Alicia Hummel (Courtesy Sioux City Journal)
Alicia Marie Hummel, a 29-year-old preschool teacher from Sioux City, Iowa, was found dead in the Missouri River Monday afternoon, June 1, 2015, near the shore at a boat dock in Myron Grove, South Dakota. The area — also known as the Highline Area — is about seven miles west of Vermillion.
Courtesy photo Tim Hynds, Sioux City JournalA state boat ramp attendant made the discovery around 3 p.m. Monday, and authorities are investigating Alicia’s death as a homicide.
According to a Sioux City Journal article dated June 24, 2015, Hummel had gone fishing June 1, the first day of a vacation from her job at Siouxland Family Center in Dakota City, where she taught Early Head Start classes for infants and toddlers.
Early that Monday afternoon, she’d sent a selfie — her with her fishing rod in hand — through Snapchat, a social media platform, the Journal reported.
An autopsy conducted in Minnehaha County, S.D., concluded Hummel died of drowning, with contributing circumstances of blunt force trauma to the head and incision wounds to the neck.
Toxicology reports were negative for alcohol and controlled substances.
Hummel would have turned 30 years old June 27.
She’d asked a few friends to join her on the fishing trip, and when none could go, she made plans to go to the fishing spot alone.
Alicia and her sister Erica were raised by their grandparents, Jan and Duane Folkers, according to an NBCNews.com article dated June 3, 2018 — part of an upcoming story to be aired on NBC’s DATELINE. Jan told Dateline she wanted to make sure Alicia did well in school, and that she was proud of how much Alicia liked to learn growing up.
Alicia was smart with a “heart of gold,” her close friend Jody Hanson told Dateline.
According to the NBC News story, Alicia studied at South Dakota State University and graduated in 2009. She continued in school and earned another degree from the University of South Dakota in 2012. Alicia considered getting a master’s degree, her friend Jody said, but she “absolutely loved kids,” so she got a job teaching preschool back in Sioux City instead.
The article also provided the following information from the Dateline interviews:
In 2011, while still in college, Alicia married her high school sweetheart. The marriage didn’t last, and the two separated in 2014, according to Bethany Svacina, another of Alicia’s longtime friends. Alicia “was finally coming to terms with moving on, becoming independent and finding herself again.” Alicia leaned on Bethany for support, and their bond strengthened.
On June 1, 2015, Alicia was preparing for summer vacation at the Siouxland Family Center. She was getting ready for a month off work.
“She knew the divorce was coming closer and just wanted some time away for herself to think,” according to her grandmother Jan, with whom Alicia was living at the time.
On her way out of the house, Alicia asked her grandfather Duane if, once she returned from her fishing trip, he would help her clean any fish that she caught. He said he would, and Alicia drove off. That was the last time Jan and Duane saw their granddaughter.
~ NBCNews.com, June 3, 2018
The Clay County (South Dakota) Sheriff’s Office and the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation are still investigating her homicide.
Investigators quickly ruled out Hummel’s husband, Tony, as a suspect, and Clay County (SD) Sheriff Andy Howe said other names that came up also have been cleared.
Courtesy photo NBC News and Bethany SvacinaAuthorities are still seeking information about a dark-colored sedan with tinted windows and a loud exhaust system seen in the area around the time Alicia went missing.
“The leads are getting fewer and fewer, but we’re following up on all of them,” Howe said in a Sioux City Journal article published June 9, 2015.
There is a $5,000 reward for information that leads to an arrest and conviction in Alicia’s death, and Howe said he remains optimistic the case will be solved.
On Wednesday, June 1, 2016, family members and friends held a balloon release at 7 p.m. at Memorial Park Cemetery where Alicia is buried.
The family has set up a Facebook page, Fighting for Alicia Hummel, to bring about more awareness to her unsolved case.
In a Dec. 2, 2021 article published by Trisha Taurinskas at Inforum.com, Sheriff Howe admitted that law enforcement located and now possess Hummel’s cell phone. He would not, however, provide a definitive answer as to when, how, or where the cellphone was found.
“We found a cellphone. It’s Alicia’s phone. Yes, we did discover the cellphone during the investigation,” he said in the Inforum interview.
Howe declined to comment as to whether Hummel’s fishing pole had ever been located.
Alicia Marie (Folkers) Hummel was born June 27, 1985, in Sioux City to Lora L. (Folkers) Gilliam and James Wanned.
She attended East High School and graduated in 2004. She continued her education at South Dakota State University, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in human professions and clinical sciences/human development and family studies/psychology. Alicia was a member of Ceres Fraternity and Color Guard.
After graduating from SDSU, she continued her education at University of South Dakota, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in communications disorders.
She married Tony Hummel on July 30, 2011, at Church of the Nativity in Sioux City.
She worked at the Siouxland Family Center in Dakota City, where she began teaching Early Head Start for infants and toddlers in 2013.
Courtesy photo Chad Folkers, findagrave.comAlicia thoroughly enjoyed working with the children and their families and her co-workers. She looked forward to work each day.
She loved life, was always smiling, and constantly on the go with friends. She enjoyed scrap-booking, going to concerts (especially Luke Bryan), and being in the outdoors, which included camping and fishing. She had quite a collection of shoes and purses.
Memorial services were held at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, June 9, 2015, at the Church of the Nativity, 4242 Natalia Way, in Sioux City, with the Rev. Steven McLoud officiating. Visitation was held Monday at Christy-Smith Funeral Home, 1801 Morningside Ave., Sioux City.
Survivors included her husband, Tony Hummel; her parents, Lora and Tom Gilliam, and James Wanned; grandparents, Jan and Duane Folkers, and Donna Wanned; six siblings; and several aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews.
