Ruth Kingery-Pohlmeier

Ruth “Ruthie” Kingery-Pohlmeier has already missed eight birthdays: the first one on August 1, 2004, and the eighth one today, August 1, 2011 — the day she would have turned 45 years old.

The last birthday she’d celebrated was her 37th, and there would be no more.

On Sunday evening, April 25, 2004, her body was found wrapped in a blanket next to the AMF Des Moines Lanes bowling alley on the city’s northeast side, less than two blocks from her home.

According to police, Kingery-Pohlmeier was the victim of a brutal attack and died from severe blunt force trauma injuries to her head and face.

One of 11 siblings, Ruthie’s murder wasn’t the first in the family; her brother, 42-year-old Samuel John Kingery of Ames, Iowa, had been killed five years earlier by a friend during a dispute. Patrick L. Curnes, 44, of Nevada, Iowa, was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for Samuel Kingery’s slaying; police said there appeared to be no connection between the siblings’ murders.

Despite a $3,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction in Ruth’s case, her murder remains unsolved.

If you have any information about this crime, please call Crime Stoppers at 515-223-1400 or contact the Des Moines Police Department at 515-283-4869.

Anonymous tips are accepted.

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