Crystal Arensdorf

Crystal Arensdorf (Courtesy Iowa Department of Public Safety)

Crystal Ann Arensdorf

Missing Person

Name: Crystal Ann Arensdorf
Age at Report:
20
DOB:
February 1, 1981
Weight:
115 lbs.
Height:
5’06”
Hair:
Strawberry Blonde
Eyes:
Brown (blue soft contact lenses)
Incident Type:
Endangered/physical
Missing From: Dubuque, IA (Dubuque County)
Last Seen:
Knickers Saloon, 2186 Central Ave., Dubuque
Investigating Agency: Dubuque Police Department
Investigative Case #:
01-25185
NCIC #:
M-901716452
NamUs MP #
396
Missing Since:
July 4, 2001

 

Case summary by Jody Ewing
Dubuque County in Iowa
Dubuque County in Iowa
 
Dubuque in Dubuque CountyDubuque in Dubuque County

Crystal Ann Arensdorf, 20, of Dubuque, Iowa, was last seen at approximately 2 a.m. on July 4, 2001, at Knicker’s Saloon in Dubuque, Iowa. Arensdorf had gone to the 2186 Central Avenue bar with friends and tried to find a ride to East Dubuque, Ill.

No one saw her leave the bar, and she left her car, her keys, and her money behind. She did not show up for work Thursday morning.

Steven and David Peacock — two former Dubuque brothers who resided in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin — were at the bar on July 4 and questioned several times in Arensdorf’s disappearance.

The brothers agreed to polygraph exams in April 2002, and authorities also seized and searched David Peacock’s vehicle.

The brothers were never charged in connection with Arensdorf’s case.

UPDATE:

In June 2015, Iowa Cold Cases received a tip saying David Peacock hadn’t used his own vehicle the night Arensdorf went missing, but had instead borrowed his sister’s pick-up truck.

The tipster also provided the current aliases used by the brothers, the names of their respective employers, and identified the location where the brothers allegedly buried Arensdorf’s body.

Iowa Cold Cases forwarded the information to Dubuque Police Department investigators.

Robert F. Mootz, the Knicker’s Saloon bartender in 2001, pled guilty in May 2002 to serving alcohol to a minor.

Mootz told authorities he and Arensdorf planned to share a cab to East Dubuque after her friends departed from the bar. The plans apparently changed during the evening and Arensdorf did not leave with Mootz. He has not been charged in connection with her disappearance.

Arensdorf’s family members said it was uncharacteristic of Crystal to leave without warning, and offered a $2,500 reward for information leading to her whereabouts.

Officials have classified Arensdorf’s disappearance as “Endangered / Physical,” which refers to a person of any age who is missing under circumstances indicating his/her physical safety is in danger.

At the time of her disappearance, Crystal was described as a 5-foot-6 white female weighing 115 pounds, with blonde hair and brown eyes.

She was last seen wearing blue-tinted soft contact lenses, a white polo T-shirt, tan shorts, black sandals, a gold chain necklace with an opal pendant, an opal ring and a toe ring. She has a mole near her naval and her ears are double-pierced.

Twelve days after Arensdorf vanished, authorities searched Leisure Lake in Jackson County, Iowa, after a witness reported seeing a body floating in the water. The sighting turned out to be a false alarm and officials found no evidence at the scene.

In October 2001 — three months after she went missing — investigators eliminated Arensdorf’s boyfriend, Tim Gerlieb, as a possible suspect in her disappearance.

Dubuque police followed up on more than 500 leads, but have made no arrests in what they still consider a missing person case with a “high suspicion” of being criminal in nature. They do not believe she left of her own accord.

KCRG TV-9 spoke exclusively with Arensdorf’s family in multiple segments airing in June 2011. After viewing the newscasts (see below) an anonymous Dubuque business owner offered to put up $10,000 toward a reward for information leading to an arrest in the case.

The reward has thus far gone unclaimed, and Crystal Arensdorf’s mysterious disappearance remains unsolved.

A DNA sample has been submitted and tests are complete.

