The Mohler Family - Multiple perps, Multiple victims - Kansas City MO

Bizarre allegations of rape, incest and bestiality in western
Missouri led to the arrests of six family members last fall and
unleashed public scorn over the unthinkable acts they are accused of
committing two decades ago.

But one of the more sensational
claims -- that one of the suspects forced their young victims to help
kill a man -- is creating an uphill climb for prosecutors that could
sink the rest of their case, legal experts say.

Investigators
say the sexual abuse allegations have been corroborated by six
siblings, at least three of whom say they were raped and molested over
a 10-year period beginning in the mid-1980s on a farm east of Kansas
City.

Still, the case against Burrell E. Mohler Sr., 77, his
brother and four adult sons could be compromised by the homicide claim.
Authorities have yet to produce a victim or file homicide charges, and
officials are mum about whether a homicide investigation is even under
way.

Without a body, prosecutors could face larger doubts about victims' stories that defense lawyers could exploit.

"It's
easier to discredit what victims are going to say, given the
circumstances, than to prove it," said Thomas Nolan, a criminal justice
professor at Boston University. "If I'm the prosecutor, I've got my
work cut out for me."



In
November, Lafayette County prosecutors unleashed waves of sexual abuse
allegations against the Mohlers. Probable cause statements described
how one girl was forced into sexual contact with a horse, while another
said a dog was forced onto her.

The case took a drastic turn
when another search warrant revealed three victims said they observed
"several murders" and were forced to help kill and bury a man in April
1988.

The warrant said Burrell E. Mohler Jr. and the children
followed a man from a suburban Kansas City shopping center to his home.
After abducting the man, Mohler Jr. drove him to his father's Bates
City property, where he gave the children knives and ordered them to
attack the man, the warrant said.

One child stabbed him, but a stab wound from Mohler Jr. killed the victim, according to the warrant.

The
warrant offered no details about the stabbing victim or why he was
targeted. No body has been found, and no one was reported missing from
the area during that time, investigators said.

If the women's
allegations of rape and other atrocities were enough to bring sexual
abuse charges against the Mohlers, questions could emerge as to why
they weren't enough to also bring homicide charges.

"There are
victims in the sex case, but no identifiable homicide victims," said
Lafayette County prosecutor Kellie Wingate Ritchie.

Dozens of
sex abuse charges have been filed against Mohler Sr., of Independence,
Mo.; his four sons, Mohler Jr., 53, of Independence, Jared Leroy
Mohler, 48, of Columbia, Mo., Roland Neil Mohler, 47, of Bates City,
Mo., and David A. Mohler, 52, of Lamoni, Iowa; and his brother, Darrel
W. Mohler, 72, of Silver Springs, Fla.

Darrel, Jared and David Mohler have posted bond; the other three remain jailed. All have denied the accusations.

Cynthia Orr, president of the National Association of
Criminal Defense Lawyers, suggested that even without the homicide
claim, doubts may linger about the sex abuse case, such as allegations
that young girls had to wear special dresses and marry adult family
members to have sex.

Victor Vieth, director of the National
Child Protection Training Center at Winona State University in
Minnesota, said he's rarely surprised by what sex offenders do.

"Sex offenders are only limited by their creativity and what their minds can fantasize," Vieth said.

But
even Vieth acknowledges the homicide claim could be a burden for the
prosecution if allowed in court. Prosecutors' best bet could be to have
testimony about the homicide claim barred as irrelevant to the sex
charges, he said.

Nolan agrees.

"I would fight like crazy to have anything about statements about killing a guy excluded from the trial," he said.

The eldest of six family members accused of molesting young relatives two
decades ago won't go to court until next year.


A Clay County judge has set
Burrell Mohler Sr.' trial date for Feb. 22, 2011.
Mohler will be tried in Liberty after a change of venue to Clay
County from Lafayette County.
His brother, Darrell Mohler, is scheduled to go on trial Sept.
13, also in Clay County.
The two men, along with Burrell Mohler Sr.'s four sons, are
charged with raping young relatives over roughly a decade beginning in the
mid-1980s.

One of six Missouri men accused of molesting young relatives two decades ago has
been granted a change of venue.
A Lexington County judge Monday approved moving 54-year-old Burrell Mohler
Jr.'s case on several felony abuse charges to Saline County. Mohler's next court
date was scheduled for May 3.
Also Monday, the judge scheduled a June 7 court date for Mohler's 48-year-old
brother Jared Mohler, who faces three felony counts of rape and other
charges.
Prosecutors have charged the two men, along with an uncle, two other brothers
and their father, Burrell Mohler Sr., with raping young relatives over about a
decade beginning in the mid-1980s.
Changes of venue were granted earlier for Burrell Mohler Sr. and his brother,
Darrel Mohler.

The trial of Burrell Edward Mohler Jr., one of six men charged with
multiple felony counts of rape, deviate sexual assault and other crimes
of a sexual nature against children, is scheduled to occur in Saline
County Circuit Court next year.
Circuit Court Judge Dennis A. Rolf will preside over the trial,
scheduled to begin May 26 and expected to last 10 days.
Mohler is the son of Burrell Edward Mohler Sr. of Bates City, who, along
with three other sons, was arrested in November 2009. A brother of the
senior Mohler was arrested several weeks later.
The charges stem from incidents their accusers say occurred more than 20
years ago. The victims allege the crimes occurred between 1988 and
1995, when all the victims, now in their 20s and 30s, were juveniles.
Burrell Mohler Jr. is charged with three counts of class C felony use of
a child in a sexual performance, one count of class C felony deviate
sexual assault and three counts of class B felony rape.
The victims also identified Mohler Jr. as the person who abducted a man
from a Kansas City shopping mall and ordered the youngsters to kill the
man. According to the victims' version of the incident, one of the
children did stab the man, but Mohler killed him.
Thus far, authorities say, they have not been able to identify anyone in
the area reported missing at the time of the alleged murder.
Authorities in Lafayette County also admit that after extensive searches
of properties owned by the men and other relatives, they have not found
any glass jars or other items cited by the victims as proof of their accusations.
One of the men, Roland N. Mohler, brother of Burrell Jr., was arrested
in Marshall, where he was employed as a paramedic by Saline County
Ambulance District No. 3.
Charges contained in reports provided by law enforcement officials are
not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting charges must be presented
before a jury, whose duty is to determine if the accused is guilty or
not guilty of the charges.