Geraldine Maggert
Geraldine Lempke Maggert
25 YOA
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
March 22, 1968
On Saturday, April 6, a Boy Scout troop was hiking near the Coralville Reservoir about four-and-a-half miles northeast of North Liberty in Johnson County.
In a wooded ravine at a popular party and picnic area known as “The Rock,” the scouts found the body of a nearly-nude woman lying face down.
The Johnson County Sheriff notified the FBI because the body was found on federal property.
An autopsy showed the woman died from a beating and exposure and was about three months pregnant.
There was no identification on the body so investigators did not know who the woman was. When a composite appeared on local television and in newspapers, Geraldine Maggert’s family and co-workers recognized her and notified authorities.
Despite a ground and air search and a dragging of the Iowa River, Geraldine’s clothing and other possessions were not found, nor was anything that might have been used as a weapon.
Geraldine, who was divorced from her husband Richard, was a secretary in the Cedar Rapids Urban Renewal Relocations Office; she and her 4-year-old daughter Richine lived in a second floor apartment at 3111 1st Avenue SE.
The day of her disappearance, Geraldine made arrangements for her parents to pick up Richine early in the morning and take the little girl to their Elkader farm for a visit.
Once her parents left with Richine, Geraldine phoned her office and said she wouldn’t be in that day because of illness.
Then she left her apartment with a suitcase and was last seen about noon leaving a Cedar Rapids bank after withdrawing money.
When Geraldine didn’t report to work the following week, co-workers checked her apartment and then telephoned Geraldine’s parents, who had no information on their daughter’s whereabouts.
Thinking Geraldine might have flown to New York to see her ex-husband, the co-workers went to the Cedar Rapids Airport. When they found Geraldine’s car parked there, they assumed she’d gone to New York and did not file a missing persons report.
Geraldine hadn’t mentioned anything about a trip to her parents, however; and a concerned Mrs. Lempke drove to Cedar Rapids and notified police, who accompanied her to Geraldine’s apartment. Officers climbed a ladder to the second floor and entered. Geraldine wasn’t there, and her suitcase was missing.
Geraldine and Richard continued to have contact after their divorce, and co-workers said she spoke of recent calls between the two before she disappeared.
Richard Maggert acknowledged he and Geraldine spoke on the phone in recent weeks but said he knew nothing about her death. The day after Geraldine’s funeral in Elkador, he traveled to Cedar Rapids, where he took and passed a lie detector test.
Every lead in the case turned cold, and Geraldine’s murder remains unsolved.
Geraldine Evelyn Florence Lempke was born in Elkader on March 13, 1943, the only child of Roslyn Ihde and Lester Lempke.
She graduated from Central Community High School in Elkader in 1961 and married classmate Richard Maggert. Their daughter Richine was born in 1964. The couple later moved to Cedar Rapids but divorced in June 1967. Richard then relocated to Ithaca, New York, where he worked as an IBM operator.
If you have information about the unsolved 1968 murder of Geraldine Maggert, please direct it to the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office at 319-356-6020 or to Iowa Cold Cases through the Contact form.
was any dna saved from this case?Was Richard the only male in this womens life? She was With child. Had she seen R.M. within the last 3 months? This was someone she knew.!
I believe the Iowa DPS Cold Case Unit might be investigating Geraldine’s case, or at least they were a couple of years ago. The Johnson County Sheriff was working with them then.
Law enforcement at the time of her death believed they knew who was responsible, but said they were unable to get cooperation to investigate.
Thank you for honoring Geraldine with your interest.
Nancy Bowers, Co-Administrator
anything new here?
I’m not aware of anything new, but the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation Cold Case Unit is making breakthroughs with DNA in other cases. My hope is that something will link up to Geraldine’s case. Details are always kept “secure” when cases are being studied. I haven’t given up hope for justice for Geraldine.
I recently read about this tragedy in a book my grandaunt wrote about her life. She was apparently friends or neighbors with Geraldine’s parents. She helped the family move out Geraldine’s things after her funeral. My grandaunt wrote that they found no scraps of paper with a phone number or anything in the home, but they found it odd that there were several bags of candy in the kitchen.
Thank you, Raven, for commenting on Geraldine Maggert’s case. Do you know why they found it odd that there were bags of candy? Your great-aunt must have been an interesting person!
Unfortunately no. It just seemed odd to me that she’d mention bags of candy in a book about her life.
I didn’t know her very well and she died a few years ago. I’m the family genealogist so I was lucky enough to have the book passed on to me.