Accused serial sex predator, killer of Debbie Dorian will be prosecuted in Fresno County
Accused killer and rapist Nickey Stane of Visalia will soon be transferred to Fresno County where he is expected to be prosecuted for a string of sexual assaults and the 1996 murder of Fresno State student Debbie Dorian.
A criminal complaint, filed Wednesday afternoon in Fresno County Superior Court, charges the 52-year-old Stane with 12 felony counts, including murder, rape, and sexual battery by restraint.
Stane, who worked as the manager of Charley’s Philly Steaks in the Visalia Mall, was arrested in October by Visalia police, accused of a series of sexual assaults of women in the city between 1999 and 2002. DNA evidence collected during those attacks connected him to the crimes.
A few days later, police in Fresno named Stane as the suspect in the Dorian case, indicating that DNA found in Dorian’s apartment was a match to one of the Visalia cases involving Stane.
For several months, Stane has been locked up in the Tulare County jail waiting for a trial. But Fresno County District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp and Tulare County District Attorney Tim Ward announced Wednesday they will combine the two cases, with Stane being tried in Fresno County.
Ward said it makes sense to have one jury decide Stane’s fate, rather than hold two separate trials.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Deborah Miller will be the prosecutor. Stane is expected to make his first Fresno County court appearance on Feb. 6 where he will be arraigned in Dept. 33.
If found guilty, Stane could face life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty. Smittcamp, however, said that decision has not yet been made.
Case was cold for decades
Smittcamp thanked the many law enforcement officers, criminologists, retired detectives and investigators, some who have spent more than two decades searching for Dorian’s killer.
Dorian, a 22-year-old student, was bound, raped and then killed in a brutal attack that shocked the community. Detectives had few solid leads until the advancement of DNA technology helped them connect Stane to the murder.
Among those attending Wednesday’s press conference was Dorian’s mother Sara Loven, who never gave up hoping to one day find her daughter’s killer.
“It’s been almost 12,000 days of waiting, hoping, searching, disappointments and frustrations,” Loven said.
“Expressing how thankful I am does not touch the depths of my gratitude. But please take the word closure out of your vocabulary, it is an irritant to those who have lost a loved one. What this arrest has finished is the struggle to always be searching.”
Speaking to Loven, Smittcamp said: “As a mother, I can’t fathom the pain you endured waiting for this day to come.”
Also at the press conference were two former Fresno police detectives, Vince Zavala and Bob Schiotis, who worked on the case since the beginning. Even during their retirement, they continued to search for clues.
Zavala said he has kept in contact with Dorian’s family over the last 23 years, checking in with them about once or twice a month.
“I don’t know if their wounds will ever heal,” Zavala said. “But it is my hope, our hope, that at the very least we can provide answers to the family and that the person responsible for these unimaginable crimes will finally feel the total weight or our justice system.”
This story was originally published January 29, 2020 at 5:13 PM.
