Clinton County in Iowa

Clinton in Clinton County

Edwin Harry Jacobs

Homicide

Edwin Harry “Eddie” Jacobs
55 YOA
Ike’s Peak
Clinton, IA
Clinton County
January 2, 1972

By Nancy Bowers

Early on the snowy morning of Sunday, January 2, 1972, Clinton residents living near the Izaak Walton Club House reported hearing three gunshots in “Ike’s Peak,” a wooded area owned by the club.

At 2:37, Clinton Street Department employee Herbert Wyncoop was sanding a slippery curve near the Ike’s Peak parking lot when he spotted what he thought was a pile of clothing.

He turned his sander around and in the headlight beams saw a man lying in a pool of blood at the road’s edge facing the embankment.

Near his body was a fur hat, along with a blood-stained newspaper and gloves.

 Courtesy photo Clinton Herald

Detective Capt. Donald Flood at the scene where Edwin Jacobs’ body was found along a road in Ike’s Peak.

When investigators arrived, they found the victim had no identification, but they recognized him as 55-year-old Edwin “Eddie” Jacobs.

Jacobs was shot to death with a .22 caliber weapon — one bullet to the chest and two in the right temple.

There was no sign of a struggle at the scene and no murder weapon was found despite what Clinton Police Chief H.J. Fries called “an inch-by-inch” search of the area.

Clinton Police Detective Capt. Donald Flood told the media that investigators were interviewing dozens of people, including friends and family of Edwin Jacobs.

It was known that the victim spent Saturday night with his brother Richard and some friends.

Richard Jacobs told authorities he dropped Edwin off about 10:00 p.m. at the Bossen Apartments at 214 4th Avenue S. — where he lived alone — and gave him a dollar before driving away.

When Richard last saw Edwin, he was dressed in a topcoat over a suit, a fur cossack hat, and gloves. In his hand was a rolled-up newspaper.

The case went cold and no one was ever charged with the murder of Edwin Jacobs.

The Life of Edwin Jacobs

Edwin Harry Jacobs was born January 9, 1916 in Iowa to Irish immigrant Mary Josephine Mullahey and Harry Franklin Jacobs. He had eight siblings — brothers Earl Eugene, John Paul, Donald, Francis, and Richard Jacobs, as well as three sisters: Mary Ellen Jacobs Clark, Bernice Jacobs Illif, and Theresa Jacobs (Sister Mary Therese BVM).

Jacobs married Janet L. Michelsen in Jackson, Missouri, on August 18, 1947. The couple had no children.

He served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps during WWII. After the war, he was a laborer in California before moving to Clinton in 1967.

 Courtesy photo Pamela Moreno

Edwin Jacobs is buried in Rock Island National Cemetery with other U.S. veterans.

A funeral for Edwin Jacobs was held on January 5 at St. Mary’s Church in Clinton, and he was buried at Rock Island National Cemetery.

Questions and information about the unsolved 1972 murder of Edwin Jacobs should be directed to the Crime Stoppers program of the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office at 563-242-6595 or 888-883-8015 or to Iowa Cold Cases through the Contact form.

Sources

• “Clinton Man Shot in Wooded Area,” Waterloo Daily Courier, January 3, 1972.
• David Jindrich, Personal correspondence, January 2012.
• “Lack Of Candor In Murder Investigation Is Disturbing,” Clinton Herald, April 17, 1975.
• “Murder Victim,” Oelwein Daily Register, January 3, 1972.
• “Police Sift Clues in Slaying of Clinton Man,” by M. Blaess, Clinton Herald, January 3, 1972.
• “Probe Shooting of Clinton Man,” Cedar Rapids Gazette, January 3, 1972.

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