Patricia Veach Christmas 1968Courtesy photo William T. Veach
Patricia “Trish” Veach, Christmas 1968

Patricia Ann Veach

Homicide

Patricia Ann Veach
8 YOA
805 S.W. Lally St.
Des Moines, IA
Polk County
Case # 69-12925
July 10, 1969

 

Case summary by Jody Ewing

 
On Thursday morning, July 10, 1969, 8-year-old Patricia Ann Veach was found dead in her bedroom at her Des Moines home. She had been sexually molested, and police said she either was strangled or smothered by her slayer.

On Monday, July 14, Polk County Medical Examiner Dr. Leo Luka said an autopsy showed Patricia had been smothered to death, but said he was uncertain whether it was accomplished “with a pillow or a hand.”

In an Associated Press story published July 15 in the Cedar Rapids Gazette, Dr. Luka added that laboratory analyses of blood and hair found on the scene were incomplete.

Patricia’s father, William “Bill” Veach, told police he’d gone to check on his daughter about 7:25 a.m. Thursday morning after discovering the home’s front door screen slashed near the latch.

Mr. Veach said he found his daughter lying on her back, uncovered and clad only in her pajama top, and that there was blood on her body and on the bed.

Bill, Etta, Patricia and Billy Veach Courtesy photo William T. Veach
Patricia Veach with her parents, Bill and Etta Veach, and her brother, Billy, at her grandparents’ 40th wedding anniversary in June 1969.
No unusual noises in house that night

Patricia lived with her parents, Bill and Etta Veach, and her older brother, Billy, at 805 S.W. Lally Street on Des Moines’ south side. Billy had spent the night with his paternal grandparents.

The Veaches told police they’d gone to bed around 2 a.m. and that their daughter was all right at that time. They said they’d heard no unusual noises in the house, and that their dog — who was kept in the basement overnight — had not barked.

Police canvassed the neighborhood in search of persons who might have seen someone or heard something near the Veach’s home.

In an Associated Press article dated Monday, July 14, 1969, Police Detective Capt. Cleatus M. Leaming said his men had questioned more than 500 persons by Sunday and that there were seven detectives and two identification officers assigned to the case.

Leaming also stated that neither he nor his department had any clues regarding the identity of Patricia’s killer.

On Tuesday, July 15, police questioned an alleged vagrant in connection with the young girl’s death, but the man pled innocent to the vagrancy charges and was jailed in lieu of a $100 bond.

WDC-astronauts-patricia-veachOn Thursday, July 17, 1969, an AP brief in the Waterloo Daily Courier announced lie detector tests would be given soon to suspects in the case. The brief appeared just below the Daily Courier’s page one story hailing Apollo 11 explorers Michael Collins, Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr. for having soared past the halfway point of their journey to the moon.

A poem by John G. MaGee, Jr. ran below the astronauts’ photo and parallel to the brief on Patricia Veach, and though meant to correspond to the space crew photo, the words seemed to capture the very essence of a young girl’s journey to a final resting place. It read:

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds—and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of—wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.

Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew—
And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod
The untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

MaGee wrote the poem before being killed in action over Germany in December 1941 while serving with the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Patricia Veach, like John MaGee, seemed to dance the skies on laughter.

Billy and Patricia Veach and Linda Long in 1968Courtesy photo Willaim T. Veach
Patricia Veach, center, with her brother, Billy, and cousin, Linda Long, in the summer of 1968.
A bubbly, outgoing child

She was a very bubbly, outgoing child, her brother said in an August 2010 email to Iowa Cold Cases.

According to Billy Veach, the family has few photos of Patricia where she isn’t making a funny face or sticking out her tongue.

“[She was] always making faces at a camera. Always teasing and laughing,” Veach wrote. “She could run like a deer. She loved school and was very smart.”

Two weeks prior to her murder, Patricia had served as the flower girl for her Uncle David and Aunt Mona’s wedding.

The young Midwestern girl could have soared, and today would just be reaching the prime of her life.

Her death came just seven months after the 1968 Christmas Eve slaying of 10-year-old Pamela Powers, a suburban Urbandale girl who had been abducted from the Des Moines YMCA.

In July 1977, 33-year-old Anthony Erthel Williams was convicted by a Linn County district court jury of first-degree murder for Powers’ slaying. On Friday, August 19, 1977, proclaiming his innocence and sanity to the end, Williams was sentenced for the second time to life in prison for the death of a child.

