Mary Ann Scovel in earlier years (Courtesy ancestry.com)
Mary Ann Scovel
Homicide
Mary Ann Scovel
18 YOA
661 Seventeenth St.
Des Moines, IA
Polk County
Wednesday, April 14, 1976
Case Summary compiled by Jody Ewing
Mary Ann Scovel, 18, was strangled in her Des Moines apartment Wednesday night, April 14, 1976.
Investigators said Terry Lee “Butch” Lively, 26, who lived at the 661 17th Street apartment with Miss Scovel, told police he found Scovel’s body on the living room floor of her apartment about 12:45 a.m. early Thursday.
Des Moines police had gone to the building late Wednesday night after a man phoned in an anonymous tip around 10:20 p.m., stating a woman had been murdered at the apartment house. Officers went to the building and left after speaking with a woman in another apartment, but returned again early Thursday morning, the Des Moines Moines Register reported on Friday, April 16, 1976.
Polk County in Iowa
Des Moines in Polk County
Investigators found the fully clothed teen lying face down on her living room floor. The apartment showed no signs of a struggle and nothing was reported missing, but officials said water running from the kitchen faucet had overflowed onto the floor.
Deputy Polk County Medical Examiner Dr. Emmanuel Lacsina said Scovel died between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. Wednesday, and that she was choked to death, possibly by some piece of jewelry.
“From indentations on her neck we believe a necklace or some type of jewelry chain was used,” Lacsina said Thursday, April 15, after performing Scovel’s autopsy.
Scovel’s time of death, the Register reported, was just one hour after neighbors said they saw the young woman in her apartment.
One Man Questioned, Released; Another Arrested
Police brought in a 19-year-old Des Moines man for questioning on April 15, but released him that night after questioning him in Scovel’s death.
Prior to the young man’s release, Police Sgt. William Fitzgerald told The Register the man wasn’t being called a “suspect,” but “we’d just like to talk to him about the case.”
On Friday, April 30, 1976, police arrested and charged 22-year-old Jeffrey Robert Calvert in Scovel’s slaying. Calvert and his wife had been Scovel’s next-door neighbors at the Seventeenth St. apartment house, but moved out of the building four days after the teen’s murder, investigators told The Register in an article dated May 1, 1976.
Calvert and his wife, Patty, had then moved in with Calvert’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Lester E. Calvert, at 3213 Forty-eighth Place, where police had found and arrested Jeffrey Calvert.
At an arraignment held Friday afternoon, Assistant Polk County Attorney Donald Starr suggested a $300,000 bond. The judge originally set the bond at $7,500 in cash or $75,000 surety, but then released Calvert from jail that same afternoon under provisions of the pre-trial release program. The program required no posting of any bond money.
The judge scheduled a preliminary hearing for June 4, 1976.
A spokesman for the pre-trial release program said Calvert would be required to report to a counselor three to five times per week, and that several factors — including stability within the community and past criminal records — are evaluated when determining eligibility for release.
Courtesy The Des Moines Register, May 5, 1976
Calvert Last to see Scovel Alive
On Friday, April 30, 1976, police executed a search warrant for Calvert’s residence and confiscated a belt with a circular pattern, The Register reported Wednesday, May 5, 1976. Police believed the belt may have been the one used in Scovel’s strangulation.
Detective Clarence Jobe, who’d obtained the search warrant Thursday, April 29, testified in Friday afternoon’s hearing, stating that “marks on (Scovel’s) neck show a design made by an apparent belt-like substance.”
The marks were in a “circular or octagonal pattern or design and are in a line extending around her neck,” Jobe said.
Jobe also testified “the only access to the apartment where the body . . . was found was through the apartment of Jeffrey R. Calvert.”
Register staff writer Paul Leavitt reported:
During the investigation, police said a major question was how Scovel’s slayer entered and left her apartment, because the front door was locked from the inside and the back door was locked from the outside. A door between the two apartments was locked from Calvert’s side, police said.
~ The Des Moines Register, May 5, 1976
In his testimony, Jobe said Calvert was the last known person to have seen Scovel alive. Calvert admitted to being with Scovel at 5:15 p.m., “within the time of death set by the medical examiner,” Jobe testified.
Calvert Indicted, Pleads Innocent
A Polk County grand jury indicted Calvert on murder charges Friday, May 6, 1976.
Assistant County Attorney Starr asked for a bond in excess of $100,000, but Calvert’s attorney, Keith Uhl, argued that his client had roots in the community and had not violated the terms of his release, The Register reported on May 8, 1976.
Uhl also cited Calvert’s employment at Meredith Publishing Corporation and his client’s pregnant wife, and the fact that the couple were now living with Calvert’s parents.
District Judge James P. Denato refused Starr’s request to revoke Calvert’s pre-trial release bond, allowing the suspect to remain free without a cash bond.
Calvert pleaded innocent and maintained his innocence.
Case Dismissed
The trial was over almost as soon as it began.
Courtesy Des Moines Register, Oct. 15, 1976
Polk County District Court jury members — seven women and five men — were sworn in Wednesday, Oct. 13, 1976. That day, Calvert’s mother-in-law, Eloise Ann Stewart, testified that Calvert and his wife “had attended church with her the night of April 14 and they had been with her from 6 p.m. to 9:45 p.m. that day,” The Register reported.
The eleventh state witness, Assistant Polk County Medical Examiner Dale Grunewald, wrapped up his testimony Thursday morning, Oct. 14.
