Greed, jealousy, alcohol, love triangles, fratricide, anger, lust, and insanity wove through the dismal fabric of murder 120 years ago as they still do today.

And yet much has changed. Most obvious is how we get our information. As we receive minute-by-minute breaking news on our cell phones and laptops, it’s difficult to recall that large-city newspapers once printed several daily editions that readers eagerly waited for.

And other things are different as well.

Discreet exterior photos of murder scenes have replaced graphic interior pictures showing blood stains and chalk outlines of bodies and, even sometimes, shroud-draped victims.

Words like “berserk,” “bloody-thirsty,” “Negro,” and “gory” no longer shout from headlines to incense the public and, in some cases, incite lynching attempts.

Nor is the word “divorcee” used in accounts of crimes against women who had once been married, as though that fact were somehow relevant to the crime, even when it was known not to be.

Dorothy Coon was murdered in late August of 1960

“Clues Scarce in Slaying of D.M. Divorcee.”

That was the headline in the Cedar Rapids Gazette above the story reporting 36-year-old Des Moines resident Dorothy Coon’s 1960 murder. And every other newspaper covering the homicide mentioned she was divorced.

In the fifty years since Dorothy’s murder, divorce is no longer regarded as a social stigma or an index to character.

But in 1960, the media felt it was permissible to use a word which then was weighted with the suggestion of misconduct on the victim’s part, seeming to imply she deserved to be murdered or had brought it own herself.

The facts of her death are stark.

On Thursday evening, August 27, 1960, Dorothy Coon waited until her teenage children Nancy, 19, and Dennis, 17, were asleep.

The house at 2017 61st Street in Des Moines where Dorothy Coon was raising her children (photo courtesy of Google Street View)

She put on a dark green dress and white shoes and left the house she shared with them at 2017 61st Street.

Dorothy disappeared around midnight. Heavy rains during the next few days seemed to wash away all traces of her.

On Monday, August 29, a farmer mowing weeds found her body in a county road ditch 12 miles north of Chariton in Lucas County — 47 miles from her home. Her purse was discarded along the road a mile from her body.

An autopsy showed Dorothy was dead for several days, and throat bruises and broken neck bones suggested strangulation.

As with contemporary homicides, authorities had to rule out spousal involvement. Dorothy’s ex-husband Richard, whom she divorced in 1950 and who was living in Albia and running a business there, was interviewed and proved to have an alibi for the time of Dorothy’s death.

Dorothy held a job in the business office of a Des Moines department store and raised her two children on her own.

Instead of the headline she was afforded in 1960, today we might read: “Hard-working Single Mom Murdered.”

As times passes, news communication modes and language are modified.

Unfortunately, the gloomy facts of murder seem never to change.

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.

Dorothy Miller, the only female relator in Burlington, was killed at a vacant property August 18, 1969

As the only female realtor in Burlington in 1969, 48-year-old Dorothy Miller was a ground-breaking professional. However, the very thing that made her so singular probably allowed a predator to locate her, get her alone in a vacant house, and brutally rape and kill her.

Burlington Police believe they know who killed the attractive and petite grandmother: a well-spoken, ordinary young man of average height and weight with brown hair who called himself “Robert Clark.”

A composite sketch of Dorothy Miller's killer,
based on descriptions by her husband and other witnesses

But Clark concealed his true identity and residence through an elaborate ruse using public telephones and pick-up and drop-off locations for meetings with Dorothy.

Dorothy was not cavalier about her safety nor did she take risks. She ordinarily didn’t make appointments at night and, as a precaution, took along her husband Fred for a first evening meeting with Robert Clark.

Clark disarmed both Dorothy and Fred with his ordinary appearance, pleasant manner, and believable story about moving his wife and child from Des Moines to Burlington.

So, when he phoned Dorothy saying he needing to take photos of their potential home, she agreed to meet him alone a few nights later.

Dorothy Miller's body was found in the closet of the upstairs room on the right

About 8:00 p.m. on August 18, 1969, Robert Clark accompanied Dorothy to a house at 118 Grand Street, followed her inside, knocked her unconscious, raped and stabbed her, and left her body in a second-floor bedroom closet.

Dorothy’s murderer — according to both 1969 and current Burlington Police officers — is likely a serial killer skilled at creating a narrative of deception leading to murder.

In these days of cell phones, GPS, and video surveillance, the scenario leading to Dorothy Miller’s murder would be much more difficult for the killer to construct and execute.

