Judith Weeks
Linn County in Iowa
Judith Kay Weeks
44 YOA
1319 Second Ave. SE
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
April 5, 1999
On Monday afternoon, April 5, 1999, a passerby discovered the body of 44-year-old Judith Kay “Judy” Weeks in the backyard of a vacant apartment house at 1319 Second Avenue SE in the Wellington Heights neighborhood of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
The 5-foot-2-inch, 115-pound woman was killed by a blow on the forehead with a blade-like weapon.
Judith was wearing a green shirt, a flower-patterned vest, and a tan jacket. Her jeans were nearby and she was nude from the waist down. When she was last seen the day before, she was wearing these same clothes.
Judith was in a turbulent relationship with 40-year-old Darryl Harbison. Harbison was convicted of assaulting Judith twice in 1997 and both times was issued a no-contact order.
At the time of her murder, Harbison was in the Linn County Jail for failing to complete a batterer’s education program, a stipulation attached to a 30-day sentence for one of the assaults on Judith.
After her death, Harbison told reporters he had planned to marry Judith when he got out of jail, and said:
“I loved her more than anything.”
Judith had many jobs; one of her last positions was at Denny’s Green Square Pub and Restaurant in Cedar Rapids.
In the three months preceding her death, Judith shared a 325-dollar-a-month, one-room apartment at 1002 Fifth Street SE with 68-year-old Clarence Johnson, who called himself “a father figure” to her. They pooled her welfare checks and his Social Security money to make ends meet and obtained food from local food pantries.
Johnson said Judith was “a lovable girl” but kept late hours and bad company. He also acknowledged she battled problems with alcohol.
Clarence Johnson said that at 3:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 3, Judith called a cab to go to an address three blocks from where her body was found; but Johnson did not know who she went to see.
About noon on Saturday, Johnson wrote a check for $225 as part of the rent on the apartment where they lived. He didn’t know how to spell the landlord’s name so left the “pay to” line blank. Judith took the check and left.
Witnesses could account for her whereabouts until early Sunday morning, April 4.
The investigation of the crime scene was hampered by heavy rain. This problem led to the purchase of protective equipment to better preserve the sites of future crimes and to aid in investigations.
A $2,000 reward was offered by the Cedar Rapids Police for information in Judith’s murder, but no leads of substance were reported.
During the same year as the Judith Weeks murder, there were two other violent homicides in the same Cedar Rapids neighborhood.
Judith Kay Weeks was born January 9, 1955 in Cedar Rapids to Katherine Elizabeth Fabritz and Everett M. Weeks. She was survived by her mother; grandmother, Elizabeth Fabritz; son, Ryan; daughter, Kristin Coker; brother, Thomas Weeks; and three sisters, Barbara Weeks Walter, Paula Weeks Musel, and Kathleen Weeks Bessey.
She was the mother of two children.
A private funeral service was held at Cedar Memorial Chapel of Memories in Cedar Rapids and she was buried in the nearby cemetery.
Questions and information about the unsolved 1999 murder of Judith Weeks should be directed to the Cedar Rapids Police Department at 319-286-5400 or to Iowa Cold Cases through the Contact form.
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I want the police to step up and try and solve some of these older cases there is two kids out here in this tuff life without there mom you guys want to talk about all the negative things that happened to her or that she did and its not right clean your own closet before you go trying to clean someone elses out thank you and plese soomeone say something that will turn this into a solved case