Floyd William Alborn
76 YOA
Panora, IA
Guthrie County
Case # 74-00550
November 8, 1974
Floyd William Alborn, a 76-year-old bachelor, was found shot to death in his rural Panora, Iowa home on Friday, November 8, 1974. Alborn’s sister, Freda Mills, discovered her brother’s body.
The Iowa Bureau of Criminal Investigation assigned three agents and six lab crew members to assist the Guthrie County Sheriff Lester Petersen with the investigation.
Alborn, a 76-year-old bachelor, was a gun collector and had been burglarized eight years earlier on February 14, 1967. Charles E. Kurtz, a 19-year-old Grandview College student, was charged and convicted of stealing 15 antique guns from Alborn. Kurtz, a Des Moines resident, was sentenced to just 30 days in jail for the crime.
Investigators discovered 75 guns in Alborn’s home following his murder, though police said it was unknown if there had been more that possibly were stolen.
Despite a $2,000 reward offered for information, Alborn’s murder remains unsolved.
Floyd William Alborn was born near Perry, Iowa in Dallas County on May 20, 1898, to Sarah May Knosby and William M. Alborn.
Memorial services were held at the Merchant Funeral Home in Yale, Iowa, and he was buried with his extended family in Violet Hill Cemetery near Perry in Dallas County.
Courtesy photo ZBonnie, findagrave.comHe was survived by three sisters: Freda Beulah Alborn Mills, Lena Alborn Noack and Henrietta M.F. Alborn Frederickson; and one brother, Harry Henry Alborn. His parents and two siblings — Laura Mary Alborn Sheets and George J. Alborn — preceded him in death.
If you have any information about Floyd Alborn’s unsolved murder, please contact the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation at (515) 725-6010, e-mail dciinfo@dps.state.ia.us, or contact the Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office at 641-747-2214. You may also send information to Iowa Cold Cases via our Contact form.
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