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.
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 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 Iowa Cold Cases via our Contact form.
Click here to read Jody Ewing’s Case Summary for the double homicide and to see references used in this post.
We knew the crime:
We knew the outcome:
We knew the murderer:
And now we know the victim’s name!
Most historical accounts of the murder refer to the victim only as “Mr. Brown, a peaceable Negro.” And that’s how he appeared on Iowa Cold Cases.
However, Civil War buff George Goltz recently contacted our website with exciting news.
Goltz dug through dense legal accounts and learned the true identity of “Mr. Brown.”
George Goltz emailed a source — a July 1864 Iowa Supreme Court ex parte decision responding to a writ by McRobert’s commanding officer Captain Robert Lusby requiring Polk County Sheriff H.M. Bush to hand over McRoberts, who was then in county jail.
It’s pretty dry and perplexing legalese to most of us, but the bottom line is that the Iowa Supreme Court ruled civil law takes precedence over military law and that McRoberts should be tried in a civil court.
Most importantly, the decision names the murder victim.
It appears that John McRoberts was given by the Polk County Sheriff to Captain Lusby but not, then, returned to the civil authorities as he was supposed to be.
McRoberts went back to action with his unit, Company K of the 10th Iowa Volunteer Infantry.
And after the war, McRoberts was still not held accountable for the murder.
Was this a case of racism — the victim black, the killer white?
Was it classism — placing more value on a Union soldier who had fought to preserve his country than on a black man who performed menial labor at Des Moines’s Carroll House?
McRoberts, who died an old man in Idaho, reportedly returned to Des Moines several times after the Civil War and flagrantly flaunted himself without being arrested.
It’s too late for legal justice, but now we can honor a long-forgotten Iowa murder victim by naming him.
He was John Allen.
Sadly here at Iowa Cold Cases, victims are added every day. We learn of recent unsolved homicides and we uncover those which have been forgotten over the years.
We like to let our readers know what’s new — and sometimes that’s old — old cases brought to light, that is.
Following are some recently-added victims from times past — one from 164 years ago!
Click on the victims’ names to read their new old stories.
In 1847, Nathaniel Carnagy became the first unsolved murder victim in Linn County.
Esther Alger, a gentle and kind woman, was shot and bludgeoned to death in 1872, likely by her grandson.
Deborah Simmons was murdered in 1879 while lying in bed beside her husband at a hotel they owned.
Robert W. Stubbs
Robert Stubbs, the Mayor of Polk City, was shot in his bed in 1882.
Maria Dulin
Maria Dulin and her granddaughter Alta Paul were poisoned by a family member in 1896.
William Mullikin was assassinated in his home in February 1902.
Ma-Sha-Che, the lovely 16-year-old granddaughter of Pushetonequa, Chief of the Sac-Fox, was brutally murdered in 1905.
Frank Searaway was murdered in 1911 and buried in the stable on his own farm.
Maud Straw
Maud Straw, a beautiful high school student, was raped and poisoned in 1896.
Each victim had a life. Each had a story. Each had a murderer, who was never brought to justice.
Time passes, but their murders are still news as long as they go unsolved.
It was my real pleasure as Iowa Cold Cases Co-Administrator to meet with the Board of the Iowa State Sheriffs’ and Deputies’ Association on April 20, 2011 in Des Moines.
I was able to share Iowa Cold Cases’s goals and accomplishments with the group, led by Board President Dewey Hildebrandt, Sheriff of Bremer County.
Especially gratifying was their interest in the ICC website, as well as the feedback and encouragement.
Arlen Ciechanowski, Iowa Law Enforcement Academy Director, was the other guest presenter.
I was the guest of Story County Sheriff Paul Fitzgerald, who is 1st Vice President of the National Sheriffs’ Association.
The Iowa State Sheriffs’ and Deputies’ Association website now provides a link to Iowa Cold Cases. We are grateful to them for their interest.
Click here for more information about the Iowa State Sheriffs’ and Deputies’ Association.
Ronette Peterson
She’d been just 17 when she lost her mother in 1981. The following year, her 52-year-old father died at the Madrid Home for the Aging. Perhaps the young Ronette (Peterson) Burton wanted to leave the past behind.
Some time in the mid-eighties, Peterson, 22, left her Madrid, Iowa, home for unknown locations in Georgia and Florida. In March 1986, a family member received a letter from her, postmarked from Georgia on March 1, 1986. It was the last time her Iowa family heard from her.
On May 7, 1986, an unidentified female’s body was found floating in a water filled pit off Highway 33, approximately three-fourths of a mile north of Combee Road in Lakeland, Florida. An investigation revealed the victim had suffered multiple blows to the head and body and then been put into the water and left to drown. The death was ruled a homicide.