“Little children are walking the streets of Iowa in danger because of the limitations that have been placed on me and my attorneys,” the Gazette reported Williams as saying in an emotional statement to the court prior to his sentencing. Williams referred to Patricia Veach’s unsolved murder and molestation, and said her death showed that the person who took the life of Pamela Powers was free to commit the Veach killing in July 1969.

A brother’s commitment to clear family name

Patricia’s brother Billy remembers all too well the weeks, months, and years following his little sister’s murder — and the decades under which he felt his father lived under a cloud of suspicion. His father was questioned daily the first week after Patricia’s murder, and by month’s end the family could no longer make it through the night in the SW Lally St. home.

Gray's Lake Memorial Bridge plaque for Patricia Veach 2010Courtesy photo William T. Veach
To honor what would have been Patricia’s 50th birthday in 2010, her brother and parents purchased a memorial plaque for her on Grey’s Lake Memorial Walking Bridge.

When the time came for Patricia’s maternal grandmother, Mrs. Thomas McFall, to return to Ballymena in Northern Ireland, Mr. Veach surprised his wife and son with tickets to go to Ireland with her. Etta and Billy spent August in Ireland away from the Iowa madness, and Bill Veach had another surprise when the two returned home; he was moving them into a new home he’d bought while they were away.

Community members in the new neighborhood still eyed the family with suspicion and passed around a petition trying to keep the family out. Billy told Iowa Cold Cases he lived in fear his father would never be fully cleared. Out of 81 pieces of evidence, the State Crime Lab had obtained only a few DNA markers — not enough at the time to run through the FBI database.

Patricia Veach June 28, 1969 at weddingCourtesy photo William T. Veach
Just two weeks shy of her murder, Patricia Ann “Trish” Veach was the flower girl at her Uncle David and Aunt Mona’s wedding.

On July 26, 2010 — three days before what would have been Patricia’s 50th birthday — her brother and parents purchased a memorial plaque in her memory and had it mounted on the Grey’s Lake Memorial Walking Bridge.

It was a tough week, Billy Veach said, but despite tears there were also smiles as the family — which Veach says is close — remembered the good times.

On Tuesday, March 8, 2011, Billy said he received word the family had waited decades to hear; the State Crime Lab had resubmitted evidence to check for familial DNA. According to Sgt. Steve Woody, Billy said, they were “able to definitively exclude my dad, his brothers and myself from any suspicion.”

Billy said when he told his father about the results, they both broke down in tears.

“Patricia’s murder has left a huge hole in our hearts,” he said. “It has never made any sense to us who could do such a vile thing to someone so young and beautiful.”

The hardest part, he said, was still not knowing who did it, or why.

patricia-veach-gravestone-600pxCourtesy photo Katie Lou, findagrave.com
Patricia Veach is buried at Sunset Memorial Gardens in Des Moines.
About Patricia Veach

Patricia Ann Veach was born July 29, 1960, to William and Etta Veach.

Memorial services were held Monday, July 14, 1969, at Hamilton Funeral Home with burial at Sunset Memorial Gardens.

In addition to her parents, Patricia was survived by her brother, William T.; paternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Veach of Des Moines; and maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas McFall of Ballymena, Northern Ireland.

Information Needed

If you have any information about the murder of Patricia Ann Veach, please contact the Des Moines Police Department at (515) 283-4864.

Sources:
  • ‘Gone Cold’: Patricia Veach,” The Northwest Iowa Review, Friday, October 21, 2016
  • Gone Cold: Patricia Ann Veach, killed in 1969,” Special to the Register, The Des Moines Register, Part of the GONE COLD: IOWA COLD CASES series, Saturday, July 2, 2016
  • Des Moines Police Department, correspondence to Iowa Cold Cases, July 10, 2009
  • Personal Correspondence with William T. Veach
  • Patricia Ann Veach (1960 – 1969) — Find a Grave Memorial
  • “William Protests, But Gets Life Term,” (Associated Press), The Cedar Rapids Gazette, August 20, 1977
  • Lie Tests,” AP/The Waterloo Daily Courier, July 17, 1969
  • “Means Uncertain in Murder of D.M. Girl,” (Associated Press), The Cedar Rapids Gazette, July 15, 1969
  • “No New Clues In D.M. Killing; 500 Questioned,” (AP) The Cedar Rapids Gazette, July 14, 1969
  • “No New Leads in Slaying of DM Girl,” The Waterloo Daily Courier, July 14, 1969
  • “No Veach case leads,” The Muscatine Journal, July 14, 1969
  • “Patricia Veach Obituary,” The Des Moines Register, July 13, 1969
  • “Incident with Prowler Recalls Slaying in D.M.,” (AP) The Cedar Rapids Gazette, July 13, 1969
  • “Girl, 9, Found Slain in D.M.” (AP) The Cedar Rapids Gazette, July 10, 1969

 

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101 Responses to Patricia Veach

  1. anon says:

    A commenter has said that the molesting uncle Roy Beach had an adopted son named Paul. Although the Beach family was cleared by DNA, was Paul cleared?

