Cerro Gordo County in Iowa

Mason City in
Cerro Gordo County

Dillon Luna

Homicide

Dillon Luna
15 days old
1429 N. Federal Ave.
Mason City, IA
Cerro Gordo County
April 30, 1992

Case summary compiled by Jody Ewing

Dillon Luna, the 15-day-old son of Joseph and Christine Luna, was found dead of smoke inhalation on April 30, 1992, as his parents’ 1429 N. Federal Ave., Mason City home burned to the ground.

The fire was caused by arson, investigators said, and was ignited in the living room — the same room where the infant’s body was found — according to the fire marshal’s investigation.

Though five other people lived in the home, police found it strange that no one remembered the baby was inside until after they were all out of the house.

“You always feel bad”

In a Globe Gazette article published June 18, 2000, Lt. Ron Vande Weerd of the Mason City Police Department said he began researching four unsolved cases in early 2000, including that of Dillon Luna. He assigned officers to work each of the four cases on a regular basis, asking them to re-interview family members, witnesses, and anyone else who had been involved with the case.

Courtesy photo Globe Gazette

Jim Fountas

Courtesy photo Globe Gazette

Lt. Frank Stearns

Vande Weerd also contacted retired officers who’d worked the original cases, but despite a lot of painstaking work and digging through boxes and old files, none of the four cases — which also included Andy Hatges, Elgin Strait and John Snyder, Jr. — were ever solved.

Ten years later, Mason City Police Lt. Frank Stearns told the Globe Gazette the department is always looking for something they can pick up in a case file and move forward with it.

Jim Fountas, a former Mason City police officer who worked the Snyder case, retired in August 1994 after 30 years in law enforcement but said having a case go cold affects not just the victim’s family and friends, but law enforcement as well. Said Fountas in the June 27, 2010 article:

“You always feel bad. You’d like to solve everything, but that’s almost impossible.”

Courtesy photo “Sandra”

Dillon Luna was born April 15, 1992.

Information Needed

If you have any information regarding the unsolved death of two-week-old Dillon Luna, please contact the Mason City Police Department at (641) 494-3562 or Iowa Cold Cases via our Contact form.

Sources:

• Mason City Police Department
• “More North Iowa cold cases,” Mason City Globe Gazette, June 27, 2010
• “Seven other murders within the last 40 years remain unsolved in Mason City,” Mason City Globe Gazette, Dec. 8, 2002
• “Unsolved homicide: The cold case files,” Mason City Globe Gazette, June 18, 2000

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