Courtesy photo Shannon SalmonsI always know this day is coming long before it arrives. With a list of unsolved cases now at 615, one would think it would be difficult to keep them all straight. With some — where few details are available — the answer would be yes. But with others — the ones where I’ve had the opportunity to review autopsy reports and other documentation and even gotten to know the victim’s family members — I not only know the cases intimately, but feel the unsettled rustling deep down inside as an anniversary date approaches.
Courtesy photo Shannon SalmonsThe Jay and Jaymie Grahlman double homicide is one such case.
On a day like today — the 9th anniversary since the arson fire in their home that would claim both their lives — my mind plays out different scenarios in my head: What Shannon Salmons (Jaymie’s mother) might be doing at this very moment … is she looking through photo albums? Putting flowers on Jaymie’s grave? Writing in a journal or somewhere else about how another year has passed with no answers?
And what about Steve and Lori Salmons, Shannon’s brother and sister-in-law, who sat at Jaymie’s hospital bedside until Shannon arrived and hospital personnel eventually turned off the life support once they’d had the chance to say their final goodbyes? Or what about Duane Grahlman, who’d spent that last day with his brother Jay, barbecuing outside despite the chilly weather?
Courtesy photo Shannon SalmonsThis case is one of the tough ones. There are still more questions than answers when it comes down to who started the fire. Or how Jaymie ended up lying in the bathtub in a supine position, stretched out full length, as if simply taking a nap. Or why the burns were confined solely to the front of her six-year-old body. And why were there no burns on her feet? Why no singeing to her beautiful long brown hair?
This case did not end when neighbor Brian Zirtzman — charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of first-degree arson — was acquitted on all three charges. The double homicide remains an open case — one that continues to baffle authorities, who still aren’t convinced Zirtzman started the fire. Like nearly all arson cases where a body is discovered after the fire, this one also has the presupposition that the fire was set to cover up another more heinous crime.
This case is far from over.
Answers will be exhumed from the smoke and mirrors that once reflected and furthered fiery lies. This time, though, when the flames wane and weaken to all but crackling cinders, truth will find a backdraft and burst forth justice in a mighty blaze.
Courtesy photo KCCI Channel 8 Des MoinesJames William “Bill” Wood, 79
Kaidena “Kay” Wood, 72
2698 Highway R-63
Norwalk, IA
Warren County
July 30, 2011
Note: Although this case is not officially considered “cold,” it is listed here to provide case information and updates as investigators continue to work toward solving this crime.
Late on Saturday, July 30, 2011, the home of Bill and Kay Wood of rural Norwalk, Iowa, was destroyed by fire. Around midnight and into early Sunday morning, five fire departments responded to 2698 Highway R-63 in Greenfield Township just south of Des Moines’ city limits and the Des Moines International Airport.
The fire extinguished, the couple were nowhere to be found. They’d last been seen midmorning Saturday at an auction house in Stuart, Iowa. An auction flyer depicted a number of pricey items — everything from old guns and diamonds to Indian artifacts and fancy furniture.
Courtesy photo KCCI Des MoinesOn Sunday, Bill and Kay’s red Chevrolet Silverado pickup turned up at a ritzy apartment complex in Kansas City, Missouri. Witnesses told detectives they’d seen the man with the pickup, and described him as being in his late 40s to early 60s with a slender build, short gray and white hair, and between 6 feet 2 inches and 6 feet 6 inches tall.
That same day, officials discovered a body amongst the charred remains of the couple’s home.
Monday morning, DCI agents began going door to door to questions neighbors. Monday afternoon, Division of Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Michael Motsinger announced that the body found was burned too badly to be identified during an autopsy conducted that afternoon. DNA testing would be done to see if the body was that of Bill or Kay Wood.
Motsinger also said the fire had been termed suspicious, something the community already suspected.
Two hundred miles south, authorities sought out the “person of interest” seen at the Kansas City apartment building. Bill and Kay’s relatives and a number of volunteers spent days searching the area surrounding the Wood’s home.
Prior to their marriage, Bill and Kay had both been widowed. They’d just celebrated their third wedding anniversary July 14 — only 16 days before they vanished.
Family members described them as deeply in love, often holding hands like teenagers.
