Woodbury County in Iowa
* Note: These are cold cases that exist in Woodbury County, though many may fall under the jurisdiction of the Sioux City Police Department or other cities/townships within Woodbury County. They are listed here for cross-reference purposes because they are within Woodbury County.
Cases are listed in chronological order beginning with the oldest. Click on links for additional information and/or feature stories.
Rev. George Haddock
Homicide
Rev. George Haddock
56 YOA
Corner of 3rd and Water streets
Sioux City, IA
Woodbury County
August 3, 1886
Just after 10 p.m. on August 3, 1886, the Reverend George Haddock of Sioux City, Iowa, was shot as he left his buggy at the stables. He lay dead in the gutter on the southwest corner of 3rd and Water streets.
Homicide
John H. Brownrigg
Sioux City, Iowa
Woodbury County
April 24, 1896
On Thursday afternoon, April 24, 1896, a Woodbury County Deputy Sheriff found a body next to a boxcar of the Chicago Burlington and Northern Railroad in Sioux City.. Letters in the coat pockets identified the victim as John H. Brownrigg, originally of Dublin, Ireland. John Brownrigg was murdered inside the boxcar and pushed onto the ground.
Thecla Gerken
Homicide
Thecla Gerken
23 YOA
Sioux City, Iowa
Woodbury County
June 27, 1917
Twenty-three-year-old Woonsocket, South Dakota, school teacher Thecla Gerken — a visitor to Sioux City — was shot and killed at 11:00 p.m. June 27, 1917 near the corner of Jones Street and 9th Street as she walked home after a night out with a girlfriend.
Homicide
John McGill
29 YOA
Sioux City, Iowa
Woodbury County
September 1920
John McGill, 29, was found stabbed to death in September 1920 behind a private residence in Sioux City.
Jack Fong: 1884-1924
Homicide
John “Jack” Fong
40 YOA
Kee Quong Laundry
214 Fourth Street
Sioux City, Iowa
Woodbury County
December 2, 1924
John “Jack” Fong, 40, was ritualistically stabbed to death at the Kee Quong Chinese Laundry at 214 Fourth Street in Sioux City on December 2, 1924. His murder was believed to be tong-related.
Harry H. Jones
William Laugeson
Double Homicide
Harry H. Jones, 32, and
William Laugeson, 34
C.A. Larson Hardware
1102 Fourth Street
Sioux City
Woodbury County
August 27, 1925
C.A. Larson Hardware Store employee William Laugeson, 34, and customer Harry H. Jones, 32, were shot during a robbery at 7:00 a.m., August 27, 1925.
Louis Friedman
Homicide
Louis Friedman
37 YOA
300 Pearl Street
Sioux City, Iowa
Woodbury County
December 12, 1930
Louis Friedman, 37, was shot to death during a struggle with two bandits trying to rob his grocery store at 300 North Pearl on December 12, 1930.
Sherman Casper: 1898-1935
Homicide
Sherman Casper
35 YOA
Sioux City, Iowa
Woodbury County
April 20, 1935
Sioux City resident Sherman Casper, 35, was severely beaten and his body thrown into the Missouri River. He was found on April 20, 1935 by fisherman in Thurston County, Nebraska.
Jimmy Bremmers
Homicide
Jimmy Bremmers
8 YOA
2701 Cottage Ave.
Sioux City, IA (Woodbury County)
Body Found in Plymouth County
Estimated Date of Death: August 31, 1954
Eight-year-old Jimmy Bremmers disappeared on August 31, 1954, after visiting friends on the block where he lived on Sioux City’s west side. His body was found by county workers almost one month later on Sept. 29. Ernest Triplett — an itinerant music salesman for Flood Music in Sioux City — was arrested, charged and convicted in Jimmy’s death, but the conviction was overturned in 1972.
Donna Sue Davis
Homicide
Donna Sue Davis
22 months of age
715 Isabella Street
Sioux City, IA
Woodbury County
July 10, 1955
Donna Sue Davis, 22 months old, was abducted from her crib in her Sioux City, Iowa, home the evening of July 10, 1955. Her battered body was found the following day at the edge of a South Sioux City, Nebraska, cornfield.
Homicide
Hilda Fletcher
53 YOA
Sioux City, IA
Woodbury County
December 15, 1958
Hilda Fletcher was found beneath a blood-soaked bed in her Sioux City, Iowa, home on December 15, 1958. The 53-year-old died of a brain hemorrhage and there were abrasions and contusions over much of her body.
