A man accused of killing a woman 55 years ago in Wahoo appeared in court this week.
Joseph Ambroz, accused of killing Mary Kay Heese, did not enter a plea during his hearing in Saunders County District Court Monday.
Ambroz’s defense attorney, Matthew McDonald, requested the documents from the grand jury proceedings to see if there are grounds to challenge the indictment.
A court reporter continues to prepare a transcript of the grand jury, according to prosecutor Corey O’Brien, noting the document may eventually be 10,000 pages long. Eighteen looseleaf binders of evidence collected by the sheriff office’s investigator have already been provided to Ambroz by the prosecutors.
The Saunders County Attorney reopened what had been a cold case. During the nine-year long investigation led by Ted Green, officers found evidence they claim links Ambroz to this homicide. Few details have been made public about why investigators have linked him to the murder.
“It’s always been a black cloud over the community,” Green told Nebraska Public Media News. “It’s been the community’s focal point for years,”
Ambroz, who has been in custody since his arrest, arrived in a wheelchair with ankle restraints. Bond was denied during his first hearing.
District Court Judge Christina Marroquin delayed the hearing briefly when there was a problem with the oxygen tank assisting Ambroz with his breathing. He has reportedly been diagnosed with lung disease.
Mary Kay Heese, a 17-year-old student at Wahoo High School, did not return home from school in March 1969. A farmer discovered her body on a roadside 3½ miles outside of town. The case frustrated law enforcement for decades. Ambroz, 22 years old at the time of the crime, lived with his mother. He had moved repeatedly over the years before making a home recently in Oklahoma.
Ambroz will again be given the chance to enter a plea at his next hearing Feb. 26 after defense reviews the requested documents.