Bryan Pence
Bryan Eugene Pence
21 YOA
3725 Hubbell Avenue
Des Moines, IA
Polk County
Case # 1986-22875
May 29, 1986
By Nancy Bowers
About 10:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 29, 1986, Des Moines Police Detective Charles Soderquist was driving west on Hubbell Avenue.
As he passed the Sinclair station at 3527, he noticed something suspicious. There were no cars in front, but he could see three people inside walking towards the restroom.
Soderquist continued looking back until a hedge blocked his view. Heavy traffic in the eastbound lane and a center curb prohibited his crossing Hubbell; he drove 400 feet to make a U-turn and go back.
He described for the Des Moines Register what happened as he approached the corner of E. 37th and Hubble, today the location of a Quick Trip:
“When I headed east toward the station I saw two teen-age males, one apparently black, the other wearing a shower cap, running west from the station. They turned the corner and headed south and I lost sight of them.”
Inside the service station, Soderquist found the body of 21-year-old station attendant Bryan Pence lying face up on the restroom floor.
He was shot once in the back.
After conducting an autopsy, Polk County Medical Examiner Dr. R.C. Wooters announced that a small-caliber bullet entered near the left shoulder blade and penetrated the left lung and heart.
In the eight months prior to the homicide, Pence was robbed twice — once at the Sinclair station at 2305 Easton Boulevard and another at the 301 E. 15th Street station. He felt strongly that the company needed better security measures.
His widow Wanda Pence told Nick Lamberto of the Des Moines Register:
“I feel bitter about the company. My husband talked and talked until he was blue in the face about the lack of security. He wanted a second person on the night shifts. He cared about the people he worked with.
Something’s wrong with the system when the stations keep getting robbed and I’m going to try to find out what’s wrong . . . . No one from the company has called me.”
The amount of money stolen during the homicide was not made public.
Bryan Eugene Pence was born August 4, 1964 in Chariton to Mary and William Edgar Pence. He grew up in Altoona, where he lived at the time of his death.
On February 11, 1984 in Ames, he married Wanda Jolly and they had one son, Nicholas Pence.
Services for Bryan Pence were held at 1:00 p.m. on June 1 at Rising Sun Church of Christ and he was buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery in Des Moines.
Courtesy photo Becky PayneBryan Pence was survived by his wife and son; his mother, Mary Pence Hall; a sister, Annette Pence Larson; a brother, Bill Pence; and his grandparents, Wayne and Mary Pence. He was preceded in death by his father William.
Questions and information about the unsolved 1986 homicide of Bryan Pence, should be directed to the Des Moines Police Department at 515-283-4864 or Iowa Cold Cases through the Contact form.
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