Sadly, however, woman working alone must always be on guard and aware of their surroundings and the people they encounter.

If you have any information concerning the murder of Dorothy Miller, contact the Burlington Police Department at 319-753-8355 or submit it directly to the Iowa DCI Cold Case Unit.

Christopher Lee Stewart was last seen August 14, 2003 in Des Moines

That’s what happened to 36-year-old Christopher Lee Stewart before he disappeared; and without them, he is mentally and physically endangered.

Christopher was last seen outside his apartment in the 600 block of 18th Street in Des Moines at 10:30 p.m. August 17, 2003.

Stewart, whose friends called him “Chris” and “Christo,” is 5-foot-9 and weighs 189. He has brown eyes and hair (although his head was shaved when he disappeared), has pierced ears, and wears glasses. He was born November 13, 1966.

If you have any information that can bring Christopher Lee Stewart home, please contact the Des Moines Police Department at 515-283-4800 or 515-283-4864 or the Iowa DPS Missing Person Information Clearinghouse.

Main street of Sturgis, South Dakota during annual Rally (photo courtesy of City of Sturgis)

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 — there were 11 deaths in 1990 during the 50th anniversary of the event — or to die traveling to or from Sturgis in traffic accidents.

But in 1975 — the year the event expanded to a full week — a biker was murdered on the way to the Rally.

On 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:

If you have information concerning the 1975 unsolved shooting death of James M. Bailey, Jr., contact the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office or the Iowa DCI Cold Case Unit.

Bernita DeWoody, mother of ICC victim Lance DeWoody

We saw it once again when Olin resident Bernita Lee Houston DeWoody passed away on July 17, 2009. Her obituary noted that she was preceded in death by “her beloved son Lance in 1985.”

North Liberty resident Lance Lee DeWoody was only 22 when he was shot in the head at a picnic shelter on the north side of the University of Iowa’s Oakdale campus in Coralville on August 13, 1985.

The large Oakdale campus had just become the headquarters of the Technology Innovation Center, the University’s home for new businesses using advanced life sciences technology.

Although Coralville Police believed they had a suspect, no arrests were made. Few details about the murder were released and no possible motive was advanced, leaving family and friends to wonder.

Although his mother Bernita did not live to see a resolution to her son’s murder, Lance’s father Carl Lee DeWoody and his sister Carrie DeWoody Fortin still need answers.

If you have any information concerning the 1985 death of Lance DeWoody, please contact the Coralville Police or the Iowa DPS Cold Case Unit.

Twenty-three-year-old Dennis Clougherty was a Vietnam vet preparing to start graduate school at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Eugene Martin, only 13, just wanted to make some extra money to attend the Iowa State Fair. And Helen Morrow, 55, surely could not have imagined her fate when she’d employed a younger man to work for her.

Around 4 p.m. on Monday afternoon, August 12, 1974, Dennis Clougherty left Madison, Wisconsin, with plans to hitchhike to Torrington, Wyoming, to retrieve his motorcycle. The bike had broken down in Torrington earlier that year and he’d had to leave it behind for repairs.

The 905-mile route between the two cities — a 15-hour trip on Interstate 80 — would be the fastest, but Clougherty chose the familiar Highway 20, perhaps in the hopes of catching a ride with someone he knew. From Torrington, Clougherty planned to ride the bike to Detroit, Michigan, where he’d attend a weekend family wedding.

Clougherty never made it to the wedding, or to Torrington, or even past the first day of his trip; sometime between the hours of 10:30 p.m. and midnight, he was shot five times in the chest and left along Union Road south of First Street in Cedar Falls, Iowa. A passing motorist discovered his body the following morning. Some of his personal belongs, including a backpack, a clothes bag and Clougherty’s motorcycle helmet, were located approximately five miles south on Viking Road.

An investigation confirmed a motorist picked him up about 7 p.m. Monday while traveling westbound on Highway 20 near Dubuque, and gave him a ride to Independence, IA, dropping Clougherty off at a café there around 8:15 p.m. Clougherty ate at the then-Rush Park Café and left Independence around 9:15 p.m., hitchhiking westbound on Highway 20. Another motorist picked him up and drove him to Waterloo, dropping him off at the Highway 20 and Highway 63 intersection.

