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.
Warren County in Iowa
Norwalk in Warren County
Janet LaFratte, 1938 – 1973
Homicide
Janet LaFratte
35 YOA
Norwalk, IA (Warren County)
Case # 73-00272
June 20, 1973
On June 20, 1973, Janet LaFratte was reported missing by her husband at 5:30 p.m. At 8 p.m. her body was found floating in a farm pond behind the LaFratte home.
Undetermined – “Very Suspicious”
Tamara Lynn Lass
10 days old
Norwalk, IA
Warren County
March 1, 1988
On Tuesday, March 1, 1988, Teri Lass claimed she found her 10-day-old daughter, Tamara Lynn, unresponsive, and the child was later pronounced dead. Authorities were first led to believe the baby died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, but State Medical Examiner Thomas Bennett said, “In any of these cases of a sudden death for a very small child, anyone less than three weeks of age, you have to be very suspicious because usually SIDS doesn’t occur in that first two- or three-week period of life.” Bennett listed the cause of death as “undetermined” — which left the case open for future prosecution if warranted — and perhaps rightly so; less than four years after 10-day-old Tamara’s untimely death, the Lass’s 6-day-old son, Shane Lass, was murdered. (See below.)
Shane Lass
Homicide
Shane Alex Lass
6 days old
Norwalk, IA
Warren County
February 19, 1992
On Wednesday, February 19, 1992, Teri Lass claimed her 6-day-old son, Shane, was kidnapped from her unlocked car outside the Norwalk post office while she was inside buying stamps. The baby’s body – clothed only in a diaper despite the freezing temperatures – was discovered the following afternoon in a garbage bag placed inside a cardboard box in a rural ditch just south of Norwalk. Shane had died from injuries to the head. Mark and Teri Lass had an infant daughter, Tamara Lass, who died unexpected at 10 days old. Her case also remains unsolved.
Arlys Ponce
Homicide
Arlys Darlene Ponce
42 YOA
Norwalk, IA (Warren County)
Case # 97-10958
October 8, 1997
On October 8, 1997 at approximately 3:15 p.m., Arlys Ponce was seen lying on the floor when her son peered through a window. The son contacted a neighbor, telling her he couldn’t get into the house but that he could see his mother lying on the floor. The neighbor contacted the police, who entered the residence and discovered Arlys Ponce had been beaten and stabbed.
Bill and Kay Wood
Homicide / Missing Person
James William “Bill” Wood, 79
Kaidena “Kay” Wood, 72
2698 Highway R-63
Norwalk, IA
Warren County
July 30, 2011
Bill and Kay Wood’s rural Norwalk home burned on Saturday night, July 30, 2011, after the couple attended an auction in Stuart, Iowa. A body discovered in the home’s charred remains was identified as 79-year-old Bill Wood. His wife, Kay, has not yet been found.
Warren County in Iowa
*Please Note: The cases listed below are within Warren County but may fall under a city police department’s jurisdiction. They are included here for cross-reference purposes. More specific information may be found on each victim’s individual page.
Homicide
Jane Doe
20-25 YOA
2 miles east of Carlisle, IA
Warren County
July 24, 1925
On the night of July 24, 1925, a murdered woman was left in a burning haystack on a Warren County farm. The only clues to the identity of the 5-foot-4, red-headed victim were her unusual dental work, a pearl necklace, and a butterfly brooch.
Homicide
Janet LaFratte
35 YOA
Norwalk, IA (Warren County)
Case # 73-00272
June 20, 1973
On June 20, 1973, Janet LaFratte was reported missing by her husband at 5:30 p.m. At 8 p.m. her body was found floating in a farm pond behind the LaFratte home.
Undetermined – “Very Suspicious”
Tamara Lynn Lass
10 days old
Norwalk, IA
Warren County
March 1, 1988
On Tuesday, March 1, 1988, Teri Lass claimed she found her 10-day-old daughter, Tamara Lynn, unresponsive, and the child was later pronounced dead. Authorities were first led to believe the baby died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, but State Medical Examiner Thomas Bennett said, “In any of these cases of a sudden death for a very small child, anyone less than three weeks of age, you have to be very suspicious because usually SIDS doesn’t occur in that first two- or three-week period of life.” Bennett listed the cause of death as “undetermined” — which left the case open for future prosecution if warranted — and perhaps rightly so; less than four years after 10-day-old Tamara’s untimely death, the Lass’s 6-day-old son, Shane Lass, was murdered. (See below.)
Shane Lass
Homicide
Shane Alex Lass
6 days old
Norwalk, IA
Warren County
February 19, 1992
On Wednesday, February 19, 1992, Teri Lass claimed her 6-day-old son, Shane, was kidnapped from her unlocked car outside the Norwalk post office while she was inside buying stamps. The baby’s body – clothed only in a diaper despite the freezing temperatures – was discovered the following afternoon in a garbage bag placed inside a cardboard box in a rural ditch just south of Norwalk. Shane had died from injuries to the head. Mark and Teri Lass had an infant daughter, Tamara Lass, who died unexpected at 10 days old. Her case also remains unsolved.
Phil Terrell
Homicide:
Phillip Terrell
42 YOA
From Des Moines, IA
Body found in Warren County
December 24, 1993
Just before Christmas 1993, Phil Terrell’s family reported him as missing from Des Moines, IA. On March 2, 1994, at approximately 2 p.m., a horseback rider found Terrell’s snow-covered, decomposed body in a creek bed just inside Warren County. Warren County officials said Terrell’s death is a homicide. Assistant Medical Examiner Francis Garrity said autopsy results showed that Terrell died after being hit on the head with a blunt instrument.
Homicide:
Karla Jean Hartkemeyer
35 YOA
Case # 9603059
Rural Route, Iowa (Warren County)
October 27, 1995
Karla Jean Hartkemeyer’s skeletal remains, along with her purse containing her social security card, were found by two individuals in Warren County near the North River on Tuesday, March 12, 1996. Karla had been missing since late October and was reported missing by her brother on November 15, 1995.
Arlys Ponce
Homicide
Arlys Darlene Ponce
42 YOA
Norwalk, IA (Warren County)
Case # 9710958
October 8, 1997
On October 8, 1997 at approximately 3:15 p.m., Arlys Ponce was seen lying on the floor when her son peered through a window. The son contacted a neighbor, telling her he couldn’t get into the house but that he could see his mother lying on the floor. The neighbor contacted the police, who entered the residence and discovered Arlys Ponce had been beaten and stabbed.
Bill and Kay Wood
Homicide / Missing Person
James William “Bill” Wood, 79
Kaidena “Kay” Wood, 72
2698 Highway R-63
Norwalk, IA
Warren County
July 30, 2011
Bill and Kay Wood’s rural Norwalk home burned on Saturday night, July 30, 2011, after the couple attended an auction in Stuart, Iowa. A body discovered in the home’s charred remains was identified as 79-year-old Bill Wood. His wife, Kay, has not yet been found.
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The cases below include unsolved Iowa homicides from the year 2000 to the present, and are listed in chronological order. If you know of a case not listed here or have information you’d like included with an existing page, please contact us with relevant details and we’ll respond to your inquiry as soon as possible.
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