Information Needed

If you have any information about Crystal Arensdorf’s disappearance please contact Investigator Dave Randall at (563) 589-4429, Investigator Nick Schlosser at (563) 587-3813, or Lt. Scott Baxter at (563) 589-4410.

10 Years Later: Police and Family Continue Search for Crystal Arensdorf
KCRG-TV News Channel 9, Cedar Rapids, June 29, 2011

 

KCRG’s full interview with Crystal’s mom, Barb Beam
June 29, 2011

 

KCRG’s full interview with Crystal’s sister, Jen Puetsch
June 29, 2011

Sources and References:

 

58 Responses to Crystal Arensdorf

  1. Unknown says:

    Before my Grandfather passed away he couldn’t let go without telling my mom that he knew what happened to her. He said he was afraid to come forward because he didn’t want them to come after him and his family. He said that a local biker gang took her and murdered her and put her in a one of those drums. He didn’t say what they did with the drum.

  2. Jim says:

    Word on the street was she overdosed, and her body was put into a 55 gallon drum of lye and built into the house of someone out in the Durango area supposedly.

  3. No Name says:

    Is it true that the those brother lived in Dubuque at the time? Maybe West 5th St?

  4. TB says:

    Steve peacock ran me over with a motorcycle when i was 4 years old. He broke both bones in my left leg. He was never charged or held accountable. He said i jumped in fr9nt of the motorcycle. When there is a 4 yr old on a path playing with dolls, you dont speed up! You stop! He Sped up! Somehow im not not dead.

  5. Mr. Ben says:

    My theory is she left the bar at closing time (or perhaps a little before) and passed out in her car. Both her keys and money were found in the car suggesting Crystal was in the car before she went missing.

    But I also think the car moved and whoever moved her car took advantage of the fact she was passed out/intoxicated, and took her somewhere and removed her from the car before returning it to the parking spot.

    So the kind of evidence this case needs is proving Crystal was in the backseat or passenger seat of her car and proof someone else was driving. Considering the circumstances and suspects I don’t think they’d gone very far. Five miles maybe. 20 minutes total round trip. The car is gone maybe a total of half an hour to forty five minutes depending on what he/they did. Her car moving suggests two people if they are heading out of town, but returning the car to the parking lot suggests a suspect who lives more locally or someone who needs to be back at the bar to establish an alibi.

    Also something to consider: last seen 2am bar time? (bars tend to set their clocks a half hour so they close by 2am with no patrons inside the bar as is the law) or 2am real time when the bar is supposed to be closed with no patrons? Now I don’t know if Knickers sets its clocks a half-hour fast, but it is something to consider when we put a timeline together to pinpoint the time and place someone last saw Crystal and match that up with a suspect.

  6. Patrick Kerrigan says:

    I spent four years in the U.S. Navy, most of it on a submarine. We normally hung out together. We watched each other’s back, and made sure we got back. Also, there is a missing young man, who was staying in Dubuque, but went drinking with a friend in East Dubuque, and got ripped off. He was thrown out, without his jacket in the cold. A police officer from East Dubuque, stopped him, but let him wander off. His remains were found in the river, a few months later.

    I guess it was to hard to drive him across the bridge to his hotel. He could have driven him across the bridge and passed him off to a Dubuque officer. I hope it does not say Serve & Protect on their squad cars in East Dubuque. Maybe, the authorities in Dubuque, don’t trust the police in East Dubuque. They might be good friends with these brothers. We could ask the FBI, but then they are busy, looking for the colluding Russians. They also are protecting those who took money from Putin & friends to control 20% of American unranium.

  7. Penny says:

    Leisure lake

  8. Tracy says:

    “Mootz told authorities he and Arensdorf planned to share a cab to East Dubuque after her friends departed from the bar.”

    This type of thing infuriates me. NEVER leave a friend alone in a bar or club!! In college my friends and I had a rule about this very thing.

  9. Laura VanNatta Gaffney says:

    Investigation Discovery has a show called “Disappeared”. Has anyone tried to contact them with this or the other cases mentioned here?

  10. Robert olsen says:

    Peacock brother’s. & Wilson brother’s. their the same. check the tagged with at the top

  11. She can never R.I.P till they find her killer

  12. Dig it up dig it up

  13. so is there any new info available after this update was posted???

