Benton County in Iowa

Luzerne in Benton County

Charles Albert Plucar

Homicide

Charles Albert Plucar
74 YOA
Case # 7700373
Luzerne, Iowa
Benton County
June 22, 1977

Case summary by Nancy Bowers

Courtesy photo Cedar Rapids Gazette

BCI Agent Darwin Chapman removes evidence from a pillow taken from the home.

Charles “Charlie” Albert Plucar, 74, was found dead by his nephew Cecil Gilbert and a long-time friend, H.H. Dodd, at 9:45 a.m. Wednesday, June 22, 1977 at his rural home between Luzerne and Blairstown in south central Benton County, Iowa.

Charlie was lying face-down in his kitchen. His hands were tied behind his back with twisted cloth and he was shot twice execution style in the back of the head with a small caliber weapon. His home and a work shed, where he stored his tools, had been ransacked.

Plucar spent his life working for farmers in the area — sharpening saws, fixing farm implements, and doing odd jobs like painting. The people who employed him considered him the best carpenter in the area. He lived frugally and without running water and his only pastime was talking with friends and neighbors. Everyone knew him as hard-working and happy-go-lucky.

Robbery was believed to be the motive for the murder but it was unknown what, if anything, was taken. His nephew told a newspaper, “An old man living there by himself . . . somebody thought he had money, but he never had no electricity, no telephone. I tell you, he lived cheap.”

Benton County Sheriff Kenneth Popenhagen and an agent from the Iowa Bureau of Criminal Investigation worked the case.

Courtesy photo Cedar Rapids Gazette

Benton County Sheriff Kenneth Popenhagen assists in removing Plucar’s body from the house.

Mrs. Anton Straka, a neighbor who could see Charlie’s house from her porch, told a reporter, “We all feel like a barn fell on us. He was a good man. He didn’t bother nobody.”

Charles Albert Plucar was born January 31, 1903 in Benton County, Iowa, to Anna Netolicky and John Plucar. His father was a native of Bohemia (now the Czech Republic), as was his maternal grandfather. He had four siblings: Tillie Plucar Gilbert, Joseph Louis Plucar, Milo John Plucar, and Bessie G. Plucar.

Information Needed

If you have any information about this unsolved crime please contact Iowa Cold Cases via our Contact form.

Sources:

• IDPS Division of Criminal Investigation
• “Hunt for Benton murderer,” Waterloo Courier, June 23, 1977.
• “Luzerne Murder Baffling,” Cedar Rapids Gazette, June 23, 1977.
• “No Suspects in Luzerne slaying,” Muscatine Journal, June 23, 1977.
• “Slaying,” Oelwein Daily Register, June 23, 1977.