James M. “Beetle” Bailey, Jr.
32 YOA
Case # 7500503
Colfax, IA
Jasper County
August 14, 1975
On Thursday, August 14, 1975, 32-year-old James M. “Beetle” Bailey, Jr., of Mentor, Ohio, was shot and killed at the I-80 Colfax ramp in Jasper County, Iowa, while motorcycling west with two friends, 27-year-old Paul Philemon and 31-year-old Richard Vesey.
Courtesy photo hellsangelscleveland.netThe three belonged to the “Dirty 30” Hell’s Angels Cleveland Chapter, of which Bailey was Treasurer.
They were traveling to the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota on their bikes while a man and a woman from their club followed in a van.
Philemon and Vesey said that as the trio approached the overpass for Highway 117 they heard what sounded like gunfire and saw flashes of light.
Bailey then slumped on his motorcycle, fell off, and skidded along the highway. His cycle rolled into the ditch but remained upright.
Richard Vesey suffered a gunshot wound to the arm.
Jasper County Medical Examiner Dr. Fred Carpenter, Jr., said that Bailey died of a single gunshot to the neck, although the body was also superficially abraded from scraping the pavement.
Photo by Neal BowersBailey was wearing a helmet at the time, so the shot looked as if it were aimed directly at his neck.
The Iowa Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) handled the case. Although Assistant Director Warren D. Stump said two gunmen were involved in the incident, the BCI could not determine if the shootings were a deliberate attack on Bailey and his companions or a random act.
Because the angle of entry was nearly level, BCI agents believed the shot that killed Bailey was fired from the embankment beneath the Highway 117 overpass; the shot that struck Richard Vesey was fired from the overpass, where two shotgun shells were found.
Although investigators combed the ditch for shell casings from a .357 magnum, they were hampered by an abundance of casings already there from previous gun firings unrelated to the murder.
Courtesy photo hellsangelscleveland.netJames M. Bailey, Jr., who was born September 25, 1942 and was a Navy Veteran of the Vietnam War, is buried in the Municipal Cemetery in Mentor, Ohio, beneath an elaborate gravestone with a large gold Hells Angels Motorcycle Club emblem on the front.
The top is carved like an open book. Inscribed on the left side are the words “In Memory/Beetle” above this poem:
“They say my life is through
For to Society I’m not true
But if I have to be phoney [sic] to
Live in this world that I do
I’d rather live the life of a
Hells Angel and to myself
Be true.”
On the right side of the book is inscribed:
“James M. (Beetle) Bailey
Hells Angels
Cleveland, Ohio
Treasurer
Sept. 25 1942 – Aug. 14, 1975.”
A government-issued granite footstone notes Bailey’s military service and is accompanied by a Vietnam flag-holder.
Questions and information about the 1975 unsolved shooting death of James M. Bailey, Jr., should be directed to the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office at 641-792-5912 or Iowa Cold Cases through the Contact form.
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