Charles Jaeger

Charles Jaeger (courtesy Telegraph-Herald)

Charles Francis Jaeger

Homicide

Charles Francis Jaeger
37 YOA
914 Second Ave. SE
Dyersville, IA
Dubuque County
Case Number: 84-04212
August 29, 1984

 
On August 29, 1984, Charles Jaeger, 37, was found in a pool of blood in his bed at his Dyersville, Iowa home, a bullet lodged in his brain.

He was transported to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City, where he was pronounced dead.

The following article, which details Jaeger’s case, was written by M.D. Kittle and published in the Dubuque Telegraph Herald on April 20, 2008.


1984 Dyersville murder ‘a very strange case’

A killer remains at large years after Charles Jaeger was shot in his waterbed

April 20, 2008 | By M.D. KITTLE
Dubuque Telegraph Herald assistant city editor

For more than two decades, Ed Jaeger has lived under the weight of a burdensome belief: He knows who killed his brother.

At least he’s got a theory. Jaeger readily admits he can’t prove it and he wouldn’t dare offer a name publicly, but in his heart, well, he’s got his theory.

After nearly 24 years, that’s about all he has from a cold case that has generated little movement and precious few tips. Theories.

And memories.

“He was a great painter, an artist,” Jaeger said of his kid brother, Charles “Chuck” Jaeger. “We’d get together every weekend. If I didn’t stop by, he’d wonder why I didn’t.”

But the man Ed Jaeger described as a very religious person, also was known as a womanizer who apparently had plenty of girlfriends and, consequently, a troubled marriage. He was a man one neighbor once described as a “big overgrown kid.”

On Aug. 29, 1984, Charles Jaeger reportedly was found in his bed in a pool of his own blood, a bullet lodged in his brain.

He was transported from his Dyersville, Iowa, home to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City, where he was pronounced dead. He was 37.

The gun used was never found. No one has ever been charged.

The case remains open in name only. Investigators and prosecutors acknowledge there have been no new leads in years.

But a state law enforcement official suggests the case could be a possible candidate for further review, probed deeper with DNA and other advancements only dreamed of in 1984.

A renewed effort to solve the case would be music to Ed Jaeger’s ears. He said he’s tried to keep his brother’s homicide fresh in the minds of the police officers and prosecutors who once worked to solve it, that he’s asked for copies of the 1,500-page-plus case file, but he has gotten nowhere.

Jaeger, 68, of Hiawatha, Iowa, said he has waited a long time for justice, but his hope seems to have all but left him.

“You think maybe someday, maybe this will break open,” he said. “You hope that, maybe someday, they’ll get caught.”

Without a sound?

Here’s what investigators do know:

Dubuque County in Iowa
Dubuque County in Iowa
 
Dyersville in Dubuque CountyDyersville in Dubuque County

It was a hot summer night as Charles Jaeger lay dying in his waterbed inside 914 Second Ave. SE in Dyersville.

He had been shot in the back of the head with a rifle or a handgun. Jaeger’s wife, Eileen, reportedly found his body, surrounded by splattered blood. She called the Dyersville ambulance at 4 a.m., Aug. 29, according to an autopsy report.

Emergency service personnel rushed Jaeger to the University of Iowa Hospitals in Iowa City, where he died at 8:23 p.m.

Law enforcement officials say the doors were locked and there was no sign of forcible entry. Investigators collected Jaeger’s weapons, including two handguns, two shotguns, a .22-caliber rifle and two pellet guns. But the murder weapon was never found.

Dennis Jaeger, a child at the time of his father’s murder, told the TH in 1987 that he and his older brother, Daniel, who was in high school, were in a bedroom next to their parents’ room the night of the slaying. He said they didn’t hear the shot or the ambulance sirens, that a train roaring past, practically in the home’s backyard, muffled any sound.

None of the home’s occupants heard a shot, investigators said.

Dennis and Daniel could not be reached for this story. Neither could their mother, Eileen Jaeger.

Eileen, who told investigators she was sleeping downstairs, reportedly heard some sounds coming from her bedroom, noises that apparently got her attention.

“The wife of the victim at the time indicated there were noises coming from the victim; she thought it was snoring,” said John Quinn, assistant director in charge of field operations for Iowa’s Division of Criminal Investigation, the agency that led the investigation.

“She said she saw a pool of blood and called emergency medical personnel,” said Quinn, who was not a member of the investigative team at the time but is familiar with the case.

Contaminated case

The crime scene was compromised from the beginning, by necessity. Paramedics, rushing to save a man’s life, moved Jaeger from the waterbed where he was presumed to have been shot. It was a life-and-death matter, but Quinn said transferring Jaeger’s body without the proper precautions complicated the investigation.

“There are advantages, of course, in getting the position of the victim at the crime scene — for blood splatter analysis, trajectory analysis — so you can compare the crime scene facts with that of the statements from the witnesses,” Quinn said.

