Man gets life sentence after attempted murder and child rape in Topeka

TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) – A man who allegedly sexually abused underage women from 2016 to 2021 received his sentence Friday, an official with the Shawnee Co. District Attorney's Office said in a news release.

On Friday, September 27, 2024, Zachery R. Nelson, 31, began serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole after 1,758 months, just over 146 years. After a six-day trial on June 16, 2022, a Shawnee Co. jury returned a verdict on Nelson's following charges:

• Attempted first degree murder.
• Criminal discharge of a firearm at an occupied vehicle.
• Criminal discharge of a firearm in an unoccupied dwelling.
• Serious bodily harm
• Damage to property.
• Criminal threat
• Aggravated criminal sodomy of a child under 14 years of age.
• 2 counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child under 14 years of age.
• Rape of a child under 14 years old.
• Aggravated indecent liberties of a child aged 14 to 16 years.
• battery

The reports of the defendants' attempted murder and child rape were reported to law enforcement in 2021. On January 7, 2021, a walk-in report received a report that Nelson had sexually abused two underage women.

A day later, law enforcement responded to a report of multiple shots fired in the 4100 block of NW Beecher Road. The investigation revealed that Nelson was at the scene. Nelson allegedly attempted to shoot the person he believed had reported the sexual abuse.

The address was the home of a family friend.

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