Paula Fabrizius was 16 when she was working as a park rangerette at Cedar Bluff State Park in Kansas. On the evening of August 21, 1976, she was abducted from her post. A major search followed and her body was found the next day near Castle Rock in Gove County by a group of motorcyclists. She had been sexually assaulted, stabbed to death, and her body mutilated.

Investigators focused on a local man from WaKeeney, Kansas, Francis Donald Nemechek, after finding his fingerprints at the scene and identifying him as the last person seen with Paula. He was arrested on August 24, 1976, and later confessed to Paula’s murder and to several other killings. Nemechek was tried in Salina; the jury rejected an insanity defense and convicted him on five counts of first-degree murder. He received five consecutive life sentences.

If anyone knew Paula, saw her at Cedar Bluff State Park in August 1976, or has information about that night, please share what is known.