A fashionable home, a wealthy lifestyle, a maid and houseboy. Windsor Heights resident and soon-to-be-divorcee Anne McGrevey seemed to have it all. Until the night of January 30, 1948, when someone set a fire that killed her. Read about his unsolved arson/murder at http://iowacoldcases.org/case-summaries/anne-mcgrevey/
During the second week of January in 1867, a man’s body was discovered under a haystack on Washington Prairie a few miles from Frankville in Winneshiek County.
A newspaper reported that the body “presented a sickening and ghastly sight.” The man’s hair and whiskers had been cropped off and, in addition to bruises, he had many cuts from a large, sharp knife.
Despite these attempts to make the body unrecognizable, local residents could discern that the victim was William Clugston, described as “a young man” from Sandusky, Ohio, who recently sold some valuable horses in the area for a substantial amount of money.
No possessions or money were found on Clugston’s body, indicating robbery was the motive.
Questions and information about the unsolved 1867 murder of William Clugston should be directed to Iowa Cold Cases through the Contact form.
Holly, like all evergreens, symbolizes hope in the desolation of winter.
This Christmas and into the coming new year, know our thoughts will be with you and your families, and we’ll continue to do everything possible to ensure your loved one is never forgotten. It is never too late for justice, and, together, we are a strong and mighty force. We will never lay hope to rest.
To borrow a phrase from the iconic writer, Stephen King:
Hope is a good thing. Maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to each and every one of you.
Jody and Nancy
Red Poppies, which grew on graves near the Western Front of WWI, are the symbol for Veterans Day.
Today — in honor of Veterans Day — we display the Red Poppy, the flower long associated with the occasion.
We remember and honor 43 Iowa victims of unsolved murder who were veterans. Many survived battles and life-threatening circumstances only to die violently at the hands of a murderer.
Below are the names, wars, and branches of services — when known — of ICC victims who were veterans. Click on the name to read each victim’s story:
We are grateful for their service to our country.
If you know of veterans this list overlooks, please send us the information by filling out a Contact form on our site.
Tippi Hedren in "The Birds"
Mea culpa. I couldn’t have picked a worse time to shut off the computer, clean the kitchen, go upstairs and talk with my son, and then go down two floors to start running a 50-foot DSL cable up the basement steps, through the kitchen and under a rug, through the dining room behind the sideboard and then over to my desk and hard drive, which is (temporarily) in the living room’s corner. You see, before I shut down my Mac, everything looked fine. I swear!
I won’t go into detail about the number of hours (okay, days, as in a few hours a day here, a few hours a day there) I spent trying to get those pesky little social media icons — Facebook and Twitter and the like — to where they’d show up correctly positioned on our website’s WordPress pages. The posts worked fine from the start, but no matter how many widgets and plug-ins I installed and tried, something always went awry.
Based on a good number of ongoing (and many unresolved) discussions on Internet forums, it appears those having problems are the ones (like me) who opted for “premium” WordPress themes that came with more php “template” (a misnomer; not what you think) pages than the Dead Sea Scrolls. (Ironically, they may as well have been written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek.)
More often than not, after following the next and then the next plug-in’s claims of Just-Download-and-Activate-and-You’re-Done! claims, I’d set the easy-to-follow preferences, click the done button, and then peek around the corner to see what happened. There they’d be, all those birds who so silently flew in to perch on every paragraph’s corner and then caw Tweet Me! Twitter Me! Follow Me or Share Me! — which, of course, rendered the home page nothing more than colored and splattered bird droppings.
But, I stayed the course. And even though my current chosen plug-in has neither the “Share this to your posts” nor the “Share this to your pages” box checked, my little feathered friends are finally showing up where I’d wanted them in the beginning. After a few other tweaks to the site and a “preview” that looked pretty darn good (if I do say so myself), I shut things down with the hope that a real live DSL cable would expedite the other tasks that accrued in my inbox while I’d obsessed over way too many obfuscated php hieroglyphics.
More than twice after quickly correcting another mess I’d made on the home page, I’d said to Dennis, “I’ll bet Nancy (my Iowa Cold Cases co-admin) is about to pull out all her hair if she’s been trying to get any work done on here.”
