Donna Sue Davis
Homicide:
22 months of age
715 Isabella Street
Sioux City, IA
July 10, 1955
Case summary by Jody Ewing. Additional notes and timeline follow summary.
On July 10, 1955, at approximately 9:30 p.m., Mary Davis put her 22-month-old daughter, Donna Sue, to bed in her crib after giving her a bath. It was an extremely humid night as temperatures had reached the mid-nineties during the day. The windows were left open to circulate some air in the room. Shortly thereafter, a white male partially removed the storm screen from the bedroom window, entered the residence and abducted Donna Sue from her crib.
The kidnapping occurred while Donna Sue's parents were in other rooms of the residence. The father, James Davis, was watching television in the living room, and Mary had gone to the kitchen to read the paper after putting the other two children, ages 11 and 7, to bed.
About that same time, several witnesses in the neighborhood observed a white male in the area acting suspiciously. He was believed to be carrying something in his arms. At 9:37 p.m., neighbor Laif Fjeldos alerted police of this prowler, and, believing the prowler had burglarized his garage or was “up to no good,” attempted to pursue the individual.
The prowler was described as 6 feet tall, 145 lbs. (lanky) with dark hair, wearing a white tee shirt and tan khaki pants.
At approximately 10:05 p.m., Mr. Davis, while preparing for bed, observed that
Donna Sue was not in her crib in their shared bedroom. Police, responding
to the prowler call, arrived on scene about the time the Davis' realized
Donna Sue was gone.
Throughout the night, Sioux City police swarmed over the city's west side in search of any type of clue. More than 25 neighbors also searched in and around the vacant fields and houses in the vicinity of the Davis home. The search party grew to include Air National Guardsmen, extra police and approximately 30 other volunteers.
The following afternoon, a local farmer found Donna Sue Davis’ diaper, pajamas, and plastic pants along a rural roadside (“G” Street) on the outskirts of South Sioux City, Nebraska (just across the Missouri River from Sioux City, Iowa). Her body was found a short time later near the road in the first two rows of a cornfield, three-quarters of a mile from where the clothing had been found and about eight miles from the Davis home.
Donna Sue had been raped, sodomized, badly beaten, had a severe skull fracture, a left fractured jaw, numerous abrasions and a number of cigarette or lighter burns on her body.
Though Sioux City Police questioned hundreds of individuals and received a few false confessions, the case remains open today.
Donna Sue's death came 10 months after that of eight-year-old Jimmy Bremmers, also of Sioux City's west side neighborhood.
* Addendum by Jody Ewing
Due to the number of inquiries received regarding the Donna Sue Davis case, I'm including below an abbreviated timeline of events included in my book-in-progress, The Darling of the Neighborhood. The dates and information below have been gathered from a number of sources, including the Sioux City Police Department, numerous newspaper archives, magazine articles, court transcripts, Neil Miller's book, Sex-Crime Panic (an excellent account of the Jimmy Bremmers murder in 1954 and public hysteria that followed), Robert Bartels' book, Benefit of Law (how Ernest Triplett was convicted for Jimmy Bremmers' murder and why the conviction was overturned), and dozens of interviews I've personally conducted while researching this case.
This abridged timeline (up through 1970) will not answer all questions, but it's not too late for those with information to provide answers; it's still an open case.
You may send tips anonymously through our Contact form or by calling the Sioux City Police Department at 712-279-6390.
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Donna Sue Davis Timeline
Saturday, July 9, 1955
Rain begins to fall in Sioux City, Iowa, at 9 p.m., and by midnight flood sirens awaken the city. As rain falls in torrents, a fire breaks out at a lumber company but fire trucks can't get through the flooded street. IPSC (utility) employees work through the night to restore electricity.
Sunday, July 10, 1955
By early morning the rain has stopped and waters begin to recede. City crews begin clean-up work.
