Sherman G. Casper
36 YOA
Sioux City, IA
Woodbury County
April 20, 1935
On Saturday, April 20, 1935, two men fishing along the Missouri River in Thurston County, Nebraska, found a man’s body in the water.
The victim was identified as 36-year-old Sioux City resident Sherman G. Casper.
A fractured skull, an injured right jaw, and extensive bruises indicated that Casper was severely beaten before being thrown in the river at Sioux City.
Robbery was believed to be the motive.
Law enforcement in both Sioux City and Thurston County, Nebraska, worked the case; but it remains unsolved.
Sherman G. Casper was born in September 1898 in Stanley County, South Dakota, to Iowan Nellie Cooper and Austrian-born farmer Frank Casper. He had three siblings — Hazel Casper, Charles Casper, and step-brother, Raymond Francis “Frank” Casper.
The Casper family lived in South Dakota until 1914, when they moved to Monona County, Iowa. In 1915, Sherman Casper was working as a farmhand in Cooper Township.
Casper served in the American Army in WWI.
In 1920, he lived with his brother Raymond in Sioux City and was a laborer in an alfalfa mill; in 1930 — by then married with a family — he was employed at a local meat packing plant.
Courtesy photo Jayne Palmer, findagrave.comSherman Casper was buried in Graceland Park Cemetery in Sioux City. He was survived by his wife Alma, 9-year-old son Eugene, and 6-year-old daughter Hazel.
Questions and information about the unsolved 1935 murder of Sherman G. Casper should be directed to the Sioux City Police Department at 712-279-6440 or to Iowa Cold Cases through the Contact form.
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