  2. Melanie Wood says:

    So many suspects. I feel she will never get earthly justice. But whoever it was the person is evil beyond words. I find troubling the dog nor parents heard anything. As far as the dog that would lead me to believe it was someone the dog knew. I don’t believe the father had anything to do with it whatsoever. And it was stated he was finally cleared by DNA. That poor man. That made me cry. What this family had to go through. The way the public acted towards them. Shameful. I have seen that house now. Windows painted over. Creepy. It should be burned then leveled.

  3. LakeLife says:

    From what the family is saying on here it was Uncle Roy who is now dead.
    If that’s so then justice will be done in Heaven.
    So sad & sick!

  4. Constance L Combs says:

    According to this account in 2011, the DNA found at the crime scene excluded the Veach family. However, DNA testing advances could actually identify the killer of this horrific crime using the new techniques of comparing crime scene dna to public dna websites. Cold cases are being solved every day with this new approach. Law enforcement needs to use this dna to find the killer.

  5. Stay Strong, Keep Fighting For Justice! says:

    This is a heart breaking case. Justice will prevail ultimately. Thoughts and Prayers to the family.

  6. Veronica N Allen-Guzman says:

    I think about this case often. The house where this happened still stands unfortunately. It is in disrepair and the windows are painted over. After 50+ years the likelihood of solving this murder are slim to none. Let karma take care of the perpetrator and may Patricia rest in peace.

  7. Jody Hartwell says:

    Didn’t the police find evidence that the slashed screen on front door was cut from the inside ?

  8. jean reece says:

    Just happened upon Cold Cases while searching for homes. My heart goes out to this family and loved ones. Patricia – the confusion she felt and pain, I know because I was abused from 5-9 by an uncle and he told me not to tell anyone or I would get into trouble. I finally told my mother when I was 15 because having sexual abuse encouraged my promiscuity and I became pregnant. She denied he did anything. He was molesting my older sister and another uncle another sister and approached me one night while I slept next to his daughter. Just a very incest infected family I grew up in. I has inured me and at 67 I am in therapy again from affects.
    Please, people, watch and protect your children. May the Lord Jesus be with all of you.

    • Linda Summers says:

      why are you suggesting that the Patricia Veach murder has a relationship to your accusations of abuse at the hands of my grandfather? This is dirty hear say as is the story that my grandmother confided in anyone as to any dirty or bloody clothing. I was very close to both grandparents. There were no locks on her bedroom door at 251 astor as you stated. Did you make a police report or did anyone make a police report. You seem awful smug and self righteous even in your reply to me. You made no statement as to my information that since this event happened I have known who killed Patricia and 20 years ago went to the police. There was DNA done that produced enough alleles to eliminate her family members back in the 90s but officers refused to even look at the names I provided and I provided much more than that. There was not enough alleles found to enter into CODIS. The treated me with utter disrespect and would not even look into it. They stated there was no money and they would do nothing more. I finally located the persons of interest still living in Altoona. How do you think that makes me feel. The memory of this person and events traumatised me for life and he sits for 48 years a free man. The mention of no money to fund it was brought up but also the comment, “why do you care, how are you related to this person?” The detective, I will not mention his name at this time, sat down with the now Chief of Police to humiliate me so that I would dropped the issue. They even asked Etta the mother to tell me to let it go. She refused to do that but they did it themselves anyway, using her so called consent. After my own continued search I located the person they would not even try to locate or look at. I am certain new DNA testing could connect him to her murder but they refuse. Then I read your thoughtless comments. If you make any more suggestions that my grandfather was in anyway related to this incident or comments regarding my grandmother confiding in your family , whoever they are, I will be in contact with you. I have read your many comments and you are all over the place in your conjectures. You apparently have too much ideal time. Maybe you could offer to fund the DNA testing needed. You are not sorry for me and you need to get over yourself pitty. We all need therapy!

  9. Diana Wilson says:

    What happened to innocent till proven guilty? Poor family members that had to deal with this. Thank God DNA finally freed them from the hell they were living.

