Matt Pusateri (Courtesy The Gazette)

Matthew Pusateri

Homicide

Matthew Pusateri
26 YOA
800 Block of Sixth St. SW
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
November 12, 1988

Case summary by Jody Ewing

Cab driver Matt Pusateri, 26, was shot in the head about 3 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 12, 1988, while sitting in a Cedar Rapids parking lot.

Pusateri, who worked for the “Yellow Cab” company, sat parked in the 800 block of Sixth Street SW when two men approached the cab.

Linn County in Iowa
 
Cedar Rapids in Linn County

Police speculate the two assailants tried to rob Pusateri, and then shot him after he refused to hand over any money.

Police have compared Pusateri’s murder to that of Brian Schappert, 22, also of Cedar Rapids, who was stabbed to death less than one year later as he worked at the Kum & Go convenience store at 2743 Mount Vernon Rd. SE.

Both victims were described as “good kids,” and robbery most likely was the motive in both homicides.

There was also the possibility that in each case, the young man died because he recognized the robber and could have identified him to police.

Both cases remain unsolved.

In May 1998, the Cedar Rapids Gazette and KCRG TV9 partnered in an “Unsolved Murders” series profiling several local cases.

In addition to Pusateri’s slaying, the series also featured a number of other unsolved cases, including the murders of:

• Traci Evenson
• Frances Bloomfield
• Julie Bell Davis
• Susan Kersten
• Rhonda Knutson

Steven J. Klein, 54, was arrested in Muscatine, Iowa, July 17, 2015, and charged with first-degree murder in Kersten’s nearly 20-year-old unsolved homicide.

This large ad promoting the Gazette/KCRG-TV9 News cold case series appeared in the Cedar Rapids Gazette on Monday, May 18, 1998.

The Gazette and KCRG continue to publicize Iowa cold cases in efforts to reach readers and viewers who…somewhere…know something.

Matthew Pusateri is buried at Saint John’s Cemetery in Cedar Rapids. (Courtesy photo Ken Wright, findagrave.com)

About Matt Pusateri

Matthew E. Pusateri was born Oct. 3, 1962 and died Nov. 12, 1988.

He served with the BTFN in the US Navy.

He is buried at Saint Johns Cemetery in Cedar Rapids.

Information Needed

If you have any information about Matt Pusateri’s unsolved murder please contact Cedar Rapids Police Department Investigator Matt Denlinger at (319) 286-5442 or email M.Denlinger@cedar-rapids.org.

Tips may be provided to the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation at (515) 725-6010, or by email at dciinfo@dps.state.ia.us.

Sources:

• Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation
• Cedar Rapids Police Department
• Cedar Rapids Police Department Cold Case Unit
• Matthew E. Pusateri (1962 – 1988) — Find a Grave Memorial
• “JonBenet arrest fills East Iowans with new hope,” by Christoph Trappe, The Cedar Rapids Gazette, August 19, 2006
• “Cold Cases: Technology, tips help clear old homicides, but time takes toll on investigations,” by Christoph Trappe, The Cedar Rapids Gazette, Sunday, September 21, 2003
• “Unforgettable. Unsettling. Unsolved.” Cedar Rapids Gazette and KCRG TV9 Special Report, The Cedar Rapids Gazette, Monday, May 18, 1998
• “A classic case that may never be solved: the 1988 death of Cedar Rapids cab driver Matthew Pusateri,” KCRG-TV9, Sunday, May 17, 1998
• “Youth jailed in armed robbery,” by Douglas Neumann, The Cedar Rapids Gazette, August 1, 1993
• “Murdered. Missing. Unsolved. Struggling to let go, yet hold on: Loved ones of victims search for balance,” by Rick Smith and Jeff Burnham, The Cedar Rapids Gazette, March 22, 1992
• “Answers elusive in many murders, disappearances,” by Rick Smith and Jeff Burnham, The Cedar Rapids Gazette, Sunday, March 22, 1992