Overview
- The Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed Dear, 67, died Nov. 22 at the U.S. Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri, with a spokesperson reporting natural causes.
- Dear never stood trial over the 2015 clinic attack that killed three and wounded nine, as judges repeatedly ruled him incompetent to proceed.
- He faced 179 state charges and 68 federal counts, which now remain unresolved following his death.
- A federal judge authorized involuntary antipsychotic medication in 2022, a decision upheld by the 10th Circuit in 2024, but treatment did not restore him to competency.
- Victims were identified as Ke'Arre M. Stewart, Jennifer Markovsky and Officer Garrett Swasey, and the local district attorney said the community has been denied the full measure of justice.