Julie Bell Davis

As part of the ongoing “Cold Case Thursdays” series, WHO-TV Channel 13′s Aaron Brilbeck will report tonight on the unsolved August 1997 Julie Bell Davis slaying.

Davis, a 33-year-old Marion, Iowa, mother of two, was found August 28, 1997, in the Skyline Display’s satellite office in east downtown Des Moines where she worked. Her throat had been slashed and she had been stabbed multiple times in the chest.

Brilbeck’s story includes an interview with former Des Moines Police Department detective Craig Hamilton, one of the lead detectives who worked Davis’ case. Hamilton retired from the DMPD in 2007.

At the time of her death, Davis had just posted one of her best months ever in selling trade-show displays through her company’s Cedar Rapids and Des Moines offices. The office where she was slain was in a new business park between the state Department of Economic Development and the Botanical Center.

Police believe the last contact Davis had with anyone was an afternoon telephone conversation with an employee of Skyline Display’s Cedar Rapids office, 419 First St. SE. Davis routinely traveled to Des Moines once or twice a week to conduct business at the showroom, though the office was open only a couple days a week and by appointment only.

A Prairie High School graduate, Julie Bell Davis was married to Frank Davis, a Cedar Rapids firefighter. The couple had two sons, ages 3 and 5. Davis’ husband was ruled out as a suspect early in the investigation.

The case remains open today.

If you have any information regarding this case please call the Des Moines Police Department at 515-283-4800.

The NBC affiliate’s Aaron Brilbeck crossed the state to interview victims’ family members as well as law enforcement officials who have dedicated countless hours in search of justice for victims and families alike.

For those who may have missed any of the episodes, a recap — including the videos — is listed below.

The first in the series aired July 1 and covered the five-year anniversary of the unsolved murder of 5-year-old Evelyn Miller of Floyd, Iowa, who was reported missing in the early morning hours of July 1, 2005, and whose body was discovered five days later in the Cedar River about two miles from Evelyn’s home.

The second installment aired July 8 and featured the unsolved disappearance of 13-year-old Eugene Martin, a Des Moines Register paperboy who disappeared without a trace on August 12, 1984.

The July 15 episode focused on the unsolved murder of 23-year-old Lisa Ann McCuddin of Fort Dodge, a mother of two young children who was shot while sitting in the passenger seat of a vehicle on its way to a Fort Dodge motel where Lisa and a friend intended to have breakfast. Lisa’s mother, Becky McCuddin, also of Fort Dodge, is now raising Lisa’s young son and daughter.

The fourth in the series addressed the unsolved murder of 36-year-old Frank Goff of Des Moines, who was shot and killed — allegedly by one of his own brothers — inside their parents’ Des Moines home on September 23, 1977.

The series concludes on July 29 with a story on Earl Thelander of Onawa — an active 80-year-old family man and father of five children, six stepchildren, 22 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren — who lost his life in 2007 at the hands of copper thieves a few months prior to the 25th wedding anniversary he and his wife would have celebrated. Earl became the nation’s first innocent fatality in the growing copper theft epidemic.

The Iowa Cold Cases group would like to thank Aaron Brilbeck and the WHO-TV producers and staff for the time and hard work they invested in this project, and for the exceptional reporting on lives cut short but remembered by so many.

This piece aired on March 3, 2010.

Cold Cases: Gone But Not Forgotten, Part I is the first in Ashley’s series and is a testament to the struggles and successes cold case investigators face when looking to bring justice to victims and the victims’ families.

This episode aired on Tuesday, March 2, 2010.

Rebecca Russell

Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge has featured our intern and co-administrator, Rebecca Russell, on the Criminal Justice Program’s home page along with information about Iowa Cold Cases and its mission. Rebecca earned her Criminal Justice Diploma from Iowa Central, and the program highlights student success stories on its departmental website.

Iowa Central’s Criminal Justice program can be taken as a diploma program when 33 core semester hours are completed or as an Associate of Science or Arts track when certain core semester hours are completed in accordance with each degree’s requirements.

One of the program’s strengths is the fact that many of the instructors are currently working or have worked in the Criminal Justice field. The ranks of its teaching staff have included a police chief, a chief deputy, a detective, criminal prosecutors, a former trooper, a correctional officer, and many other local criminal justice personnel.

In addition to program and course information, the website also features instructional videos, a photo slideshow of students participating in forensic science activities and a list of careers available in the criminal justice field.

For more information visit the Iowa Central Criminal Justice Program website.

Nancy 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 has been a university teacher, editor, and Administrative Assistant in the Iowa General Assembly. She spent two years working in the Records Division of the Ames Police Department, where she currently volunteers, and two years assisting at the Adult Probation Office in Ames.

She is currently researching the January 1968 unsolved murder of Iowa State University student Sheila Jean Collins.

Nancy lives in Ames, Iowa, with her husband Neal and their six special needs cats.

Please join me in welcoming Nancy to the Iowa Cold Cases team!

Rebecca Russell

Iowa Cold Cases is pleased to introduce our first intern, Rebecca Russell.

Rebecca earned her Criminal Justice diploma at Iowa Central Community College and currently attends Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) in Ankeny as well as Grand View University in Des Moines, where she plans to major in Criminology. Following graduation, her goal is to work as a private cold case investigator in the Des Moines area.

Rebecca will help with research and case summaries, e-mail inquiries, updates to the ICC blog and our Facebook group, and in other areas as needed.

Born in Kansas City, Kansas, Rebecca’s family relocated to Ames, Iowa, before Rebecca celebrated her first birthday. She says she first became interested in cold case work after enrolling in the course ‘Scientific Investigation,’ an elective she took at DMACC. Professor Nickolas Brown, who taught the course, brought his own real-life investigating experience to the class and incorporated forensic science, which then inspired Rebecca to pursue her education in criminal justice.

“Justice for the families and friends of the victims is what motivated me to pursue cold case work as a career,” Rebecca says. “No one should ever have to give up on finding out what happened to their loved one.”

In addition to her criminal justice studies, Rebecca’s hobbies include traveling, movies, swimming and photography. She currently resides in Ames with her significant other, Jace, and their 6-month old son, Gabriel.

Please join me in welcoming Rebecca to the Iowa Cold Cases family!

The Sioux City Journal, in addition to their regular coverage on the Wilma June Nissen case, recently launched a multimedia website dedicated to Nissen’s 30-year-old unsolved homicide. It’s nicely done and includes, in part, case history, photos, videos, a timeline, and also details Sheriff Blythe Bloemendaal’s long-standing commitment to solving Lyon County’s only cold case.

Then earlier this week, Sioux City’s KTIV-TV Channel 4 news reporter Melissa Lanzourakis produced an excellent two-part piece on the 1997 unsolved slaying of Ida Grove’s Connie Ruddy. The story featured an interview with Ruddy’s best friend — referred to only as “Jane” — who talked about the days leading up to Ruddy’s disappearance, how she made the discovery and her theories about her friend’s murder. Read the articles and view the videos for Part I here and Part II here.

KTIV has kept close tabs on the Ruddy case since Ida County Sheriff Wade Harriman announced in early February that authorities would reopen the case on Feb. 10, the 12-year anniversary of Ruddy’s disappearance. In 1999, the “missing persons” case became a homicide case when DNA tests proved a jaw bone found in a river near Denison, Iowa was Ruddy’s.

Siouxlanders can also tune in to KMEG 14 or KCAU-TV for cold case updates. And, as more viewers turn up the volume, officials continue to turn up the heat as they close in on cases never laid to rest.

So I say to Siouxland media: We’re reading, we’re watching, and we’re listening. Keep up the good work, and keep the stories coming.