Copyright
© 2005 – 2023
Iowa Cold Cases
All Rights Reserved
Quick Links
Reprint Permissions
If you'd like to reprint a post or case summary, please contact us with the name of the requested post/article. Thank you in advance!
Stay in Touch
Contact
Brian M. Burns (Courtesy KWWL)Brian M. Burns
Missing Person
Name: Brian M. Burns
Age at Report: 55
Weight: 240 lbs.
Height: 6’00”
Race: White
Hair: Gray
Eyes: Green
Sex: Male
Incident Type: Disability — physical/mental
Missing From: 1381 180th St.
Manchester, Iowa
Delaware County
NamUs MP Number: 36382
Missing Since: December 19, 2013
Age at Report: 55
Weight: 240 lbs.
Height: 6’00”
Race: White
Hair: Gray
Eyes: Green
Sex: Male
Incident Type: Disability — physical/mental
Missing From: 1381 180th St.
Manchester, Iowa
Delaware County
NamUs MP Number: 36382
Missing Since: December 19, 2013
Fifty-five-year-old Brian “Farmer” Burns was reported missing to the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office in Manchester, Iowa, on Friday, Dec. 20, 2013, and the sheriff’s office is asking for the public’s help in locating him.
Authorities said Burns was last seen at his 1381 180th St. residence in Delaware County on Thursday, December 19, 2013.
Burns is a 6-foot-tall white male with green eyes, short gray and balding hair, and weighs about 240 pounds.
Delaware County in Iowa
Manchester in Delaware CountyAccording to the Iowa Department of Public Safety’s Missing Person Information Clearinghouse, Burns is considered physically or mentally disabled.
At the time of his disappearance, officials said he may be wearing a brown coat, flannel shirt, blue jeans, a baseball cap and hiking boots.
Burns didn’t own a vehicle, possess a driver’s license or have a cell phone, which investigators said made it difficult to track his whereabouts.
On Saturday morning, Dec. 28, 2013, friends, family, law enforcement and volunteers came together to search for Burns, KWWL reported that same day.
Burns’ nephew, Levon Smith, said it wasn’t like Burns to disappear during the holiday season.
“Holidays he is always home,” Smith told Channel 7 News. “He knows that when family comes home, he comes home. It’s just not something you see.”
Smith joined Saturday’s search party, and authorities said they hoped a fresh set of eyes might help identify something they hadn’t previously caught.
Chris Willey, president of the Snow Pioneers Snowmobile Club, said about 15 club members rode snowmobiles near and around Burns’ home and place of work in search of any clues to Burns’ whereabouts.
“We work with emergency management,” Willey said. “Whenever there is a need like this the club has a group that comes out and helps do the search and rescue.”
Mike Ryan of the Delaware County Emergency Management group called Burns’ disappearance unique in nature because Burns didn’t have a license or vehicle or cell phone or do a lot of banking.
“We don’t have the usual tracking methods that we would have under normal circumstances,” Ryan told KWWL. “We are conducting a lot of interviews and discussing [Burns’ disappearance] with friends and family. We are just trying to develop a direction as to where to go, where to look and what possibly could have happened to him,” Ryan said.
Burns allegedly told his brother December 19 that he was getting a ride from someone, but authorities said they weren’t certain if the ride ever arrived.
“We don’t know if that is actual or if that is a fact,” Ryan said about his uncle’s reference to a ride. “It may have been something he just said to his brother. We are not sure.”
According to KWWL, Saturday’s limited search party concentrated around two specific areas: the Burns residence and the Hart Ridge Golf Course, where Burns worked.
Most people around town would recognize Burns from the golf course, his nephew said, because Burns spent a great deal of time there.
“He’s the life of Hart Ridge,” Smith told KWWL Saturday morning before the search began.
Smith said the family hoped the search would provide answers to questions of how and why Burns went missing.
“We are at the end of our wits with this one. We don’t [have] any explanations. We have no clues or nothing as to why,” Smith said of his uncle’s mysterious disappearance.
The search produced no answers, and Burns’ whereabouts remain unknown.
Information Needed
If you have any knowledge about Brian Burns’ unsolved disappearance or any information that might lead to his whereabouts, please call the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office at (563) 927-3135.
