Bio

Emmett Clifton Nave was born on September 26, 1940. Nave had several run-ins with the law starting in his late teens. He was first placed on probation in 1958 for joyriding in Denver, Colorado. This initial brush with the law would be the beginning of a series of legal troubles. Within the same year, he was also sentenced to jail for soliciting for prostitution.

In 1959, Nave faced a more serious consequence and was sentenced to one year in jail for another joyriding incident. The following year, he was sentenced for a simple robbery, which landed him an indeterminate sentence to the Colorado State Reformatory.

Over the next few years, Nave continued to make headlines for various criminal activities. By 1964, he was once again in trouble with the law, this time for burglary in Los Angeles, California. Following that, in 1965, he received two concurrent life sentences for forcible rape and armed robbery in Liberty, Missouri.

After serving some of his sentences, Nave had a brief period of parole. However, he was sentenced again in 1979 for burglary in California and was re-incarcerated in Missouri when his parole was revoked. After a second parole in 1983, he struggled to adjust to life outside prison.

Murder Story

On November 19, 1983, Emmett Clifton Nave shot and killed his landlady, Geneva Roling, in Jefferson City, Missouri. Earlier that morning, Nave had threatened his wife to drive him to the hospital for drugs. Before they left, he indicated he wanted to see Roling. When she answered the door, Nave used a .22 caliber rifle to shoot her multiple times.

After the shooting, Nave and his wife went to a hospital where he attempted to get pain medication. He was unsuccessful at first, but later returned to the hospital and threatened staff with his rifle. He demanded drugs and took five female hospital employees hostage, forcing them to comply with his demands.

During the ordeal, some of the hostages managed to escape. Nave then took one hostage to a shed nearby, where he forced her to inject him with drugs. Eventually, he lost consciousness and was apprehended by law enforcement officers.

Later, Nave was charged with capital murder and other offenses. His trial led to a conviction and a death sentence, which was upheld through multiple legal appeals. On July 31, 1996, he was executed by lethal injection in Missouri.