Hulda Emma Fischer

Homicide:
Hulda Emma Fischer
84 YOA
Case # 7500175
Maquoketa, IA (Jackson County)
February 25, 1975

Case summary by Jody Ewing

On February 25, 1975, Hulda Fischer, 84, was stabbed to death with a butcher knife in her Maquoketa, Iowa, home. Neighbors discovered her body when they went to check on her.

Ronald Keller, who owned an upholstery and antiques store in Maquoketa, and his business partner lived across the back yard from Fischer's home, and when no one saw Fischer for a day, Keller — who had keys to her house — went with his aunt and neighbor, Hattie Petersen, to Fischer's home. They found her lying face down in her basement, and at first assumed she had fallen. They called Thomas Goodwin, a business partner, and when Goodwin turned the body over, a butcher knife was found sticking in Fischer's chest.

Nothing was missing from the elderly woman's home and officials said theft wasn't a motive.

According to the police department, there was a least one suspect but not enough evidence for a conviction.

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Sources and References:

IDPS Division of Criminal Investigation
After 19 years, woman's death remains unsolved - Cedar Rapids Gazette, Jan. 28, 1994


Page last updated: December 13, 2009