Here, two male subjects in their early 20s, driving a brownish/gold 1962-1964 Chevrolet car — possibly a four-door with beige interior — pick up Clougherty around 10:30 p.m. The young military vet and soon-to-be graduate student was never seen alive again.
––––

Ten years later to the day, young Eugene Martin got an early start at 5 a.m. to deliver the Des Moines Register newspaper on his regular paper route. His older brother normally accompanied him, but on this day Eugene went alone; the Iowa State Fair was in town, and he was anxious to earn some extra money to spend at the fair.

Sometime between 5 and 5:45 a.m., residents living near Southwest 12th Street and Highview Drive observed Gene speaking to a clean-cut white male in his 30s. The teen folded papers as he spoke to the man, and the witnesses said the conversation appeared friendly — almost like a “father-son” sort of conversation.

Less than an hour later, sometime between 6:10 and 6:15, the boy’s newspaper bag was found on the ground outside Des Moines — 10 folded papers still inside.

Authorities issued a nationwide bulletin for a man described as between 30 and 40 years old, 5 feet, 9 inches tall, clean shaven and with a medium build. Federal agents wondered if Eugene’s disappearance might be connected to that of missing Register paperboy Johnny Gosch, 12, who’d gone missing two years earlier on September 5, 1982.

Many Iowans believed both boys had been kidnapped and sold into a pedophile sex ring, though nothing has been proven in either case.

Eugene Martin’s aunt, Jeannie McDowell, spoke with WHO-TV Channel 13′s Aaron Brilbeck in July for an update on his case, and said she fears her brother — Eugene’s father Don Martin, who is in the final stages of Alzheimer’s Disease and cancer — is hanging on until he gets some kind of closure in his son’s death. Gene’s mother, Janice, died recently from diabetes without ever knowing what happened to her child.

The Martin family — like Johnny Gosch’s mother Noreen — continue to wait with hope for the one strong lead that might break open and provide long-awaited answers and justice.
––––

In Eldon, Iowa, witnesses saw Herman Pierce, 48, leave the home of Mrs. Helen Morrow, 55 — for whom Pierce worked — the evening of August 12, 1980. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary until flames began to shoot from the two-story frame home moments after Pierce left.

Authorities found Mrs. Morrow lying on a bed in a first-floor bedroom, and an autopsy report concluded she died of smoke inhalation.

Police held Pierce in jail on an intoxication charge, and on August 26 county prosecutors charged him with first-degree murder in Morrow’s death. Despite the filed charges, the prosecutors decided to take the case to the grand jury. It was a move they later would regret.

On Friday, October 3, 1980, a four-man, three-woman Wapello County Grand Jury failed to return an indictment against Pierce. Helen Morrow’s case remains unsolved.

If you have any information regarding Helen Morrow’s murder, please contact the Wapello County Sheriff at (641) 684-4350.

Tips on the Eugene Martin case may be submitted to the Iowa Cold Case Unit online or you may call the Iowa DCI at (515) 725-6010.

Information involving Dennis Clougherty’s murder may also be submitted online to the DCI’s Cold Case Unit, or you may contact the Cedar Falls Police Department at (319) 273-8612.

What should have been a pleasant drive across the state during one of the most distinctive times of the prairie calendar — fields tall with corn, wildflowers blooming in the ditches — ended in brutal death.

On August 8 someone beat him, stole his wallet, and left his body in the back of the van in the parking lot of the Latin King Restaurant at 2222 Hubble Avenue in Des Moines.

The Latin King parking lot where Glenn Turner's body was found August 11, 1978

When Glenn’s body was discovered on August 11, he became Des Moines’s 21st homicide of the year, although it was hardly the sort of distinction we would’ve have wished for him or any other visitor to Iowa.

His family took Glenn back to Ohio. Left behind, however, was the mystery of who viciously killed and robbed him in our state.

If you have any information on the 1978 homicide of Glenn Turner, contact the Des Moines Police Department at 515-283-4864.

(photo courtesy of Google Street View)

Dale Strassburger disappeared from the Quad Cities area August 6, 1982

In 1982, 37-year-old Dale Webster Strassburger lived with his parents in Davenport, Iowa. Like thousands of other Quad City residents, he worked at the Rock Island Arsenal.

Dale was a machinist at the plant, which since the 1880s has manufactured ordnance and equipment for the United States Army on a large island in the Illinois segment of the Mississippi River.

After he left work at 12:15 a.m. on Friday, August 6, 1982, Dale was never seen again.

The LeClaire Bridge over the Mississippi,
where Dale Strassburger's car was found

That same day, authorities found Dale’s car on the LeClaire Bridge over the Mississippi River on Interstate 80.

