Linn County

Linn County in Iowa

Cold Cases in Linn County, Iowa

*Please Note: The cases listed below are within Linn County but may fall under a city police department’s jurisdiction. They are included here for cross-reference purposes. More specific information may be found on each victim’s individual page.

 

Marlene Padfield

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 on 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

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.


Charles R. Gearhart: 1880-1970

Homicide
Charles 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

Paula Oberbroeckling

Homicide
Paula Jean Oberbroeckling
18 YOA
116 10th St. N.W.
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
July 11, 1970

Paula Jean Oberbroeckling, 18, disappeared after leaving her 116 10th St. NW Cedar Rapids residence in the early morning hours on Saturday, July 11, 1970. Her body was discovered November 29, 1970, in a ravine near the Cedar River six miles from the apartment she shared with Debbie Kellogg.


Lynn Schuller

Homicide (presumed murdered but body never found)
Lynn Schuller
25 YOA
3100 30th St. Dr. SE
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
August 5, 1972

When Keith Schuller reported his wife Lynn Schuller missing in August 1972, police suspected murder from the very beginning. More than four decades later, they still believe Schuller is responsible for her death, but don’t ever expect to find Lynn Schuller’s body. Why? The answer sounds so much like that of local folklore and legends that even police were reluctant to acknowledge Keith Schuller could have committed such an abhorrent act.


Guy Heckle

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

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.


Naomi Wilson

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 on April 12, 1981. She was last seen at her Cedar Rapids home at 1618 13th Ave. SE, about 4 p.m. by her boyfriend.


Denise Fraley

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.


Dennis Chaffee

Dennis Chaffee

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.


617-18th-ave-sw-cr-165pxHomicide
Danny Baker
28 YOA
617 18th Ave. SW
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
November 28, 1983

Danny Baker, a 28-year-old father of four, was shot in the back Monday night, Nov. 28, 1983, in the driveway of his brother-in-law’s southwest Cedar Rapids home after an argument with another guest over a boxing match they’d been watching on television.


Ronald NovakRonald Novak

Homicide
Ronald Lee Novak
24 YOA
Center Point, IA
Linn County
December 23, 1983

On Christmas Eve day, 1983, Ronald Lee Novak, 24, was found bound with his hands tied behind his back, beaten with golf clubs and firewood, shot in the chest, and then left in an unheated storeroom of his rural Center Point residence. His three devoted golden retrievers lay huddled close around him, trying to keep their dead master warm.


Matt Pusateri

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.


Barbara Elms

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

Louis Chambers

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 a single gunshot wound.


Rylee Gray

Rylee Gray

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 two days earlier at the home she shared with her mother, Elise Gray, and Elise’s boyfriend, Matthew Lewis. Lewis was charged with first-degree murder but acquitted by a Linn County District Court jury.


Traci Evenson

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.


Michael Reed

Michael Reed

Undetermined
Michael William Reed
19 YOA
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
April 17, 1998

Michael William Reed, 19, of 43 20th Ave. SW in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, died at St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids on Friday, April 17, 1998. Reed’s mother, Deb (Peal) Evans, told Iowa Cold Cases that police believed her son’s death was a suicide, but that it was well known around [Cedar Rapids] what really happened to her son. Those involved, Evans said, never have been brought to justice.


Jamar Magett

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 Brocks

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

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 in front of a friend’s home in the 1500 block of Second Avenue SE in Cedar Rapids around 8:45 p.m. on Sunday, June 3, 2001. The teen was seen getting into an early ’90s model black Chevrolet Cavalier with tinted rear windows.


Tyrone Gilbert

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 found fatally shot in the abdomen on the front porch at 412 15th St. SE in Cedar Rapids.


Jaymie Grahlman

Jaymie Grahlman

Jay Grahlman

Jay Grahlman

Double Homicide
Jay Grahlman, 38, and
Jaymie Grahlman, 6

3755 H. Ave. NE
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
April 5, 2003

Jay Grahlman, 38, and his 6-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

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 at 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

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 for three to four days.


Aubrey Young

Aubrey Young

Homicide
Aubrey Dwayne Young
35 YOA
200 blk. of 16th St. SE
Near Redmond Park
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
June 15, 2008

Aubrey Young, 35, was found shot to death near Redmond Park in Cedar Rapids in the early morning hours of Sunday, June 15, 2008. Investigators found his body, lying face down on the ground, between two parked cars in the 200 block of 16th Street SE. Young had been shot once in the head.


Dominique Mosby

Dominique Mosby

Homicide
Dominique Mosby
22 YOA
Cedarwood Hills Apartments
2030 Glass Rd. NE, No. 105
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
June 26, 2009

Twenty-two-year-old Dominique Mosby was shot in the head on Friday, June 26, 2009 as he sat outside on an apartment deck playing dice for money with a group of men.


Dexter Meeks

Dexter Meeks

Homicide
Dexter Lashun “Big Ham” MeeksSOLVED
22 YOA
211 15th St. SE
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
June 26, 2011

Dexter Lashun Meeks, known to his friends as “Big Ham,” was shot in the early morning hours on Sunday, June 26, 2011, near the front door of his apartment building at 211 15th St. SE in Cedar Rapids.

On Feb. 25, 2021, Mykel Roberts, 29, of Modesto, Calif., was officially charged with first-degree murder in Meeks’ death.


Matthew John Owen

Matthew John Owen

Homicide
Matthew John (M. John) Owen
90 YOA
107 Gas Light Ct. SW
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
January 18, 2013

Matthew John Owen, who went by the name M. John Owen, was found dead on the kitchen floor of his 107 Gas Light Ct. SW home in Cedar Rapids on Friday morning, January 18, 2013. According to Chief State Medical Examiner Dr. Julia Goodin, Owen died of multiple blunt-force injuries.


Joshua Wellman

Joshua Wellman

Missing Person
Joshua R. Wellman
Age at Report: 35
DOB: July 29, 1980
Weight: 175 lbs.
Height: 5’05”
Race: White
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Brown
Missing From: Cedar Rapids, IA
Case # 201516983
Last Seen Alive: November 12, 2015

Joshua R. Wellman, a 35-year-old Vinton native, was reported missing to the Cedar Rapids Police Department on Monday, November 16, 2015. His mother, Teresa Walton, and sister, Shawna Hunziker, last saw him around 11 a.m. Thursday, November 12, 2015, when they dropped him off at the Cedar Rapids Area Substance Abuse Center. Josh was last seen alive on a surveillance camera at the US Cellular Building in Cedar Rapids later that same day. He has not been seen since.


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