Johnson County in Iowa
* Note: These are cold cases that exist in Johnson County, though many are under a city police department’s jurisdiction. They are listed here for cross-reference purposes because they are within Johnson County.
Homicide
Winfield S. Carpenter
50 YOA
Iowa City, IA
Johnson County
August 12, 1904
Winfield S. Carpenter, 50, died of strychnine poisoning on August 12, 1904 shortly after eating his lunch at work. His dying declaration was that someone had poisoned his coffee.
Homicide
Jesse C. Leasure
59 YOA
Iowa City, IA
Johnson County
May 11, 1910
Justice of the Peace Jesse Chambers Leasure, 59, was found dead in his bed on the afternoon of Wednesday, May 11, 1910 in Iowa City. There was a large quantity of cyanide in his home.
Homicide
Jared Ham
56 YOA
Iowa River
Iowa City, IA
Johnson County
September 24, 1911
On Sunday, September 24, 1911, the body of 56-year-old Jared Ham was found floating in the Iowa River in Iowa City. At first, police believed the wealthy retired merchant committed suicide. However, a coroner’s jury heard testimony that convinced them he was murdered.
Officer Edward Leeney
Patrolman Edward M. Leeney
32 YOA
Iowa City Police Department
Iowa City, IA
Johnson County
April 29, 1926
On April 29, 1926, Iowa City Motorcycle Officer Edward M. Leeney — married and a father of three young children — was killed in a streetcar collision while in pursuit of a fleeing Ford coupe.
Robert McCullough
Homicide
Robert McCullough
33 YOA
Disappeared February 23, 1947
Des Moines, IA
Polk County
Found August 14, 1947
near Hills, IA
Johnson County
Former Army paratrooper Robert D. McCullough, 33, was last in contact with his family on February 23, 1947 in Des Moines. His body was found near the Iowa River south of Hills in Johnson County on August 14, 1947, where it had washed up during June flooding. He died from a bullet wound to the skull.
Chester Louk
Chester Edgar Louk
53 YOA
Oathout Funeral Home
336 S. Clinton St.
Iowa City, IA
Johnson County
April 3, 1962
Chester Edgar Louk died in an arson fire in an apartment above Oathout Funeral Home in Iowa City on April 3, 1962.
Edward Kriz
Edward J. Kriz
43 YOA
Hamburg Inn No. 2
214 North Linn St.
Iowa City, IA
Johnson County
November 10, 1962
Edward Kriz, 43, was shot outside the Hamburg Inn No. 2 in Iowa City during a robbery there on November 10, 1962.
Ronald Lipsius
Homicide
Ronald F. Lipsius
30 YOA
812 South Summit Street
Iowa City, IA
Johnson County
May 16, 1966
About 8:30 a.m. on Monday, May 16, 1966, a “pudgy” young woman stole $50 from the Clover Farm Food Market in Iowa City. When the store owner, Ronald Lipsius, chased the woman down the sidewalk, she shot him with a .22 caliber pistol.
Sarah Ottens
Homicide
Sarah Ann Ottens
20 YOA
Rienow Hall
University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA
Johnson County
Case # 7300179
March 13, 1973
On March 13, 1973, Sarah Ann Ottens was murdered in Rienow Hall at the University of Iowa.
Karen Christensen
Double Homicide:
Karen Ann Christensen, 27, and
Larry Gordon Wells, 25
Near Coralville Reservoir
Coralville, IA
Johnson County
August 26, 1975
On Labor Day, September 1, 1975, two young motorcyclists discovered the charred bodies of two persons inside a scorched pickup truck near the Coralville Reservoir in Johnson County. The victims were identified as Karen Ann Christensen, 27, of Cedar Rapids, and her cousin Larry Gordon Wells, 25, of Marathon.
Jane Wakefield
Missing Person:
Jane Wakefield
DOB: 11/19/1948
Missing From: Iowa City, IA
Missing Since: September 6, 1975
Jane Wakefield was reported missing to the Iowa City Police Department in Iowa City on September 9, 1975.
Charles Elmquist
Missing Person:
Charles Elmquist
DOB: 05/03/1945
Missing From: Iowa City, IA
Missing Since: November 16, 1979
Charles Elmquist went missing on November 16, 1979. His 1961 blue GMC van was located on November 17, 1979, parked in the University of Iowa Hydraulics Laboratory storage lot.
Homicide
Lance Lee DeWoody
22 YOA
Coralville, IA
Johnson County
Case # 8504249
August 13, 1985
Lance DeWoody died from a gunshot wound at the Oakdale campus in Coralville on August 13, 1985.
Unidentified White Male Infant
Homicide
Unidentified Newborn Baby John Doe
Found in Iowa City Landfill
Iowa City, IA
Johnson County
December 21, 1992
Four days before Christmas in 1992, a worker from a Kalona sanitation firm found a naked newborn baby boy’s body in a pile of trash at the Iowa City Landfill. The caucasian infant weighed 9 pounds and 3 ounces, and had just been dumped there around noon with the refuse picked up earlier from surrounding communities.
Susan Kersten
Homicide:
Susan Pearl Kersten
38 YOA
Iowa City, Iowa
Johnson County
Case # 9511388
September 24, 1995
Susan Kersten’s body was found in a car that had been set on fire in a field south of the Regency Trailer Court in rural Iowa City, where she lived.
Donna Marshall
Homicide
Donna Lee Marshall
37 YOA
Iowa City, IA
Johnson County
Case # 9600444
January 8, 1996
On January 8, 1996, Donna Lee Marshall, 37, was found by her fiancé and daughter in her southeast side Iowa City mobile home with a gunshot wound to the head. She died the next day.
Laura Van Wyhe
Homicide:
Laura Van Wyhe
21 YOA
From Iowa City, IA
Johnson County
Found along NE Missouri highway
October 26, 1996
On Oct. 26, 1996, a truck driver discovered Laura Van Wyhe, 21, alive but incoherent, alongside Highway 136 near Kahoka, Missouri. Van Wyhe died three hours later in a Quincy, Illinois, hospital.
Frances Bloomfield
Homicide:
Frances Bloomfield
57 YOA
38 Wakefield Ct.
Iowa City, IA
Johnson County
September 22, 1997
Frances Bloomfield was reported missing on September 22, 1997, by her husband, John, who had returned from a business conference in France. Mrs. Bloomfield’s body was found three days later, bound with pantyhose and wrapped in plastic bound with duct tape, in a ditch along a highway about a half-mile south of Rockford, Illinois. She had been strangled. Investigators believe she’d been killed in her home.
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