Darrell R. Lewis

Darrell Lewis Sr.

Darrell Romaine Lewis, Sr.

Homicide

Darrell Romaine Lewis, Sr.
39 YOA
2100 block Carpenter Avenue
Des Moines, IA
Polk County
Case # 1995-58887
December 24, 1995

 
 
 

Polk County in Iowa
Polk County in Iowa
 
Des Moines in Polk CountyDes Moines in Polk County

Darrell R. Lewis Sr., 39, was found shot to death in Des Moines, Iowa, around 12:40 a.m. on Sunday morning, December 24, 1995.

Police said Lewis — who had a lengthy police record — was found between two parked cars in the 2100 block of Carpenter Avenue on the city’s northwest side.

Lewis was found clutching two small bags of a substance, which police said proved to be crack cocaine.

In a Des Moines Register article dated Christmas Day 1995, Lewis’ mother, Rosa Lee Brown, said her son had been living at home with her and that she’d spoken to him around midnight, just 40 minutes before his body was found. He’d sounded lonely, she said.

“I said ‘Come on home, sugar,'” Brown told Register reporter Michael McNarney. “That’s the last I heard of him.”

Lewis’ murder remains unsolved.

About Darrell Lewis

Darrell Romaine Lewis Sr. was born August 31, 1956, and was a lifelong Des Moines resident.

He attended Moulton Elementary and Washington Irving Junior High in Des Moines and earned his GED at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids.

Courtesy photo Katie Lou, findagrave.com

A certified cook and former roofer, Lewis also had worked at the Pitt-Des Moines Steel Company and the Younker’s warehouse.

In addition to his mother, survivors included a daughter, Tasha Lewis, and a son, Darrell Jr., both of Des Moines; four brothers, Maurice Redd and Clifton Lewis, both of St. Paul, Minn., and Robert Redd and William Redd Jr. of Des Moines; one grandchild, and Mr. Lewis’s longtime companion, Vernica Turner-Lewis.

Services were held at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 27 at Maple Street Missionary Baptist Church, with burial in Glendale Cemetery in Des Moines. 

Information Needed

If you have any information about Darrell Lewis’ unsolved murder please contact the Des Moines Police Department at 515-283-4864.

Sources:
  • Des Moines Police Department, correspondence to Iowa Cold Cases, July 10, 2009
  • Person Details for Darrell R Lewis, “United States Social Security Death Index” — FamilySearch.org
  • Findagrave.com
  • “D.M. shooting victim carried drugs: Police,” The Cedar Rapids Gazette, December 26, 1995
  • “Man shot to death; mother mourns,” Michael McNarney, The Des Moines Register, December 25, 1995
  • Darrell Romaine Lewis Sr. obituary, The Des Moines Register, Tuesday, December 26, 1995

 

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