Lisa McCuddin with son Davontrez and daughter Markasia

There’s no doubt this has got to be a very tough week for the McCuddin family.

Six years ago today, 23-year-old Lisa Ann McCuddin — a young mother of two small children — was shot and killed while riding as a passenger in a vehicle on its way to a Fort Dodge, Iowa, motel.

Add to that the fact that this coming Wednesday, October 6, would have been Lisa’s milestone 30th birthday.

Officials initially were called to Trinity Regional Medical Center in Fort Dodge where a man had gone after reporting being shot at the Holiday Inn. When police arrived at the Holiday Inn to investigate the shooting, however, a car pulled into the parking lot and the driver told police he and his female passenger, McCuddin, had just been shot while driving to the hotel.

The driver, 29-year-old Fred Murray, and McCuddin were taken to the hospital, where McCuddin died. Murray was treated and released for minor injuries.

The first gunshot victim, Isaac Givens, 23, told police he’d been shot in the shoulder as he ran from a man wielding a gun at the hotel earlier that night. Givens, too, was treated and released.

Lisa McCuddin

Police later said the two shooting incidents were related and believed it started when a fight broke out after a dance at the Fort Dodge Eagles Lodge the night before. Lisa McCuddin worked the door that night and had helped organize the event. Some of the people involved in the fight were later involved in the shootings.

Lisa left behind two young children, Markasia Cabbell and Davontrez Tyson, as well as her parents, two sisters, a brother, a step-sister, and numerous friends in the community as well as co-workers from the PS Academy for Children where Lisa was employed. Lisa’s mother Becky McCuddin of Fort Dodge is raising Lisa’s children.

Webster County Crime Stoppers, Fort Dodge Police and Lisa’s family have joined forces to bring Lisa’s killer to justice, and are offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons involved in her death.

If you have any information concerning this case, please call the Fort Dodge Police at 515-573-1426, Crime Stoppers at 515-573-1444 or toll free 1-800-542-9702, or contact Agent Larry Hedlund at 515-571-0880 or by e-mail at hedlund@dps.state.ia.us.

More articles about Lisa’s unsolved murder are available on Lisa’s page at Iowa Cold Cases.