Enter the DSL cable. A faster Internet connection. One that took me with lightning speed straight to a home page that actually resembled something like a lightning bolt. The lines of text — not much more than an inch or so in width — speared straight to the bottom of the page, the photos and upcoming anniversary announcements piled up one on top the other in true train wreck fashion.
I knew it had been a long day when I started laughing. “Boy, if Nancy was mad before …” I said while digging through file folders in search of an “icc_base” css file I knew I’d stashed away somewhere a few weeks back — just in case. Miraculously, after a quick copy and paste (and believing I’d have to start again from scratch with The Birds) the page suddenly fell into place, complete with just four little colored icons lined up at the bottom that, turns out, made it through the storm and survived every post and page.
Second in line is one little blue bird, singing and tweeting as he flies away.
Today’s guest blog is written by Shannon Salmons, mother to 6-year-old cold case victim Jaymie Grahlman. Today, Jaymie — called ‘sis’ by her brothers and her mother — would have celebrated her 15th birthday. Below is a letter Shannon wrote to her daughter, followed by a poem chosen as a memorial.
By Shannon Salmons
Jaymie,
I can’t believe that you’re 15 now; I often sit here and imagine how your life would be if you were still with us… how beautiful you would have been. Would you have been the cheerleader that you always talked about?
I miss you sis, and as every day goes by I think of you. I look at your pictures and often wonder how you would look now. Would you still be tiny, or would you be tall like your brothers?
Your brothers miss you and have been talking more about you lately. It’s hard for big bubby because he loved you so much, and he still isn’t quite sure why God took you away from us. He tells the story of when you got real mad at him for not wanting to play dolls with you, and you and your temper. You shut the closet door on his head; I guess I should say slammed the door on his head, and Jesse, well, he was young when you left us but he remembers everything about you. He talks about you and asks if you’re here with us when the crazy little things happen. Or, when something he likes goes missing, of course he blames you. But that’s just what brothers do. Your Uncle Steve and Scott still blame me for things!
Grandma always tells the story of you and the marshmallows, when you got so mad and dumped the whole bag on the floor, and daddy came in and you thought that daddy was going to save you but you found out that he was on Grandma’s side. She smiles and laughs about how mad you got, the short time that you were here with us baby you left such a big impression on all of us. And even though you are in heaven and a day doesn’t go by that I don’t think of you, I thank God for letting you be a part of my life — most of all for being my daughter.
I love you so much it hurts, and I know I will be with you again one day, but until that day comes I will cherish all the memories I have because of you … the memories of you climbing into my bed and curling up … the only way that you would go to sleep … the way you smiled and said good morning … everything that you did, my beautiful daughter, is in my heart and will never leave.
But on this day, your 15th birthday, I hope you know that I love you more than anything, and I hope that your birthday is a beautiful day in Heaven for you!!
Jaymie, I Love You Baby Girl.
Love,
Momma
~~~
When tomorrow starts without me
And I’m not there to see;
If the sun should rise and find your eyes
All filled with tears for me.
I wish so much you wouldn’t cry
The way you did today;
While thinking of the many things
We didn’t get to say.
I know how much you love me
As much as I love you;
And each time that you think of me,
I know you’ll miss me too.
But when tomorrow starts without me
Please try to understand,
That an angel came and called my name
And took me by the hand.
She said my place was ready
In heaven far above;
And that I’d have to leave behind,
All those I dearly love.
But as I turned to walk away,
A tear fell from my eye;
For all my life, I’d always thought
I didn’t want to die.
I had so much to live for,
So much yet to do;
It seemed almost impossible,
That I was leaving you.
I thought of all the yesterdays,
The good ones and the bad;
I thought of all the love we shared,
And all the fun we had.
If I could relive yesterday
Just even for awhile,
I’d say goodbye and kiss you
And maybe see you smile.
But then I fully realized
That this could never be;
For emptiness and memories
Would take the place of me.
And when I thought of worldly things
I might miss come tomorrow;
I thought of you, and when I did,
My heart was filled with sorrow.
