Welcome

Welcome to the Iowa Cold Cases (ICC) website.

The site includes victim case summaries for unsolved homicides and missing persons cases where either foul play is suspected or urgent action needed.

Courtesy Weekender

A Weekender series on Sioux City’s unsolved murders and missing persons cases served as the genesis for the Iowa Cold Cases (ICC) website. The first in the series ran in May 2004, and the ICC website launched in December 2005.

ICC also lists a number of cold cases solved in recent years.

By keeping these victims’ stories alive — some of them decades old — our hope is to shake loose a long-buried memory or piece of evidence officials need to further investigate and close a case.

The Iowa Cold Cases website launched in December 2005 and incorporated as an Iowa nonprofit in April 2010. Though we are not affiliated with any law enforcement agency, we often serve as a liaison between them and those who provide ICC with tips, leads, or other pertinent information on specific cases.

All official investigations are conducted solely by law enforcement agencies that may include a combination of local, state, and/or federal authorities.

Somebody knows something in every cold case. If you believe you have information that might help solve a case, we urge you to contact the investigating agency listed on each victim’s case summary page or the area’s respective Crime Stoppers chapter. Help these families get the answers and justice they’ve awaited for so long.

Thank you for taking time to visit our site, and stay safe.

We Remember: Upcoming Cold Case Anniversaries

We remember upcoming cold case anniversaries and birthdays the victims would have celebrated.
 

Thomas Myles Dougherty
Age at Report: 45
Missing From:
Sioux City, IA
Woodbury County
January 12, 1961

George Geary
40 YOA
Keosauqua & Crocker
Des Moines, IA
Case # 1963-601
January 13, 1963

Edward A. Schmidt
85 YOA
506 High Avenue East
Oskaloosa, IA
Mahaska County
January 13, 1972

Pamela Hinrichs, 19
Amvets Post 28
1317 S. 17th St.
Clinton, IA
Case # 81-00259
January 13, 1981

Richard Neil Forsyth
Age at Report: 41
Missing From:
Waterloo, IA
Case # W78-850
January 13, 1994

Gary Lack
58 YOA
1475 325th St.
Nora Springs, IA
Mitchell County
January 14, 2004

Yerlanin Garcia
Age at Report: 12
Missing From:
Eagle Grove, IA
Missing Since:
January 15, 2010

Rita J. Papakee, 41
Missing From:
Meskwaki Nation
Tama, IA
Case # 15-001969
January 16, 2015

Alonzo Beghtel
81 YOA
West of Hwy 25
Guthrie Center, IA
Guthrie County
January 18, 1950

Matthew John Owen
90 YOA
107 Gas Light Ct. SW
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
January 18, 2013

Darleen Fitchett
28 YOA
608 E. Pleasant View Dr.
Des Moines, IA
Case # 1960-1563
January 19, 1960

Charles Netherland, 25
801 Mulberry Ave.
Muscatine, IA
Killed Aug. 18, 2012
Would have celebrated 34th birthday Jan. 20