Floyd William Alborn
Homicide:
Floyd William Alborn
76 YOA
Case # 7400550
Panora, Iowa (Guthrie County)
November 8, 1974
Case summary by Nancy Bowers
On Friday, November 8, 1974, Freda Mills found her 76-year-old brother Floyd William Alborn dead in his rural home northeast of Panora, Iowa, on the line between Dallas and Guthrie counties. Authorities first believed that the reclusive bachelor had accidentally shot himself or committed suicide.
When Guthrie County Sheriff Lester Petersen requested assistance from the Iowa Bureau of Criminal Investigation, three agents and a lab crew of six were assigned to work the scene and examine the evidence. They located the bullet which killed Alborn, but not the weapon that fired it.
At that time, Alborn’s death was conclusively classified as a murder.
Alborn collected guns and on Valentine’s Day of 1967 was the victim of a burglary in which 15 valuable antique firearms were stolen. A Grandview College student and Des Moines resident, 19-year-old Charles Evan Kurtz, was charged and convicted of the theft and sentenced to 30 days in jail.
After the murder, police found 75 guns in Alborn’s house but it was not known whether any others were missing.
A $2,000 reward was offered for information about the murder.
Floyd William Alborn was born May 20, 1898 near Perry, Iowa, in Dallas County to Sarah May Knosby and William M. Alborn, native Iowans of German heritage.
Alborn’s funeral was held at the Merchant Funeral Home in Yale, Iowa, and he was buried with his extended family in Violet Hill Cemetery near Perry. He was survived by his sisters — Freda Beulah Alborn Mills, Lena Alborn Noack, Henrietta M.F. Alborn Frederickson — and a brother, Harry Henry Alborn. He was preceded in death by his parents and two siblings, Laura Mary Alborn Sheets and George J. Alborn.
Sources:
IDPS Division of Criminal Investigation
Floyd Alborn, 76, Dies of Gunshot,” Bayard News, November 11, 1974.
“Stolen Guns Returned,” The Guthrian, March 13, 1967.
“Suspect Foul Play,” Muscatine Daily Journal, November 22, 1974.
“Thirty Days for Stolen Gun Count,” The Guthrian, March 6, 1967.
Page last updated: May 12, 2010
