Janet Lucas

Wayne Nathan Nance (October 18, 1955 – September 4, 1986), known as The Missoula Mauler, was an American serial killer in the state of Montana.

Nance was shot and killed while committing a home invasion of a co-worker's residence; thus, Nance was never formally charged, tried, or convicted of any murder.

Authorities reported that physical evidence linked Nance to several unsolved murders and crimes.

Law enforcement believe Nance committed at least six homicides although it is strongly suspected that he may have had many more undiscovered victims.

Before Nance's death and the discovery of his crimes, some of the murders were tentatively ascribed to David Meirhofer.

Wayne Nance was born on October 18, 1955, in Clinton, Montana to George Edwin Nance (August 20, 1928 – April 4, 2004), a long-haul truck driver, and Charlene Mae Nance née Mackie (February 2, 1936 – April 3, 1980), a waitress.

Nance lived in a motor home outside of Milltown, Montana, which is east of Missoula and was described by teachers and classmates as an academically-gifted yet eccentric individual who was also a juvenile delinquent.

Friends claimed that during his adolescence, Nance frequently boasted of worshipping the devil and had even used a hot coat hanger to brand himself in satanic symbols.

He also had bragged about wanting to commit a murder before he was 19-years-old.

A native Montanan and military veteran, Meirhofer confessed to four murders and then killed himself in custody in 1974, but authorities believed he may have committed additional crimes.

Nance graduated from Sentinel High School in 1974.

Nance is believed to have raped and murdered a 39-year-old woman named Donna Lorraine Pounds on April 11, 1974, in West Riverside, Montana.

Pounds, who worked part-time at a Christian bookstore, had arrived home at 3:30 p.m., and is believed to have encountered Nance in the master bedroom.

He was armed with her husbands’ .22 caliber Luger rifle, with which he fired a warning shot at the bedroom wall.

Nance was wearing latex gloves, one of which was found at the scene and carried with him a black gym bag, from which he produced a white clothesline, which was used to tie Pounds to her bed.

Nance then raped her before forcing her downstairs into the basement, where, at point-blank range, he shot her five times in the back of her head.

He then inserted the barrel of the gun into her vagina and left the property.

Donna's husband, Harvey, arrived home at 6 p.m. and discovered that Pounds had been held captive in her basement, tied to a chair, and shot.

Three eyewitnesses claimed they saw Nance, an acquaintance of the victim's teenage son, in the area about the time of Pounds' death that afternoon.

One witness claimed they saw him in the garden of the Pounds residence and another said they saw him leaving the house with a black gym bag and heading in the direction of the Tamarack Trailer Park, where Nance lived with his parents.

The Pounds' son had also shown Nance where his father had kept his gun and Nance was a regular at the house.

When questioned by police, Nance admitted that he had not gone to school that day, but had stayed home, in order to work on a school project.

He had been out in the area, he said, foraging for the materials that he needed.

Insufficient evidence prevented Nance from being charged with her murder.

Years later, police searched Nance's home and discovered evidence linking him to the Pounds murder.

Nance served in the United States Navy from 1974 to 1977, and investigators later suspected he might have committed more crimes while traveling for his military service.

On November 29, 1977, Nance received a general military discharge on the grounds of misconduct after he was found with stolen items, LSD, Marijuana and illegal butterfly knives.

After his discharge from military service, Nance visited Seattle, Washington in July 1978, where 15-year-old runaway Devonna Nelson went missing.

On February 27, 1980, her badly decomposed body was discovered by the crew of a slow-moving freight train on a road bank close to the Interstate 90 in the city of Missoula resting against a chain-link fence.

The body of Marcella Cheri "Marci" Bachmann, 16, was found in an advanced state of decomposition on December 24, 1984, by a wildlife photographer.

The body had been buried in a shallow grave and her decomposed leg was protruding out of the frozen ground.

Strong evidence indicates that Nance murdered Bachmann.

Investigators found hair similar to Bachmann's in Nance's home.

She had run away from Vancouver, Washington, due to conflict with her family members.

She was killed by three gun shots to the head.

Because of the condition of the body, her remains were not identified until February 16, 1985.

She had no shoes or underwear and her dress was hitched up around her neck.

Nelson had been stabbed in the chest.

Prior to her identity being confirmed, she was dubbed "Betty Beavertail" after the nearby Beavertail Hill State Park.

Nance is suspected of killing Nelson, but has not been definitively linked to the crime.