One of the victim’s tattoos seemed especially foretelling; it was a question mark (?) on her right hip.
Boone County in Iowa
Madrid in Boone County
For the next 19 years, “Jane Doe” remained without a name on both the Polk County (FL) list of unsolved homicides as well as the state’s missing persons list. She was buried in the Polk County Board of County Commissioners Shady Oaks Gardens Cemetery.
Back in Iowa, Peterson’s younger sister, Danielle Buxbaum, had grown increasingly frustrated after nearly two decades of unsuccessful searches for her lost sibling. She’d even called Florida before, but neither she nor anyone else knew for certain if Peterson had even made it to the state.
In 2005, thanks to the sister’s unrelenting efforts, Florida’s Jane Doe was finally identified as Ronette Lynn Peterson from Madrid, Iowa. After 19 years, the young woman’s body finally had a name.
Still, it made no difference in helping to identify her killer. And today, on the 25th anniversary of Ronette Peterson’s homicide, her murder remains unsolved. Read more about Ronette’s case.
Anyone with information regarding Ronette Peterson’s unsolved homicide is urged to contact the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation at (515) 281-5138 or the Boone County Sheriff’s Office at (515) 433-0524. You may also contact the Polk County (FL) Sheriff’s Office Homicide Unit at (863) 298-6379.
On May 6, 1971, 8-year-old Valerie Peterson was killed by a hit-and-run driver while riding her bicycle in front of the Manson Augustana Lutheran Church.
My sister Valerie Peterson was killed 40 years ago today.
It is still my hope that a task force pulled from Iowa law enforcement, legislators and community groups will be formed in Iowa, as it has been done in other states, to examine and put forth best practices in Iowa for the prioritization of cold cases, evidence extraction and bulk evidence in cold cases and improving relations between families of victims of cold cases and law enforcement.
Today we have a special blog post by guest Alicia Gaddy, sister to cold case victim Cecil Travis Gaddy. Cecil, paralyzed from the waist down, was killed at age 19 when someone set fire to his Osceola, Iowa home in January 2004.
Thank you, Alicia, for sharing your memories with us.
_____________________________________________________
By Alicia Gaddy
Cecil Gaddy with his nephew and niece
My name is Alicia Gaddy, and Friday, April 8th would have been my brother’s 27th Birthday. So, I wanted to do a special blog in memory of him.
Cecil passed away in a fire when he was just 19. We miss him so much and wish he could be here to celebrate his birthday.
I like to try and stay positive by thinking he isn’t suffering anymore and he’s in a much better place but we all know that we have those moments when these days are harder than others and I catch myself thinking of him being here more and more.
I’m always wondering what things would be like if he was here and I imagine him playing with my son William and his other nephews and niece. He was so much fun to be around and had the greatest sense of humor. He was always a very unselfish person, always making sure that his family and friends were ok. He was so outgoing and never judged anyone before getting to know them. He was one of a kind — and irreplaceable.
Cecil Gaddy
Cecil was such a wonderful young man. So funny, so trusting and he had the most beautiful smile that could brighten your day in a second. Cecil and I had always been close. We did pretty much everything together and stuck together as kids and young adults.
I’m so happy I got to spend some time with him a few days before his death but wish we had so much more time together. I hope that one day the truth will come out and my family can have a little piece of mind.
R.I.P., Cecil. We love and miss you so very much. Happy Birthday Bro!!!!
Love,
Alicia
___________________________________________________________________
Alicia Gaddy
Alicia Gaddy lives in Phoenix, Arizona.
Read more about Cecil Travis Gaddy and see the special report by WHO-TV Channel 13, Des Moines.
Tuesday, March 29, 7 p.m. ~ Ames City Auditorium, 520 Sixth St., Ames
The most intriguing murder in Ames’ history is also the one most people inquire about when contacting the Ames Historical Society. The queries outweigh any other historical matter, even though the case is under the Story County Sheriff’s jurisdiction rather than the Ames Police Department.
Courtesy photo Ames Historical SocietyThe November 7, 1948 murder of Henry Chavis on what is now South Duff Avenue in Ames has never been solved. Law enforcement never was able to say who was responsible, but local residents had plenty of theories — and still do.
The 55-year-old Chavis was a prominent — if not widely liked — Ames citizen, active in fraternal organizations and owner of the Ames Canning Company. His 53-year-old wife Gertrude was a regular fixture in local bowling leagues and had a passion for gambling in the early Las Vegas casinos.
