Man who kidnapped 9-year-old Nancy Shoemaker in 1990 in south Wichita has died

Eduardo Castillo
·1 min read
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Donald Wacker, one of two men involved in the kidnapping, rape and murder of 9-year-old Nancy Shoemaker in Wichita in 1990, has died, a Kansas Department of Corrections official said Thursday.

Wacker died June 14 of natural causes. He was 60, KDOC spokesperson David Thompson said.

Wacker and Doil Lane snatched Shoemaker in south Wichita on July 30, 1990 and drove her to a Sumner County field, where Lane raped her and strangled her with a belt as Wacker watched, The Eagle previously reported.

Her body was found by a jogger nearly seven months later.

Wacker was sentenced to 16 years to life in prison in 1992 for kidnapping and aiding a felony in connection with Shoemaker’s abduction and death.

He was up for parole in 1999, 2004, 2010, 2017 and 2019 but was denied, according to Eagle archives. He was granted parole in 2020 and released in January 2021.

Lane was convicted of raping and killing Nancy Shoemaker and sentenced to life without parole for 66 years. He is serving a life sentence in Texas for a similar crime.