They’d chosen to live in Bill’s home in rural Norwalk south of Des Moines, which quickly filled up with mementoes of each of their lives. Kay — who’d worked at Dahl’s grocery store on Fleur Drive — collected china dolls. Bill, a retired ironworker currently employed with J.W. Perry, Inc. in Des Moines, kept a 1940s gas pump in the front yard and also had a Model A Ford he drove in parades.
J.W. Perry General Manager Andrew Knott told KCCI that Wood’s co-workers were “somber,” and said the fact that Wood was about to turn 80 told a lot about him. “The fact that he’s still working at his age,” Knott said.
Co-workers had planned a surprise 80th birthday party for Bill, scheduled for the following weekend. August 5 would have turned 80.
On Friday, August 19, the Iowa Department of Public Safety announced in a press release that the body found in the home had been positively identified as that of Bill Wood. Autopsy reports showed Wood died of multiple gunshot wounds, though he was not shot in the head as an initial press release stated.
When DCI agents informed family members of their findings that Friday morning, Bill Wood’s brother Henry Wood told KCCI that everyone broke down.
“It’s one thing to think it, but it’s another when somebody comes out and says this is what happened,” Bill Wood said. Wood said it also hurt to hear his brother died in such a violent way.
“It really hurt to think, you know, somebody shot my brother,” he said in the KCCI interview. “Now we know that he was shot, I guess we find some comfort in that that would be better than burning. We hope it was quick. We hope it was painless.”
Wood said the family would never have closure until Kay was found.
In his comments to the press, DCI Agent Motsinger said officers working the investigation were continuing their efforts to locate her.
“We remain hopeful a suspect will be found and encourage anyone with information to contact DCI or the Warren County Sheriff’s Office,” Motsinger said.
Kay’s daughter Patty Shaw expressed the family’s lost hope after the DCI announced the findings.
“I think in our hearts we were hoping they were together just because you want that,” said Shaw. “If they’re going to go, you want them to be together.”
Three weeks after the fire, why questions continued to plague the couple’s family. They explored possible scenarios related to the Stuart auction.
“I think there is a really big chance that something happened in Stuart,” Bill Wood’s brother Henry Wood told KCCI in a story that aired Aug. 22. ”Bill probably has some antiques that are very rare. He liked nice stuff. He probably had expensive stuff. If he found something he wanted, he bought it.”
Courtesy photo DCI / KCCI Des MoinesThe family wondered if Bill and Kay’s love for expensive antiques somehow may have contributed to Bill’s death and Kay’s disappearance.
“Just somebody there that may have seen that they bought something expensive or they could’ve even been talking to somebody and mentioned what they have,” Bill Wood’s sister, Carolyn Harkin, told KCCI. “It has to be a robbery of some sort.”
Family members went to the Stuart City Hall where they posted sketches of the man police said was seen walking away from the Wood’s pick-up in Kansas City. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation still didn’t know the man’s identity.
A month dragged on with many unanswered questions.
The couple’s families told KCCI on Tuesday, Sept. 20 that they’re doing what they can to not get caught up in the rumors surrounding the case.
“We have to continue to be focused and as composed as we possibly can be so we can hear everything that’s happening, see everything that’s happening…so that if someone does call we don’t get caught up in that call,” said Kay’s daughter, Lisa Harris.
Harris said she and her siblings are determined to find their mother and bring her home, regardless of whether it is to get her medical attention or to give her a proper burial.
They wait.
On Monday, Oct. 10, 2011, the Wood’s families held a press conference announcing a reward fund they have established. They hope a reward might motivate someone to come forward with information. The fund will consist of both cash donations and pledges payable upon conviction.
If you would like to donate, visit woodrewardfund.com.
Anyone with any information in this case is asked to call the Iowa State Patrol at (515) 323-4360 or the Warren County Sheriff’s Office at (515) 961-1122.
Sherrie Lee Martin, 8 YOA
Victoria Lynne Martin, 4 YOA
Case # 65-00461
Dubuque, IA
Dubuque County
March 6, 1965
Sisters Sherrie Lee Martin, 8, and Victoria Lynne Martin, 4, were killed on an early Saturday morning when someone set fire to the family’s Dubuque, Iowa home.
Donald Martin, who worked for the United States Postal Service for 40 years, and his wife, Janet, escaped from their burning two-story frame house about 3:30 a.m. on March 6, 1965, but said they were unable to save their two daughters. The girls were asleep on the home’s second floor when the fire broke out.
The house did not have a telephone, and a Muscatine Journal article said Mrs. Martin ran to a neighbor to call firemen.