But when I walked through heaven’s gates
I felt so much at home;
When God looked down and smiled at me
From His great golden throne.
He said, “This is eternity
And all I’ve promised you;
Today your life on earth is past,
But here it all starts anew.”
“I promise no tomorrow,
But today will always last;
And since each day’s the same day,
There’s no longing for the past.”
“But you have been so faithful,
So trusting and so true;
Though at times you did do things,
You knew you shouldn’t do.”
“But you have been forgiven
And now at last you’re free;
So won’t you take my hand
And share my life with me?”
So when tomorrow starts without me,
Don’t think we’re far apart
For every time you think of me,
I’m right here in your heart.
Poem attributed to David M. Romano – 1993
Today, on the 8th anniversary of the day 30-year-old Corey Poffenberger left many lives, we have two very special tributes written by his family.
The first tribute is written by Corey’s mother, Cindy Poffenberger, and the second by Corey’s sister, Kelli Sims. They have shared with us not only their heartfelt and moving memorials, but a number of photos capturing the spirit of one young man loved by so many.
~~~~~~~
October 24, 2011
Our Dearest Corey,
It is still hard to believe that you are on the Iowa Cold Case web site. You cannot imagine how we have hoped and prayed that there would have been closure to this terrible tragedy before this 8 year anniversary. I am writing not only on behalf of myself, but for your Dad, Kelli, Justin, and all of your friends and family that love you so deeply.
There isn’t a day that goes by that we don’t miss hearing your voice, seeing that smile, or laughing at your quick wit. In so many ways it seems like yesterday and yet in so many others it seems like forever.
Many wonderful memories were made at our home on Central St. You were so proud to become a big brother. When we brought Kelli home from the hospital, you were so protective and didn’t want to share her with anyone. You, Kelli, and your cousins spent hours in the infamous toy room with the multi-colored ceiling tiles. I’m sure to this day that “Barbara Ann” still echoes in the walls. Tents made from chairs and blankets. Hide and Seek in the closets. Easter eggs colored by the dozens. Secrets whispered as you, Kelli, and your cousins would watch the grown-ups wrap Christmas presents from the upstairs vent. Christmas trees sprayed with snow from a can and tied to the banister to keep it from falling over. Snow men built, snow forts constructed and hundreds of snowballs thrown. And how could we ever forget that infamous fall off your bicycle, when Aunt Judy came to our rescue and you ended up at the hospital! You were so much like your Uncle Don, Grandpa Smith and your Dad. You could just look at something and know how to fix it. You were always tearing things apart just to see how they worked.
We remember how heartbroken you were to move to Hamilton, only to find that your best friends would be at that small town around the lake. Hundreds of escapades and memories with your buddies. Endless games of hearts and poker at the dining room table. The role of Danny Zucco in the class play “Grease” or the year those Marines
won the sectional. Spring breaks in Florida when everyone piled into that station wagon, or mowing Goat Hill, or parking cars for dances at Cold Springs. Countless rounds of golf, and hours upon hours of bowling with the gang.
With a blink of an eye you were off to IU. And your saga continued. From the residence hall, to Theta Chi, to the apartment with Jason and Shad. Remember you guys could sit in a room, not say a word and the laughter would start. Before long
you would all be rolling on the floor with tears streaming down your faces from laughing so hard.
You loved to laugh, you loved golf, IU basketball, music and movies. You loved life.
You always looked forward to coming home to visit and be with family and friends. You loved those family gatherings with that great food and euchre tournaments. (Like you always said, “Watch Grandma, she cheats!), and of course, karaoke and Summer Nights with Lesley.
Then to the Beach, Minneapolis and Des Moines. You bought your first home and you were so happy to have a mortgage payment! You were so excited when your Dad and I came to help you move in. You worked so hard to make it your home. I remember the smile on your face when we planted the new tree in the front yard. You thought it was the most beautiful tree on earth!
You always sought challenges in your work, and like so many have said, you just made life look so easy, but accomplished so much. You lived your life to the fullest, you were always the optimist. Everyday was a great day. You inspired those that surrounded you. Your quick wit, humor, unbelievable work ethic, and magnetic personality were the qualities that everyone loved. You strived hard and wanted to make us proud. You always knew how much we all loved you, and how proud we were of you.
