About Iowa Cold Cases
IOWA COLD CASES is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization committed to providing case summaries, articles and updates for all Iowa open homicides and missing persons cases where foul play is suspected.
Our mission is to educate the public about these open cases, share and exchange resources in efforts to publicize these unsolved crimes, and ensure every victim's story is told and kept alive until those responsible are held accountable.
Writer Jody Ewing launched the Iowa Cold Cases website in 2005 after researching and writing a cold case series for the Sioux City Weekender. Her first in the Weekender series — the 1974 triple slaying of two young men and a pregnant woman shot execution style in the rental home they shared — posed a new kind of challenge for the west-central Iowa author; the state had no centralized online database listing victims' names and case details, and very few police and/or sheriff's departments included unsolved homicides on their respective websites. It set the stage for what Ewing now calls one of her greatest passions and commitments.
What began as a handful of cases cross-referenced by city and county expanded to include more than 300 victims and case summaries for unsolved homicides and missing persons all across Iowa. Most victims — along with his or her case information — were relatively unknown outside communities where the crimes occurred. Some victims' lives and stories hadn't been publicly documented in decades.
In 2007, Jody's stepfather of 25 years, Earl Thelander, lost his life at the hands of copper thieves. In an ironic twist of fate, she later found herself adding his name to the Iowa Cold Cases list, where it remains even today.
Just as the site rolled into its fifth year, Ewing crossed paths with Dr. Nancy Bowers of Ames, Iowa, and the two immediately connected with the passion they shared for research and writing about unsolved crimes. Bowers — a published author and former university teacher who'd worked for the Ames Police Department and currently volunteered there — was working on a book about the unsolved murder of Iowa State University coed Sheila Collins.
In January 2010, Bowers joined Iowa Cold Cases as Ewing's co-administrator, and with her meticulously researched articles and anniversary blog posts has proven to be one of the site's most valuable assets.
"I honestly don't know what I did without her," Ewing says. "From Day One, it was like she knew exactly what needed done, when it needed done, and on what cases. She's also brought an incredible amount of insight and energy to what we're trying to accomplish."
Further enhancing the team was the addition of international human rights attorney Eileen Meier, whose 8-year-old sister, Valerie Peterson, was killed in a hit-and-run while riding her bicycle along a Manson, Iowa road. Eileen taught legislative advocacy at Georgetown University for seven years and international human rights law at the University of Baltimore School of Law for five years. She has lectured on gender rights at the University of Sarajevo in Bosnia and the Kathmandu School of Law in Nepal, and worked with the Bosnian government and NGO’s to reform gender rights’ laws and court reform in Bosnia.
With its growing members, Iowa Cold Cases incorporated and became an official nonprofit organization in April 2010.
Iowa Cold Cases continues its mission to bring together, under one roof, a comprehensive list of all Iowa unsolved homicides and missing persons cases cross-referenced by city and county. Individual victim pages provide increasingly detailed case summaries and photos, and upcoming cold case anniversaries are featured on the website's home page and memorialized on the blog. These tributes have expanded to also include guest blogs — thoughts and remembrances written by victims' family members. We strive to serve somewhat as a hub where victims' family members and friends — along with law enforcement and media — may share and exchange information as we work toward one prevailing goal: to see these cases closed.
Photos and news reports are always welcome. The Photos page contains a slide show of those we've loved and lost. The Videos page links to cold cases in the news as well as personal tributes made by family members and friends. A number of resources available to crime victims and crime victims' families may be found on the Links page.
If you would like to submit a photo, video tribute, or cold case for inclusion here, please fill out our Contact form and we'll do our best to respond in a timely manner. Anonymous tips are acceptable.
This site is dedicated to Iowa's cold case victims, their family members and friends, and the countless law enforcement officials who've committed lives to making a difference and seeing justice served for all.
Thank you for taking time to visit.
The Iowa Cold Cases team
