Drakesville in Davis County, IA

Drakesville in Davis County, IA

Triple Homicide

SOLVED

Justin Alfred Hook, Jr., 20
Sarah Lee Link, 41
Tina Marie Lade, 19

Drakesville, IA (Davis County)
Eldon, IA (Wapello County)
Case # 84-01854
April 13, 1984

 

UPDATE: DNA Links Executed Convict to 1984 Triple Murder

Andrew Six

Andrew Six (Courtesy Iowa Dept. of Public Safety)

OTTUMWA, Iowa — In a news conference held Friday, Jan. 10, 2014 at the Wapello County’s Sheriff’s Office, authorities announced that Andrew Wessel Six was responsible for the murders of three people in southern Iowa in April of 1984.

Mike Motsinger, special agent in charge with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, said new DNA evidence linked Andrew Six in the bludgeoning deaths of 20-year-old Justin Hook Jr., Hook’s fiancée, 19-year-old Tina Marie Lade, and Hook’s mother, 41-year-old Sarah Link.

Missouri authorities executed Six by lethal injection in 1997 for the 1987 kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old Kathy Allen. Six and his uncle kidnapped the girl from the Allen family’s trailer in Ottumwa, slit her throat and dumped her body in northern Missouri.

DNA from a pair of jeans was used to link Six to Iowa’s 1984 triple homicide.

Justin Hook

Justin Hook (Courtesy IDPS)

On April 13, 1984, the Davis County Sheriff’s Office requested assistance with a death investigation in rural Drakesville, Iowa. A deceased male, later identified as Justin Hook, Jr., had been bludgeoned to death.

The following day, April 14, 1984, Hook’s mother, Sarah Link, was reported missing to law enforcement. On April 16, 1984, Link’s body was discovered in a farm field off of a gravel road in rural Eldon, Iowa in Wapello County. Motsinger said that based on evidence at the scene, it appeared Link had been taken to the area and subsequently beaten to death.

Tina Lade

Tina Lade (Courtesy IDPS)

On April 18, 1984, Tina Lade was found in the same vicinity where Link’s body had been found. She, too, had been beaten to death. The killer used a blunt object to kill all three victims.

Police said footprints found near Lade and Link’s bodies shared the same tread pattern and appeared to be from the same person. The investigation at the time yielded no arrests.

In August 2011, the DCI Cold Case Unit, the Davis County Sheriff’s Office and the Wapello County Sheriff’s Office began a case review and in March 2012 re-submitted evidence to the DCI Criminalistics Laboratory for DNA analysis. Motsinger said the only DNA profile that matched was that of Andrew Wessel Six.

The DNA evidence had been recovered from inside Tina Lade’s jeans.

Sarah Link

Sarah Link (Courtesy IDPS)

Even with the DNA match, Motsinger said officers had to go back over the whole case and re-interview people to ensure Six was responsible.

“Just because someone’s DNA is there, you can’t just rush to judgement so you have to start over and act like it’s a brand new case,” Motsinger said in a Cedar Rapids Gazette story published January 10, 2014. “It’s a 30-year-old homicide and people move, change names, get married, pass away, so we had to do our due diligence as law enforcement officers to make sure everyone was interviewed and to follow up on every possible rumor out there so we could get to this point today to feel confident that Mr. Six was responsible for it.”

According to the Department of Public Safety’s Jan. 10 press release, Andrew Six was a suspect in the 1984 investigation, and had also been involved in some Ottumwa area burglaries. Six and Justin Hook had some type of issue over a vehicle purchase, though during an interview in 1984, Six denied knowing Tina Lade. Additional suspects — those involved in criminal activity that included Six — were interviewed in subsequent investigations.

Andrew Six was arrested in April 1987, along with his uncle Donald Petary. Both individuals were arrested for the abduction and murder of Kathy Allen from the Ottumwa area. Allen’s body was recovered in Schuyler County, Missouri. Six was convicted of Murder in the First Degree and sentenced to death.

andrew-six-mo-dept-correctionsCourtesy The Gazette
Andrew Six’s mugshot from the Missouri Department of Corrections

Prior to his execution, investigators attempted to re-interview Six regarding the Hook, Link, and Lade murders; Six refused to cooperate.

He was executed by lethal injection in Missouri in August 1997. Six’s uncle, Donald Petary, was also convicted of Murder in the First Degree of Kathy Allen. Petary died in prison in 1998.

