Omaha police have arrested a public school employee after he confessed to killing a convicted pedophile in an anonymous email to the news media.
Police arrested James Fairbanks, 43, and charged him with criminal homicide in the death of Mattieo Conduluci (right), whose body was found near 43rd and Pinkney late Saturday night,
The email sent by “Stop Predators,” said “I killed Mattieo Conduluci Thursday May 14th.”
According to KETV, the anonymous sender said he was looking for an apartment in the area when he discovered Condoluci’s name was on the Nebraska Sex Offender Registry. He described Condoluci standing in his driveway pretending to wash his truck while staring at a group of children playing in the street.
Conduluci was previously convicted of raping a child and served less than 3 years in prison. He was released for good behavior.
“Having had my own experience with these type of predators I knw [sic] the damage he would do to those kids,” Fairbanks wrote in the email. “I’ve worked with kids for years who have been victimized and I couldnt [sic] in good conscience allow him to do it to anyone else while I had the means to stop him.”
He added: “I know in this messed up judicial system that means I will face far more severe punishment for stopping him then he did for raping KIDS.”
There have been calls from the public to raise money for legal defense for Fairbanks, who worked as a school corrections officer.
His wife, Kelly Tamayo, said Fairbanks probably killed Conduluci because he, “like all parents, was disgusted with that man’s actions and wished justice.”
She described her husband as “a protector who cared for some of the most vulnerable and victimized children.”
She said “Developmental Services of Nebraska had to create a special award for him because he never had to restrain kids and was always able to verbally de-escalate them. Many of them were victims of sexual abuse.”
Omaha Public Schools confirmed Fairbanks worked at Morton Middle School from 2016 to 2018 and most recently worked for the middle school alternative program.
