Fred Hollingsworth
Frederick Milton Hollingsworth
38 YOA
Lincoln Highway
4 miles east of Ames, IA
Story County
June 13, 1933
At dawn on June 13, 1933, the body of 38-year-old Frederick “Fred” Milton Hollingsworth was discovered in his car on the shoulder of the Lincoln Highway where it intersected a gravel road four miles east of Ames.
He was run off the road and shot in the face with a double-barreled shotgun.
Because Hollingsworth was not robbed, the killing appeared to be a personal ambush.
Hollingsworth lived in Ames and worked at Iowa State College (now Iowa State University).
The night he was killed, he attended a meeting of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Nevada, Iowa, and was last seen there at 10:00 p.m.
Ames Police found a diary in Hollingsworth’s pocket indicating that if anything happened to him, it would be the fault of his next door neighbor Cecil Olson, with whom Hollingsworth’s wife Hazel was said to have an “overly-friendly” relationship.
Cecil Olson, 31, was arrested and isolated in a special cell on the second floor of the Story County Jail in Nevada. There were rumors he received “the third degree.”
However, there was no direct evidence against Olson and he claimed that at the time of the murder he was in his bunk at the Iowa State College horse stables, where he was a Private in the US Army attached to the ROTC Unit.
Charges against Olson were dismissed and no one else was charged with the crime.
Iowa Governor Clyde L. Herring offered a 100 dollar reward because Hollingsworth was a state employee; however, no one came forward with information.
Fred Milton Hollingsworth was born in Marshalltown, Iowa, on June 7, 1895 to Carrie May Moler and Jordan Cyrus Hollingsworth. He had one brother, Charles Stevens Hollingsworth, and three sisters: Henrietta Hollingsworth Stowell, Emily Belle Hollingsworth Hudson, and Helen Hollingsworth Mertz. He was a veteran of WWI.
He was survived by his wife, Hazel Richter Hollingsworth, and his sons Wallace Milton and Marvin Dale Hollingsworth.
Fred Hollingsworth was buried in the Ames City Cemetery.
Questions and comments about the unsolved 1933 murder of Fred Hollingsworth should be directed to the Story County Sheriff’s Office at 515-382-6566 or to Iowa Cold Cases via the Contact form.
RECENT COMMENTS