FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — The man convicted of killing Fresno State student Debbie Dorian in 1996 and attacking several other women in the South Valley has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Nickey Stane pleaded guilty to 12 felony counts, including murder and multiple sexual assaults, in a deal that spared him the death penalty. He was formally sentenced Thursday in a Fresno County courtroom.
“We have waited and searched for this murderer for 28 years and 10 months,” said Sara Loven, Dorian’s mother, during an emotional victim impact statement.
Dorian was found bound and gagged in her northeast Fresno apartment in 1996. Her father discovered her body after she failed to show up for a family trip. The case remained unsolved for more than two decades.
Stane was linked to the crime in 2019 through DNA evidence collected from a separate sexual assault case in Visalia. That victim, identified in court as Jane Doe, was also present at the sentencing.
“That day was the worst day of my life. I tried moving on. I have tried to forget,” she said. “I waited over 20 years for that call from the DA saying that they got him.”
Prosecutors said Stane sexually assaulted at least five women in Visalia after Dorian’s murder. The DNA match in Jane Doe’s case ultimately connected the dots between the two cities and led to his arrest.
“The brutal nature and violence the defendant has used against women warrants the sentence in this case,” said prosecutor Deborah Miller.
Last month in court, Stane admitted to all the charges against him.
During the hearing, the judge acknowledged receiving a handwritten letter from Stane in which he accepted responsibility and described rehabilitation programs he completed while in custody.
Loven, speaking on behalf of her daughter, shared what she imagined Dorian might say if she were alive today.
“I just wish I could take the pain away from Mom and Dad,” she said. “I know that bringing my murderer to justice will help lift this load that has been with them for so long.”
Stane will soon be transferred from the Fresno County Jail to serve the remainder of his life in a California state prison. He gave up his right to appeal, and there is no possibility of parole.