Located a little over 17 miles northeast of the Arsenal, the bridge is in the opposite direction of Dale’s home.

He was reported missing by the Police Department of Le Claire, Iowa, the jurisdiction where his car was located.

There was no sign of foul play in the disappearance, and searches of the Mississippi River and the nearby area yielded no sign of Dale.

At the time he disappeared, Dale — who was born October 10, 1944 — stood 5-feet-9 and weighed 180. He has blond hair and hazel eyes.

He is classified as a missing person with a disability that is physical or mental.

If you have any information concerning this case, please contact the LeClaire Police Department at 563-289-5580.

(LeClaire Bridge photo courtesy of the Quad City Times)

Zion Lutheran Church, where Lewis Glenn was murdered August 5, 2002

At twenty minutes to midnight on Monday, August 5, 2002, 29-year-old Lewis M. Glenn was shot dead in the parking lot of Zion Lutheran Church at West 8th and Taylor streets in Davenport, Iowa. Police believe a dark blue vehicle with a tinted back window was involved.

The Glenn murder was just one of many acts of violence that plagued the west Davenport neighborhood. Much of the trouble originated at the notorious Chief Tavern at the corner of West 8th and Fillmore streets near the church.

The Chief had served patrons for 75 years. In its early days, it was a friendly and safe neighborhood “watering hole” with baroque light fixtures from the old Davenport Columbia Vaudeville House and a huge wooden arched bar.

But as time passed, violence increased inside the tavern and spilled out into the surrounding neighborhood. An unsavory and unruly crowd gathered there and some believed the tavern was connected to the local drug trade.

Not long before The Chief closed permanently in September of 2002, a man fired three shots inside the tavern – none struck a patron but one dented the brass beer tapper — and then robbed the cash register of $500. In the previous eight months, police were called there 74 times.

After the closure, the Zion Lutheran Church rented the property and transformed it into Noah’s Ark Community Coffeehouse. Church members patched 8 bullet holes in the walls, tore up the beer-soaked floor, and painted and repainted the nicotine-stained walls. Bright flowers were planted in front where cigarette butts and broken glass once littered the sidewalk.

Bagels, hot chocolate, and coffee were served from the old bar, which was renamed “the counter.” There were flowers at tables where rowdy patrons once sat and a donated organ and piano replaced a dice table.

Drinking, drug activity, and gambling gave way to by knitting classes, video and television watching, bingo, and quiet conversations with religious overtones.

In August 2008, the former tavern became home to the True Faith Deliverance Ministries Churches, lead by Pastor Elizabeth Sanders, while the group was waiting for a permanent location.

Ironically, Lewis Glenn’s tragic murder may have changed the violent behavior in the neighborhood and helped create positive changes that made it safer for families and businesses.

A year after Lewis Glenn’s murder, the Zion Lutheran Church held a memorial cookout in his honor.

If you have any information about the 2002 murder of Lewis Glenn, contact the Davenport Police Department at 563-326-7979. If you wish to remain anonymous, call the Quad Cities Crime Stoppers at 563 -762-9500. There is a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case.

Source: “Notorious saloon turned into church coffeehouse,” Carroll Daily Times Herald, August 12, 2003.

Sheila Collins just months before her January 26, 1968 murder

If a heartless predator had not found her, Iowa Cold Case victim Sheila Jean Collins would’ve celebrated her 61st birthday today.

Those of us who care for her can only imagine where life would’ve taken Sheila — certainly somewhere far away from that lonely gravel road in Story County where her life ended when she was just 18.

Her devoted boyfriend planned to give her an engagement ring when the college semester was over, so marriage would’ve been certain. Children and grandchildren might have followed.

Sheila’s intellect would have taken her far, and she might now be considering retirement from a job where her talents would have made a significant contribution.

One thing is certain: her beautiful smile and friendly ways would have brightened many people’s lives, just as they did all her short life.

We can never know. We can only imagine. We can only ask, “What if . . . .”

Sheila Collins

If you have any information about the January 26, 1968 unsolved murder of Iowa State University freshman Sheila Jean Collins, please contact the Story County Sheriff’s Office at 515-382-6566.

Rafael Robinson, murdered July 31, 1996 in Des Moines

Fourteen years ago today on the afternoon of July 31, 1996, Iowa 90 Crips gang member Rafael Robinson was shot multiple times outside a public housing complex at 926 Oakridge in Des Moines. Gunshots from more than one weapon were heard, but no one admitted witnessing the shooting.

