Donald Bennett

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

Nebraska State Patrol Harlan County Sheriffs Office (NE)

Offense Location:

Alma, Nebraska

Summary:

Donald Bennett, a 72-year-old World War II veteran and longtime Alma, Nebraska resident, was found dead in his home on May 10, 1988. He had been stabbed repeatedly in the chest and suffered an eight-inch gash to his head with a toothbrush charger cord wrapped around his neck. The case remains unsolved.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Offense:

At about 8:30 p.m. on May 10, 1988, the body of Donald Bennett, 72, was found in his home by a friend. Bennett probably died between 10 p.m. the night before and 1 a.m. that morning. Bennett had been stabbed repeatedly in the chest. An eight-inch gash was sliced across his head. The cord to an electric toothbrush charger was wrapped around his neck. Blood smears showed Bennett was killed in the bathroom before being dragged to a bedroom. The house was ransacked. Desk drawers were ripped open, as though "someone might have been looking for something," according to reports. Nothing was stolen.

Additional Details:

A few days later at a press conference, then Harlan County Attorney James Dodson of Beaver City and an official from the Nebraska State Patrol in North Platte announced Bennett's death was being investigated as a possible homicide. Bennett had received "multiple injuries to the head and chest." Harlan County Sheriff Chris Becker told the Hub that it was always believed that Bennett died from trauma, but it was never determined which of several blows killed him. Donald Bennett was born Dec. 5, 1915, in Republican City. He moved to Alma, where he graduated from high school in 1933. He and his father operated a hardware business in Alma before Bennett served in the U.S. Army Air Corps from 1942 to 1945. He served in the European Theater and was shot down over Greece. He escaped through the underground. He operated the Bennett-McKinnon Hardware store in Alma until two years before his death in 1988. For more than 30 years, he lived with his partner, Clarence "Mac" McKinnon, in Alma. They owned a hardware store and came to family Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners together as any married couple would. Mac died of a stroke in the late 1970s and is buried next to Donald Bennett in Alma. Bennett's car was stolen and found in Hollywood on June 27, 1988. Thirty cigarette butts might have held the clue to solving Donald Bennett's homicide. They also held the identity of a serial killer who preyed on gay men, a Nebraska State Patrol investigator said. A killer who made a deadly stop in Alma on May 9, 1988. Marlboro cigarette butts floated in a dirty toilet. Bennett's four-door Buick was found on a street in West Hollywood, Calif. Some cigarette butts were the same type of Marlboros found in Bennett's toilet. But they were destroyed by the Los Angeles Police Department in October 1997, records show.

Case Last Updated:

May 06, 2026