Sometimes the smallest details can make a big difference in tracking a killer. Turning off lights at a crime scene, or turning them on, closing a window or opening a shade, the smallest changes can complicate an investigation.

The Division of Criminal Investigation wasn’t called in until after Jaeger was flown to Iowa City.

“The crime scene wasn’t sealed up from the start,” said Jim Wertz, who worked the case as a special agent with DCI. “At first, it didn’t look to be anything other than maybe something medical that had occurred to the victim.”

Wertz recalls Eileen Jaeger came upstairs and heard sounds and didn’t think her husband “was right.” That’s when she called the ambulance.

“I don’t think anybody had indicated he had been shot,” he said. Paramedics thought Charles had “some sort of medical condition that would have caused blood and they did their normal scoop and run and took him to the hospital.”

“At that point you have to take the victim, there’s not much you can do,” Wertz added. “Obviously, that could disturb the scene.”

There are conflicting reports about the cooperation of Jaeger’s wife and children in the investigation. Former Dubuque County Attorney Fred McCaw in a 2004 interview with the TH said the family members, who were considered suspects early on, declined to cooperate.

Dubuque County Attorney Ralph Potter has a different recollection.

“None of them took the Fifth Amendment; they all answered questions,” said Potter, who was a relatively new Dubuque County assistant attorney in 1984.

Potter said information from the family was sparse, in a case complicated by some missing key evidence.

“There was no (murder) weapon found and no witnesses who claimed to know anything, including three close members of the family who were there and who claimed to know nothing,” he said. “There simply wasn’t enough evidence at the time. Obviously, it was a very strange case.”

Love letters and tension

During a search of the two-story Jaeger residence, investigators collected 133 items, including numerous personal letters and love letters sent to Jaeger from women in the Philippines, Hong Kong, Memphis, Atlanta, Chicago, New York and small towns in Nebraska, South Carolina, Missouri, Florida, North Carolina and Wisconsin.

Among the correspondences were 56 letters and postcards from Brenda Moulic, of Hong Kong. She previously told the TH that Jaeger proposed to her when he visited her in July 1984 and said he was divorced.

Ed Jaeger said he knew of his brother’s extramarital affairs. He said Charles asked his wife for a divorce, but she refused.

Ed Jaeger said there was a lot of tension in the house that summer.

“(Eileen) found the letters,” Ed Jaeger said. “I didn’t pay too much attention to it; they were fighting all the time.”

Charles had planned to leave Eileen and had moved some of his possessions to a rented apartment, according to a March 9, 1987, TH story. He also had opened a money market checking account at Monticello State Bank, but didn’t have a chance to write a single check, evidence shows.

The temper of time

Nearly a quarter-century later, the case appears no closer to being solved. Dubuque County Sheriff Ken Runde said the chances of investigators finding a killer seem to diminish with the passing of time.

“You’re always open to any evidence that would lead us in the right direction, but the way it sits right now it doesn’t look very positive,” the sheriff said.

Part of the problem is the fading memories of investigators. Wertz, who recently retired after a 32-year career with DCI, said he has a difficult time remembering some details of the case.

And 24 years can do a lot to evidence. Documents get lost, improper storage can damage collected items, even multiple handling of evidence can corrupt it.

DCI Cold Case UnitCourtesy Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation
When the Iowa DCI established a Cold Case Unit in 2009, Jaeger’s murder was one of 150 cases they hoped to solve using latest advancements in DNA technology.

Quinn said the case does have a powerful investigative weapon not offered at the time of the homicide.

“DNA is a gift,” the DCI official said, adding the case could be “solvable” with the assistance of the technology.

Ed Jaeger isn’t the only one with theories. The police and prosecutors have their own ideas about the Jaeger case.

“Yeah, I probably do. Now the question is am I willing to share that with you,” Wertz said. “Probably not, for the integrity of the case.”

Potter agreed a lot of people have different theories, but proof is another matter.

“We need to get over the hurdle of who fired the gun and where is the gun,” he said. “There’s been no one willing to say that all of these years and there’s been no evidence of who had the gun.”

No matter the passage of time, the Jaeger family still lives in the shadow of Charles’ murder. Ed Jaeger said it has destroyed his family, that he’s not spoken to his brothers in years. His brother, Ron Jaeger, declined to comment for the story.

Ed Jaeger said his siblings and his mother and father wanted to put the matter behind them long ago. He said he cannot, knowing that a killer remains free.

“I’m not out to get anybody,” he said, “but if I did something like this to someone, I feel I’d have to pay for it.”

Copyright © Dubuque Telegraph-Herald


About Charles Jaeger

Charles Francis Jaeger was born January 15, 1947, to Eugene J. and Catherine (LaPage) Jaeger. He served as an Airman First Class with the United States Air Force in Vietnam.

Charles had three brothers.

He was buried at Saint Paul Cemetery in Worthington, Iowa, in Dubuque County.