I remember your voice so vividly when you called on Thursday night. You were so excited about your promotion. You had worked endless hours and we couldn’t have been prouder. You had made your flight reservations and would be coming “home” to the new house on the lake in two weeks. That weekend you were going to e-mail all of your buddies and let them know that you would be coming home for vacation. But that e-mail didn’t get sent…you were gone the next morning. We all felt that time had stopped and the world quit spinning.
Our hearts are broken that your time with us was so brief. We have so many unanswered questions….why would anyone do this? You deserved so much more.
With all our love forever,
Mom, Dad, Kelli, Justin, your family and friends
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When the anniversary of my brother’s death approaches each year, I don’t have to look at the calendar and I don’t have to be reminded what month it is, I can feel it. Every year, for the last eight years, I feel different, act different, and think differently. I have an overwhelming sadness. Corey’s death has changed our family forever. Eight years ago I didn’t just lose a brother, I lost a part of my future, past, and imagination of what it would be like to have the only person that grew up exactly like I did, at my side.
I think about my brother each and every day. On most days I think about what he would have said, done, or acted like in certain situations. I also think about the good times we had together. Corey was the type of person that always made everyone laugh. He would tease me and instead of getting mad, I would start laughing. Corey was magnetic. Everyone that was around him was drawn to him. After my brother’s death, my husband told me that when my brother was in the room, my eyes would light up. I know in my heart that there are times that I still have that light in my eyes, but it will never be the same.
Corey worked hard, loved hard, and played hard. When Corey had a job, he quickly became the “go to” person no matter if it was working at a golf course, managing a club, or working for Mediacom. Corey always spent late nights and early mornings at each and every job he held in his very short life. This was one of my favorite qualities that Corey possessed. Everything he did he did with great passion and dedication and I feel comforted knowing that he didn’t take his life for granted.
Corey was very charming, charismatic, and someone that everyone wanted to be around. I deeply miss his smile, presence, and sense of humor, but most of all I just miss him. There is not a day that goes by that I wonder what he would be doing, where his life would have led him, and how deeply I miss him. I am proud and honored to not only know someone like Corey, but to be able to call him my brother.
Kelli Sims
~~~~~~
** For more photos and to read more about Corey’s case, please click here.
All were young. They should have been just getting settled into careers, raising children, discovering challenges and rewards that accompany adulthood.
Instead, they all went missing under mysterious circumstances, leaving in the wake families still left wondering what happened to their loved ones.
Richard Forsyth
Richard Neil Forsyth was only 27 when he disappeared October 18, 1979. He’d last been seen leaving his apartment carrying something wrapped in a rug. He was never heard from again.
Steven Kirchhoff in 1978
There’s still speculation his disappearance may somehow be connected to another Waterloo man’s disappearance: 22-year-old Steven Kirchhoff disappeared the year before and authorities believe his disappearance may have been drug-related. Forsyth paid cash for a Cadillac one week after Kirchhoff disappeared, only to later go missing himself.
Rodney J. Olsen
Exactly seven years after Richard Forsyth went missing, 32-year-old Rodney Olsen vanished from his northeast Mason City farm on October 18, 1986. The father of a young son, Olsen had only recently moved from his native Britt to the Mason City area.
Several months after his disappearance, Olsen’s black 1978 Pontiac Sunbird was found in a Forest City trailer park. Officials found no clues to indicate what might have happened to Olsen.
Melissa Hasley
October 18 proved to be another fateful day in 2002, when 31-year-old Melissa Hasley attended a party in the 1700 block of Grand Avenue in Des Moines, Iowa. Hasley had last been seen sitting on the apartment building’s fire escape with some friends. When a fire door alarm went off, Hasley exited the building through the alley door on the building’s north side, never to be seen again.
If you have any information about the whereabouts of any of these individuals, please contact the respective law enforcement agencies as listed on each victims’ case summary page.
Homer in Hamilton County
My search for crime scenes, unsolved mysteries, and murder victims’ stories often takes me down Iowa’s back roads.
