The murder of Mary Kay Heese
Wahoo, Saunders County, Nebraska · 1969
Overview
Mary Kay Heese was a 17-year-old high school junior in Wahoo, the seat of Saunders County, Nebraska. On March 25, 1969, she failed to return home, and the following morning her body was found along a rural country road outside town; she had been stabbed at least a dozen times and showed signs of having fought back, and footprints at the scene suggested she had been chased after getting out of a vehicle. A witness reported seeing Mary Kay around 5 p.m. that afternoon getting into a car carrying two men. The case went unsolved for more than fifty years. From the beginning, two young men kept recurring in the old files: Joseph Ambroz, then 22, a slaughterhouse worker who was on parole for forgery and for escaping custody, and Wayne Greaser, who died by suicide in 1977 and was later named as Ambroz's co-conspirator. The break, when it finally came, did not come from forensic science; DNA testing in fact did not connect Ambroz to the evidence. Instead, a Saunders County investigator named Ted Green reopened the case in the mid-2010s, gathered scattered reports that different agencies had never shared with one another, and located cooperating witnesses from Ambroz's own circle. In November 2024 a Saunders County grand jury indicted Ambroz, by then 77 and living in Oklahoma, for first-degree murder; the indictment followed testimony from a key witness who said a third party had told them they were with Ambroz at the killing, and prosecutors said Ambroz's ex-wife testified under immunity that she had been with him during Heese's murder. Ambroz was arrested in Ponca City, Oklahoma, and extradited to Nebraska. On July 31, 2025, he pleaded no contest to conspiracy to commit first-degree murder; under the 1969 statute that applied to the crime, the maximum penalty was two years. He was sentenced on August 27, 2025, and released from prison on November 15, 2025, having maintained his innocence throughout.
How it was solved
The murder of Mary Kay Heese was solved primarily through cooperating witnesses drawn from the killer's own circle rather than through forensic evidence, which is the basis for classifying the solve method as an informant-driven one. The original 1969 investigation produced no charges. Witnesses had reported seeing Mary Kay get into a car with two men late in the afternoon she vanished, and her stabbing death and the footprints at the scene indicated a violent, hands-on attack, but the case stalled and went cold for decades. Two names recurred in the early files: Joseph Ambroz, a 22-year-old who worked on the kill floor of a slaughterhouse and was on parole for forgery and escaping custody, and Wayne Greaser, described as a younger follower of Ambroz, who died by suicide in 1977. Investigators of the era could not move from suspicion to a prosecutable case, and the file passed from hand to hand for years. The decisive work came after a Saunders County Attorney's Office investigator, Ted Green, reopened the matter in the mid-2010s. Green has described the effort as old-fashioned legwork rather than a forensic breakthrough, saying it was a case that did not have anything glaring but had small pieces along the way and that the work was all gumshoe. He gathered case material that had been scattered across multiple agencies, including binders of reports that the agencies had never shared with one another, and over the course of the reinvestigation he was able, in his account, to exclude every other person who had ever been named as a suspect except Ambroz. Critically, the path to charges ran through people connected to Ambroz. According to a defense brief, the grand jury that examined the case heard from a key witness who said they knew Ambroz was responsible because a third party had told the witness that he was with Ambroz at the murder. Prosecutors also said that Ambroz's ex-wife testified under immunity, telling investigators that in the time of the killing she had been with Ambroz during Heese's murder. The victim's cousin, Kathy Tull, has described a recorded telephone call in which Ambroz, pressed by his former wife about the evidence against him, grew angry and said words to the effect that they were talking about the girl he had killed in Wahoo. DNA testing, by contrast, did not implicate Ambroz; profiles recovered from the case did not match him, a fact he and his attorney later cited in maintaining his innocence. On the strength of the witness testimony, a Saunders County grand jury indicted Ambroz for first-degree murder in November 2024. He was 77 years old and living in Ponca City, Oklahoma, where he was arrested on November 18, 2024, before being extradited to Nebraska. He made his first court appearance on November 25, 2024, and was held without bond. Rather than proceed to trial, the case ended in a negotiated plea. On July 31, 2025, Ambroz pleaded no contest to conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. Because the crime occurred in 1969, the sentencing law of that era applied, and that charge carried a maximum of only two years; the prosecutor stated that there was no question, based on admissible evidence, that Joseph Ambroz participated in Mary Kay Heese's murder, while acknowledging that the full extent of his and others' involvement might never be known because of the passage of time. Heese's relatives objected bitterly, calling the deal an insult and saying they had wanted a trial. Ambroz was sentenced on August 27, 2025, and, under Nebraska's good-time law, was released on November 15, 2025. He continued to maintain that he did not commit the murder, pointing to the absence of DNA linking him to the crime. Wayne Greaser, the man named as his co-conspirator, had been dead for nearly half a century and was never charged.
