Shortly after 8 a.m. on Oct. 25, 2017, probably while Thomas Pickert’s body was still lying on the ground outside his Brookside home, police homed in on a suspect: 79-year-old David Jungerman.
Jungerman, a Raytown resident, was a grudge-holding, delusional egotist who couldn’t get over the fact that Pickert, a lawyer, had beaten him out of $5.75 million in a civil case in which Pickert represented a trespasser whom Jungerman had shot and badly injured.
Police questioned Jungerman that day but didn’t arrest him because they had no solid evidence. Then they adopted a shrewd strategy of misdirection, announcing to the press and public that Jungerman was “not a suspect at this time.”
That put Jungerman at ease, and the egotist in him was convinced he had gotten away with firing a .17 caliber bullet into Pickert’s head without anyone being able to identify him at the scene.
Police bided their time long enough for Jungerman to make a huge blunder — inadvertently recording himself admitting to the killing in absolutely chilling words:
“People, uh, know that I murdered that son of a bitch…That mother fucker has caused me a lot of problems, you know?
Topping off his admission (made to one of his employees), he revealed the darkest side of his dark soul…
“You know, uh, the thing that sort of bothers me about me is, when I think about it, I grin.”
How’s that for self-reflection on a heinous act?
**
It took nearly five years to bring Jungerman into a courtroom to face a judge and jury, as well as prosecutors who salivated at the prospect of taking him down and giving a measure of justice to Pickert’s widow, Dr. Emily Riegel and their two sons, now 11 and 14 respectively.
After a two week-trial, it took a Jackson County jury of eight women and four men just two hours to come to the same conclusion that police had come to that horrible morning in 2017.
When Judge John Torrence read the verdicts — “Guilty on Count 1, first-degree murder; guilty on Count II, armed criminal action” — the reaction in the nearly full courtroom was relief and subdued celebration.
Dr. Riegel sat in the second row of spectators. She clutched a tissue, eyes closed and squeezing back tears.
Friends and others in the row held her and each other and cried.
Special Prosecutor Tim Dollar, who blew the anemic defense away with a powerful closing argument, walked back to the spectator area, leaned over the front-row bench and embraced her tightly.
A minute later, the lead Kansas City detective on the case, Bonita Cannon, did likewise.
Unsure whether it was appropriate, I approached and gingerly asked for her reaction. She was very gracious. She thought for several seconds and said: “I’m just in disbelief that we’re actually here — that it (the case) went through after all the years of delays.”
Then she stated the grim, unavoidable fact that she and her boys will always live with: “It’s justice, but it doesn’t change the reality.”
A woman standing next to her touched her on the arm and said, “Emily, if you’re not ready for this…”
“No, it’s fine,” Dr. Riegel said.
Then I asked my final question: How did she think her sons would react to the verdict?
“I think it will take them time to process it,” she said.
**
As for Jungerman, no one in the courtroom other than his attorneys paid any attention to him after the verdict was read. At 84 and with a bad bout of Covid behind him, he’s a shadow of his former self. He was in a wheelchair the last few days of the trial. He has trouble getting out of the chair and onto his feet. When he walks, he shuffles like a person with Parkinson’s. His cognitive powers — so perversely intact five years ago — are badly deteriorated.
Corrections officers wheeled him out of the courtroom and back to the county jail, where he has been held since March 2018.
On Nov. 18 at 1:30 p.m. he is scheduled to be sentenced.
The sentence will be life in prison. From this point, it will almost assuredly be a short life. It could be days, weeks or months. I seriously doubt it will be years.
And yet, the stark reality is that this now-impotent and always-loathsome human being has changed and diminished one family’s life forever by taking away a husband and father in the prime of life…A man who was killed because he did a good job for a client. A man who should, tonight, be sitting in his Brookside home, having dinner with his family and talking about his — and their — day.
A cold-blooded murderer, an old man who at this point may be loved by no one, stole Thomas Pickert from his family and from his community.
…Although this case has finally been resolved, it will never be far from my thoughts. It was one of the most outrageous and shocking murders I have seen in my more than 50 years in Kansas City. I grieve for Emily Riegel and those boys. I hope you do too…
JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC 
Amen. Thank you for your excellent and dogged reporting on this horrible crime.
Thanks for the compliment, Mick.
Fitz,
Great job covering this trial. David Jungerman is now convicted murderer David Jungerman.
Great work on this, Fitz. Solid, sensitive reporting and writing. Appreciate what you do.
It’s always gratifying, no matter your age, when one of your former editors pays a compliment…Thank you, Dave.
I remember writing to a New Yorker magazine writer once, complimenting him on a piece of fiction he had written. He wrote back and said, “All a writer needs is an appreciative reader, and you are such a one.”
I feel the same way, and I’m blessed with quite a few appreciative readers.
Such a touching requiem.
Thank goodness the jury found Jungerman guilty.
“His cognitive powers — so perversely intact five years ago — are badly deteriorated.”
I assume this will be the primary basis for Jungerman’s appeal, i.e., he didn’t have the mental capacity to assist in his defense. But, as you note, his health is such that he is unlikely to live long enough to see if his appeal is successful.
I don’t think there’s a chance in the world this verdict will be overturned. Attorney Dan Ross was grasping at straws from Day One, and once that recording surfaced, it was effectively over.
Thanks for sticking with this when it often seemed that no one was responding. True journalism.
Thanks, John…This is one story where political ideology doesn’t enter the picture; we all see it for what it is.
Jim, you did your usual excellent job of reporting in covering this trial. A tip of the cap to you!
A sincere heartfelt thank you. You provide a wonderful service during a traumatic period. I am grateful I was able to look you in the eye, shake your hand and say thank you. All the best Jimmy C.
Thank you, Tim…I was distracted when you approached me yesterday and couldn’t give you full attention. I really appreciated you introducing yourself and complimenting me, though.
He grins.
His family grieves.
The community grieves.
Justice is blind; God is not blind.
Nice job. I don’t know the journalism lingo, but your reporting and writing on this case keep me reading. I actually awaited the outcome from afar…Florida. Seemed guilty to me, but after O.J. and Casey Anthony went free…one never knows!