Thirteen-year-old Danny Joe Eberle left home in Bellevue, Nebraska, on the morning of September 18, 1983, to deliver newspapers and never returned. His bicycle was found partway through the route; a search found his bound, partially clothed body in a rural area on September 21. He had been bound with rope, his mouth covered with tape, and an autopsy reported he had been tortured and stabbed multiple times. Investigators noted the rope was not domestically manufactured and later identified it as specially made for the U.S. Military in the Far East.

The case remained unsolved for months until a separate December 1983 abduction and killing of 12-year-old Christopher Walden prompted renewed interest. A January 11, 1984, tip about a suspicious man and a license plate led police to 20-year-old airman John Joubert, whose belongings included a hunting knife and a length of the same distinctive rope. Joubert confessed to abducting and killing Danny and was later convicted and sentenced to death. Did anyone in Bellevue remember unusual activity on the paper routes that September morning or ever see a tan car in the neighborhood?