The weather that day was not particularly hot for late July in Iowa, but the situation in the Des Moines gang world was boiling over. It was one of the most violent times in the city’s history.

Rafael Robinson’s death was part of an on-going dispute among gang members that began with the murder of 23-year-old Jody L. “Monster” Stokes outside the TNT Lounge on October 14, 1995.

That killing set off a chain reaction of violence and death that involved Rafael Robinson, his cousin Royal Robinson, and his half-brother Timothy McCoy, III — as well as other Crips members and their extended families.

In May 1996, an Iowa 90 Crips member told FBI agents there was a contract on Robinson because the gang abided by Chicago rules of respecting rank, and Robinson — who was regarded as a lower-level soldier — did not stand up for the gang when a member was shot. Some also believed Rafael’s cousin Royal Robinson was involved in that incident.

The feud peaked on April 6, 1996 when an innocent Des Moines businesswoman — 42-year-old Phyllis Davis — was caught in the crossfire of a shootout between a dark-colored SUV and a brown Oldsmobile Cutlass during evening rush hour traffic at 9th and University.

Three occupants of the Oldsmobile Cutlass — Jermaine Allen, Vincent Cortez Brown, and Antonio Speed — were found guilty in Phyllis Davis’s murder.

David Flores, convicted of the murder of Phyllis Davis

Also convicted in the Davis murder was David Flores, a young man many in Des Moines believe is innocent because evidence against him was circumstantial and even insubstantial. For a time, the Polk County Attorney even dropped the charges; and on the day of the verdict, the jury foreman said he believed Flores was not guilty.

David Flores grew up in the Homes of Oakridge area and was friends with murdered gang member Jody Stokes, but was not known to be a gang member himself.

He was advised not to take the stand in his own defense, and his girlfriend gave conflicting and incorrect information to the police that sealed Flores’s fate because she was afraid of retaliation against the one-year-old son they had together.

Many people, including Crips members, say that Flores was not involved in the Davis shooting and that Rafael Robinson was.

The primary evidence against Flores was that he was driving his girlfriend’s car that afternoon and it was similar to the dark SUV involved in the shoot-out. However, Rafael’s cousin Royal Robinson owned a 1986 dark blue Bronco SUV and one of the men convicted in the shoot-out said there was a second person in the SUV. Flores was alone at the time.

Also, there was testimony from three witnesses that the driver of the dark SUV was black; David Flores is a light-skinned Latino.

In addition, three people have identified Rafael Robinson as the shooter:

• fellow gang member Calvin Tyrone Gaines

• Jermaine Allen, who was feuding with Robinson and is in prison for Davis’s murder

• Robinson’s girlfriend at that time, Carla Harris, who told authorities he confessed to her in an April 8, 1996 phone call.

Rafael Robinson owned older-type guns, including .12-gauge and .22 caliber weapons similar to those used in the Davis shooting.

Don C. Nickerson, 5th District Court Judge, ruled in late 2009 that David Flores was entitled to another trial because of new evidence and the suppression of evidence on hand during the first trial. There were questions about the quality of his legal representation as well.

In 2009, David Flores was granted a new trial in the murder of Phyllis Davis

If Rafael Robinson shot Phyllis Davis, he can never be brought to justice because he was a victim of murder himself.

However, David Flores and his family hope that a new trial will release him from jail for a crime they say he did not commit.

If you have any information about the murders of Rafael Robinson or Phyllis Davis, contact the Des Moines Police Department at 515-283-4811 or the Polk County Attorney.

I am the cousin of Eugene Martin. His father Don is the younger brother of my father, David.

I just wanted to say thank you for keeping this case in the eye of the public. I know that there is someone out there who knows what happened to Eugene all those years ago. I sincerely hope that the person who knows what happened will someday need to clear their soul and let someone know where he can be found.

Again, thank you for this website and your efforts to give family members some hope for the future.

And thank you, Vickie, for your kind words. Here, we believe hope is a good thing.

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.

Judith Weeks, 44, was murdered in Cedar Rapids on April 5, 1999.

Today’s blog is written by a person who knew and loved Judith Weeks and who hopes that someone will come forward with information to solve her tragic murder. If you have any details about this unsolved homicide, please contact the Cedar Rapids Police at 319-286-5375.

My name is Buffy Gustafson and I am the girlfriend of Ryan Weeks, son of Judith Weeks — who was murdered in Cedar Rapids on April 5, 1999. Since I have heard of this website, I have checked it over many times and have noticed that each time there has been more information about Judy and the circumstances regarding her murder and her life.

