From an FBI Informant to a Serial Killer — Where Is Scott Kimball Now?

In December 2002, Scott Kimball was sitting in a Colorado prison called Englewood. He was in there for check fraud, but he had a plan that would help him get out early.

According to the The Atavist Magazine, Kimball had previously helped the FBI two times prior and was looking to assist them once again.

Elsewhere in Colorado, an FBI agent named Carle Schlaff had grown tired of the "low-level drug cases" he usually worked on, and wanted something with a little more meat on the bone.

Kimball would give him that, and more.

Schlaff described Kimball as a "typical wise guy" who "had an answer for everything." Because Kimball didn't have any violent offenses on his record, Schlaff felt comfortable reactivating him as an informant.

This time, his duties would temporarily take him out of prison, which is when the murders began.

How did Kimball go from FBI informant to serial killer, and where is he now? ABC's 20/20 has the story.

According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, Kimball is currently serving time at USP McCreary, a maximum security prison in Pine Knot, Ky. His projected release date is Jan. 7, 2082. At 56 years old, Kimball would have to make it to the ripe old age of 115 before walking free. In all likelihood, he will die in prison. So, how did he get there?

In Colorado, FBI agent Schlaff was investigating violent crimes and working as a liaison to Englewood prison when he learned that a prisoner had some intel about a murder plot. He then met with that prisoner, who happened to be Kimball.

Kimball told Schlaff that his Englewood cellmate, a young drug dealer by the name of Steve Ennis, was trying to orchestrate the deaths of any witnesses who would testifying against him. Kimball offered to help, and so he and Schlaff devised a plan. Ennis ended up buying the whole scheme. Ennis even suggested Kimball meet his girlfriend, who would introduce him to his drug dealing partner in order to procure a gun. The girlfriend was named Jennifer Marcum, and she would become Kimball's second victim.

On Dec. 18, 2002, Kimball walked out of Englewood. "The FBI and the Department of Justice had persuaded a judge to free him on a $10,000 unsecured bond," per the Atavist. He had initially been transferred to Colorado from Alaska while the FBI had investigated what he'd discovered as an informant there. This time around, in Colorado, working with Schlaff could reduce his sentencing for the charges he faced in Alaska.

His first victim was LeAnn Emry, another girlfriend of an Englewood prisoner. When he was out, he and Emry went on a fraud crime spree together. Per the Atavist: "All told, they committed at least $15,000 in fraud, though neither of them would be linked to the crime until much later."

With Marcum, Kimball was trying to bait her into confessing that she was going to help him kill witnesses testifying against her boyfriend. It never happened. On Feb. 17, 2003, she disappeared. Her body was never found.

Then there was Lori McLeod, who met Scott Kimball at a casino in Colorado in 2003. She was 39 years old, twice divorced, and was trying to help her 19-year-old daughter Kaysi kick her meth habit. Kimball was pushing his mother in a wheelchair, thus making him look kind and helpful. He and McLeod hit it off. Kimball even told her he was working for the FBI.

When Kaysi disappeared in August 2003, it happened while Kimball was on a hunting trip, or so he told her. McLeod contacted police who refused to list her daughter as missing person because, in their words, she was adult and can do what she wants as long as it's not illegal. Despite all this, McLeod agreed to marry Kimball and soon after took out a life insurance policy in her name with him listed as the beneficiary.

The marriage was not great, and was made worse by Kimball's emotional abuse toward McLeod and the two sons he had from a previous marriage. In July 2004, the couple was home with the boys when one of them, Cody, told McLeod to call 911. His brother Justin was hurt. Although she called for an ambulance, Kimball took his son to the hospital himself, but when he arrived, Justin's injuries were worse. Kimball told doctors his son accidentally fell from the car, but Justin was actually pushed by his father. Ultimately police had to let it go as there was no proof of the crime and Justin had some brain damage.

The last victim of Kimball was his own uncle Terry Kimball, who had come from Alabama to help take care of Cody while Justin was in the hospital. Kimball used the fact that Terry was a disrespectful houseguest to his advantage. When he told McLeod that Terry suddenly won the lottery and left for Mexico with an exotic dancer, she didn't mind one bit. Later, FBI would find suspicious activity on Terry's bank accounts that was traced back to Kimball.

For more on this story, tune into 20/20 Friday, May 12, at 9 p.m EST on ABC.