Thomas "Myles" Dougherty
Missing Person
Thomas Myles Dougherty
45 YOA
Sioux City, IA
Woodbury County
January 12, 1961
Forty-five-year-old Thomas Myles Dougherty, a WWII double amputee fitted with prosthetic metal “hooks” on both arms, disappeared on January 12, 1961, after an early morning breakfast at the Metropolitan Café in Sioux City, Iowa. He was last seen driving a 1954 dark green Tudor Ford with white sidewalls in front and black mud and snow grips on the rear, Iowa license plate number 97-11426.
Homicide
Catherine Decora
48 YOA
Sioux City, IA
Woodbury County
February 14, 1965
On Friday night February 13, Catherine Decora, 48, attended a party at the home of 63-year-old Kenneth Taylor in Sioux City. She left and then returned after someone beat her severely in the alley outside his home. She died at a hospital early the following morning.
Leo Joseph Smith: 1912-1969
Homicide
Leo Joseph Smith
56 YOA
Correctionville, IA
Woodbury County
Case # 69-00525
April 10, 1969
Early Thursday, April 10, 1969, Iowa Highway Patrol officers found 56-year-old Leo Joseph Smith’s body at a rest area on Highway 20 thirty miles east of Sioux City, Iowa, in Woodbury County. His throat had been cut.
Unidentified Body
Description: White male, 33-53 years of age, approximately 5’6″ tall
Details: Skeletonized remains found 08/30/88 in a roadside ditch 1/2 mile east of Correctionville in Woodbury County.
Cause of Death: Unknown.
Estimated date of death: 1971 – 1973
Agency: Woodbury County Sheriff’s Office 712-279-6010
Jesse Hanni
Billy Isom
Triple Homicide
Ernest William (Billy) Isom II, 27;
Jesse James Hanni, 26;
Freta Fawn (Bostic) Isom, 24
117 Morningside Avenue
Sioux City, IA
Woodbury County
December 3, 1974
At 11:22 a.m., the bodies of three persons were found brutally murdered in a rented two-story home in Sioux City, Iowa. The mother of victim Ernest William “Billy” Isom discovered the bodies.
Freta Bostic
Freta (Bostic) Isom — pregnant at the time — was found on the dining room floor, wearing only a housecoat, shot once through the back.
Billy Isom — shot five times in the head and body — lay naked on a mattress on the living room floor.
Jesse Hanni was found fully clothed, wearing a winter jacket, and had been shot once through the back and once behind the left ear in execution style.
Maurice Kneifl
Missing Person
Maurice Kneifl
58 YOA
Sioux City Area
February 14, 1983
On February 16, 1983, the Sioux City Police Department received a report of a missing person — 58-year-old Maurice Kneifl — by Kneifl’s girlfriend, Joyce Fish, and her daughter Lori. Maurice was reportedly last seen on Feb. 14, 1983, driving his 1981 dark brown Fleetwood Cadillac, bearing Iowa license plate HIZ379. He had left Joyce’s residence around 9:30 p.m. Kneifl owned and operated Fethke Cleaners located at 1209 W. 26th Street. An exhaustive search has turned up no leads as to his whereabouts.
Terri McCauley
Homicide
Terri McCauley
18 YOA
33rd & Pavonia St.
Sioux City, IA
Woodbury County
October 6, 1983
On Oct. 1, 1983, 18-year-old McCauley was reported missing by her mother. She was reported last seen alive on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 1983, at approximately 2:15 a.m. in the area of W. 7th & Omaha in Sioux City. At approximately 8:15 a.m. on Oct. 6, 1983, her partially decomposed body was located in a wooded area in the vicinity of 33rd & Pavonia Street by a local resident walking his dog. The victim had died from a shotgun wound to the face.
Ronald Zellmer
Missing Person
Ronald Leroy Zellmer
31 YOA
Sioux City Area
April 6, 1985
At approximately 5:50 a.m., South Sioux City Police located a 1984 Chevy Cavalier – registered to Zellmer — parked on the south end of the Veterans Memorial Bridge. Sioux City Police were called to check Zellmer’s residence at 1003 Pierce Street, Apt. B-3, and found it empty with nothing unusual within the apartment. Family members reported he had suffered from depression for years. A search of the Missouri River proved unsuccessful.
