Gerald Best

Gerald Best

Homicide

Gerald Best
50 YOA
4 N. Madison Ave.
Mason City, IA
Cerro Gordo County
December 30, 1999

By Jody Ewing

* NOTE: More detailed information coming soon as to how this case ties in to several other Iowa cold cases, including the disappearance of Mason City anchorwoman Jodi Huisentruit.

Gerald Best was found stabbed to death on Dec. 30, 1999, in his apartment at 4 N. Madison Ave. in Mason City.

Medical Examiner David Sloan said the 50-year-old’s throat had been slashed.

The Mason City Police Department and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation interviewed dozens of people, but no arrests have ever been made in the case.

Robert Best stands in front of the apartment house at 4 N. Madison Ave. where his brother, Gerald Best, was slain on December 30, 1999. Courtesy photo Jeff Heinz/The Globe Gazette

In a December 2002 interview with the Mason City Globe Gazette, Best’s brother, Robert Best, said he didn’t feel as if police were doing anything, and didn’t believe there wasn’t enough evidence to make an arrest in the case.

“It looks to me like they’re chasing petty thieves instead of looking for the person who killed my brother,” Best told the Gazette.

Lt. Ron Vande Weerd acknowledged Mason City police weren’t working on the case full-time, but said they still considered it a high priority.

“We’ve interviewed a lot of people and followed up on a lot of leads. And we still get leads,” he said.

Cerro Gordo County Sheriff Kevin Pals, the lead detective in the Gerald Best case, told the Gazette in 2002 that when one investigates a homicide, it becomes personal.

Lead Detective Kevin Pals, who left the Mason City Police Department in January 2001 become Cerro Gordo County Sheriff, told the Gazette he worked closely with DCI investigator Tom Keenan on Gerald Best’s case. Pals said he worked the case continually for several months and would still be working on it had he not changed jurisdiction.

“We have evidence that was left at the scene and the police know things that the public doesn’t know,” said Pals, who remains optimistic the case can still be solved.

Robert Best, who was out of town at the time of his brother’s murder, said he’s conducted his investigation of sorts, and that he often share information with police. Best said his brother was always good to people, and he believes his brother’s generosity may have contributed to his death.

Best also admitted that drugs may have been involved, and Vande Weerd said investigators had not ruled out that possibility.

If you have any information regarding the unsolved murder of Gerald Best, please contact the Mason City Police Department at 641-421-3636.

Sources:

• “Without Closure: After three years, a murder remains unsolved,” Mason City Globe Gazette, Dec. 8, 2002
• “Iowa cold case proposal in the running for funds,” Mason City Globe Gazette, Aug. 17, 2008