On a recent day, my destination was Homer in Hamilton County — where Maria Dulin and Alta Paul were murdered in 1896.
Ten miles south and east of Webster City on meandering Stagecoach Road there’s a turn west and at that spot, nearly on the Webster County Line, are the skeletal remains of Homer.
Courtesy photo Don Lamb
A vacated Methodist church, its bell hacked out of the steeple, marks the intersection of what was once Main and Fourth streets. Everything else has disappeared except a couple of houses and the old General Store and dancehall.
Photo by Neal Bowers
Somewhere in this vanished town with its ghost streets still marked by fence rows cutting through the cornfields, the two women were murdered.
Alta Paul
Alta Fisher Paul, 26, was poisoned first — on July 3, 1896 — and then hurriedly buried by her husband James Paul on Independence Day morning so he could escort another young woman to a patriotic dance that night, held perhaps in the dancehall above the General Store.
Maria Dulin
Then 10 days later, Alta’s grandmother, 80-year-old Maria Dulin — a local midwife so beloved she was known as “Grandma Dulin” — died in a similar way.
Both women exhibited symptoms of strychnine poisoning.
There’s no trace in Homer of the two women. Alta was buried in an unmarked Webster County grave. But I found Maria 10 miles southeast in Saratoga Cemetery north of Stanhope beneath a stone erected by friends to honor her memory.
Photo by Neal BowersAlta’s husband James Paul was tried for murdering his wife and her grandmother. His alleged motives? Inheriting property and gaining his freedom to marry a local 17-year-old who’d caught his eye.
James Paul’s trial was sensational theater, with two local women swearing they observed James Paul give Maria “medicine” he’d gotten from his physician father and yet another testifying she found a bottle of white powder in a potato patch 50 feet from Maria Dulin’s home.
The lead actors in the drama, however, were two opposing chemistry professors.
The defense expert claimed that finding strychnine in a body doesn’t indicate poisoning.
James Paul, accused of poisoning his wife and her grandmother
The prosecution expert injected two live frogs with the strychnine-laced contents of the women’s stomach.
Even though the frogs died in front of the judge and spectators, the jury found James Paul not guilty.
James Paul’s father Dr. George Paul — the town’s physician and Maria Dulin’s neighbor — who was awaiting his own trial for alleged involvement in the deaths, was also set free.
Every back road I travel for Iowa Cold Cases leads to welcoming and helpful people, and this time was no different.
Homer residents Don Lamb and his brother Francis, who grew up there, didn’t know about Alta Paul and Maria Dulin.
But they shared with me their memories of the town and showed me bits and pieces of printed history.
The Lamb brothers said that in its prime Homer had three churches, a post office, a school, and 600 citizens. Bypassed when the railroad came through, the community shrank until the population in 2011 is only five people.
Don Lamb runs a thriving tractor and small engine repair operation in the former General Store, where inside steep steps lead up to the former dancehall.
Don and his daughter Brandi also manage an historical museum featuring antique mechanical equipment.
During the fourth week of August each year, they sponsor a steam engine threshing exhibition.
The prairie takes back its own. And as Homer recedes into the corn and soybeans, the remembrance of two poisoned women who received no justice might fade as well.
That’s why Iowa Cold Cases is keeping alive their memories and their stories, just two of the hundreds of victims to be searched for along the back roads of Iowa.
NOTE: This is the first in a series of Back Roads Sleuthing blogs.
KQWC News Director Pat Powers
On September 12, Iowa Cold Cases’ Co-Administrator Nancy Bowers taped an interview with KQWC News Channel 6 News Director Pat Powers in Webster City, Iowa. The 20-minute interview focused on unsolved cases in Hamilton County and Webster City, as well as evolving features with the Iowa Cold Cases website.
The interview will be aired on KQWC on Saturday, October 1, at 7:00 a.m. We invite all readers and followers — particularly those in the Hamilton County and Webster City area — to tune in to what promises to be an engaging discussion.
Cold Cases in Hamilton County currently include three from 1896 – W. Elmer Dudrey, Alta Fisher Paul and Maria Dulin – and Barbara K. Brim from 2001. Dudrey and Brim died after being shot; both Fisher Paul and Dulin were poisoned.