Although Federal grant funding for the DCI Cold Case Unit was exhausted in December 2011, the DCI remains committed to resolving Iowa’s cold cases, Motsinger said. The DCI will continue 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 the resolution of 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.

Questions may be directed to SAC Mike Motsinger at (515) 729-3706.


Courtesy KTVO TV

Case summary by Jody Ewing
Courtesy photo Ottumwa Courier
The body of Justin Hook Jr. was discovered near the burned-out mobile home he occupied in rural Drakesville.

On Friday, April 13, 1984, firefighters discovered the body of Justin Alfred Hook, Jr., 20, near his burned-out mobile home in rural Drakesville in southeast Iowa after extinguishing a fire at the residence. Officials discovered Hook’s body about 4:30 p.m.

Hook had been killed by blows to the head.

When police went to tell Hook’s mother — Sarah Link, 41, of Farmington — about her son’s death, they were unable to locate her.

The following Monday, April 16, 1984, a farmer found Mrs. Link’s body on a hilly wooded section of his land just north of Eldon. She, too, had died from blunt force trauma to the head.

Eldon in Wapello County, IA

Eldon in Wapello County, IA

Authorities then launched an intensive search for Hook’s fiancée, 19-year-old Tina Marie Lade of Ottumwa, to whom he’d recently become engaged. Hook had given her an engagement ring the previous week for her 19th birthday. Lade, however, also had gone missing.

On Wednesday, April 18, 1984, trained police dogs discovered Miss Lade’s body in a ravine about a half-mile from where Mrs. Link’s body had been found. Lade had died from blows to the head as well.

Tina Marie Lade

Tina Marie Lade

Authorities believed all three victims were killed at about the same time, but the exact time and location of the slayings wasn’t known.

Eight Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) agents were sent to Wapello County to investigate the murders, and hundreds of leads followed.

Drakesville residents, who’d known Hook only casually, referred to him as “polite” and a “nice boy.”

One year after the murders and despite some initial “strong suspects,” then-Wapello County Sheriff Bud Erwin said there had been no new breaks and no new leads for months. Erwin said though police continued their investigation, so far they had been unable to determine a motive for the bludgeoning deaths.

They’d not recovered any murder weapon, and autopsy reports showed no trace of drugs in any of the three victims’ bodies.

Ottumwa in Wapello County

Ottumwa in Wapello County

When the DCI established a Cold Case Unit in 2009, the Link, Lade, and Hook triple homicide 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 technology. Although the Cold Case Unit closed down in December 2011 due to lack of funding, the DCI continues to investigate cases where they were making progress. They also follow up on any new leads provided in these cases.

Nearly 30 Years Later, DNA Links Killer to 1984 Triple Murder

In August 2011, the DCI Cold Case Unit, the Davis County Sheriff’s Office and the Wapello County Sheriff’s Office began a case review and in March 2012 re-submitted evidence to the DCI Criminalistics Laboratory for DNA analysis. DCI Special Agent in Charge Mike Motsinger said the only DNA profile that matched was that of Andrew Wessel Six.

In a news conference held Friday, Jan. 10, 2014 at the Wapello County’s Sheriff’s Office, Motsinger said the new DNA evidence linked Andrew Wessel Six to the Drakesville area triple homicide.

Missouri authorities executed Six by lethal injection in 1997 for the 1987 kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old Kathy Allen. Six and his uncle, Donald Petary, kidnapped the girl from the Allen family’s trailer in Ottumwa, slit her throat and dumped her body in northern Missouri.

Sarah Link gravestone
Courtesy photo findagrave.com
Sarah Link is buried at Iowaville Cemetery at Selma in Van Buren County.
About Sarah Link

Sarah Lee (Carlisle) Link was born Jan. 8, 1943, at Fort Madison to Delbert and Mildred Jones Carlisle.

She was survived by her husband, Rex of Farmington; a daughter, Cynthia L. Moyes of Iowa City; two sons, James Hook of Ottumwa and John Crutcher at home; three stepsons, Steven, Anthony and Joshua Link of Quincy, Ill.; two grandsons; her mother and stepfather, Mildred and Joe Michael of Selma; a grandmother, Heldred Jones of Keosauqua; two sisters, Elizabeth Stone of Douds and Mary Jane Harem of Marshalltown; and two brothers, Paul Carlisle of Hermiston Ore., and Thomas Carlisle of Whittier, Calif. She was preceded in death by a son, Justin Alfred Hook, Jr.