  10. Angi Phipps says:

    Head that her family had to live under suspicion for so long as well as losing their family member.

  11. Jotee Jo says:

    Thank god for DNA..let’s hope this bastard is caught through it.

  12. Imagine losing someone you love, and then living out your life being accused of it when you didn’t do it. Somebody has to know something.

  13. that so sad, anyone who can do that to another sentient being is not human. I seriously hope this gets solved. :'(
    prayers for her family and the families of all of the other cold cases.

  14. klarssa says:

    Im her niece klarissa kay veach we still don’t know who did it #veach

  15. Very sad that her father lived under suspicion all those years and endured such harassment from others who didn’t know anything. I believe that it was probably the man who was arrested for killing the 10 year old. either way I hope the family finally gets some answers and justice for Patricia.

  16. Really, her family was ruled out! I called bs!. I hope to god they find justice

  17. It seems it should have been solved. From the older comments I’ve read there were suspicions around Uncle Roy and another relative who was a police officer.

  18. Mable Eden says:

    I don’t understand why this hasn’t been solved!! What a nightmare for this poor family!! Hope justice is found for this poor girl!!

  19. Marie says:

    Take the 10K and Hire a private or of duty police officer, The only information I have was provided to me about this, But for what it is worth, Here is what I believed happened.As I stated earlier we always believed it was My aunts husband, But after being told about this family member, and being told he was at the party, I have changed my mind.
    Here is what I believe may have happened.

    The famly had a dinner party the night before the murder, there was a relative at this party who I was told had tried ot molest another little girl in the Veach family, He was a police officer, As a police officer he would Know how to make it look like an inside crime by cutting the screen from the inside, he also could have made friends witht he dog, so the dog would not bark. He may well have drugged the parents last drinks of the evening, so they would not wake up, He may have pretended to leave, but slipped into the basement with the dog, until the parents went to sleep, a very small house, so he could probably hear every thing that went on.

    I was also told within a short time of the childs death, he quit his Job and moved to colorado, taking a job there as a police officer. I do not know where in colorado, but I have often wondered if it were Boulder co. the Veach murder makes me think in some ways of the Jonbenet Ramsey case.
    I do not know this mans name, or if what I was told was even true. But there you have it. A good investigater would not have a problem finding these things out.

  20. Scott Long says:

    Has any “reward for information” ever been offered? I will “put up” 10K for anyone who provides information that leads to an arrest/conviction of whomever did this. I’m Lincoln 80′ and did not know Patricia; her name came up on a facebook thread.

    • Linda Summers says:

      You will see that I have recently made a post regarding Patricia Veach. She was my second cousin on my fathers side. I have provided the Des Moines Detective unit with the name of a person I heard threaten Patricias life prior to her murder and other related information that convinced me of his guilt. He is still living in Altoona Iowa but they refuse to do any investigation or testing. If they really cared about this cold case they would pursue this lead. They would rather label me as a nuisance and to quote one dective,” I resent you!” Yes, this is a current detective in the Des Moines Criminal Investigation unit. We are all at their mercy.

  21. Marie says:

    Thank you Lois, I am also a Christian. I hope I could help in some way. I would lie to read her book too. Margaret said Roy changed before he passed, and she honestly believed he was saved. She had prayed for his salvation for years. I myself do not know, if he could be forgiven if he commited this awful crime, unless he sought forgiveness from the family.

    • Lois says:

      Only God can see our hearts and forgive us.

    • Linda says:

      Do you realize that Roy and Margaret have living family. I have contacted police with the name of the person who killed Patricia but they will not listen. shame on you for your judgement you have made using hearsay and degrading two beautiful people who are now gone and not here to defend themselves. Who are you to judge their Christianity?

      • Marie says:

        Sorry Linda, I know it is hard to hear things about your grandpa, I am glad you escaped with out harm. As did I, but some didn’t.
        What Lois wrote is no supposition, neither were the bloody shorts, or my sister.

