Courtesy photo Quad City TimesRoger Warren
12 YOA
Mississippi River
Davenport, IA
Scott County
August 19, 1979
On Sunday evening, August 19, 1979, 12-year-old Roger Warren was playing with his brother Gary, 7, near their Davenport home.
A man wearing a blue shirt and blue jeans stopped and talked to the boys. Gary later said the man was in his 20s, had black hair, and was missing front teeth.
The man promised Roger a 10-speed bike and a trip to a baseball game if he would walk with him onto the Crescent Bridge, which carries trains across the Mississippi River.
Courtesy photo John A. Weeks, IIIBoth Roger and the man told Gary to go home, and the 7-year-old watched them disappear onto the bridge.
When Roger did not come home with Gary, his parents Joyce and Herbert Warren didn’t worry at first because Roger loved to fish and to make friends. As the hour grew late, however, they reported him missing.
Davenport Police feared he was kidnapped. Descriptions of Roger — he was 4-feet-6 and weighed only 90 pounds — and what he was wearing — a yellow tee-shirt, blue jeans, red and white tennis shoes — were broadcast and publicized across the city.
Police, firefighters, relatives, and friends searched the overgrown area on both sides of the Mississippi near the Crescent Bridge.
On Thursday, Roger’s red and white tennis shoes were found.
On Saturday afternoon, August 25, Roger’s body was pulled from the Mississippi about a mile downstream of the Crescent Bridge. He was identified by two uncles.
A rope wrapped once around Roger’s neck had been used to strangle him. No other injuries could be detected.
Scott County Medical Examiner Dr. R.M. Perkins ruled the death a homicide.
However, due to the decomposition of the body after a week in the river, Perkins was unable to determine if Roger had been sexually assaulted.
In early 2011, Iowa Cold Cases received a moving communication from someone who knew and was touched by Roger.
As a junior high student, she tutored Roger, then a pupil at Walcott Elementary School, in reading. She described Roger as seeming lonely and appearing to be from a family with limited means.
She wrote:
“I enjoyed our one-on-one sessions, because it allowed him to talk to me . . . . To this day, in my jewelry box is a little handmade card that reads ‘I love you, from Roger.’ I am now 49 and have never forgotten him.”
Questions and information about the unsolved 1979 murder of 12-year-old Roger Warren should be directed to the Davenport Police at 319-286-5375 or to Iowa Cold Cases through the Contact form.
Your article says that the ME could not determine if Roger had been sexually assaulted but whoever created Roger’s memorial on Find A Grave says he was.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Warren&GSfn=Roger&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSob=n&GRid=58936643&df=all&
Thank you, FC, for taking an interest in the tragic case of Roger Warren.
At ICC, what we write about our victims comes either directly from law enforcement or from statements made by law enforcement in a public forum.
I think most readers would agree that there likely was a sexual component to the crime; however, to my knowledge, that was never stated publically.
Scott County Medical Examiner Dr. R.M. Perkins was quoted in the August 27, 1979 edition of the Cedar Rapids Gazette as saying that he “could not determine whether the boy was sexually assaulted because of the condition of the body.” Roger was missing for nearly a week and likely in water during that time.
We always welcome input and additional information on all our victims; if there is further official information, we would be happy to include it.
Let’s hope justice can be found for Roger.
Nancy Bowers
it appears there was a prime suspect in this case. is he still living and in davenport area and was there ever a connection with 1972 jeff ramsey murder case in rock island. he was also 12.