After a short recess, Starr asked District Judge A.B. Crouch to dismiss the murder charge “because of Dr. Grunewald’s testimony concerning the time of Scovel’s death.”
Grunewald had changed the time of Scovel’s death from around 5:15 p.m. on April 14 to sometime between 5:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. or even as late as 9 p.m. after learning Scovel had telephoned her father about 5 p.m. April 14.
In his testimony, Grunewald said he’d changed the teen’s time of death because of that phone call as well as the large amount of undigested food in the victim’s stomach (eaten 30 to 45 minutes before she died), and other evidence. (Des Moines Register, Oct. 15, 1976.)
Shortly after Starr’s request Thursday to dismiss the charges, Judge Crouch promptly dismissed the first-degree murder charge against Calvert and sent jury members home.
The dismissal guaranteed Calvert could never again be tried for Scovel’s murder due to double jeopardy legal guarantees.
About Mary Ann Scovel
Mary Ann Scovel was born July 12, 1957 to Everett Ernest and Pat (Hill) Scovel.
She died April 14, 1976 in Des Moines.
She had two sisters — Susie Evans and Laurie Kay Scovel.
Memorial services were held at 1:30 p.m. Monday, April 19, at Hamilton’s Funeral Home with interment at Laurel Hill Cemetery.
Mary Ann’s father, Everett Scovel, passed away on January 10, 1994 without ever seeing justice served in his daughter’s death.
Information Needed
If you have any information about Mary Ann Scovel’s unsolved murder please call the Des Moines Police Department at (515) 283-4864.
Sources:
- “United States Social Security Death Index,” index, FamilySearch.org, Everett E Scovel, 10 Jan 1994; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).
- “Everett E. Scovel (1930 – 1994),” Find a Grave Memorial
- “Mary Ann Scovel (1957 – 1976),” Find a Grave Memorial
- “Calvert is exonerated; feels ‘great,’ ” by Nick Lamberto, The Des Moines Register, Friday, October 15, 1976
- “Testifies Scovel room broken into earlier,” by Nick Lamberto, The Des Moines Register, Thursday, October 14, 1976
- “Jury selection in Calvert trial nearly complete,” by Nick Lamberto, The Des Moines Register, Tuesday, October 12, 1976
- “ARGUE AGAINST USING EVIDENCE,” by Paul Leavitt, The Des Moines Register, Friday, August 6, 1976
- “SEEK TO BLOCK EVIDENCE IN SLAYING CASE,” by Jonathan Engel, The Des Moines Register, Friday, July 16, 1976
- “INNOCENT PLEA IN SLAYING,” by David Yepsen, The Des Moines Register, Saturday, May 8, 1976
- “BELT LINKED TO TEEN’S DEATH,” by Paul Leavitt, The Des Moines Register, Wednesday, May 5, 1976
- “D.M. SLAYING SUSPECT FREE,” The Des Moines Register, Saturday, May 1, 1976
- “Services Scheduled for Hamilton’s Funeral Home: Monday,” The Des Moines Register, April 19, 1976
- “DEATHS: Services Scheduled — Mary Ann Scovel,” The Des Moines Register, April 17, 1976
- “DEATHS: Services Scheduled, Hamilton’s Funeral Home,” The Des Moines Register, April 16, 1976
- “MAN QUESTIONED IN SLAYING,” by Tom Suk, The Des Moines Register, Friday, April 16, 1976
- “Des Moines Woman Strangled: Autopsy,” The Cedar Rapids Gazette, Friday, April 16, 1976
- “Pedigree Resource File,” database, FamilySearch.org, entry for Mary Ann /Scovel/.
I vaguely remember her, for I was only 6 years old when the murder occurred. She lived with my brother, and it seems like she used to babysit me but I can’t clearly recall. I clearly remember talk within my family and I honestly believe that DNA testing should be done on any evidence that is still around from the scene of the crime.
There’s an old adage that goes…
“The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree.”
She was my girlfriend back in grade school. Used to hold her hand on the school bus. She went to the same junior high school I did but was too shy to reintroduce myself to her. Big regret on my part. Maybe we could have reconnected.
Thanks so much for sharing this with us, David! These personal remembrances serve as great reminders that those included here on the website are so much more than just names and case numbers!
Andrea, I agree the belt should be tested. Also, what other evidence they might have. However, the medical examiner really threw a monkey wrench into the prosecutor’s case, when he changed the time of death. A bit of rush to judgement in his time of death, and did not consider the food, and then the telephone call.
However, the neighbor had access to her apartment, supposedly there were no signs of forced entry. I wonder who else knew about that other door. Also, they moved out within days of the murder.
They should have taken their time, and gotten everything nailed down.
Old newspapers are a good source and NewspaperArchive.com seems to have a great number of them. Here is an article about the release of a man thought connected: https://newspaperarchive.com/murder-clipping-oct-18-1976-192396/
Mary is my cousin.
Jenny Mary is also my dad’s 2nd Cousin my dad is Randy Davis SR. The son of Dorthey Scovel and Lester Davis. Dorthey my grandma would had been Mary’s Aunt Since your post is from 2016 not sure you even see this.
I wish I could find her sister but haven’t seen her since the funeral.
I wish we could also find her sister as well. This happen before i was born. I have tried seeing if she had a face book but have not had any luck in that.
can’t that belt now be tested for touch DNA?