Sources
- Judge approves plea deal for man indicted in 1969 cold-case murder
“According to a defense brief, the indictment came after the grand jury heard from a key witness. This witness claimed they knew Ambroz was responsible because a third party told the witness he was with Ambroz at the murder. Prosecutors said Ambroz's ex-wife also testified under immunity. In the days after the murder, she told police she was with Ambroz during Heese's murder.”
- A Nebraska girl went looking for a date to a high school dance. One week later, she was murdered.
“A witness saw Mary Kay enter a car with two men near her home. Joseph Ambroz, age 22 at the time of the crime, lived in Wahoo, worked at a slaughterhouse, and was on parole for forgery and escaping custody. Wayne Greaser, described as the wannabe kid who was just following around Ambroz, died by suicide in 1977.”
- Could the puzzling case of slain Nebraska teen Mary Kay Heese be solved after 50 years?
“Mary Kay Heese, 17, a high school junior in Wahoo, Nebraska, was murdered on March 25, 1969. In 1999, Ambroz submitted DNA that didn't match evidence. The deceased Wayne Greaser was named as his co-conspirator. He worked at a slaughterhouse's kill floor and the autopsy revealed stab patterns consistent with slaughterhouse killing techniques.”
- EXCLUSIVE: Detective opens up about Nebraska teen's 1969 murder case
“Detective Ted Green stated: This is a case that didn't have anything glaring but had small pieces along the way. This is all gum shoe, all gumshoe work. The investigation narrowed from 10 suspects to one over 55 years; Green said: We've been able to exclude everybody mentioned as a suspect way back when except for this guy. Of the second young man, Green said: He committed suicide in '77.”
- Suspect in 1969 murder of teen girl near Wahoo back in Nebraska
“Arrested in Ponca City, Oklahoma on Monday and extradited to Nebraska, arriving at the Saunders County Jail on Friday. A Saunders County grand jury heard evidence and indicted Ambroz. Mary Kay Heese was stabbed at least a dozen times and found along a Saunders County road; her body was later exhumed for forensic examination.”
- Suspect in 1969 Nebraska teen's murder makes court appearance
“Joseph Ambroz, 77, appeared on a charge of first-degree murder of 17-year-old Mary Kay Heese. A judge denied bond; the prosecution argued temptation is too great once that ultimate sentence is on the table. Her body was found along a country road, stabbed more than a dozen times, with signs of fighting back, and footprints indicated someone caught her after she exited a vehicle and ran.”
- Man found guilty in killing of Wahoo girl in 1969
“Joseph Ambroz was found guilty of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder in the death of Mary Kay Heese. The initial first-degree murder charge was dismissed as part of a plea deal. The prosecutor stated: There is no question based on admissible evidence that Joseph Ambroz participated in Mary Kay Heese's murder, while acknowledging We may never know the full extent of his, and others, involvement because of the passage of time.”
- Joseph Ambroz sentenced in 1969 death of Mary Kay Heese, could be released by Thanksgiving
“Ambroz pleaded no contest to conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and received a maximum of two years on August 27, 2025. Family members told the court the plea deal is an insult and that Ambroz should have faced trial. Mary Kay's cousin Kathy Tull stated: Everything we've endured since 1969 was all for nothing.”
- Man sentenced in 1969 teen murder case released from prison
“Released November 15, 2025 from the Nebraska Corrections facility in Lincoln at age 78. He pleaded no contest to conspiracy to commit murder in the death of Mary Kay Heese and continues to maintain his innocence, citing the lack of clear DNA evidence connecting him to the crime.”
- Investigator in 1969 Nebraska murder case says justice was not served
“Green described the case as circumstantial but compelling, saying: It's all circumstantial, but you got to put it together like any case, it's pieces of a puzzle. He concluded: He got away with murder, I mean, he's got away with it for 50 some years, he's walked around free.”