I have mixed feelings about what is listed here . . . although I realize it is customary to highlight the deceased person’s life or shortcomings when it comes to situations like these, I also feel that (for Judy) it paints a negative picture of the deceased person and their life and somewhat disregards her life/murder as not being as important as others when it comes to her murderer being found and convicted.

No, Judy was not a “squeaky clean person” and she made many mistakes in her lifetime . . . but her life and her death should be as important as anyone who meets such a tragic ending. Her children love/loved her very much and still struggle with their mother’s tortured life/death and the fact that the person responsible for her murder has yet to be found.

It is sad to feel that because she had problems in life her murder has never been given equal treatment. It was my understanding that there had been a suspect in her murder and possibly DNA evidence showing that this suspect had sexual intercourse with Judy . . . but that he claimed it was consensual and there was no other proof or evidence against this man.

Do you know if any of this information is correct? Is there a way for the family to obtain information regarding her murder for their own viewing to see if it sparks any new leads?

Please understand that both of Judy’s children have struggled with this and the rocky situations in their lives in general for a very long time. I know that they also have a hard time even talking about this, but that both want justice for their mother . . . a woman who may have made many mistakes, but who – I feel — punished herself way more than we will ever know for her mistakes in life.

I do thank you and everyone else who helps with this site for bringing attention to those who are forgotten about after the media has given their murders “5 seconds of fame.”

Buffy Gustafson

Mervin Leo Walvatne, missing since 1990

Mervin Leo Walvatne was literally battered by life. A 1970s Madison, Wisconsin, car accident left him with severe facial injuries; and, as a victim of alcoholism and disabilities, he lived a transient existence, favoring Arizona cities.

However, Mervin always maintained phone contact with his sister in Spencer, Iowa. She last heard from him on July 18, 1990 — ten days after his 50th birthday. At first, she believed his absence was due to his lifestyle. But as time passed, she feared for his safety and reported him missing to the Spencer Police on December 16, 1990.

When last seen, Mervin was 5-foot-6 and weighed 150 pounds. He is Caucasian and has brown hair and green eyes. Facial fractures from the car accident required surgical implants of wire and plastic to his nose, cheek, and eyes. He also wears an upper denture. There are tattoos on his arm that may include his first name. He would now be 70.

Mervin’s family needs to know where he is. If you have any information concerning Mervin Leo Walvatne, contact the Spencer Police Department at 712-262-2151 or the Iowa DPS Missing Person Information Clearinghouse at 1-800-346-5507.

Elizabeth Syperda vanished from Mount Pleasant on July 17, 2000.

On July 17, 2000 — 10 years ago today — 22-year-old Mount Pleasant resident Elizabeth “Liz” Nicole Forshee-Syperda disappeared from her East Madison Street apartment sometime between 10:30 p.m. and 4:00 a.m. She left behind all her belongings and never claimed her last paycheck or accessed her bank account again.

Her roommate — who was at work when Liz disappeared — said the apartment door was locked from the outside and that Liz had no access to a vehicle.

One month before, Liz’s estranged husband Michael Syperda (whom she met when she babysat his children) had a violent confrontation with Liz and her roommate. After she vanished, he pled guilty to assault in that case and received a suspended sentence and parole.

Although law enforcement cannot link Michael Syperda to the disappearance (he refused to take a polygraph), Liz’s family believes he was involved. He now lives in Colorado.

Liz’s mother Donna Forshee travels from Sacramento, California, to Mount Pleasant every year on the anniversary of Liz’s disappearance. She hopes that her public presence at remembrance ceremonies will remind the public and law enforcement about the need to find Liz.

For the 10th anniversary of Liz’s vanishing, Donna Forshee paid for a billboard near New London, Iowa, that informs drivers of the disappearance and offers a $20,000 reward for information.

When she disappeared, Elizabeth was 5-feet-4 and weighed 150 pounds. Her long brown hair is naturally curly and her eyes are hazel. She has piercings in her ears, tongue, and left nipple; and a heart tattoo surrounds her navel. She was last seen wearing a t-shirt, black jeans, white Nike athletic shoes, a diamond and emerald ring, a wedding ring, and a diamond “Year 2000″ necklace.

Elizabeth Syperda, missing since 2000

Liz’s disappearance was highly publicized and the area was saturated with missing person posters, but law enforcement received no information to indicate foul play or to reveal the location of the missing young woman.

