Welcome

Welcome to Iowa Cold Cases. Here you’ll find case summary details for all of Iowa’s unsolved homicides and missing persons cases where foul play is suspected. Cases are cross-referenced alphabetically by year, decade, city and county to simplify research.

Writer Jody Ewing founded Iowa Cold Cases in 2005 — the first-of-its-kind comprehensive database of unsolved murders to exist in any state. At the time, few police and/or sheriff’s offices included unsolved cases on departmental websites. Little to no information existed on the Internet — free of charge to the general public — for the vast majority of cases more than than a few years old. Many victims and case histories were relatively unknown outside communities where the crimes occurred, and some victims’ lives and stories hadn’t been written about in decades.

Iowa Cold Cases changed that, and nearly every page of the hundreds now housed here includes a comment form to encourage discussion, offer support, and help stimulate a passion for getting involved and seeing these cases solved. We incorporated as an Iowa non-profit organization in April 2010.

Our readers played and continue to play a vital role in keeping our case files current. As the site grew, so did the number of letters to ICC informing us of missing cases — with some murders dating back to the 19th century — and we owe a great deal of thanks to the many victims’ family members and friends, as well as local and state law enforcement, for helping us forge Iowa’s first and foremost cold case repository, where hope is never laid to rest. Read more about our history here.

We Remember: Upcoming Cold Case Anniversaries

Upcoming cold case anniversaries are listed below and also include — where noted — birthdays the victims would have celebrated.

Debra Barajas-Gutierrez
44 YOA
Mills County, IA
May 25, 2006

Patricia Jauron
45 YOA
1516 Old Hwy 141
Sioux City, IA
Case # 98-06160
May 26, 1998

Peggy Ann Cottrell
Age at Report: 66
Marshalltown, IA
Missing Since:
May 26, 2001

Bryan Pence
22 YOA
3725 Hubbell
Des Moines, IA
Case # 1986-22875
May 29, 1986

John W. Jeffery
31 YOA
1018 E. 12th
Des Moines, IA
Polk County
May 29, 1990

Robert Scott
43 YOA
1000 Blk. E. 12th
Des Moines, IA
Case # 1996-22677
May 30, 1996

Erin Kay Pospisil
Age at Report: 15
Cedar Rapids
Missing Since:
June 3, 2001

Clarence Cecil
Age at Report: 81
Davis County, IA
Missing Since:
June 5, 2004

Amber Marie Hayes
7-1/2 months old
603 Clay St.
Muscatine, IA
Case # 88-02703
June 9, 1988