmer. Police had found Farmer’s watch and wallet among Fautenberry’s belongings. The next day, he was indicted for Daron’s murder. On March 29, he is indicted for the murder of Diffee.
On April 1, Guthrie’s body was found near a remote logging road near Timber, Hillsboro County, Oregon. Fautenberry robbed her of credit cards and banking information, drove her to the site and shot her.
With Fautenberry’s directions, police began to find human bones the next day. Nutley’s teeth and bullet-pierced skull were found on April 21, 1991, near Zigzag, close to Mount Hood.
In mid-May, Fautenberry confessed to the murders of Nutley, Farmer, Daron and Guthrie, to a television station.
His confession was aired May 15, 1991. In June, he confessed to a newspaper to 2 more murders: Diffee and another man, Richard F. Combs. However, another man was already in prison for the murder of the Combs, and prosecutors did not pursue the claim.
Fautenberry denied being a serial killer. He said he did not meet the FBI profile of a serial killer, claiming it was not sexual, ritualistic or torturous. However, he stabbed Diffee more than a dozen times, and stayed with him overnight. Fautenberry clearly only knows the incorrect pop culture definition of a serial killer, not the FBI definition. The FBI definition does not include cause or modus operandi.
On August 21, 1991, Fautenberry pleads guilty to murdering Diffee, and is sentenced to 99 years. This is in Alaska, where there is no death penalty. Charges for credit card theft and forgery were dismissed.
Ohio does have the death penalty. In Ohio, Fautenberry chose to go to trial before the judges in Hamilton County Common Pleas court. He was found guilty of killing Daron on July 24, 1992. He was sentenced to 2 death sentences for the crimes committed against Daron.
On February 8, 1993, the second day of jury selection, Fautenberry pleaded guilty to killing Farmer in Oregon. He was sentenced to life in prison.
Various appeals, including an automatic appeal of the Ohio death sentence, fail.
Prosecutors in Oregon did not pursue the charges against Fautenberry for the murders of Nutley and Guthrie. They deferred to Ohio which had the death penalty. It is up to prosecutors to decide to proceed to trial, or stay the charges. Proceeding to trial is costly and time consuming, but it is important for justice to be seen. They can defer to an earlier death penalty and “stay” the charges, or keep them available just in case.
It is possible that the findings in a trial in another state may be thrown out. For example, because of a problem with a jury member accessing social media during a trial. Without additional charges from another state, it would then be possible for a killer to go free. The stayed charges gives prosecutors a fall-back, just in case things go awry.
On July 14, 2009, Fautenberry died by lethal injection at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in Lucasville, Ohio.
Don Ray Nutley goes missing
Christine Ann(e) Guthrie goes missing
Fautenberry is indicted in absentia of grand theft charges in Claremont County, Ohio
Fautenberry confesses to 4 murders in the media
Fautenberry first denies then pleads guilty to killing Farmer in Oregon. He gets life
Fautenberry dies by lethal injection