If you have any information concerning this case, please contact the Mount Pleasant Police Department at 319-385-1450 or the Iowa DPS Missing Person Information Clearinghouse.

To make an anonymous report, call the Greater Burlington Area Crime Stoppers at 319-753-6835.

Donna Sue Davis

Donna Sue Davis hadn’t yet reached her second birthday. The 22-month-old 21-pound blue-eyed girl with the mass of dark blond curly hair was the youngest of James (“Don”) and Mary Davis’s three children, and her three prized possessions included her teddy bear, a rubber doll and a red purse.

Eleven-year-old Mary Claire, the eldest of the siblings, had friends who resided in the same west side neighborhood in Sioux City, IA, and they often could be seen pushing strollers and buggies around the block with Donna Sue and the other girls’ young siblings in tow. Timothy, 7, also had ample playmates within safe walking distance from the family’s 715 Isabella Street home.

Everyone knew and loved Donna Sue, though seldom used her name. To them, she was simply “The Darling of the Neighborhood.”

In July 1955, life is still good along West 14th and 15th street and the intersecting Rebecca and Isabella streets, and half the summer still remains for riding bicycles and playing Army and swimming and girlfriend sleepovers, and even entertaining baby sisters and brothers while mothers work the outside gardens and hang fresh sheets to flap and dry in the wind.

But summer  in this working class neighborhood — and life as all its residents know it — is about to change forever. The shift begins to emerge the night of July 9, when sirens awaken a city that will not know peaceful slumber for many years to come.

Rain has fallen since 9 p.m., and near 12 a.m. flood sirens puncture the midnight hours. While rain falls in torrents, a fire breaks out at a lumber company but fire trucks can’t navigate the water laden streets. Utility employees work throughout the night to restore electricity to Sioux City residents.

Dawn is about to break.

Sunday, July 10, 1955

Courtesy photo Sioux City Journal

Donna Sue Davis and her family lived in the bottom apartment at this duplex located at 715 Isabella St. in Sioux City, Iowa.

Rain ends by early morning, and as water starts to recede city crews move forward with clean-up efforts.

The day’s temperatures soar into the 90s, bringing with them humidity’s heavy blanket. Though room air conditioners have grown in popularity since World War II’s end, costs are still prohibitive for many western Iowa families, whose usual reprieve amounts to nothing more than a cool bath and, hopefully, a nightly breeze through an open window. The Davis family has learned to weather the heat.

Sunday night, Mary Davis gives Donna Sue a bath, dresses her in pink pajamas, and at approximately 9:30 p.m., tucks her into her crib for bed in the first-floor bedroom of the two-story duplex where the family has resided for many years. Donna Sue’s crib sits against the wall at the foot of the Davis’ bed, right next to a cedar chest positioned directly below the bedroom window.

“Three to get ready, and four to go . . . to bed,” Mary tells Donna Sue as she kisses her goodnight. The child is all set with her teddy bear, rubber doll and red purse within arm’s reach. With temperatures still in the 80s, the bedroom window is left open to capture any breeze.

In the kitchen, Mary sits down to read the day’s Sioux City Journal as her husband — a clerk for the Chicago and Northwestern Railway — watches television in the living room. In the next room, Mary Claire and Timothy are already fast asleep.

In the upstairs duplex, Mr. M.A. McLeod goes outside to sit on his upper porch balcony while his wife putters around in the couple’s bedroom.

On the corner just south of the Isabella Street duplex, George Berger sits in his back yard at 1301 Villa Avenue. His back yard faces the Davis home’s south side, and he often enjoys watching the Davis children and their neighborhood friends play together in the large lot between the two homes.

9:35 p.m.

Something catches Mr. Berger’s eye. A man has just crossed through a hedge near the front of the Davis house and, walking quite erectly, is heading west along the south side of the Davis’s home. Berger strains to see what the man is doing, but can’t see very well in the darkness and his vision also is obstructed by his own vehicle,  which he parked in the driveway earlier that day.

Courtesy photo by Newman, Sioux City Journal staff photographer

Donna Sue’s kidnapper walked erectly west along the south side of the Davis home and a few minutes later headed toward Villa Avenue, walking in a crouched position with a bundle in his arms.

A few minutes later he sees the man retrace his steps toward the street and head in a northerly direction. The man, however, now walks in a crouched, stooped position.

Mr. and Mrs. Laif Fjeldos, who live around the corner two houses away at 1310 West 14th Street, hear their dog Rex barking at the back door. Their back lot borders the Davis’s back lot, separated by mulberry and hackberry trees.