9:30 pm – Mrs. James Davis (Mary) tucks 22-month-old Donna Sue into her crib in the first-floor bedroom of the two-story duplex at 715 Isabella Street in Sioux City. The crib is against the wall at the foot of Mr. and Mrs. Davis's bed. Next to the crib is a cedar chest, which sits directly below a window.
Donna weighs 21 pounds, is barefoot and wears pink pajamas. She has bright blue eyes and a mass of curly blond hair. Neighbors call Donna "The Darling of the Neighborhood."
Donna goes to bed with her three favorite toys: a teddy bear, a rubber doll and a red purse.
"Three to get ready, and four to go . . . to bed," Mary tells Donna Sue as she kisses her goodnight. Temps are in the 80s on the hot night, and Donna Sue's bedroom window is left open to capture any breeze.
Mrs. Davis goes to the kitchen where she reads the day’s Sioux City Journal.
Mr. Davis – a clerk for the Chicago and Northwestern Railway – watches TV in the living room. The couple’s two other children, Mary Claire, 11, and Timothy, 7, are asleep in the next room.
Upstairs, in the other half of the duplex (address 717 Isabella Street), Mr. M. A. McLeod sits outside on the upper porch balcony. His wife is in their bedroom.
9:35 pm – On the corner just south of the duplex, George Berger sits in his back yard at 1301 Villa Avenue. His back yard faces the Davis home's south side, and he often watches the Davis children and their neighborhood friends play together in the large lot between the two homes.
Mr. Berger sees a man cross through a hedge near the front of the Davis home, and, walking erectly, head west along its south side toward Donna Sue's window. Berger tries to make out what the man is doing, but it is dark and he can't see around his own car, which he parked in his driveway earlier. The car prevents him from further observing the man's actions.
A few minutes later he sees the man retrace his steps toward the street and head in a northerly direction. The man, however, now walks in a crouched, stooped position.
Mr. and Mrs. Laif Fjeldos, who live around the corner two houses away at 1310 West 14th Street, hear their dog Rex barking at the back door. Their back lot borders the Davis’s back lot, separated by mulberry and hackberry trees.
Mrs. Fjeldos gets up to let Rex in and switches on her back yard light. She sees a man skulking along the alley, and he appears to be carrying a bundle. She immediately calls for her husband.
Mr. Fjeldos grabs a flashlight and shines it toward the man, who now is stooped over and hiding behind a bush. Mr. Fjeldos suspects the stranger might be carrying meat to poison neighborhood dogs. He hands his wife the flashlight and tells her to keep it on the man while he calls police.
9:37 pm – The call comes into the police station. Fjeldos tells police he has "a suspicious man cornered" and requests assistance. Before police can arrive, the man flees north through the alley and Mr. Fjeldos gives chase.
The stranger is described by neighbors as approximately 31 years old with a slight build, and wearing a white T-shirt and khaki trousers. He runs awkwardly, still stooped over with the bundle. Fjeldos chases him across West 14th Street and into the next alley, which leads north toward West 15th Street. The suspect ducks between two bushes in the back yard of the house located at 1417 Isabella Street. Fjeldos approaches slowly, but then realizes the man has vanished.
Fjeldos later states the bundle appeared to be wrapped in a baby blanket. (Later reports state nothing found missing from Donna Sue's bedroom.)
9:40 pm (approx) – Mr. Davis gets up to go to bed and check on Donna Sue. He doesn’t see her in the crib and thinks she’s hiding beneath the covers. “Where’s Donna?” he asks his wife, and then sees that the bedroom screen has been removed. He immediately telephones police, unaware they're already on their way to the neighborhood in response to Mr. Fjeldos's call.
Mr. Fjeldos stands outside waiting for the police and telling other neighbors what he's seen when suddenly they hear Mrs. Davis screaming, "My baby is gone! My baby is gone!” and then her crying “Help, help, help.”
Police arrive as more neighbors gather outside to see what is taking place.