  22. Lois says:

    Marie
    Life is strange and the Lord speaks to us in such special ways. I can’t remember how I came across this website. How ever I am studying this book by Stormie Omaritian a Christian woman. It is on emotional healing and each week you deal with different things in your life. I was telling a friend of mine about what happened to me and my sister when we were young in order to deal with the pain and to let it go for ever. As circumstance would have it the lord placed your article in my life. Thank you Marie for helping me to find closure. I remember Patricia’s death well. I believe I was about 19 ys. old. I remember David getting married to a girl I went to school with at Lincoln high however we never knew each other. It saddens me to think of all the lives Uncle Roy affected. I hope they all find peace with it someday.
    May God Bless you Marie
    Lois Fetters Sears

  23. Marie says:

    Lois children don’t realize it is going to happen to any one else, they think it is just them, they often blame themselves, because that is what they are told, they are often to scared to tell any one, and very often they are not believed when they do tell.
    Margaret knew what Roy was, she warned all of us girls, As a little girl I stayed at there house with the girl they adopted, Margaret always had us lock the bedroom door, and we were told not to come out of that room at night for any reason. As a mother, and older now, I do not understand my mother allowing us to visit there with out parents with us, or stay over night. I would never allow my daughter to spend any time there.

  24. Lois says:

    Yes I remember Paul what a shame this all happened and no one knew. I’m so sorry to hear that Paul is no longer with us he was always so good to us as kids. Uncle Roy was a pervert just no one at that time talked about it especially us kids. Who would have believed us. I am a christian women and when I found out he had finally passed away I was grateful. I don’t know if he had any thing to do with the crime but it would have been so easy for him… Justice will be made if not in this life time it will be in the next. I’m so sorry if you were affected by this man.

    Blessings,
    Lois Fetters Sears
    9284461707

  25. Lois says:

    It was uncle Roy

  26. I would hope there is DNA retrieved in regard to this precious child Patricia Veatch? Sooo sad to think we have the technology yet it cost so much to use it…let the blindfold on Lady Justice be stripped away once & for all in all of these cases. My heart just breaks having recently found your page <3

  27. Wendy Holman, officials haven’t told us why they chose not to prosecute Howard Randolph, but there’s another similar case right now (the Frances Bloomfield murder – her husband John was arrested and charged) where the trial keeps being postponed bc John is allegedly in “poor heath.” (It’s now continued until Jan. 2015!) Were that not bad enough, a judge released him from Iowa’s custody and allowed him to return to his St. Paul, Minn. home while awaiting trial. Bloomfield’s DNA was found on one of the ligatures used to bind his wife’s body, plus on the duct tape used to wrap her body in two large black trash bags. Like Howard, John will likely die before ever standing trial. It isn’t fair to the victim or his/her loved ones when defense attorneys use the “sick plea” strategy to delay prosecution; the killers do eventually die without ever being held accountable for their heinous crimes. Cases like these will always remain open “in name only,” and there’s nothing more investigators can do bc they know they “had the person responsible.” Detectives who doggedly tracked down evidence & lined up witnesses must also feel an incredible sense of injustice when prosecution/defense negotiations drag out so long the suspect eventually dies. My heart goes out to you and your sisters. Would one of you be interested in writing a guest blog post for ICC about what it’s like being forced to live (the rest of your lives) knowing justice can now never be served? I’d love to get your input on how one learns to live/cope with that kind of knowledge. All my very best to you, Jody at ICC

  28. Wendy Holman says:

    Iowa Cold Cases, can you tell me why Howard Randolph was never prosecuted for Lillian Randolph’s 1965 murder? the state had enough evidence in 1987 & a district attorney even contacted me about testifying at the trial. but nothing happened.
    later, I was told the state chose to not waste the $$ because Randolph was dying! if true, what you just said are empty words.

  29. Amy Hintz, though your comment about the IA DCI’s Cold Case Unit losing (federal) funding is true, it’s not true that they’re no longer looking into these unsolved cases. DCI Special Agent Mike Motsinger was recently quoted as saying: “Although federal grant funding for the DCI Cold Case Unit was exhausted in December 2011, the DCI continues 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.” In addition to this Facebook page, the victims’ stories are also told in more depth on the iowacoldcases.org website. While we are not a law enforcement agency, we do work as a liaison b/w LE and those who contact us with known info, and we regularly share those details/tips with the respective investigating agencies. These victims and cases have not been abandoned, as is evident by the number of recent arrests (some in decades-old cases) and trials. The DCI is doing a phenomenal job despite having lost its Cold Case Unit funding, and our hope, like yours, is that funding will soon be restored so they can do even more DNA testing and close even more cases.

  30. Amy Hintz says:

    They haven’t re-opened this cold case Ross Grandanette – the Iowa dept. lost their funding. All there is anymore is this Facebook page to try to help the victims and families. Until they get funded, no one is looking into these unsolved cold cases in Iowa.