Mrs. Fjeldos gets up to let Rex inside and switches on her back yard light. Skulking along the alleyway, she sees a man who appears to be carrying some type of bundle. She immediately calls for her husband.

Mr. Fjeldos grabs a flashlight and shines it toward the man, who is now stooped over and hiding behind a bush. Mr. Fjeldos isn’t about to let this one get away, either; just two weeks before, Rex’s ferocious barking had alerted him to a young man tampering with the Fjeldos’s car, and Rex had held the man at bay while Fjeldos called police. Before police took the man into custody, Fjeldos had voiced a strong complaint about the “poor lighting” in the neighborhood.

This time, however, Fjeldos suspects the stranger might be carrying meat to poison Rex or other neighborhood dogs. He hands his wife the flashlight with instructions to keep it shining on the stranger while once again he calls police.

9:37 p.m.

Sioux City police answer a call from a Mr. Laif Fjeldos, who tells them he  has “a suspicious man cornered” and needs assistance. Before police can arrive, the man flees north through the alley and Fjeldos gives chase. Fjeldos chases the man across W. 14th Street and into the next alley, which leads north toward W. 15th. The man — described as about 31 years old with a slight build and wearing a white T-shirt and khaki trousers — runs awkwardly, still stooped over with the bundle. He appears to have something wrapped inside a blanket.

The man suddenly ducks between two bushes in the back yard of the home located at 1417 Isabella Street. It is but one block from the Davis home, despite the jump from the 700-block to 1400-block addresses. Fjeldos approaches slowly, but by the time he reaches the bushes realizes the man has simply vanished.

Approximately 9:40 p.m.

Sansgaard’s vehicle was stopped on July 16 in Minnesota for erractic driving, but the occupant was let go after the registration checked out and he provided Sansgaard’s checkbook as proof of identity.

Sansgaard’s car was abandoned in Effingham, Illinois, on July 23.

Sketch of Sansgaard suspect (courtesy of the Ogden Reporter)

According to the Minnesota law enforcement officer who stopped Sansgaard’s car, the driver was distinctive in multiple ways: he spoke with a southern drawl, had severe burn scars on his upper body, and was thin and very tall (nearly 6-foot-3). At the time, he wore his straight, brown hair just above his ears and had glasses.

Alternative sketch of Sansgaard suspect

The suspect told the Minnesota officer he served in Viet Nam (where he said he was burned by a flamethrower), and received both inpatient and outpatient treatment for his burns and emotional problems at various VA hospitals in the Midwest. He is likely from a southern state.

Despite the detailed description of the driver and his distinctive features, he has never been located and the murder of Arnold Sansgaard has gone cold.

If you have any information about the unsolved murder of Arnold Sansgaard, contact the Boone County Iowa Sheriff’s Office at 515-433-0524 or the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation Cold Case Unit.

I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again: I honestly don’t know what I did before Nancy came along. From the beginning, she seemed to know exactly what needed done, how it needed done, where it needed done and when it needed done, and she wasn’t afraid to dive in head first and go straight to work making sure it did get done. Nancy has proven to be one of Iowa Cold Cases’ greatest assets, and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank her for all her hard work and for helping make ICC what it is today.

Every year on Nancy’s birthday, her husband Neal — as well as her best friend at the Ames Police Department — go out of their way to do something special for Nancy’s birthday, and this year was no exception. When I got Nancy’s e-mail today with the subject line “You’ve never seen anything like this before!” I knew it had to be something truly remarkable, because at ICC, we see (and hear) a lot of strange, unusual and even unbelievable things. But she was right; the instant I saw the pictures, I knew they were ones I simply had to share here. I’m not sure who gets the photo (or the baking!) credits, but let’s just say the pictures speak for themselves.

For those of you who regularly read the blog, you know how much time and effort Nancy puts into each post to ensure no victim’s cold case “anniversary” goes unnoticed. Sometimes, it’s a “missed birthday” the victim would have celebrated were he/she still with us, and Nancy knows how much those dates mean to the victim’s family members, friends, and the countless others who’ve never forgotten what should have been taking place that day.

Today, though, is Nancy’s day. So please join me in wishing her a Very Happy Birthday and — while you’re here — please feel free to add a little (or a long!) comment to let Nancy know how much we appreciate her efforts and everything she does in behalf of our many lost loved ones.

Happy Birthday, Nancy, and thank you so very much!

Jody