It was something that millions of people do every day. Forty-five-year-old Sioux City, Iowa, resident Patricia Anne Jauron placed a newspaper ad to sell something she no longer needed—in this case, a water bed.
On the morning of May 26, 1998, Patricia was savagely stabbed to death at 1516 Old Highway 141 by a man who responded to that ad.
Gene Jauron, Patricia’s husband of 25 years, believes the man came to the couple’s yard sale the day before and showed interest in the water bed. He told Gene he worked at an area packing plant and Gene believes he drove a red car. Phone records show the man called the Jauron’s home to set up the fatal encounter from a pay phone near a local convenience store.
Had the killer stalked for a victim by attending yard sales and combing want ads? Was Patricia targeted specifically or was she a target of opportunity? Was the killer’s motive robbery, rape, or some sort of sadistic pathology that drove him to kill so openly in the middle of the day?
The Jauron family needs help in finding and bringing to justice the man who took the life of Patricia.
If you have any information on this case, please contact the Woodbury County Sheriff at 712-279-6010.
Thank you for this post Nancy. There is not a day that goes by, even 12 years later that I don’t think about my mother and what happened to her that day. I still do have hope that justice will prevail someday.
Kevin, Please accept Iowa Cold Cases’s condolences on the loss of your mother. Keep the faith that justice will be found. Nancy Bowers, Co-Administrator