Mr. and Mrs. Martin were hospitalized for shock and minor burns.
Courtesy photo Cheryl Buelow, findagrave.comFiremen said the blaze apparently started in the kitchen, and officials determined the fire had been deliberately set.
The case was ruled an arson and double homicide.
Sherrie and Victoria weren’t Donald and Janet Martin’s only children to die at such an early age; six years earlier on December 8, 1958, the couple’s three-month-old daughter, Deborah Ann, also died. It is unclear as to what happened to the baby.
Six years after Sherrie and Victoria were killed, the Bangor Daily News reported that on Christmas Eve, 1971, a fire had broken out in a 70-year-old duplex occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Donald Martin and their infant daughter. No one was hurt in that incident.
Donald Martin later married Carol A. Boulting on April 10, 1976, and they had two daughters, Lisa and Jody.
Sherrie Lee Martin was born November 11, 1956. Victoria Lynne Martin was born November 29, 1960.
Donald Martin died February 24, 2009. His wife Carol died May 22, 2012.
If you have any information about this double homicide please contact the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation at (515) 725-6010, e-mail dciinfo@dps.state.ia.us, or send your information to Iowa Cold Cases via our Contact form.
Mahaska County in Iowa
Lloyd John Patrick
85 YOA
Case # 82-05758
Rural Route, IA
Mahaska County
October 27, 1982
On October 27, 1982, Lloyd John Patrick’s body was found in his house after a fire consumed his home. An autopsy revealed Patrick died from gunshot wounds and not injuries sustained during the fire.
Lloyd John Patrick was born June 17, 1897, in Mahaska, IA. He married Jennette Esther Denburger on October 15, 1924.
If you have any information about Lloyd Patrick’s unsolved murder please contact the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation at (515) 725-6010, e-mail dciinfo@dps.state.ia.us, or send your information to Iowa Cold Cases via our Contact form.
Courtesy photo Rick & Robin MorehouseRicky Neal Morehouse, III
2 YOA
165 Cherry Street
Kent, IA
Union County
March 3, 2001
Ricky Neal “Little Ricky” Morehouse, III, burned to death in the upstairs bathroom of his biological mother’s home in Kent, Iowa, on Saturday night, March 3, 2001.
Ricky and his twin brother, Reggy, who lived in Harlan, Iowa, with their biological father, Rick Morehouse, Jr., had been spending the weekend in Kent with their mother, Rachel Page, when the fire — deemed arson by investigators — was set and Little Ricky was killed.
Reggy did not suffer any injuries in the fire.
For more than a decade, Little Ricky’s unsolved murder has been a source of disbelief and outrage in the two southwest Iowa communities.
Rick Morehouse Jr. and Rachel Page split up shortly after the twin boys were born.
Rick Morehouse married Robin Hogue on June 11, 1999, and the twins became a central feature in their lives as Rick battled to gain custody of his two young sons. Rachel had difficulty controlling her anger — according to a family member, she is listed on the Department of Human Services’ Child Abuse Registry — and the court awarded legal custody to Rick.
Rachel was granted unsupervised visits with her sons.
In March 2001, the boys were spending the month’s first weekend with their mother at her two-story home at 165 Cherry Street in Kent, approximately 100 miles southeast of their Harlan home. Rick Morehouse worked a late shift on Saturday, March 3, and he’d just arrived home that night when Harlan police officer Kevin Petty knocked on his door and told him there had been a fire at Rachel’s home. One of the twins was dead, Petty told Morehouse, and Rachel was at the Creston Greater Community Hospital.
Rick immediately left for the hospital — close to a two-hour drive — and Robin placed a call to the hospital and spoke with Rachel’s mother, Linda Page. During this phone conversation, Robin learned Little Ricky had died in the fire but that his twin had suffered no injuries at all.
Once he arrived at the hospital, Rick was told his son Ricky was dead. Rachel told both Rick and investigators the same story.
The power had failed, Rachel said, so she’d gone to the basement to fix the fuses and restore the power. She said afterward she’d gone to check on the twins, who were sleeping upstairs. The power then failed a second time, she said, though no neighbors reported any outages.
Rather than try to restore the power again, Rachel said she instead decided to clean out her car, which was parked in the driveway. It was 10 p.m. with an outside temperature of 30 degrees. There was no reported precipitation for the day, and the maximum wind speed for the day had reached only 9 miles per hour.