More than 25 neighbors go searching in the vacant fields and houses in the vicinity of the Davis home. Several neighbors report having seen the man, but say it was difficult to determine his height because he was bent over carrying something.
Mr. Berger tells police about the stranger he saw earlier by the Davis home.
Mr. and Mrs. McLeod from the upstairs duplex state they didn’t see or hear anything unusual.
Mr. Davis, extremely distraught over his daughter's disappearance, jumps into his car and begins to search the area on his own. Surrounding roads are still muddy from the rains and he drives his car into a ditch where it gets stuck. Friends come to help him get it out.
Relatives gather at the Davis home to comfort them. The Davises tell police there'd been no family trouble and they knew of no one with a motive for kidnapping Donna Sue.
10:05 pm – Sid Goldberg, a Sioux City resident, is driving through the nearby town of Elk Point, SD. Near a motel, Goldberg sees a man in a white t-shirt and khaki trousers standing on the road beside a black Chevrolet 2-door sedan with Nebraska tags. The man holds a baby in his arms, but Goldberg thinks nothing of it.
10:30 pm – Mrs. Everett Hauswirth, who lives on the "Old Back Road" in South Sioux City, Neb., is startled by the sound of a vehicle either stopping on the road or pulling into her driveway. A moment later she hears the car "turn on two wheels" and speed away.
Shortly before 11 pm: While listening to his radio, Sid Goldberg hears the report of Donna Sue's abduction and immediately telephones Sioux City police. SCPD notify Elk Point police, who quickly converge at the same hotel Goldberg passed earlier. The Chevrolet sedan is gone, but Goldberg says he remembers the license plate number.
Sioux City police radio a detailed description of the man and child to law enforcement networks in Iowa, S.D. and Neb., and to taxicab companies whose cabs are equipped with two-way radios.
Police take Donna Sue's bedroom screen and several other items to the SCPD to check for possible fingerprints.
Late Sunday Night: police follow up on the license plate number in hopes of discovering the owner and getting a lead, but nothing pans out. The Nebraska Motor Vehicle Bureau won’t be open until the next morning.
Police Chief James O’Keefe is roused from bed to take charge of the search for Donna Sue and her kidnapper.
Capt. John Rispalje and detectives John Banys and Paul Brown are held over for extra duty in the investigation, as are several patrolmen.
Throughout the night, SC police swarm over the city's west side in search of any type of clue.
Monday, July 11, 1955
Morning: At the Davis home, Capt. Rispalje explains that the FBI cannot be called in on the case until there's proof the abductor took Donna Sue across a state line, or unless the abductor contacts Donna Sue's parents asking for money or other consideration in exchange for Donna Sue's return.
More detectives descend upon the neighborhood, talking with residents about the previous day's and evening's activities. They perform a house to house check.
Three FBI officers from the Omaha Field Office arrive at the Davis home, stating they are there to familiarize themselves with the neighborhood. They unofficially associate themselves with the case in what is described a “consultatory capacity.”
A farmer reports to the Woodbury County Sheriff’s office that he heard a baby crying in a parked car on a road about three and one-half miles east of Highway 75, halfway between the nearby towns of Sergeant Bluff and Salix. He says the car had Neb. plates, and deputies go to investigate.
Just across the river in South Sioux City, Neb., Mrs. Ernest Oehlerking (33 years old) is in a festive mood. Today, one of her six daughters turns 11 and she is planning to bake a cake. The girls are in town at a Girl Scouts camp and the gifts are already wrapped.
Afternoon: Sioux City Police Chief O’Keefe appeals to all householders to check carefully for the possible presence of baby garments or child’s clothing that might be a clue to the kidnapping.
Other police officers announce a report that a man with a bundle had been seen north of an alley near 14th and Nebraska Streets. They say the man entered a garage in the vicinity, stayed a few minutes and then left the building.
They speculate the child may have been wrapped in a blanket the abductor carried with him elsewhere in the city, but that nothing had been taken from Donna Sue's bedroom. She'd gone to sleep with a teddy bear, her rubber doll and a red purse, and all these articles had been found in the crib after she vanished.
