Isidro Gomez, Jr.

Homicide:
27 YOA
Muscatine, IA (Muscatine County)
December 17, 2007

Case summary by Jody Ewing

Isidro Gomez, Jr., of Muscatine, Iowa, was reported missing to the Muscatine Police Department on December 17, 2007, by Jessica Ridinger of Muscatine, Gomez's girlfriend of eight years. Ridinger said Gomez left their Muscatine home early that morning and promised to be back before breakfast. When he didn't come home, Ridinger said she knew something was wrong and alerted authorities.

Gomez's partially decomposed body was discovered May 6, 2008, in the woods off Funk's Hill Road about five miles west of Muscatine by people hunting for mushrooms on the heavily wooded hill. Investigators said a positive identification was made using fingerprint analysis and dental records, and that Gomez's death is under investigation as a homicide. The Davenport Police Department Identification Bureau and the University of Iowa Pathology Department helped identify Gomez. Authorities have not released how Gomez died specifically, but did say he was murdered.

Ridinger and Gomez had bought their Muscatine home more than two years prior to Gomez's disappearance, and lived there with their then-5-year-old son and 10-month-old daughter.

The investigation of Gomez's death is ongoing by the Muscatine County Sheriff’s Office, Muscatine Police Department and the Muscatine County Attorney’s Office.

Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Mike Bailey of the Muscatine County Sheriff’s Office at 563-263-6055 or Detective Mark Lawrence of the Muscatine Police Department at 563-263-9922.

Sources and References:

The Globe Gazette, May 8, 2008
KCRG, May 8, 2008
The Muscatine Journal, May 8, 2008
The Muscatine Journal, May 6, 2009 - A year later, a murder remains unsolved