Linn County in Iowa
Cedar Rapids in Linn County
Homicide
J.H. Peck
46 YOA
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
July 17, 1931
On July 17, 1931, while cooling off and socializing in Van Vechten Park in Cedar Rapids, J.H. Peck and his friends were approached by a robber who demanded they turn over their possessions. When Peck resisted and struck the robber on the head with a bottle, he was shot in the heart and killed.
Marlene Padfield
Homicide:
Marlene Padfield
17 YOA
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
February 19, 1959
Between 12:15 and 12:30 a.m. on February 19, 1959, Marlene Padfield, 17, left the Kozy Inn restaurant in Cedar Rapids with 18-year-old Arthur Scott, Jr., a part-time Coe College student involved in community theater. Marlene was never seen alive again, and her remains were discovered April 29, 1959, by a farmer traveling an isolated dirt road between Cedar Rapids and Mt. Vernon-Lisbon.
Frederick Coste
Homicide
Frederick L. Coste
47 YOA
312 Second Avenue SE
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
October 15, 1959
Frederick “Fred” Coste, 47, was found October 15, 1959, lying face-up in a pool of blood inside his loan interview cubicle at the Family Finance Corporation in Cedar Rapids where he worked. He had been punched in the left eye and then stabbed six times in the chest.
Geraldine Maggert
Homicide:
Geraldine Lempke Maggert
25 YOA
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
March 22, 1968
The nearly nude body of Geraldine Maggert, 25, of Cedar Rapids was discovered in a wooded ravine near the Coralville reservoir on April 6, 1968. The victim — who was approximately three months pregnant — was last seen alive on Friday, March 22, 1968; and an autopsy showed she died from a beating and exposure.
Homicide
Charles “Charlie” Rufus Gearhart
89 YOA
422 First Street SW
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
May 13, 1970
Charles Gearhart was stabbed to death at his 422 First St. SW apartment in Cedar Rapids sometime during the evening of May 13, 1970.
Paula Oberbroeckling
Homicide
Paula Jean Oberbroeckling
18 YOA
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
July 11, 1970
Paula Jean Oberbroeckling disappeared on Saturday night, July 11, 1970, after going out on a date and then later leaving her Cedar Rapids apartment in a powder blue bra dress. Her body was discovered November 29, 1970, in a ravine near the Cedar River six miles from the apartment she shared with Debbie Kellogg.
Maureen Farley
Homicide:
Maureen Farley
Maiden Name: Maureen Brubaker
17 YOA
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
Approx. Date of Death: September 21, 1971
On Sept. 24, 1971, the body of 17-year-old Mrs. Maureen Farley was found atop the trunk lid of an abandoned car in a wooded ravine near the southwest edge of Cedar Rapids. The Linn County medical examiner ruled Farley had been dead no less than 48 hours and no more than 96 hours.
Lynn Schuller
Homicide
Lynn Schuller
26 YOA
3100 30th St. Dr. SE
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
August 6, 1972
Lynn Schuller disappeared from her Cedar Rapids home on August 6, 1972. Police suspected murder from the very beginning, and most believe her husband, Keith Schuller, cut up Lynn’s body and fed it to his 6-foot-long pet alligator, Pogo, and two pet snakes he owned.
Guy Heckle
Missing Person:
Guy Heckle
Age at Report: 11
Missing From: Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
Missing Since: February 3, 1973
Guy Heckle was reported missing to the Linn County Sheriff’s Office in Cedar Rapids on February 3, 1973, after disappearing while on a Boy Scout camp-out near the Duane Arnold Energy Center.
Dennis Stastny
Homicide
Dennis L. Stastny
30 YOA
222 Tenth St. NW
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
August 9, 1977
Dennis Stastny was reported missing on Tuesday, August 9, 1977, by his mother, Mary White. Two days later, Stastny’s body was pulled from the Cedar River near downtown Cedar Rapids after two young fishermen discovered the body in the west spillway near the F Avenue bridge about 11 a.m.
Michelle Martinko
Homicide:
Michelle Martinko
18 YOA
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
Case Number: 8506117
December 19, 1979
On the evening of December 19, 1979, police found 18-year-old Michelle Martinko — her face and chest stabbed repeatedly — in her family’s car in the Westdale Mall parking lot. She had been Christmas shopping.
Naomi Wilson
Missing Person:
Naomi Wilson
Age at Report: 32 YOA
Missing From: 1618 13th Ave. SE
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
Missing Since: April 12, 1981
Naomi Wilson was reported missing from Cedar Rapids on April 12, 1981. She was last seen at her home at 1618 13th Ave. SE, about 4 p.m. by her boyfriend.
Denise Fraley
Missing Person:
Denise Ordene Fraley
30 YOA
Missing From: Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
Date Reported Missing: September 12, 1982
Denise Fraley was reported missing to the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation on September 12, 1982, by her family. Her husband David had filed for divorce in May 1982 and a judge granted a restraining order prohibiting him from contacting Denise or their child. The child stated she had seen her mother weighted down with rocks and thrown in a river.
Homicide
Dennis W. Chaffee
33 YOA
914 28th St. SE
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
July 17, 1983
Dennis Chaffee, a 33-year-old Vietnam veteran, was shot to death in his Cedar Rapids home on Sunday, July 17, 1983, while his 1-1/2-year-old twin children were in another room. His parents discovered his body Monday evening.
Homicide
Danny Baker
617 18th St. SW
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
November 28, 1983
Danny Baker was shot in the back in the driveway of his southwest Cedar Rapids home on Monday, November 28, 1983.