When the Iowa DCI established a Cold Case Unit in 2009, Charles Jaeger’s murder was one of approximately 150 cases listed on the Cold Case Unit’s new website as those the DCI hoped to solve using latest advancements in DNA forensic technology.

Charles Jaeger headstoneCourtesy photo Cheryl Locher Moonen, findagrave.com
Charles Jaeger is buried at Saint Paul Cemetery in Worthington, Iowa.

Although federal grant funding for the DCI Cold Case Unit was exhausted in December 2011, the DCI continues to assign agents to investigate cold cases as new leads develop or as technological advances allow for additional forensic testing of original evidence.

The DCI remains committed to resolving Iowa’s cold cases and will continue to work diligently with local law enforcement partners to bring the perpetrators of these crimes to justice for the victims and their families.

Information Needed

Anyone with information about Charles Jaeger’s unsolved murder is encouraged to contact the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation at (515) 725-6010 or email dciinfo@dps.state.ia.us.

Sources:

 

13 Responses to Charles Jaeger

  1. Dru Pryor says:

    I have found 2 people named Eileen Jaeger (in Dubuque County) that could possibly be her. One died in 2017 and the other in 2022. I have tried to find if these could be her, and I am not sure. Is she possibly still living? Did she change her last name? Does she still live in the area?

    Any help is appreciated.

  2. David XLEO says:

    After retiring with 35 years behind a badge, I know there are only two reasons for murder. Love and hate. Love of money, hate for the person killed, or love of killing, using some person even random, as a hate object, or even hate of ones self, projecting it onto someone else. Folks like to say the killer is crazy, or sick. Sometimes, but rarely. Most are just evil. Lots of love or hate reasons.
    First, ask, who stands to gain. Second, look at the evidence at the scene. What is there that does not fit, and what should be there that is missing.
    Third, what is the nature of the big picture of the offense.
    I recall when this Dyersville case happened. Knowing both DCI agents mentioned above,
    It is fair to assume they were as thorough as was possible. There are lots of things not made public to protect the investigation.
    What caliber bullet was found in the body. Was an empty ammo casing found at the scene. Was there a bullet missing from an otherwise full box in the house.
    Was a gun normally in the house missing. We’re gunshot residue tests taken. Were
    clothes of those present in the house seized. We’re there polygraph exams taken.
    Did anyone in the house at the time contact an attorney in a short amount of time
    after the murder.
    Was there life insurance on the deceased. Was it recently changed, or purchased.
    Who collected on the policy.
    Did someone suspected fairly soon move or leave the area.
    We do not know all of these things, but investigators may.
    But knowing and proving are two different things.
    Sometimes justice and the law are third cousins, at best.

  3. Tom says:

    Just a update on this case Eileen is now deceased she died in 2015.

  4. Ironic that Eileen was sleeping way downstairs yet could hear odd noises coming from Charles but never heard the gunshot. Doors locked and no sign of breaking in says that the killer was already in the house. Eileen apparently had quite a few reasons to be mad at her husband for his infidelities. After all this time, and if no more evidence is found, I feel you should charge Eileen and go with circumstantial evidence. She’s already lived 34 years beyond the incident, and with no other possible leads, what does justice have to lose?

    • Carol Kean says:

      Sylvia, this is Carol. I only wish we had the influence and authority to get people charged. Jody has reams of information, and whenever brings information to her rather than to LE (wanting to remain anonymous), she diligently forwards to the authorities all new information. She cannot make them act on a tip, so it may appear that she has done nothing with a new lead, but Jody is a journalist and a blogger, not an officer of the law.

  5. LuAnn Eggers says:

    If there was no forcible entry in the home and he had several extramarital affairs maybe Eileen is the one that shot and killed her husband and disposed of the gun. Just seems odd…like she is making up the whole story…His wife would have many reasons to kill him but that is just a speculation….

    • Janet Troendle says:

      And how convenient that a train goes by regularly. Probably at the same time he was murdered. Would explain why the children didn’t hear anything and as far as everyone else not hearing anything? It’s one of the adults be it his wife or one of the close friends. May have been a few people with a bone to pick with him whom were in the house. Maybe why none of them are talking and covering for each other. I think the story about hearing noise is just a made up story. He also just put money in a money market account. Another motive. Someone was pretty angry. Don’t ever give up hope. They caught my classmate Michelle Martinkos killer after 40 years. No idea should be looked at as far fetched.

  6. There are rural areas, makes it easy for people to prey on someone.

  7. Jack Toomey says:

    So who do the police think killed him? It might jog someone’s memory.

  8. We have A LOT! way too many

  9. Diana Wilson says:

    Wow! Didn’t realize Iowa had so many unsolved crimes.

  10. Jeremy says:

    Sounds like a wife with the mind set that if she wasn’t going to have him nobody was. Looks like she used a train to muffle out the sound so not even her young boys could hear it in the next room.

  11. Lori says:

    …from the looks of it, the killer is 1 of 3 people who were in the home that night. Ed I hope your brother’s killer is brought to justice and soon!

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