Unidentified White Male
John Doe
200 Block of S. Lewis Blvd. (Hwy 75)
Sioux City, Iowa
Woodbury County
March 25, 1986
At approximately 9:42 a.m., Sioux City Police responded to a report of a man down under a bridge near Marx Trucking. Marx employees had observed smoke and a noxious odor coming from the area the day before. Investigators located the body of man — believed to be between 40-50 years of age — burned beyond recognition, with a gas can located between the victim’s legs. A nationwide search has not determined the man’s identity.
Homicide
Kevin Clark
26 YOA
1514 Villa Avenue
Sioux City, Iowa
Woodbury County
December 8, 1991
Just after climbing into the back passenger seat of friend’s vehicle after a party, Kevin Clark was shot at approximately 5:19 a.m. on Dec. 8, 1991, by a black male subject who approached the 1981 Chevy Citation with 9 millimeter rifle, shouted an obscenity and then began firing into the vehicle. Clark – who had in his possession a 38 Titan Special revolver – returned the gunfire, but was struck three times in the torso.
Homicide
Betty Swetnam
73 YOA
1610 West 19th St.
Sioux City, Iowa
Woodbury County
January 1, 1994
Betty Swetnam was found dead at the bottom of her basement steps on January 1, 1994. The 73-year-old grandmother had been stabbed multiple times.
Kenneth Harker
Missing Person
Kenneth Harker
34 YOA
Sioux City Area
Woodbury County
October 9, 1996
On October 9, 1996, Marie Harker contacted the Sioux City Police Department to report her adult son, Kenneth Harker, as missing. According to Marie, Kenneth suffered from a head injury he’d received several years earlier that had left him disabled. Four days earlier on October 5, Harker’s 1977 white Chevy Suburban, while parked on a gravel road, had been tagged by the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office as an abandoned vehicle.
David Redowl
Homicide
David Redowl
27 YOA
610 West 3rd St.
Sioux City, IA
Woodbury County
April 26, 1997
At approximately 2:00 a.m., David Redowl and his 24-year-old sister, Sonja, had a physical altercation in the back yard of their mother’s residence on West 3rd St., which both Redowl and his sister listed as their home. Sioux Police were contacted about 2:07 a.m, and found Redowl with a stab wound to the chest.
Wilbur Brown
Homicide
Wilbur Brown
47 YOA
603 West 5th Street
Sioux City, IA
September 14, 1997
Wilbur Brown was found lying on the ground between a curb and the sidewalk at 603 West 5th St. in Sioux City, Iowa, about 5:30 a.m. on Sept. 14, 1997. An autopsy revealed he’d been beaten about the head and body and died as a result of those injuries.
Patricia Jauron
Homicide
Patricia Jauron
45 YOA
1516 Old Highway 141
Sioux City, IA (Woodbury County jurisdiction)
Case #98-06160
May 26, 1998
Patricia Jauron’s body was discovered by her husband Gene at their former home across the road from where they’d just moved after she left to show someone a waterbed and didn’t return home. Patricia had been stabbed multiple times with such force the blade broke off in her chest.
Missing Person
Greg Stover
44 YOA
DOB: 7/20/54
White male
Missing since 3/8/99
Greg Stover was reported missing to the Sioux City Police Department on March 8, 1999.
Adrian Reuwsaat
Missing Person
Adrian Reuwsaat
69 YOA
Missing From: Sioux City, IA
Woodbury County
Missing since: November 3, 2002
Adrian Reuwsaat was reported missing to the Sioux City Police Department in Sioux City on November 3, 2002.
Helen Kelly
Missing Person
Helen J. Kelly
83 YOA
Missing From: Sioux City, IA (Woodbury County)
Missing Since: May 18, 2005
Helen Kelly of Sioux City, Iowa, was reported missing by her husband on May 18, 2005. Kelly left behind her purse and had not mentioned plans to travel anywhere. She has never been heard from again. Her gold 2000 Honda Accord with Iowa license plates numbered 953EDK also remains missing.
Joshua Lyons
Missing Person
Joshua Lyons
16 YOA at disappearance
Missing From: Sioux City, IA (Woodbury County)
Missing Since: December 5, 2009
Joshua Lyons was reported missing to the Sioux City Police Department on December 5, 2009. He was last seen wearing a black t-shirt and jeans.
If you have any information about these cases, please contact the Woodbury County Sheriff’s Department at 712-279-6040 or the Sioux City Police Department at 712-279-6960.
Recent Comments