Matt Pusateri
Homicide:
Matt Pusateri
26 YOA
800 Block of Sixth St. SW
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
Nov. 12, 1988
Matt Pusateri, a driver for Yellow Cab, was shot in the head while sitting in his cab about 3 a.m. in a parking lot in the 800 block of Sixth Street SW in Cedar Rapids.
Brian Schappert
Homicide:
Brian Lee Schappert
22 YOA
Kum & Go Store, Mt. Vernon Rd.
SE Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
Case # 9208179
September 8, 1989
Brian Schappert, 22, was stabbed during an apparent robbery at the Kum & Go store in southeast Cedar Rapids on September 8, 1989.
Barbara Elms
Missing Person:
Barbara L. Elms
50 YOA
Missing From:
Cedar Rapids
Linn County
Date Reported Missing: August 25, 1993
Barbara Elms was reported missing on August 25, 1993. The 50-year-old Cedar Rapids woman had a history of leaving for days at a time, but vanished without a trace on August 25.
Louis Chambers, Jr.
Homicide
Louis H. Chambers, Jr.
32 YOA
1400 blk Fifth Avenue SE
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
February 7, 1994
Louis Chambers was shot in the stomach in the 1400 blk. of 5th Ave SE in Cedar Rapids in the early morning hours of February 19, 1994. He died that afternoon at a local hospital of the single gunshot wound.
Homicide
Rylee M. Gray
2 YOA
1614 Park Towne Ln. NE
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
December 23, 1994
Two-year-old Rylee Gray died on Christmas Day in 1994 after suffering injuries to her head, buttocks, and extremities, following an argument between her mother, Elise Gray, and Elise’s live-in boyfriend, Matthew Lewis.
Traci Evenson
Homicide
Traci Evenson
22 YOA
438 Ninth Ave. SW
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
June 21, 1997
Traci Evenson, 22, was found beaten viciously in the face and suffocated in her Cedar Rapids Apartment on June 22, 1997. An autopsy revealed she died about 9:30 the night before.
Judith Weeks
Homicide
Judith Weeks
44 YOA
1319 Second Ave. SE
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
April 5, 1999
On April 5, 1999, the body of Judith Weeks, 44, was found nude from the waist down in the back yard at 1319 Second Ave. SE in Cedar Rapids. Weeks suffered a wound to her forehead caused by a bladed object.
Jamar Magett
Homicide
Jamar Magett
19 YOA
1400 Block of Fifth Ave. SE
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
May 10, 1999
Jamar Magett, 19, of Chicago was shot in the head and chest while standing in the 1400 block of Fifth Avenue SE in Cedar Rapids on May 10, 1999. A Linn County jury acquitted Paul Gilbert, 18, of Cedar Rapids, in the slaying.
Willie Junior Brocks
Homicide
Willie Junior Brocks
49 YOA
400 Block of 15th St. SE
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
November 27, 1999
On Nov. 27, 1999, Willie Junior Brocks, 49, was shot in the head in the 400 block of 15th St. SE in Cedar Rapids.
Erin Pospisil
Missing Person:
Erin Kay Pospisil
Age at Report: 15 YOA
Missing From: Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
Missing Since: June 3, 2001
Fifteen-year-old Erin Pospisil was last seen at a friend’s home in the 100 block of 12th Street SE in Cedar Rapids at 8:45 p.m. on Sunday, June 3, 2001, getting into a dark-colored Chevrolet Cavalier with tinted rear windows.
Tyrone Gilbert
Homicide
Tyrone Gilbert
28 YOA
412 15th St. SE
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
June 21, 2001
On June 21, 2001, Tyrone Gilbert, 28, was fatally shot in the abdomen on the front porch at 412 15th St. SE in Cedar Rapids.
Joseph Harris
Homicide:
Joseph Harris
23 YOA
3600 block of Wenig Rd. NE
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
January 6, 2003
On January 6, 2003, Chicago resident Joseph Harris, 23, was found dead of gunshot wounds to the head in the front passenger seat of a burning green 1995 Lincoln in the 3600 block of Wenig Road NE in Cedar Rapids.
Jay Grahlman
Jaymie Grahlman
Double Homicide:
Jay Grahlman, 38
Jaymie Grahlman, 6
3755 H. Ave. NE
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
April 5, 2003
Jay Grahlman, 38, and his six-year-old daughter, Jaymie, died from injuries suffered in a late-night fire set at their Cedar Rapids home on Saturday, April 5, 2003. Jaymie suffered brain damage and died Sunday after being removed from life support, and Jay died the following Wednesday morning from burns he’d sustained in the fire.
Anthony Posley
Homicide
Anthony Posley
22 YOA
1600 Blk of Sixth Ave. SE
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
July 23, 2006
Anthony Posley, 22, of 3333 Pioneer Ave. SE in Cedar Rapids was shot in the 1600 block of Sixth Avenue SE about 2:27 a.m. on July 23, 2006. He was taken by ambulance to Mercy Medical Center and pronounced dead a short time later.
Dorothy Rose
Homicide
Dorothy Jenine Rose
43 YOA
206 12th St. SE
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
November 25, 2006
Dorothy Jenine Rose, 43, was strangled to death inside her southeast Cedar Rapids apartment on or around November 25, 2006. The building’s landlord discovered her decomposing body — an electrical cord still wrapped around her neck — on November 28, 2006. Police said Rose had been dead three to four days.
Homicide
Dennis Frist
64 YOA
2249 C St. SW #5
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
May 12, 2007
If you have any information about any of these cases please contact the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation’s Cold Case Unit at (515) 725-6010, or send e-mail to: coldcaseunit@dps.state.ia.us.
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