The search party grows to include National Guard Air National Guardsmen, extra police and approximately 30 other volunteers. The search extends from West Seventh Street to West 18th Street and along Perry Creek, and from West Eighth and Bluff Street West to Ross Street.
3:45 p.m. – Ernest Oehlerking drives his tractor toward South Sioux City where he intends to buy oats. His nephew, 14-year-old Ronnie Oehlerking of Denver, rides in a wagon behind the tractor along with Ernie Reed and Harlan Haas – two locals who help out on the farm.
One-eighth of a mile north of his farmhouse and midway to Mrs. Everett Hauswirth's home, Mr. Oehlerking notices some clothing in a ditch. It is the lower part of a baby's pink pajamas and a rubber diaper. He immediately turns around for home where he calls the police and tells his wife what he's discovered.
Mrs. Ernest Oehlerking leaves right away for town to pick up her daughters from Girl Scout Camp. On her way home – based on what she later calls 'women's intuition' – she stops at the home of her sister-in-law, Mrs. William Oehlerking (47 years old). The women set out in two cars to search for Donna Sue, both driving south on the Old Back Road. Mrs. William Oehlerking's 13-year-old daughter chooses to ride with her aunt and six cousins (ranging in age from 18 mos. to 13 years), while Mrs. William Oehlerking drives alone. It is a blistering 96 degrees outside.
4:15 p.m. - The Oehlerking vehicles pass the Ernest Oehlerking farm and continue down the graveled Old Back Road that leads from South Sioux City to Dakota City. A half-mile past the Oehlerking farm the girls suddenly scream, crying out that they've seen Donna Sue's body. Mrs. Ernest Oehlerking comes to a stop and backs up.
Donna Sue lies 15 feet west of the Old Back Road in the first row of a 40-acre cornfield. Her pink pajama top is wound around her neck. The corn is about waist high and there is little shade to cover her small body.
Mrs. Ernest Oehlerking takes the girls home with her to call police while her sister-in-law stays with Donna Sue. Donna Sue's arms rest above her head and it appears she could be sleeping if not for the blood and bruises on her head and the markings around her eyes. Mrs. William Oehlerking finds an old paper sack nearby, tears it up and covers the body.
4:45 p.m. – Police arrive at the site. In South Sioux City, Chief of Police F.E. (Pete) Baumer notifies SCPD Identification Bureau Superintendent Harold Casey and the clothing is taken to the parents for ID.
Police hold three persons for questioning in the case.
South Sioux City and Sioux City police investigate the cornfield area where Donna Sue was found. Broken cornstalks indicate her body likely had been thrown from a car.
Later afternoon: Autopsy performed by Dr. Thomas L. Coriden (Woodbury County coroner) and Dr. A.C. Starry, Sioux City pathologist. They conclude Donna Sue has been dead for 10-12 hours.
Her battered body has been raped and sodomized. Her lower left jaw is broken, there are several bruises on her body and her buttocks are covered with burns from a cigarette or cigarette lighter. Cause of death is listed as massive brain hemorrhage resulting from a severe blow to the head.
After the autopsy Donna Sue's body is brought to the Manning-O’Toole funeral home in Sioux City.
Dr. Coriden states that chemical studies are being made of blood types, which may assist in the investigation.
Police discount reports they are seeking a 1941 model car. Dakota County Sheriff Tony Goodsell says he had directed the search for the car after a hit-and-run accident in Dakota City about an hour after Donna Sue's disappearance Sunday night. Evidence indicates there is no connection with the case, and police say other leads are being investigated.
Early evening: Sioux City Journal reporter Bob Gunsolley is covering a city council meeting when news arrives that Donna Sue's body has been found. Sioux City Mayor George Young begins to go "berserk" – ranting and screaming and cursing.
In S. Sioux City, the Oehlerking families begin receiving phone calls from relatives in Beemer, Neb. They’ve already heard the news on TV.
