Robert Elmer Kleasen (September 20, 1934 – April 21, 2003) was an American who was convicted and sentenced to death in 1975 for the murder of two missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, near Austin, Texas.
The murders have popularly, albeit inaccurately, been cited as an inspiration for the horror film The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
In 1971, a year after gaining a sociology degree, he shot Dennis Dubois in the foot in the town of Williamson, NY during a dispute.
Upon arrival in Austin, Texas, Kleasen made a multitude of wild claims to his acquaintances, most notably that he was a Korean War veteran and former CIA operative.
Two Mormon missionaries, Gary Darley (20) of Simi Valley, California, and Mark Fisher (19) of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, routinely visited Kleasen, who lived in a trailer behind a taxidermist's shop in Oak Hill, on Austin's southwestern outskirts.
[1][2] Police investigation of the disappearance led to the scenario that the missionaries were shot dead after having agreed to meet Kleasen for dinner.
[1] Police discovered Fisher's bloody watch and bullet-punctured name tag in Kleasen's trailer but bodies never were found.
In 1977, after two years on the Texas death row, an appeals court overturned Kleasen's conviction, ruling that the search warrant for his home was improper and that key evidence should have been excluded.
His wife was briefly considered a missing person, possibly killed by Kleasen, until authorities learned she had fled her home during the investigation into his gun law violations.
[2] Extradition was agreed in principle, subject to the UK requirement of binding assurances not to impose the death penalty.