Nancy Bowers
Bowers, who joined Iowa Cold Cases in January 2009, received her Doctorate in English and Film Studies from Drake University. She earned an M.A. in 19th Century British Literature and an A.B. degree in English and History at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
She is the author of four published books: John Schlesinger: A Guide to References and Resources; The Hollywood Novel: 1912-1982; A Life in Time: Brown Munro, Sr. (1829-1909), and Lives to Share. She spent two years working in the Records Division of the Ames Police Department and later volunteered there, and two years assisting at the Adult Probation and Parole Office in Ames.
She has a completed manuscript — waiting for that last chapter when the case is solved! — about the January 1968 murder of Iowa State University student Sheila Jean Collins and also is writing a book detailing Iowa murders from 1847 to 1949.
Hard-working Rhonda Knutson, 22, was murdered on Labor Day 1992.
Labor Day of 1992 proved deadly for a hard-working young Iowa woman, the very type the holiday was created to honor.
When she was murdered early Monday, September 7, 1992, Rhonda Knutson was at the center of a perfect combination of danger factors.
The 22-year-old woman worked alone overnight in a Phillips 66 Convenience Store on Highway 63 six miles south of New Hampton in Chickasaw County.
That Labor Day weekend, thousands of vehicles passed by on the major north-south artery during one of the busiest travel times in the year.
Convenience stores like the one where Rhonda worked provide a welcoming oasis for leg-stretching, calls of nature, jolts of caffeine, beer, cigarettes, gas, and snacks.
Customers come in. Customers leave. It’s a never-ending parade of travelers of all ages and personalities and destinations.
At night, the convenience store can be Ernest Hemingway’s “clean well-lighted place,” offering the lonely a round-the-clock haven where a pot of coffee is always brewing and someone is behind the counter to listen.
In fact, an insomniac area farmer regularly came in the middle of the night to chat with Rhonda.
But a convenience store, with a nearby highway providing quick escape, can also be the ideal target for robbery committed quickly and efficiently. Or the assault or murder of the clerk, who is usually alone.
What sort of person stopped early in the morning at the New Hampton Phillips 66 Convenience Store on Labor Day 1992?
Whatever the original motive, the result was that Rhonda was taken to a back room and bludgeoned to death. There was no sexual assault or robbery.
Customers saw a man who looked like this sketch on the night Rhonda was murdered.
Customers said two truck drivers caught their attention. Both were heavy-set, dark-haired, white males between 35 and 45. One was clean-shaven and drove an unknown vehicle. The other had a beard and moustache and was thought to be driving a conventional tractor pulling a white/silver trailer.
Sketch of second man seen the night of Rhonda's murder
Rhonda was not wary of truckers. Her dad was one, so she enjoyed hearing about their rigs, destinations, and cargoes. That lack of caution might have proved deadly if one of these men was involved in her death.
Intense investigation, searches of regional truck stops, posters, rewards, plans to air the case on “America’s Most Wanted,” and use of psychics have not resulted in answers for Rhonda’s death.
Her long-time, live-in boyfriend Al Wolf was not a suspect; and the Chickasaw County Sheriff investigated and quelled rumors that county deputies were involved.
Any suspect authorities are left with was probably a stranger who came into the store during the night.
Rhonda’s large and caring family and her friends need answers for this brutal crime.
If you have information that you believe would help bring Rhonda Knutson’s killer to justice, contact the Chickasaw County Sheriff’s Office at 641-394-3121 or
the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation’s Cold Case Unit.
Courtesy photo City of SturgisDuring the first full week of August for almost every year since 1938, throngs of motorcycle enthusiasts have descended on the Black Hills of South Dakota for the annual Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis.
The Rally can swell the population of the city of 55,000 to as much as 750,000, a figure which nearly doubles the 812,000 population of the entire state.
Bikers from all over the country and world attend. Hundreds of vendors sell motorcycles and accessories, alcohol, food, and clothing.
There are concerts, street dances, and motorcycle competitions, as well as social events like weddings, sometimes of as many as 200 couples a year.