Tuesday, July 12, 1955
10:05 a.m. (approx) State radio police at Pierre, S.D., receive a report that a truck driver has seen a man answering the description of the slayer a little after 10 am on U.S. Highway 12 east and south of Selby, S.D. The trucker says the man was hitchhiking on the highway, which runs north and south through Selby.
Noon – Walworth County Sheriff Theodore Delbert says a thorough search in all directions from Selby failed to uncover any trace of a hitchhiker or man answering the description of the killer.
Police ID bureau experts check a collection of fingerprints found on a cedar chest beneath the window from which Donna Sue was abducted. The prints will be checked against Donna Sue's family and near relatives.
Afternoon – Federal officers file a "John Doe Warrant" for the slayer, giving officers throughout the country the authorization to arrest and hold anyone suspected of the slaying.
The Sioux City Journal demands Sioux City be made “the most feared town in America for the sex deviate.”
The FBI pursues the case under the Lindbergh Act, which could provide the death penalty for the kidnapper. The presumed kidnapper – when caught – will be tried in federal district court in Sioux City.
Six FBI agents – under the direction of Joseph Thornton, (in charge of Omaha's FBI office) – take over the search for the slayer under terms of the Lindbergh kidnap law.
Police and federal agents run down countless tips on the whereabouts of the slayer.
Dr. Coriden states that chemical studies are being done of blood types.
Sioux City police begin a citywide roundup of known sex perverts.
Ugly Mood Surges in Community: the police, the Sioux City Journal and other information centers take calls from incensed residents all day long.
Wednesday, July 13, 1955
9:00 a.m. - Donna Sue’s funeral is held at Sioux City's St. Boniface Catholic Church. A crowd of 350-400 people pass by the small white flower-covered casket. In the eulogy, Rev. Philip Koehler says Donna Sue has died in a defense of purity, and compared her killing to those of small Jewish boys in biblical times. She is now “to many hearts, St. Donna,” he says, and the mourners “might well pray to her rather than for her in order they might all be childlike.”
An FBI agent and several local detectives attend the funeral and circulate amongst the mourners on the chance the killer may have returned out of morbid curiosity.
Following the funeral, 40 cars accompany the body to Calvary Cemetery, where four young boys – David Madsen, Steven Stafford, Gary Manning and Thomas Walsted (aged 12 to 14) – carry the casket to its resting place on a green hilltop.
In Wash. D.C., when FBI director J. Edgar Hoover is informed of the sadistic nature of Donna Sue’s murder, he responds “Get him!”
Iowa Governor Leo A. Hoegh holds a press conference and suggests Donna Sue's killer “must have been insane.” He recommends more be done to prevent mental disease.
Afternoon
31-year-old farmhand Otto E. Wennekamp visits a car dealer to trade in his vehicle and leaves with the new car to go get the money. When he doesn't return, the dealer notices a number of cigarette burns in the old car's dashboard. He telephones police.
South Sioux City Sheriff John Elliott of Pender, Neb. receives a tip on Wennekamp's whereabouts from a farmer whose identify is not ascertained. Elliott finds the suspect on the Otto Bengin farm. FBI investigators and SC police arrive and begin questioning Wennekamp immediately.
Wennekamp is apprehended and taken into custody near Thurston, Neb. Elliott, FBI and Sioux City law enforcement question Wennekamp for about an hour at the S. Sioux City police department but his alibi checks out. He's held over only for auto theft.
2:30 p.m. Sioux City detectives announce that Wennekamp has been released and exonerated of any connection with Donna Sue's death.
That same day in Joplin, Missouri, 42-year-old drifter Audrey Earl Brandt tells police he killed Donna Sue Davis. He later recants, saying it was all a hoax. Police determine he'd been traveling in Missouri with a carnival the night of Donna Sue's abduction and he's eliminated as a suspect.