Her grandfather, James M. Wanned, and great-grandmothers, Laura Folkers and Lucille Mauch, preceded her in death.
Alicia was laid to rest at Memorial Park Cemetery in Sioux City.
Authorities are asking for the public’s help with information on any suspicious activity in this area on the afternoon of June 1, 2015, between the hours of 1 and 3 p.m. A $5,000 reward is offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) involved.
If you have any information about Alicia Hummel’s unsolved murder please contact the Clay County Sheriff’s Office in South Dakota at (605) 677-7100.
Looks like police may have found Alicia’s cell phone:
https://www.inforum.com/the-vault/7304442-Murder-on-the-Missouri-River-Alicia-Hummel%E2%80%99s-unsolved-murder-inches-closer-to-justice
Sheriff Howe said he is now more optimistic. Is that because they just now obtained the phone? It seems there are two mysteries involving this case. 1, the murder, & 2, the investigation! We are definitely in the dark here. I understand why, but it just seems like they are being extra extra vague with evidence and details. How was this story leaked, & what prompted it? The phone? We still don’t know when they “found” the phone. I sure hope the FBI and/or NSA are working on that phone. Seems to me that a likely scenario was that whatever these people were doing in that car, Alicia wasn’t supposed to see (possible rape?) & poor Alicia was killed for it. Purse found with cash still in it tells me they were in a big hurry, & that timeline sure is narrow! I’ve never seen these snap chat photos. Such a peaceful looking day yet such a dark cloud of evilness…
Something else seems troubling. There was a 15 minute window between the time she sent her last text, and her body being discovered? Seems to me that the Game Fish & Parks officer would have had to see the vehicle in question! Wasn’t there just the one road leading to and from Myron Grove? Seems like he had to see something.
I am glad they admitted to having the cellphone. I am frustrated with the various little tidbits they have not released. We have to many cold cases with agencies holding back little details to supposedly protect the investigation. This includes cause of death, weapon used, caliber of firearms used, etc. We have too many cold cases that have not been solved for over 20, 30, 40 years. Yet, the agencies are still holding back these basic details, that might have jogged someone memories.
Alicia was murdered 6 years ago. Yet, we know that she purchased a fishing license at a Walmart. Also, that a couple was making whoopee in a car. So, no one else was at the fishing spot. Yet, she was murdered within 15 minutes of her sending her last text. Now, we hear that they have her cellphone. They won’t tell us if they had it since day one or just found it.
Maybe, someone overheard where she was going fishing at the Walmart, and followed her there.
In Chicago, Illinois in 1972, we had two teenage girls murdered. They were shot in the head with a .32 caliber firearm, and they were posed with their legs in a shape of the letter V, in Washington Park. The park is located on the south east side of Chicago. There was no sexual assault of the victims.
Their murder is a cold case. An individual claims that their murder may have been ordered by Chicago Mob figures from the Bridgeport Section of Chicago. It appears the older girl (17), worked at a waitress at a restaurant connected to a motel for truckers on the Southwest side of Chicago.
The motel was operated by Chicago Mob connected individuals. Supposedly senior mob guys hung out there and the older girl may have overheard something she should not have heard. The senior leadership of the Chicago Mob, should have educated them about keeping their mouth shut.
However, we have all those details from a 1972 murder. Plus where they were last seen. We even know the older girl attended Gage Park High School, until she dropped out of school.
Also, just for general information a Frederick R. Burke, aka “Killer Burke”, who was part of the Rat Pack out of St. Louis, Missouri. He also was involved in the St. Valentine Massacre in Chicago.. He was captured based on suspicions by a civilian, who was into True Crime. He even wrote to the Justice Department in Washington, for a description of Killer Burke.
Killer Burke was taken into custody, and transferred back to St. Joseph, Michigan, where he faced charges for the murder of a policeman.
It almost seems like a case of her seeing something she shouldn’t have and getting murdered for it. Evidence could be on the phone. Could be why no one has come forward, because their the perp & why phone is gone. This case has always bothered me. Such a tragedy..Evilness is everywhere
Were was her husband during this time ? I didn’t see were they questioned him.
Police confirmed that her husband was out of town with many family members validating that fact. Of course it’s possible he hired to have it done but law enforcement do not think he was involved per the articles I’ve read.
Seems to me she “was in the wrong place, at the wrong time”.
I have some thoughts on this myself. Sometimes people establish a solid alibi for themselves. That doesn’t mean they are necessarily innocent.
I agree! He moved away and has a family of his own not long after she was murdered!
Ladies,
We’re definitely aligned in that it’s very possible that her husband (or anybody for that matter) could establish an irrefutable alibi and still be responsible by having a proxy do the criminal act. I said as much in my post.
The husband moving away could be a function of guilt (as suggested) or him/her being inappropriately labeled within the community.
If he was responsible, he should spend the rest of his life in prison.
Why would a young seemingly healthy woman go out to a remote location alone.? That is just playing out her luck. I would be scared of a pindrop out there.
She went fishing at a lake. She texted her friends and posted while there. She even said she saw people having sex in a car while there. I don’t think people should be afraid of going to a public dock during the daytime to go fishing. I’m more curious on why no one has came forward and admitted to being out there since she did see other ppl there. That’s what seems weird. Either a set up from her soon to be ex hubby or just random act of violence.
I wonder, if she was having any problems with someone at work. I am surprised that all her supposed friends did not want to go fishing with her. Did one of them know something was going to happen.
Also, her phone is missing, which is interesting. But their should be records of all the phone calls she made. It could be that the offender’s picture might be on there. Also, where was she staying while on her fishing trip.
they didn’t find her phone either.
The “person” or “persons” responsible need to be hunted much more aggressively. We lost a good one that day.
Someone knows something. Help this family gain closure.