  31. Beth Cameron says:

    Read the book “It’s Me Edward Wayne Edwards The serial killer you never heard of” Available at coldcasecameron.com

  32. thanks for re- profiling this case.

  33. Prayers to her family.

  34. Thoughts and prayers for this family.^^^ I really hope that justice can be served someday for this girl.

  35. My prayers and thoughts with the family and friends. Please help them get justice.

  36. Beth Clymer says:

    Blessings to her brother Billy Veach. So sorry for their loss…

  37. Dave says:

    Does anyone in this case remember a person that wore a purple vest (or blue) with a long sleeve white shirt with ruffles and dark unruly long hair.

  38. To JAB and everyone else commenting on this cold case…Thank you for your comments and continuing to visit and think about Patricia. If you have information, no matter how big or small, that you wish to share but you’re uneasy about contacting law enforcement, you may contact us and even remain anonymous. Until the person or persons, man or woman, is/are brought to justice for the sexual assault and murder of young Patricia Veach, this will remain an unsolved homicide. She would be 53 years old this year.

    We want everyone to post comments and when you do please remember that the family members and friends of the victim are reading what you write. Iowa Cold Cases honors Patricia’s life – the spirit and happiness she brought to everyone who knew her and we continue to offer our sincere condolences to her family and friends. Thanks again, everyone ~Kerry at Iowa Cold Cases

  39. JAB says:

    I was only nine at the time and this murder still bothers me to this day. I collaborate the story posted by Marie Derrey. As a little girl I remember my aunt saying she found bloody clothes in her basement, my aunt being married to Patricia’s uncle. This is the first I have seen her picture and what a beautiful little girl she was. So sad the killer has never been brought to justice and closure provided to her family.

  40. Marie says:

    I never believed the father or brother had anything to do with this childs death.
    After all these years of believing we knew who did this, I now have serious doubts.
    I was told by a member of the veach family of an other member of the family that tried to molest another little girl in the family, This person said he was also at the party the night the child died.

    He was one who would know the boy was staying with the grandparents, and also the dog would have gotten use to him through the evening, He could well have slipped drugs in the parents last drink of the evening. I was told he left town a few days after this crime occured. There are at least three people in that family that know who he is. They should speak to the police, but then again they may be afraid to do so. he was not from Ireland.
    I talked to the police and the man I spoke to said the DNA was to degraded to get anything from. While I do not believe Bill Veach is guilty in any way. I do believe it was amember of the Veach family, and surely they would want this man caught.
    I wish the family memeber I spoke to, would come foreward. it is frightening to have some one who could do such a thing, still free in our society.

  41. Theresa says:

    Obviously the person who did this had been in the house before, being it was dark and having to know which room she was in, staying silent so the dog didn’t hear anything from the basement. The blood is troubling because it sounds like there was more than just a deflowering.

  42. Laurie Fleming says:

    Trisha was my childhood best friend and there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of her. I will NEVER forget the day this happened. I was 10 years old – that is such a young age to deal with something so tragic. We considered ourselves as family and to this day I still refer to her parents as my Auntie & Uncle and her brother Billy as my cousin.
    I am so thankful that Uncle Bill & Billy have both been cleared by DNA – I always knew that they had NEVER done this to their daughter/sister. People are so low, insensitve, uncaring to even suspect this.
    Rest in peace my cousin Trisha. You are always in my heart. Til we meet again.
    I love you!

  43. Patty Van Pilsum says:

    Martin,

    Thank You for the education on your last statement..I greatly appreciated it.

    I would like to add to my last statement posted, I had always heard through that “family grapevine” …that Patricia’s mother was from Ireland, so it wasnt that big of a deal to hear of Irish house guests,

    However that unsetteling situation regarding the car salesman will always remain..

    Patty Jo

  44. Martin says:

    I am no expert on these matters but years agho I ran across references to the fact that Ireland has organized crime families, much as the Mafia does. Some of these groups have a reach into America; even into law enforcement. They deal mostly in con games but are dangerous people to run afoul of. If one of their own was involved in this, it may account for some of the questions. One constant in crime research is to look for anything happening justn beforehand that was out of the ordinary- having houseguests from Ireland would be, I would think.