Iowa Cold Cases Co-Administrator Nancy Bowers will talk this Tuesday evening about the unsolved Chavis murder as part of the 2011 Ames Historical Society Lecture Series. Nancy’s presentation, which begins at 7:00 p.m. Tues., March 29, will be held at the Ames City Auditorium located at 520 Sixth St. in Ames. In addition, Nancy will also touch on the Fred Hollingsworth homicide and other unsolved Ames cases.
The Lecture Series is open to the public and a $2 donation is requested at the door. Residents are invited to enjoy these entertaining and informative local tales that will open your eyes to Ames’ colorful past.
For more information visit www.AmesHistoricalSociety.org or call (515) 232-2148.
We at Iowa Cold Cases might like to spend a lot of time digging around in the past, but every so often we’re reminded we can’t get there without first taking a ride on that information superhighway called the Internet. For example, we were plenty happy just to get the last of our old html pages folded into WordPress, but then WP bumped things up another notch with a major update (a very good thing, really), and in its wake left us with a bit of road construction.
Anyone who takes pride in presenting an aesthetically pleasing (and easy to navigate) website takes due notice when a highway worker waves a flag at Internet Explorer travelers and advises they take either the Firefox Blvd. or the Safari St. detour. It’s especially cringeworthy when one suspects (okay, knows) she was the hit-and-run driver who side-swiped one too many php codes in this perfectly good WhiteHouse theme when first learning to drive through WordPress Park. I think I got lost somewhere between Sioux City and Scott County.
So, what with the number of individual pages we’ve already created here (649 not counting blog posts — and we’re not done yet), I figured the time had finally come to trade up for a better WP template model. Free Advice Ahead: Trust your instincts.
WhiteHouse Pro 3
I’m embarrassed to admit I’ve spent more time trying to find a template to replace this one (made by PageLines), than I’ve ever spent trying to decide on a new vehicle. I wrangled back and forth between PageLines’ WhiteHouse Pro and their new Platform Pro — and then on to other sites and eventually back to PageLines — for what felt like five days in slow moving traffic. I knew I had to make a decision soon (lest those IE users run me over), but since I couldn’t decide between WhiteHouse Pro or the newer Platform Pro, I finally settled on a less expensive “package” from another company where 50+ themes (for the price of one, but due and payable each year) would surely squelch my indecisive nature.
Yes, I found one I really liked. I actually downloaded it and then uploaded it to my server. I even spent a few hours going through all the gizmo settings via my Theme Test Drive WP plug-in and thought I’d have the website fully switched over by tonight (i.e. Wednesday night), but then the strangest thing happened; just like cars that seem to miraculously drive themselves home with owners half asleep at the wheel, I suddenly found myself skulking not just around PageLines’ website, but their Twitter page… and their Facebook page, for heaven’s sake!
Pagelines' Platform
I leaned in closer to my computer screen, clicking on the links of all the wonderful sites others had put together with their PageLines templates, instinctively keeping my chin posed just high enough so that the sponges beneath the nose pads on my new eyeglasses didn’t fall out and down and bounce off my keyboard and disappear under my desk. Eyeglasses — I might add — I got two weeks ago on Friday and only took me 8 minutes to pluck from EyeMart’s rack. I’d spotted the perfect pair almost immediately. I’d trusted my instincts.
We’ll see how those instincts play out tomorrow when I humbly return my 50+ new templates (I had 30 days, but used less than 3 hours) and start putting the ICC’s IE page back together with either WhiteHouse Pro or its Platform sister. I’ve still not quite decided between the two. Perhaps I’ll be forced to flip a coin, but I think the website will win either way.
In the next few days, just try to steer clear of the potholes as I tour around and put up our new road signs. And if you happen to drive by and witness another bad IE or php accident but see help is on the way, remember what your mother always told you: it’s not polite to stare so just look the other way. Hopefully, the tow truck will have come and gone by the time you return. If not and if the wreck is still there, you may want to send for an ambulance. I’ll make sure they turn on the sirens; there’s just nothing like riding in a shiny new vehicle when someone else knows exactly where you’re going.
Is there a face in the tombstone?
Click here to read about the murder of two helpless people and the strange events that unfolded after their deaths — threatening letters nailed to fences, Insanity Commissions, and “confessions.”
What do you think? Can you see a face?
Johnny Gosch, Iowan missing for nearly 30 years
Tonight’s show — featuring the September 1982 disappearance of 12-year-old Des Moines Register paperboy Johnny Gosch — will air at 8:00 p.m. Central Time on the HLN Network.
Click on this link to read Nancy Grace’s blog on Johnny Gosch:
http://nancygrace.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/01/johnny-gosch-nancy-grace-americas-missing/
Let us know what you think of the program!
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