Traci Ann Evenson
Homicide
Traci Ann Evenson
22 YOA
438 Ninth Ave. SW
Cedar Rapids, IA
June 21, 1997
Case summary by Nancy Bowers
Twenty-two year-old Traci Ann Evenson was found dead by her sister Jodi Lynn Jackson on Sunday morning, June 22, 1997 in a second-floor apartment at 438 Ninth Avenue SW in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
An autopsy revealed she was beaten viciously on the face and died of suffocation about 9:30 on Saturday night, June 21. No semen was recovered from her body and it appeared a crime of rage rather than rape. Police speculated she knew her killer and let him in.
Traci lived in the apartment for one month. John and Eileen Balducki owned the house and resided in the downstairs area. Cars were parked and moved so often in the densely populated neighborhood that no one could say if an unusual vehicle had been on the street.
Police seized clothing, bed linens, hairs, an answering machine, and miscellaneous items from Traci’s apartment. Latent fingerprints were recovered from her car, which was parked in the 400 block of Ninth Avenue SW. Evidence was sent to the Iowa DCI for testing.
The investigation was complicated by the incidental finding of grow lights and marijuana plants in the Balducki’s part of the house. They were charged with manufacturing a controlled substance.
Traci Ann Evenson was born January 20, 1975, in Ramsey, Minnesota, to Norma Jean Bierbrauer and Philip Ordean Evenson. In addition to her sister Jodi--who was married to Anthony Jackson--there were two brothers, Stephen and Robert. At the time of her death, Traci’s parents were divorced and remarried; her mother, Norma Zillyette, lived in West St. Paul, Minnesota.
In 1994, Traci graduated from Washington High School in Cedar Rapids. She took computer classes at Kirkwood Community College and worked two jobs. She made telemarketing calls for 30 hours a week at APAC TeleServices. From 8:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. four days a week, she bused tables and washed dishes in the deli of the Collins Road NE Hy-Vee grocery store. Her job evaluations were excellent and she got along well with co-workers.
Traci was a quiet person, not known to smoke or drink. An aunt termed her “a good, normal kid.”
The family contributed $11,000 to a reward fund. Another $5,500 was donated by APAC TeleServices and a friend. The reward was never collected. In fact, a 25-year veteran of the Cedar Rapids Police said the Evenson homicide generated the fewest tips during his time as a detective.
After the murder, Traci’s sister Jodi Lynn Jackson and her husband Anthony Jackson moved from Cedar Rapids to West St. Paul, Minnesota. The family reported Jodi was haunted by nightmares of finding her sister’s body. On November 27, 1997 (five months after the murder), they were involved in a car accident while traveling to Waterloo, Iowa, to visit Jackson family relatives. They and their two children, Anthony, Jr. (5) and Jazmine (3), were killed.
In 2000, Cedar Rapids Homicide Detective Sam McClurg told a reporter that early on Traci’s brother-in-law Anthony Jackson emerged as a suspect because he had been convicted of assaulting another woman, was not upset at the murder scene, and quickly hired a lawyer when questioned. His wife, Traci’s sister, was his alibi for the time of the murder.
After the car accident, McClurg obtained tissue and fluid samples from Anthony Jackson’s body. DNA showed he was guilty of raping a relative’s girlfriend the year before Traci was murdered. It did not link him to the homicide. McClurg suggested that Traci may have rebuffed his sexual advances and that the scene was staged to look like a stranger rape.
However, family members said Jackson was possessive of Traci’s sister and that Traci knew he was cheating on her. They believed Jackson killed Traci to silence her.
Sources:
“2 Deaths probed,” Cedar Rapids Gazette, June 23, 1997.
“2nd tragedy strikes family,” Cedar Rapids Gazette, November 28, 1997.
“Classic whodunit still open,” Cedar Rapids Gazette, May 17, 1998.
“Continual hunt for closure,” Cedar Rapids Gazette, July 9, 2000.
“Evenson autopsy report in,” Cedar Rapids Gazette, July 19, 1997.
“Evenson reward offered,” Cedar Rapids Gazette, September 25, 1997.
“Police: Death is a homicide,” Cedar Rapids Gazette. June 24, 1997.
“Police: Woman knew killer,” Cedar Rapids Gazette, June 25, 1997.
“Reward grows in murder case,” Cedar Rapids Gazette, October 8, 1997.
“Search warrants produce no new clues to Evenson murder,” Cedar Rapids Gazette, July 3, 1997.
“Traci A. Evenson Obituary,” Cedar Rapids Gazette, June 25, 1997.
“Victim’s mother waits, wonders,” Cedar Rapids Gazette, July 30, 1997.