  45. Patty Van Pilsum says:

    I had enquired in an earlier statement regarding any guests that were from Ireland that may have been at the Veach residence at there get together the night of Patricia’s murder for two reasons, one reason was due to a family grapevine that some of the guests were from Ireland and that police were speculating that the murder might have left the country, this information was past of “the family grapevine”. the other reason for my statement was that I had an odd conversation with a car salesman at a car dealership in WDM IA, my uncle, ex husband and myself were car shopping, while we were waiting for a credit report to come back the car salesman looked at the back of my uncles credit card and then looked at me and asked if I was related to Patty Veach, he an undisturbed Irish accent… I said yes, and then my uncle spoke up and told the car salesman that Veach’s East Side Fish Market was family owned, in part by our family, and also her family…the car salesman responded to all of us that her death was a terrible tragedy, and we all agreed..we decided against a car purchase that day…I found the car salesmans statement to be unsetteling, I thought it was unprofessional of him and odd timing, and I was un easy because he looked at me when he asked that question…I know it has been a’long time since I had this encounter with this Irish car salesman, but as I said earlier, it was an unsetteling moment..

  46. jolene says:

    Has the family considered having a paranormal team come in and investagate and see if they can get answers from the girl?! Its far fetched but what have they got to lose it may work wont know tell u try!

  47. Bwadle says:

    To Martin it was the screen door that was cut from the inside.

  48. Martin says:

    If we assume the DNA cleared the family members, we still are left with the issue of the screen being cut from inside. I was thinking this over and it occurs to me that an intruder might have chosen to exit the house through that window. Maybe he got in earlier and had been hiding, maybe in the basement. I doubt Law Enforcement could go back and check neighbors families’ DNA at this late date but it might prove interesting.

    • Lee VanderLinden says:

      Martin – give it a rest – enough already.

      • Martin says:

        Lee, well, I don’t know how to respond to you or if I even should. You seem to think I am insensitive to even make any comments- why, I wonder? I don’t see you making this sort of statement to other posters. I have the same right to post as you do. No, I will not shut up and go away. But neither will I be irresponsible and make pointless speculations, which I don’t think I am doing. I just threw out a possible suggestion as to what happened. If this bothers you so much, maybe you should quit reading this thread. There seem to be others who do want to discuss this. I am sorry for your pain and assure you I mean well.

    • Patty Van Pilsum says:

      I was wondering if any of the guests at the Veaches Party the night before were from Ireland since I have heard this through the family, and I was wondering if any of them had been questioned in connection with this Murder Case

  49. Cheryl Gable Fontanini says:

    In addition, the police have done DNA testing on evidence from the scene, and both Mr. Veach and Billy were CLEARED.

  50. Cheryl Gable Fontanini says:

    My sister Kay was Tricia’s best friend. I can assure you, Tricia’s father and brother had NOTHING to do with her murder. My sister spent many sleep-overs at the Veach house and has stated that Tricia’s family was/is very caring and loving. Please stop wasting your time with horrible accusations about Tricia’s father and brother. This poor family has suffered enough.

    • Bwadle says:

      Wouldn’t life be simple if we could determine if someone is good or bad by how caring and loving they might act in public. All of our children would be safe. Attorneys would be out of work. There are many people who are involved in the church, summer camps, priest, etc. that have committed horrible crimes. One can’t rule out someone just because they show a loving and caring behavior.

  51. Patty Van Pilsum says:

    Patty Van Pilsum

    And since some of the family members have been deceased for 15 years and possibly even longer, I am assuming that a family member signed a release for the DNA to be tested of the deceased family.

    2011 is a long time to wait for DNA testing surrounding the murder of this little girl…

    • Marie says:

      The problem is this, they can’t exclude even a family member by family DNA. Even back 2 generations. People would take in orphan kids and raise them as their own. Or women could get pregnant by another man, and raise the child has her husbands.
      It happened more often than people know.
      So Roys DNA and Pauls DNA would have to be tested as individual test. So there is no way to exclude them.

  52. Patty Van Pilsum says:

    Patty Van Pilsum

    I agree with Marie Derry and share her thoughts on the uncle in the Patricia Veach family.

    I was wondering if the information on the DNA provided by willing family members is public and whom I would contact to view it, I also recently read an old article on this case that stated lie detector tests were being issued..
    I am wondering if that information is public also and where one might view that as well.

    I have always thought the Dad and the Uncle were both directly involved with that precious childs murder.

  53. Patty Van Pilsum says:

    I was wondering if the evidence provided by a family member is public.
    I would alsolike to know how long ago this volunteer by family members to provide DNA to the authorities took place.

    I agree with Marie Derry on the uncle in the family.

    I have always believed that the uncle and the father both may have had something to do with this childs murder.