While working on the car outside, Rachel said she saw flames shooting from the upstairs bathroom window. Though the car was parked in the driveway, she’d not seen anyone enter the home. She rushed in, she told authorities, and found Reggy at the top of the L-shaped stairway. She carried him out of the house, she said, and returned for Ricky but could not find him.
Courtesy photo Robin MorehouseNeighbor Sherry Trembly, who called 911, and Rachel’s aunt Linda Roach, who lived nearby, were two of the first to arrive on the scene. The women reported that they found Rachel standing in the yard with Reggy when they arrived.
The Creston and Lenox fire departments responded to the alarm. Creston Assistant Fire Chief Mick Landers told officials that when he and volunteer fireman Eric Shawler arrived, the fire was largely contained to the upstairs bathroom area. Shawler had then gone into the home with a pre-connected fire hose and air pack to search for the missing two-year-old.
As the fire spread, Shawler continued to make repeated trips into the house in search of Little Ricky, with no success. The grisly truth about what happened to the toddler would not be known until firefighters extinguished the blaze.
The fire at 165 Cherry Street had been no accident. It didn’t result from fuses blown or any faulty wiring.
State Fire Marshal investigator David Linkletter ruled the fire as arson, and told Rick Jr. and Robin Morehouse that some type of accelerant was used to ignite the fire.
The fire had begun in the home’s upstairs bathroom. The accelerant, which was believed to have been poured onto Little Ricky as well as onto the bathroom floor, resulted in a fire burning so fast and hot that the fiery bathroom floor gave way and fell into the dining room below, where Little Ricky’s body was later found. The door to the bathroom had been shut where the two-year-old could not escape.
There were no working smoke detectors in the house, though Rachel admitted to investigators she’d just checked on the boys and then gone outside to clean out her car just moments before spotting flames shooting from the upstairs bathroom window.
Courtesy photo Jeff Young, Creston News AdvertiserThe death certificate for 2-year-old Ricky Neal Morehouse III stated he had burned to death and had not died of “smoke inhalation” as is customary with deaths caused by fires. The child had been burned alive.
His mother, Rachel — the niece of the county attorney in a neighboring county — suffered only burned fingertips and slightly singed hair.
Little Ricky’s surviving twin, Reggy, not only suffered no injuries, but had no detectable smell of smoke on his body or in his clothing.
Officials asked Rachel to take a lie detector (polygraph) test, which she failed.
Union County Sheriff Rick Peil told Rick and Robin Morehouse the Union County Attorney has not yet charged anyone in the arson/homicide because he feels there is insufficient evidence to ensure a conviction.
This quandary is not unique to Union County and it weaves a common thread through many of Iowa’s unsolved homicides; those charged with murder may not be tried again for the same crime once they are acquitted. There are no second chances, and in the interest of justice, prosecutors move forward with charges and then on to trial only when they believe enough evidence exists — beyond a reasonable doubt — to secure a needed conviction.
While the State Fire Marshal’s office may be able to state with certainty the fire was caused by an accelerant used in Rachel Page’s upstairs bathroom, no concrete evidence exists thus far to prove she was the one who poured the accelerant before going outside at 10 p.m. to clean out her vehicle.
Ricky Neal Morehouse, III, and his twin brother Reginald “Reggy” Morehouse were born January 23, 1999 at St. Joseph’s Hospital (now Creighton University Medical Center) in Omaha, Nebraska, to Rick Morehouse, Jr., and Rachel Page. They separated shortly after the twins’ birth.
Little Ricky’s funeral was held Saturday, March 10, 2001 at Coen-Beaty-Pearson Chapel in Corning, with burial in the Evergreen Cemetery in Prescott.
In addition to his parents and stepmother, Robin, Little Ricky was survived by his twin brother Reggy; his grandparents, Steve and Linda Page, Ricky Morehouse, Sr. and Debbie Morehouse; and his great-grandparents, Glenn and Anna Ruth Hardest, Neal and Mary Morehouse, Floyd Hinkle, and Bill and Betty Page.
If you have any information regarding the unsolved murder of Ricky Morehouse III, please contact the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation at (515) 725-6010, e-mail dciinfo@dps.state.ia.us, or contact the Union County Sheriff’s Office at (641) 782-7717.
You may also send information to Iowa Cold Cases via our Contact form or our Anonymous Tip Form.
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