  14. UPDATE:

    In June 2015, Iowa Cold Cases received a tip saying David Peacock hadn’t used his own vehicle the night Arensdorf went missing, but had instead borrowed his sister’s pick-up truck.

    The tipster also provided the current aliases used by the brothers, the names of their respective employers, and identified the location where the brothers allegedly buried Arensdorf’s body.

    Iowa Cold Cases forwarded the information to Dubuque Police Department investigators.

    • Yes, Ronda. That is exactly what happened. Jody @ ICC

    • Misery says:

      Have they dug Up the basement of the house the brothers I believe lived in towards Durango or in Durango I am not sure of which house exactly but I had someone tell me a bit of info when a situation came about during a gang initiation, this person was bragging about how they killed a girl shot in the back of the head since she was in the wrong place at the wrong time sitting in a basement of their house it was said her body was burried right there in basemen…

      • Sybil Schroeder says:

        Hopefully all leads and tips are being looked at

        • Misery says:

          Look i am sure if they figure out what hiuse in durango it may not belong to the brothers it even couldve been sold by now but i am more than positive that she is burried in that basement i cant excactly explain how but i know people and i know that when these people bragged about having killed before and it wouldnt b a problem to do it again to b a part of a gang that 15 years later . People dont brag about shit like that unless they thonk its no more talked about. I am too far away to b able to do n e thing about this nor do i know where to go. Crystel was my friend in 8th grade when i met her moving here fron germany. I want her to b able to b put to reat in the appropriate way.. jer family and friends deserve closure.

  15. Lynn Elaine says:

    So was the area reported and the sisters truck ever searched?

  16. Sybil Schroeder says:

    This young woman and her family has been in our prayers from the first onset of news she was missing. If anyone can solve this case it will be our great DLEC teams in charge. We have top drawer professional investigators. Sybil Schroeder

  17. No need says:

    The police said lie detector tests wer failed why arent they doing more about the people who failed them ?

    • no one important says:

      If there failing lie detector tests and arnt doing anything about them failing what was the point of using lie detector tests?

      • Patrick Kerrigan says:

        In regards to lie detector tests. The fact is that the results of these tests are not admissible in court. Also, thexresults might be read differently by different operators

  18. John Long says:

    Strawberry blonde? Looks more golden blonde.
    She's 35, if alive. Is this news video the most current? It's from 2011.

  19. man i hope so. I pray for closure for her friends and family.

  20. My cousins work at Knickers, makes me worry

  21. I pray for the family and friends.

  22. I remember both Crystals & Tammys like it was last week. Sad for the families. Someone plz give them closure!!!

  23. Yes I think there is. I read somewhere that there are 50 or so serial killers active in the USA that have not been identified yet. Tammy Zywicki’s murder has always bothered me especially when they thought the truck driver guy did it.

  24. Kris Starks says:

    Don’t some of these cases make you wonder if there has ever been a serial killer in IA?? I mean, even just passing thru?? I know the case of Tammy Zywicki still haunts me to this day.

    • Ash says:

      I was only three when Tammy went missing and then found. My grandmother actually broke down a mile behind her that same day Tammy broke down. When my grandmother was picked up they went right past Tammy’s car but she did not see her or anyone else there. My grandmother contacted the authorities the next day once her learned that Tammy was missing, She also has been in contact with her parents since its happened and still stays actively involved in Tammy’s case.

      • Chris Jacobs says:

        Well its sept 2020 and bar basement checked out i beleive a story i was told by a man investigating on his own who is a friend of the family .. i think she is buried in leisure lake somewhere .

  25. Robert Olsen says:

    maybe david wasn’t using his own truck. maybe that’s why they didn’t find anything in it.

  26. j. butler says:

    This is no serial killing, and there has been no missing womens cases of this type
    since crystals dissapearance.The person, or persons invovled most likley new here
    and were in the bar that night. Need to question these people again.

  27. Cole says:

    i saw her flyer in iowa at a Taco Johns…. and i am wanting to help in the search

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