Cold Cases in Cerro Gordo County, IA
*Please Note: The cases listed below are within Cerro Gordo 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.
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Missing Person Lillian Eileen Demaris was last seen in Mason City, Iowa on August 14, 1952. She has never been heard from again. |
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Homicide On October 10, 1962, Lucille Elaine DeVries, 22, was discovered in the back seat of her burning vehicle parked in the driveway of her Mason City apartment. |
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Homicide: The body of Norma Jean Horgen, 18, was found near the northwest shore of Iowa's Clear Lake on September 10, 1966. The St. Ansgar teen had been a cosmetology student in Mason City. |
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Homicide: Andy Hatges, 76 — owner of West Vu Market, 2601 Fourth St. S.W. in Mason City, IA — was found dead in his home on Sunday, March 8, 1968, after he didn't open the store that morning. His throat had been slashed. |
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Homicide: Charles Hines, 45, was found on the sidewalk outside the Delaware Tap, 11 S. Delaware Ave., Mason City, at 2:45 a.m. on August 2, 1975. Investigators were checking out the report of a fight involving Hines when they found his body, and believe he died after an assault. |
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Homicide: On March 18, 1977, the body of Elgin Hobert Strait, 80, was found dead at his Mason City, Iowa, residence from a gunshot wound to the head. |
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Homicide On September 29, 1978, the body of Roger Joynt was found in a ditch 2.5 miles east of I-35 on County Road B-20 around the Mason City area with 8 bullet wounds throughout his body. |
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Missing Person: Grace Esquivel, 25, the mother of a six-year-old daughter, Angie, was reported missing in June 1983. She lived at 1619 N. Pennsylvania Ave. in Mason City. |
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Missing Person: Rodney Olsen, a rural Mason City farmer, was reported missing on October 18, 1986. Olsen was the father of a young son and farmed northeast of Mason City. He had moved from his native Britt area not too long before he disappeared. |
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Homicide: Dillon Luna, the 15-day-old son of Joseph and Christine Luna, was found dead of smoke inhalation on April 30, 1992, as his parents’ 1429 N. Federal Ave., Mason City home burned to the ground. The fire was caused by arson, investigators said, and was ignited in the living room — the same room where the infant's body was found — according to the fire marshal's investigation. |
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Missing Person: At approximately 4:30 a.m. on June 27, 1995, CBS affiliate KIMT-TV morning and noon anchor woman and producer Jodi Sue Huisentruit was abducted from the parking lot of her apartment before leaving for work that Tuesday morning. |
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Homicide: Gerald Best was found stabbed to death on Dec. 30, 1999, in his apartment at 4 N. Madison Ave. in Mason City. His throat had been slashed. |
Page last updated: July 18, 2010