Omaha’s FBI regional office sends nearly 30 special agents to Sioux City to help police direct the investigation. The agents are paired with Sioux City police officers and work out of Sioux City's federal building.
U.S. District Attorney Francis E. Van Alstine and Woodbury County Attorney Donald O'Brien make a plea to the public to let the law take its course in the event there's an arrest. They emphasize that everything possible is being done to apprehend the slayer, and that in the event of his arrest, they are "duty bound to see that he receives a fair trial."
Sioux City Chief of Detectives Harry Gibbons -- a former boxer -- begins writing in what eventually will become a cache of spiral notebooks, all cross-indexed with every interview, every suspect and every detail related to Donna Sue's murder.
Thursday, July 14, 1955
In their headline “Sex Offender Law is Unused,” the Des Moines Register reports Des Moines police are taking first steps to certify a pedophile as a sexual psychopath. The Register’s editors place the article on page 3, next to a picture of the Davis family grieving in front of Donna Sue’s casket.
The Journal-Tribune Co. offers a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Donna Sue Davis's killer.
Demand for watchdogs for protection increases in Sioux City. Mrs. M. W. Baldwin, director of the humane society, says people want dogs who will be kind to children and cross to strangers. Shepherd breeds are in the greatest demand, with a heavy demand for German shepherds, or "police dogs."
Friday, July 15, 1955
Gov. Leo Hoegh calls for special meeting of the Board of Control and superintendents from the state’s four mental hospitals. The meeting is set for the following Friday.
Friday, July 22, 1955
The Davis family breaks its silence to thank the public for their support. The Davises have received some 500 cards and letters from across the U.S.
The Sioux City Journal reports its reward fund has grown in one week from $1,344 to $2,387. A Sioux City TV station promises $500 and Gov. Hoegh offers $500 on behalf of the State of Iowa. It is the first time the state has ever offered a reward in a criminal case.
At the meeting, Gov. Hoegh announces the state is establishing a special ward for criminal sexual psychopaths at the state mental hospital in Mount Pleasant.
December 1955
Police in Reno, NV arrest Virgil Vance Wilson, 31, on charges of intoxication and disorderly conduct. Wilson admits that sometime in July, he stole a car and kidnapped a little girl in Onawa, Iowa [36 miles south of Sioux City]. Reno police telephone Sioux City police. Once Wilson sobers up, he recants his story.
Dec. 20: SCPD Chief James O’Keefe announces that Wilson has been eliminated as a suspect. Says Wilson had been in Des Moines in company of friends as late as 7 pm the night Donna Sue was murdered, and couldn’t have arrived in Sioux City in enough time to commit the crime.
June 8, 1956
A man is taken to Des Moines for a lie detector test in connection with Donna Sue's murder; he is held for further questioning because of discrepancies in his story.
Woodbury County Attorney Donald O’Brien and Chief of Detectives Harry Gibbons say they’ve received reports on lie detector tests – one suspect ruled out, say one should be questioned and investigated further.
An unnamed man is out on $3,500 bond posted in connection with a sex offense for which he’d been arrested some time ago.
Nov. 1957
Nov. 13 – the Sioux City Journal closes the book on its reward fund for info leading to arrest and conviction of Donna Sue Davis's killer. Individual contributions are returned to donors.
Jan. 29, 1958
Sioux City Journal reports “Davis Case Reopened” – case becomes subject of closed inquest being conducted at the Woodbury County courthouse. Announcement made by Dr. Coriden following a recess Tuesday morning of the coroner’s jury, which opened the inquest Jan. 13.
County Attorney Don O’Brien says the three-man jury is tentatively scheduled to meet again Saturday.
Dr. Coriden says inquest is closed to “protect witnesses.” Says 8 or 10 persons took lie detector tests.
Jan. 16, 1970
Chief of Detectives Harry J. Gibbons -- who has obsessed for years over Donna Sue's unsolved murder -- dies. It is rumored he spent his final days in a mental institution, cutting out paper dolls.