And it’s not uncommon for people to die at the Rally — 11 people died in 1990 during the 50th anniversary of the event — or to be killed in traffic accidents traveling to or from Sturgis.
But in 1975 — the year the event expanded to a full week — a biker was murdered on the way to the Rally.
Courtesy photo hellsangelscleveland.netOn August 14, 1975, three members of the “Dirty 30” Hell’s Angels Cleveland Chapter — 32-year-old James M. “Beetle” Bailey, Jr., 27-year-old Paul Philemon, and 31-year-old Richard Vesey — were riding their motorcycles to Sturgis accompanied by two other club members in a van.
At the Highway 117 I-80 overpass near Colfax in Jasper County, Iowa, gun shots rang out, fatally striking Bailey in the neck and wounding Vesey in the arm.
Investigators believed the shot that struck Bailey was fired from below and the one striking Vesey from atop the overpass, where they found two shotgun shells.
The Iowa Bureau of Criminal Investigation could not determine if the attack was directed at Bailey and his friends or if it was a random act.
Bailey, a Navy veteran of Vietnam, was Treasurer of the Cleveland Hell’s Angels, an affiliation he cherished so much that his tombstone, bearing the Hell’s Angel’s emblem, is inscribed with this epitaph:
James M. (Beetle) Bailey
Hells Angels Cleveland, Ohio
Treasurer
Sept. 25 1942 – Aug. 14, 1975In Memory
BeetleThey say my life is through
For to Society I’m not true
But if I have to be phoney [sic] to
Live in this world that I do
I’d rather live the life of a
Hells Angel and to myself
Be true.
Courtesy photo hellsangelscleveland.netIf you have information concerning the 1975 unsolved murder of James M. Bailey, Jr., contact the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office at 641-792-5912, the Iowa DCI Cold Case Unit, or Iowa Cold Cases through the Contact form.
Ruth Kingery-Pohlmeier
Ruth “Ruthie” Kingery-Pohlmeier has already missed eight birthdays: the first one on August 1, 2004, and the eighth one today, August 1, 2011 — the day she would have turned 45 years old.
The last birthday she’d celebrated was her 37th, and there would be no more.
On Sunday evening, April 25, 2004, her body was found wrapped in a blanket next to the AMF Des Moines Lanes bowling alley on the city’s northeast side, less than two blocks from her home.
According to police, Kingery-Pohlmeier was the victim of a brutal attack and died from severe blunt force trauma injuries to her head and face.
One of 11 siblings, Ruthie’s murder wasn’t the first in the family; her brother, 42-year-old Samuel John Kingery of Ames, Iowa, had been killed five years earlier by a friend during a dispute. Patrick L. Curnes, 44, of Nevada, Iowa, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for Samuel Kingery’s slaying; police said there appeared to be no connection between the siblings’ murders.
Despite a $3,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in Ruth’s case, her murder remains unsolved.
If you have any information about this crime, please call Crime Stoppers at 515-223-1400 or contact the Des Moines Police Department at 515-283-4869.
Anonymous tips are accepted.
Rose Burkert, 22, victim of a double-homicide on September 12, 1980 near the Amana Colonies
Roger Atkison, 32, murdered with his girlfriend on September 12, 1980
It was supposed to be a clandestine, romantic getaway for 32-year-old General Telephone repairman-installer Roger E. Atkison and 22-year-old single mom and nurse-trainee Rose Z. Burkert. But the lovers’ trip ended in bizarre tragedy on Friday night, September 12, 1980 in Iowa County.
Atkison and Burkert, both from northern Missouri, were 265 miles away from home when they stopped at the Amana Holiday Inn along I-80 near Williamsburg and the Amana Colonies.
They felt lucky to get the last available room — #260 — because the hotel was brimful with delegates to a morticians’ convention.
It seemed like an ordinary evening. They had room service delivery, were asked to move their car out of a handicap parking space, and received three telephone calls — two from Rose’s babysitter and one from an unknown party.
During the night, however, something went wrong.
When the couple failed to check out on Saturday, a housekeeper ignored the “Do Not Disturb” sign and opened the door to an horrific scene.
