Sadly, these are just a few unsolved murder victims in Sioux City.
Now, one Siouxland woman is giving these victims a voice with her website.
It’s been 53 years since Donna Sue Davis, a 22-month old girl was taken from her Sioux City home.
Jody Ewing, Iowa Cold Cases Website Founder, “She was raped, she was sodomized and she was burned with cigarette butts.”
Donna Sue is just one of many cases gone “cold” in Iowa. Plenty of people were questioned, but no arrest was ever made after the little girl was found in a corn field. Jody Ewing’s passion lays with these victims.
Ewing, “With cold cases, someone might think no one cares anymore. It’s been this many months or this many years… they might think the police aren’t doing anything but in fact the police are, and this is a way to let them realize people are still staying on top of this.”
Ewing founded “iowacoldcases.com” in 2005. It’s a place where victims’ friends and family members can go to get current information on their case. They’re also invited to share information.
Ewing, “Perhaps if they had information they wanted to offer, I kind of serve as a liaison where I could pass the information onto the police departments.”
But this year, Ewing made the hardest decision of all concerning her website. She added her own step-father’s cold case to the site.
Ewing, “Putting him on there, cemented it for me.”
Her step-father, Earl Thelander was killed in September of last year after his [rental] house exploded when copper thieves stole copper piping off his water heater [and propane gas lines].
Ewing, “It seemed strange putting a member of my own family on a website that I created, having no family members or anything like that that had ever happened to them.”
It gives Ewing a whole new meaning to the website’s slogan: Where hope is never laid to rest.
Ewing, “I understand what that feels like where you hang on to every shred of hope that it will be solved.”
And if Ewing can give a voice to these victims, she says, it could prompt new information to hopefully get these cases solved.
You can visit the website by going to www.iowacoldcases.org/
We encourage thoughtful discussion here but ask that comments remain civilized and constructive … i.e. without personal attacks or name-calling. Be respectful of others and remember that victims' family members visit these pages, too. If you'd like to provide us with information regarding a suspect or have other sensitive details to relay, please email us directly. Thank you in advance.
WEBSITE UNCOVERED.COM HAS APLACE FOR DONNA SUE DAVIS.