A 43-year-old man from Nebraska was arrested for allegedly killing a 65-year-old Catholic priest, stabbing the reverend to death during an “invasion” inside of his church’s rectory.
Kierre L. Williams was taken into custody on Sunday and charged with one count of homicide and one count of using a deadly weapon to commit a felony in the slaying of Rev. Stephen Gutgsell, authorities announced.
According to a news release from the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, someone phoned the county’s 911 emergency call center at about 5:05 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 10 to report an attempted break-in at the St. John’s Catholic Church rectory, located in the 200 block of North 13th Street in Fort Calhoun. Fort Calhoun is about 16 miles north of Omaha, Nebraska.
Upon arriving at the scene six minutes after the call, first responders said they entered the rectory where they found an adult Black male — later identified as Williams — and Gutgsell inside.
Gutgsell appeared to have suffered numerous injuries consistent with an assault, including multiple stab wounds, police said.
Kierre L. Williams (Washington County Sheriff’s Office) and Father Stephen Gutgsell (Archdiocese of Omaha)
Emergency medics with Fort Calhoun Rescue immediately rushed Gutgsell to the University of Nebraska Medical Center for treatment. Unfortunately, a short while after arriving at the facility the priest was pronounced dead.
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Williams, of Sioux City, Iowa, was taken into custody and transported to the Washington County Correctional Center where he was booked on the aforementioned charges.
“The Archdiocese of Omaha is praying for Father Stephen Gutgsell, who was assaulted during an invasion at the rectory of St. John the Baptist parish in Fort Calhoun early Sunday morning,” The Archdiocese said in a Sunday news release. “The Washington County Sheriff’s Office is investigating, and there are no further details at this time. Please join Archbishop George Lucas in prayer for the repose of Father Gutgsell, for his family and for the St. John the Baptist parish community in this tragic time.”
A parishioner at St. John the Baptist told the Lincoln Journal Star that someone from the church called him before Sunday morning’s usual 8:30 a.m. mass to tell him about the attack on Gutgsell and notify him that the service had been canceled.
“Father Gutgsell has been here 11 years, and I thought he was a very holy man,” the parishioner, Mike Fitzgerald, told the newspaper. “He did a lot of things for the community. He always made sure that the [church] bulletin had everything in it that we needed to know about things going on at the church.”
The Des Moines Register reported that Gutgsell in 2007 was convicted of theft by deception after he embezzled more than $125,000 from another church. After pleading guilty to the charge, Gutgsell was ordered to pay restitution and remain on probation for several years.
Washington County Sheriff Mike Robinson reportedly said that investigators do not believe the fatal attack on Gutgsell had any connection to his previous criminal activity.
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