(LISTEN): Cole County’s prosecutor praises jury for convictions in rape case

53-year-old Francis Henry Kempker of Jefferson City will be sentenced in June (April 2024 mug shot courtesy of the Cole County Sheriff’s Department)

A Jefferson City man faces a potential life prison sentence after being convicted of two counts of forcible rape. Sentencing will take place in June.

Cole County Prosecutor Locke Thompson tells 939 the Eagle’s “Wake Up Mid-Missouri” that 53-year-old Francis Henry Kempker would bond women out of the Cole County jail and then rape and physical abuse them at his Centertown shop:


“It was revealed during the trial that he did as a matter of course bond or attempt to bond women out of the jail. That on a few of those occasions that did result in the sexual assault of the victim,” Thompson says.

Prosecutor Thompson says the jury also heard from numerous witnesses as well as Cole County Sheriff’s deputies and detectives. He says the incidents happened in 2016. Prosecutor Thompson tells listeners that three victims took the stand during the trial.

“There were other instances where sexual assault was alleged to have occurred out there (the Centertown shop). Not necessarily tied to bonding women out of the jail, but it was a really horrendous fact pattern,” says Thompson.

You can hear the full interview with Prosecutor Thompson here.