Services were held Friday, April 20, 1984, at the Pedrick Funeral Home in Douds with the Rev. Charles Stevens of Burlington officiating. Sarah Link was buried in Iowaville Cemetery at Selma in Van Buren County.

Justin Hook's gravestoneCourtesy photo findagrave.com
Justin Hook’s body was discovered just three days after his 20th birthday. His funeral service was held the day after his mother’s body was found and the day before his fiancée’s body would be discovered.
Justin and Tina

Justin Alfred Hook, Jr., was born April 10, 1964, in Iowa City to Justin Hook, Sr., and Sarah Lee Link Hook. He spent most of his life in LaHarpe, Ill. He married Mary Kay Ponnies on Jan. 17, 1981. They divorced in February 1984.

He lived on Route 9 in Bloomfield, and had just become engaged to marry Tina Marie Lade of Ottumwa. The couple shared the same birthday — with Hook exactly one year older — and likely shared the same death date, despite the discrepancies in dates on their gravestones. (The exact date of death could not be determined.)

Hook’s survivors included a son, Justin David of Belleville, Ill.; his stepfather, Rex Link of Farmington; his father of Iowa City; a sister, Cynthia L. Moyes of Iowa City; two brothers, James Hook of Ottumwa and John Crutcher of Farmington; his grandparents, Mildred and Joe Michael of Selma and Clara Hook of Iowa City; and his great-grandmother, Hildred Jones of Keosauqua.

Tina Lade's gravestone
Courtesy photo findagrave.com
Tina Marie Lade and Justin Hook became engaged on their shared birthdays and were killed just 2-3 days later.

Services were held at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 17, at the Pedrick Funeral Home at Douds with the Rev. Charles Stevens of Burlington officiating. He was buried in the Iowaville Cemetery at Selma.

Tina Marie Lade was buried in Fiedler Cemetery in Floris, Ia., in Wapello County.

If you have any further information about this (now solved) triple homicide, please contact the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation at (515) 725-6010, e-mail dciinfo@dps.state.ia.us, or contact the Wapello County Sheriff’s Office at (641) 684-4350.

Sources:

 

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8 Responses to Justin Hook, Sarah Link and Tina Lade

  1. James Harding says:

    I think mot singer is full of it.

  2. Kim says:

    Links to a two-part special report by KGAN reporter Jason Hackett on this case and why it’s so important for families of cold case victims to get closure. Story aired on tonight’s news.

    Part 1:

    Part 2:

  3. joel says:

    Just saying. That’s all.

  4. joel says:

    How easy for the cops to close this one, dead guy can’t defend himself…family gets closure and they beg/brag for funds to do more of the same self serve too little too late efforts. Just sad all around.

    • Kim says:

      What’s so wrong about wanting closure on a 30 year old cold case? What so wrong about wanting monetary resources to assist law enforcement in solving cold cases? Would you rather cold cases stay unsolved and families never get any kind of resolution for their loved one’s death? How would you feel if a friend or family member were brutally murdered and their killer(s) never caught?

      For the record, Andrew Six was pretty vicious, that’s been well established. The little girl he and his uncle, Donald Petary, kidnapped and killed was developmentally disabled and only 12 years old at the time of her death. They’d gotten into the home of her mother and father under the guise of looking at a truck her father had for sale. After duct-taping everyone up, Six raped the little girl’s pregnant sister, then he and his uncle forced the two girls, along with their parents, into the vehicle Six and Petary were driving. The pregnant girl and her father managed to break free and escape, and in retaliation, Six slashed the mother’s throat, nearly severing her carotid artery, then he dumped her out in the driveway to die. She survived, the wound requiring 50 stitches to close. Six and Petary drove the 12 year old girl across state lines into Missouri, cutting her throat and dumping her body in a drainage ditch. Presumably, Six sexually assaulted the child, as it says in his appeals that a hair from him was found in her underwear. Six and Petary were arrested a day later in Texas. IMO, both men got what they justly deserved and it does not suprise me that Six was vicious enough to commit this triple homicide.

  5. Lori says:

    I have a hard time believing the police have no idea what the motive was… I imagine since it was April the bodies had little decomp? Do the police have any idea where the murder took place? Very strange they were each found in a different location.

    I hope this killer is either dead or, in prison for life on some other charge. This case needs to be solved.

  6. mike shepherd says:

    just wish they all could be put to rest as its been to long
    and a lot of people would like it to be over.

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