zirovsky

Joseph A. Ambroz, 77, of Ponca City, Kay County, Oklahoma, United States has been arrested. He is accused of murdering Mary Kay Heese, a junior at Wahoo High School in Wahoo, Saunders County, Nebraska, USA.

Who is Mary Kay Heese?

Keese was born in North Bend, Dodge County, Nebraska, USA to Julius Heese and Dorothy M. Miller Heese on December 9, 1951. Julius was born in West Point, Cuming County, Nebraska to Charles G. Heese Sr. and Mary Sila Heese on June 12, 1899 while Dorothy was born to Irvin Miller and Maggie Amen Miller on July 20, 1928.

Just after 5:00 p.m. on March 25, 1969, Mary Kay was seen standing along at the corner of Fifth and Linden streets in Wahoo. Later that night, she was reported missing by Julius and Dorothy.

On the morning of March 26, 1969, a farmer found Mary Kay dead in a roadside ditch south of Wahoo. Except her shoes, which were found near her body, the high school junior was fully clothed.

An autopsy revealed that a sharp instrument was used to murder Mary Kay and that she fought back. Her torso had multiple stab wounds.

No suspects were identified and the case went cold. Julius and Dorothy never knew who killed their daughter.

On February 1989, Julius died in Wahoo. On November 10, 2007, Dorothy died in Syracuse, Otoe County, Nebraska.

In September 2024, investigators exhumed Mary Kay’s body from her family plot at the Blair Cemetery in Blair, Washington County, Nebraska. This helped provide evidence implicating Ambroz in the crime.

Who is Joseph Ambroz?

In 1960s, Ambroz was imprisoned for forgery and escape. After his release, he moved to his mother’s residence in Wahoo. Not long after the murder of Mary Kay in 1969, he violated parole and did more time in prison.

Investigators interviewed Ambroz about Mary Kay’s murder three times in 1969, once in 1999 and once in 2021. However, he was not officially identified as a suspect after those interviews.

Since leaving Nebraska, Ambroz lived in nine other states in the U.S. including Florida, Kansas and Ohio. As his health deteriorated, he moved from Dayton, Ohio to Ponca City to live closer to his son.

While suffering from Type 2 diabetes, pneumonia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), Ambroz is in remission from lung cancer. On November 18, 2024, the U.S. Marshals Service arrested him at his residence in Ponca City and he was booked into the Kay County Detention Center in Newkirk, Kay County.

At 1:00 p.m. on November 25, 2024, Ambroz was brought into Saunders County District Court in Wahoo for his hearing in a wheelchair and on oxygen. He did not say a word to the court.

The judge denied bond and ordered Ambroz to remain in jail until trial. The Ponca City man was formally charged with the first-degree murder of Mary Kay.

Although Ambroz could have entered a plea to the charge, his attorney asked to continue the arraignment to December 2024. The elderly man was extradited from Ponca City to Wahoo for trial and will attend his preliminary hearing on December 16, 2024.