Steven Eugene Gardner
27 YOA
1037 23rd Street
Des Moines, IA
Polk County
Case # 1978-11923
April 8, 1978
Saturday, April 8, 1978 was stormy in Des Moines. Clouds and fog persisted most of the day and rain, accompanied by thunder storms, fell from the early hours. It was the perfect weather to conceal a murder.
Sometime between midnight and mid-morning, someone shot 27-year-old Steven Gardner three times near the intersection of 23rd Street and Cottage Grove. If anyone heard the shots, they probably assumed they were storm noise.
About 11:00 a.m., 19-year-old David Delvin, a resident of New Life Center at 1079 23rd Street, looked down from the second story of the building and saw a man lying across the seat of a Chevy pickup that had coasted to rest against a small wall in the yard of the former Grant Elementary School. The vehicle door was standing open.
Courtesy photo Google Street ViewThinking someone might need help, Delvin approached the pickup with another resident Thomas Jewett, who told the Des Moines Register that they “just glanced in and saw a body. There was blood dripping from the seat of the truck to the ground.”
The truck’s transmission was in gear and the ignition switch on, but the engine was not running.
When Des Moines Police arrived, they discovered Steven Gardner fallen across the front seat, shot three times in the head with either a .32 or .38 caliber handgun. Two bullets were found in his skull; another was a “through and through” that lodged inside the truck. No weapon was found.
The crime seemed without a motive, as Gardner’s wallet with $24 was still in his pocket.
Polk County Medical Examiner R.C. Wooters stated that the shooting likely happened at the location where the body was found because there was no indication it was moved.
Although the area was very close to heavily-travelled MacVicar Freeway (I-235), it was still somewhat isolated, with a vacant lot nearby and the closest houses facing the other direction. The old school yard was also surrounded by a six-foot fence and brush that needed clearing.
Gardner was last seen on Friday, April 7, about 6:30 p.m. by his wife Shari, a clerk at the downtown Des Moines Public Library.
Investigators said they knew Gardner’s whereabouts after that, but did not make the information public.
Gardner’s neighbors — who said he was friendly and happy — and his co-workers at John Deere in Ankeny were shocked. One friend told the Des Moines Register, “He’d do just about anything for anybody.”
Steven Gardner was the 13th homicide victim in Des Moines in 1978, one of the most violent and bloody years in the city’s history.
Steven Eugene Gardner was born in Des Moines on September 4, 1950 to Martha Aline Lamb and Donald Edgar Gardner.
He married Sandra Lynn LeCocq and they had a son, Scott. He then married Shari; they lived at 4007 55th Street in Des Moines.
Gardner was an employee of John Deere in Ankeny.
Steven Eugene Gardner is buried with his parents Martha and Donald in Des Moines Masonic Cemetery.
Courtesy photo Iowa Gravestone Photo ProjectQuestions and information about the unsolved 1978 homicide of Steven Gardner should be directed to the Des Moines Police Department at 515-283-4864 or to Iowa Cold Cases through the Contact form.
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