Henry Christensen
58 YOA
1735 Grand Avenue
Council Bluffs, IA
Pottawattamie County
June 21, 1941
About 1:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 21, 1941, 58-year-old North Western Railroad employee Henry Christensen came home to his rural acreage at 1735 Grand Avenue in Council Bluffs.
As he drove his car into the garage, he had no idea someone was lying in wait with a gun.
Courtesy photo Ancestry.comHenry’s brother Alexander, who shared the home with him, heard shots and found Henry dead behind the garage with two bullet wounds to the torso — fired from behind — and one to the temple.
There was no weapon nearby.
Suspicion quickly fell on Henry’s ex-wife Catherine Johnson, 42, whom the widowed Christensen married in December of 1939. The couple obtained a divorce in September 1940 after filing cross petitions charging the other with cruelty.
Newspapers described Catherine Johnson, who was 16 years younger than Christensen, as a “blonde divorcee.”
Pottawattamie County Attorney Roy W. Smith filed charges against her on June 24; Police Chief Clarence A. “Pat” Bangs announced that the day after her arrest Johnson took an overdose of sedatives in a failed suicide attempt.
Johnson was arraigned before Municipal Judge Dan Sheehan, who set July 1 for a preliminary hearing. Johnson was refused bail and was held in jail.
In early September, a Pottawattamie County grand jury heard testimony from Henry Christensen’s brother Alexander; a taxi driver who claimed he drove Catherine Johnson to the Christensen house that night; and a restaurant employee who said Johnson came into his place of business not long after the shooting.
The grand jury indicted Catherine Johnson for first degree murder.
In early September, Johnson was brought before District Judge John A. Murray. According to the Waterloo Daily Courier, she “displayed no signs of deep emotion as she uttered her plea” of not guilty.
Council Bluffs Police Chief Bangs said the prosecution would show that Catherine Johnson took a cab to her former husband’s home and waited for him. When he got out of his car, she shot him three times and threw the revolver in a remote area along the bluffs near the Christensen acreage.
Catherine Johnson admitted taking a cab to Christensen’s house, saying she wanted to make up. However, she insisted that she walked back into town without seeing him.
The trial began in early December.
After the prosecution rested its case on December 5, 1941, Johnson’s lawyer motioned for a directed verdict and dismissal on the grounds that the prosecution had not established its case.
District Judge Andrew V. Thornell sustained the motion and directed the jury to return an acquittal, saying, “There isn’t anything more than a mere suspicion that this woman committed this crime.”
Two days after Catherine Johnson’s acquittal, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Iowa and the rest of the nation went into war mode, with the murder of Henry Christensen quickly forgotten.
No one else was accused of or charged with the murder.
Henry Christensen was born July 1, 1882 in Council Bluffs to Danish immigrants Ellen Peterson and James Jorgen Christensen.
He had five brothers — Alexander, Alfred, Harry Joseph, Lehi E., and Edwin Ephraim Christensen — and a sister, Clara Christensen Talbott.
About 1905, he married Pearl Ivy Scott. They had three children: daughter Francis Ellen Christensen Nusser and sons Erwin H. and Lester Franklin Christensen. Pearl passed away in early 1916 at the age of 29.
In 1939, Henry married Catherine Fisher, the woman who was accused and acquitted of murdering him two years later. They divorced after 10 months of marriage.
Christensen was a longtime car inspector for the North Western Railroad.
Courtesy photo Paul RolfeHenry Christensen is buried beside his wife Pearl Ivy Christensen in Walnut Hill Cemetery in Council Bluffs.
Questions and information about the unsolved 1941 murder of Henry Christensen should be directed to Iowa Cold Cases through the Contact form.
My Great Aunt was Catherine Johnson, & I remember hearing my mom (who would have been 10 yrs old in 1941) Talk to another aunt in the 1980,s . I did not hear many details & my mom refused to talk to me about it; even though I was an adult.
But I did hear “Aunt Cate”…”He was shot in the garage”…& “they dragged the cess pool for a gun”
I was very happy to read this article & see details, including she was aquitted.
However …I feel it was either her (***Could this case be related to the Massouris case?)…or the taxi cab Brother” Perfect opportunity to blame it on her…after the cab ride.
*** The Massouris case was after this one…a woman in his cab…my aunt lived on 7th ave….3 gun shots????
Charleen, thanks for your comment. The Massouris case was definitely a robbery; the Christensen one seems personal, doesn’t it? Two shots to the torso and one to the head — like a hit. It’s so interesting that your family didn’t/wouldn’t talk about it. We would welcome any photos you might have of Catherine or Henry. Please let us know if you learn any other information. All best, Nancy Bowers