Sources:
- Delaware County Sheriff’s Office
- NamUs
- “’48 Hours’: Is Jodi’s case connected to a different 1979 Iowa murder?” by Caroline Lowe, findjodi.com, Nov. 6, 2020
- “Jerry Burns in 2018 didn’t answer questions about Michelle Martinko’s slaying: Investigator said he never denies it, either,” by Trish Mehaffey, The Gazette, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020
- “40 years later: What we know about Michelle Martinko and the arrest that re-opened the cold case,” by Anna Spoerre, The Des Moines Register, Dec. 19, 2019
- “Sheriff answers questions on Martinko murder suspects’ family history,” by CBS2/FOX 28, Friday, Dec. 21, 2018
- “Michelle Martinko: background information,” by Alice de Sturler at Defrosting Cold Cases, Dec. 21, 2018
- “Suspect in Martinko murder not suspected in wife’s death or cousin’s disappearance,” by KCRG.com, Dec. 21, 2018
- “MISSING MAN: Investigators Search For Brian Burns,” WHOTV.com, Dec. 28, 2013
- “Search continues for missing Delaware County man,” KWWL.com, Dec. 28, 2013
- “Public’s help sought in finding missing Delaware Co. man,” WCFCourier.com, Dec. 25, 2013
- “Delaware County authorities search for missing man,” KWWL.com, December 24, 2013
- “Delaware County Sheriff Issues Operation Quickfind,” KCRG.com, December 24, 2013
- “Obituary for Patricia Mary Burns,” ObitTree.com, June 29, 2008
I’m definitely going to cover this on my youtube channel hope he comes home or gets justice
Article said mental and physical disabilities. Specifically what were his disabilities. Would he have been capable of planning his own disappearance?
Agree 100@
Hopefully Jerry will get at least life without parole and he will decide he has nothing more to lose and spill his guts to someone!
Shortly after Brian disappeared Jerry poured a new concrete slab on his farm. Hmm… coincidence…? Now that we know the truth about Jerry I sure hope they look there.
I sure would think that law enforcement would look into that given that fact. I would have thought they would have done that already actually.
Never give up on MISSING person..your HOPE is needed.. Law Enforcement needs to pull up that concrete slab. On Jerry Burns property ASAP!
I totally agree!!
Let’s all post Brian’s missing persons flyer in all Missing persons groups to bring awareness to his demise..I’m shocked he didnt have ine..so I had one made
Briand Burns is missing Jerry burns in not let’s keep moving forward to find Brian M.Burns..dint ket Jerry Burns oblvershadow Brian this isnt right imo
I’d like to know if Brian’s cousin, Jerry Burns, ever participated in the searches for Brian. What was his demeanor after Brian’s disappearance (on the anniversary of Michelle Martinko’s murder) and three days after an anonymous tip the authorities deemed as “credible.”)
Unbelievable – this guy is now connected to 3 very suspect deaths / disappearances.
It’s extremely unfortunate this total waste of skin was able to be free for nearly 40 years.
The good news is that he’s toast, no way he ever will be a free man again. And better yet, he will spend eternity in the deep recesses of hell.
Interesting. Probably killed him and his wife! Hope police are looking into this.
Very interesting that his first cousin was arrested for murdering Michelle. But Angela comments could mean he left on his on. But then maybe he blackmailed his cousin, and that’s where the pile of money came from.
Disappeared three days after the anonymous tip to police in Michelle Martinko’s case. I very much hope police are looking into this connection. It appears that the killer was Brian’s first cousin.
Do you know what the tip was?
As far as I know, this is inaccurate. There wasn’t any tip and certainly not in 2013 when he went missing. Jerry, the convicted murderer in the Michelle Martinko, was discovered through DNA evidence and genealogy databases. The connection was some distant cousin living in the upper Northwest United States.
Actually there was an anonymous tip about Michelle Martinko’s case given to the police department on December 16, 2013. Info here:
https://iowacoldcases.org/case-summaries/michelle-martinko/
Look for the header of “April 10, 2014: Cedar Rapids Police Media Release”.
I think the police did say later on when a timeline was released that none of the tips lead to an arrest. It was the DNA genealogy stuff they were doing. https://www.kcrg.com/content/news/TIMELINE-The-Michelle-Martinko-murder-case-503178991.html
Both are correct== there was a tip 12 16 13 but the Brandy Jennings DNA was the connection that solved it..Brian may well have been one to phone a tip in in 2013 however
I’m curiously wondering if this guy was losing his faculties; so went his pledge to remain mum on Jerry’s vile scheme to keep this a secret. Every year they ran this story, and maybe this guy could simply no longer keep it quiet.
Related to Jerry Burns who was just arrested for a murder in 1975 today?
Who stood to gain?
I worked out at the golf course back in 2012 and served farmer alot. I don’t know if this helps but he told me that one day he’ll just be gone and no one will know where he’ll be and he’ll be in Las Vegas sit high on cash. No one will look for me there… I hope he’s found safe.
I pray he’s still alive and well. We have a case similar in Woodbury county.
so sad, hope they find something that help with closure.