Sometimes I have to admit I’m stumped. My research bumps up against a case where details are sparse, vague, and puzzling. Even more complicating, the woman central to the facts is referred to by newspapers as “Mrs.” rather than her given name — a common technique until the late 1960s.

The particular case is the murder of 56-year-old George Earl Dean on June 19, 1966 in Mapleton in Monona County, Iowa.

The facts about his death come mostly from a “Mrs. Carley.” She told law enforcement that on the night of Dean’s death, he flagged her down and asked her to call a doctor. She went to the home of a “Mr. Knife” — or in another version, her own home — to make the call and then returned to Dean’s house, where she found him dead in the street.

Dean had fractured facial bones and ribs on the left side as though he were run over by a car.

One other piece of information exists. William Gregorson reported that Mrs. Carley woke him up on June 30, 1966 wanting a ride to Omaha to bring back her husband. She said she was being questioned by authorities about Dean’s death and a possible affair between them and wanted her spouse present. She needed Gregorson to take her because she didn’t like driving in Omaha.

I do know that George Earl Dean was born July 28, 1910 in Monona County, Iowa, to Caroline Claude and George Thomas Dean. He had five brothers — Wilbur W., Robert Vernon, Claude Eugene, Glen H., and Leo Allen Dean — as well as two sisters, Dorothy Maxine Dean Rose and Florence S. Dean Leetch.

On December 12, 1932, he married Luella Harriet Hollister, who passed away in 2000 in Sioux City, Iowa. They had two daughters.

Maybe someone out there can help me. If you have any information on the unsolved murder of George Earl Dean, please click here to fill out an Iowa Cold Cases contact form.