John Shuey
26 YOA
1427 23rd Street
Des Moines, IA
Polk County
Case # 1986-12024
March 24, 1986
John Shuey was a quiet, nice person according to neighbors in the building at 1427 23rd Street where he had lived for five months.
He always welcomed them into his modest upstairs apartment for a talk anytime they knocked on the door.
Courtesy photo Google Street ViewIn early 1986, the 26-year-old drywall installer was out of work and home more than usual.
However, during the weekend of March 22 and 23, there was no response when neighbor Pat Smith, 24, knocked several times.
When Smith smelled an odor that burning incense could not cover up, she phoned the building’s landlord and he called authorities.
On Monday night, March 24, Des Moines Police found John Shuey lying dead in a pool of dried blood on the living room floor of his apartment.
He was stabbed in the chest during what police believed was a robbery.
A few months earlier — on December 22, 1985 — Shuey reported a break-in in which videos, a VCR, and a .22 caliber rifle worth $1,200 were stolen. According to the Des Moines Register, the officer who filed the burglary report wrote, “Locks on the doors seem to be pretty old.”
Smith reported an incident about a month after the burglary when she heard an intruder break out glass in the main door of the building and then walk up the stairs. She grabbed a knife which she kept as protection. When she confronted the man, he fled saying he had the wrong address.
Questions and information about the unsolved 1986 homicide of John Shuey should be directed to the Des Moines Police Department at 515-283-4864 or Iowa Cold Cases through the Contact form.
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