The wall and headboard were splattered with blood. Roger and Rose, lying face down on the bed partially under the covers, were hacked to death with a hatchet or ax in what authorities called “over kill.”
Rose was fully dressed and Roger was in his shorts.
Their heads were battered and several of Roger’s fingers were severed when he raised his hands in self-defense.
The TV was still on and two chairs were pulled up to the bed as though a casual conversation between friends took place. In fact, it appeared someone felt so comfortable he put his feet up on the nightstand.
Or the killer attacked the couple and then sat by the bed to “appreciate” his handiwork, perhaps putting his feet first on the nightstand and then pulling up another chair to rest them on.
Overhead view of crime scene (redrawn by Greg Good of the Cedar Rapids Gazette from a DCI crime scene sketch)
The room showed no signs of forced entry or struggle, and no one in the hotel heard anything unusual.
There was no evidence of drugs or firearms in the room, but the victims had been robbed of their money.
The most unusual clues were left in the bathroom.
Toothpaste was spattered around the tub and the sink where the killer washed his hands was bloody.
But there was something else even odder.
While sitting on one of the chairs by the bed, the killer carved a piece of motel soap, letting chips fall on the floor.
He used the soap to scrawl a message on the bathroom mirror and then obliterated everything except the word “this.”
30 Years of Questions
For 30 years, lurid rumors about suspects and motives have persisted.
Could the killer have been Rose’s violent former boyfriend? Or a husband jealous of Roger’s affairs with other women?
Or Roger’s uncle-in-law Charles Hatcher, a confessed serial killer who escaped from a Nebraska mental health center around the time of the murders?
Was it the hotel bartender who argued with Rose the night of the murder, disappeared without his paycheck, abandoned his truck in nearby Iowa City, and enlisted in the military?
Or Raymundo Esparza, who committed a similar murder in a hotel near an Illinois interstate two months before and was in Iowa City that night?
Could it have been someone from northern Missouri attending a regional farm convention nearby? After all, the illicit relationship was not a secret in the victims’ community.
Or was it the obsessed farmhand Rose claimed broke into her home and who was thought to be in Amana at the time?
Did Roger’s telephone co-workers, who carried machetes to hack undergrowth around telephone poles, know about the couple’s romantic trip?
What about the cattle mutilations in Iowa that some felt were preludes to human sacrifice?
Answers Still Possible?
Lost in the sensational stories and speculation is the fact that two young people lost their lives on September 12, 1980 and that countless other lives of those who knew and loved them have been changed forever.
It is never too late for answers to this double homicide.
If you have any information you think might help solve the crime, contact the Iowa County Sheriff’s Office at 319- 642-7307 or click here to send your information to the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.
Click here to read Jody Ewing’s Case Summary for the double homicide and to see references used in this post.
Somebody Knows Something
Somebody knows something. They always do.
Yet, people still fear coming forward with what they know, even when they realize it could very well help solve an unsolved murder. Did you ever wonder why they remain silent?
We asked our readers last May, and the answers might surprise you. Our poll results, based on the options provided:
Five “other” custom responses included the following: they don’t want to be labeled as a SNITCH; they are not sure if the information they have is true, and only suspect it; all of the above; all of the above + apathy; and that they can’t remember.
That said …
The following month, June 2011, we followed up with another poll question. It asked:
If 100% anonymity were guaranteed, would you be willing to let Iowa Cold Cases serve as a liaison between you and the police?
The results:
No other custom replies were submitted.
Guess what? We’re ready to make good on our word. We’re hoping you will, too.
Our website here would not exist without trust. Readers, family members and victims’ friends often provide to us snippets of information they ask be kept confidential. We’ve honored each and every one of those requests. Had we ever violated — even once — a desire that details not be shared, the foundation on which we built Iowa Cold Cases would have crumbled long ago.
Make no mistake; under no circumstances will we ever compromise anyone’s safety.
So — what exactly are we asking you to do?
Take a deep breath …
And then:
It’s up to you.
It’s a New Year. Make a resolution to do what’s right. We’ll work with you however we can to relay your message to the proper authorities with the common goal of seeking justice for a victim and his/her family.