  54. Terry Z says:

    I was a classmate of Patricia’s and I remember the summer when she was killed very well. I have had also the pleasure of meeting and talking to her brother. I was terrified as any 10 year old would be. And after talking to Bill I can’t even begin to imagine how hard it was for the family. He told me a few months ago that after all these years they finally cleared him his father and an uncle. For forty years these folks not only had to endure the loss of Patricia but the finger pointing and behind the back whispers. I am saddened that things like this happen more frequently now that we are supposed to be older and wiser. I also hope that if the one who did this is caught. If not may they burn in the hereafter. My sincere condolences to the Veach Family I was not able to do that 41 years ago but I have never forgooten

  55. Martin says:

    Lee,

    It was never my intent nor do I think was it the intent of anyone posting on this case to create anguish for the family. I am truly sorry if anything I said had that effect. You must however understand; I cannot speak for the other posters but although so much time has elapsed we still want justice for this little girl. I would think at least you could appreciate that. No it is not a chat site, it is so far as I know a discussion board, that is what I felt we were doing. Part of discussion is to throw out all possibilities, if only to eliminate them. Sadly in many cases a family member is involved. Please, do not take offense when possibilities are simply aired.
    IMO, I do not believe any family was involved in this tragic case.

  56. Lee VanderLinden says:

    To the people who have responded in the past few week, really this isn’t a chat site. Did you actually read the above article word for word. Did you stop to think of the anguish that the family has gone through and is now going through because of your senseless comments?
    sign me LVL, friend of the Veach family.

  57. Martin says:

    Were all family members’ DNA tested against the sample? Earlier someone mentioned an uncle that was susect, if he were related by marriage only, and is deceased, couldn’t he still be a suspect? Or, was a test run using one of his children? There’s a lot we do not know here.
    I had never heard about the screen being cut from inside; that makes you go hmmm. It would suggest someone trying to make it look as if there had been a break in.

  58. Jim A says:

    I’ve never heard of any DNA test being done??? I heard evidence was lost in a flood too….. I guess after 40 years stories grow taller on down the line.

    I wish they would find the piece of scum, but he may already be dead.

    • Sanderson says:

      I also understood DNA testing was never done because of the above statement. I Also heard any evidence was lost in a flood.

      • Sanderson says:

        The family lived in a very very small home. From what I remember the brother had been sleeping on the porch but had stayed the night with his grandmother that night. The parents had a few people over that evening for drinks. When the child was found the screen had been cut but the screen had been cut from the inside of the house. It makes you wonder was the screen cut from the inside of the house by someone who had left that night with knowledge the brother was gone and to re-enter or was it cut from the inside to look as if someone had broke in? In those years my family would go on vacation for 2 weeks at a time and not even lock our doors. That stopped after this very sad sad tragedy.

        • Sanderson says:

          It just makes me wonder because the home was so very small that anyone would have had the guts to even attempt coming in and committing such a crime in fear of being

          heard.

        • Cindy says:

          The brother was not sleeping on the porch. I don’t know where you got your information but his room was in the basement.

        • Caitlin says:

          I think it was the fetter brothers that left the state when they found Helen Wimber (aunt of Patricia)
          Talking to the police about it they tried finding them for years and they kept moving and finally died at the age of 87 and they where 18 or 19 when they did it

  59. S.Anderson says:

    The screen was cut from the inside of the house

    • Marie says:

      If the one did it, that I believe did it, he would be dmart enough to cut the screen from the inside as a frame. No one who commits such a crime is going to cut yhe screen from inside the house.
      Thay would have to be a moron to do that.
      It just convices me all the more , that Bill did not do this to his daughter.
      But is something a cop would think of, if he were trying to place suspsion on Bill.
      I still pray that this case be solved.

  60. Jim A says:

    My inlaws were very close to the Veach family and they are convince the dad did it.
    Patricia played in our neighborhood, I was 10 when she was killed and it scared the hell out of me… Wish they had DNA back then.

    • Sanderson says:

      In the 60’s there was no legal obligation upon the accused to provide a blood sample, nor was there any lawful means by which the police could obtain one without his concent. In fact, the court emphasized there was no statutory authority by which the police could obtain a warrant to seize a bodily substance from an accused for the purposes of DNA testing. Defence counsel could properly advise their clients not to submit to DNA testing voluntarely and any police action to seize bodily samles without consent would be considered illegal. The evidence was inadmissible

  61. Martin says:

    Marie, right now, you need to call the Des Moines police. If I were betting, your aunt or even your mom never did so at the time. It’s too late for justice but it’s never too late to try to provide some measure of closure to the girl’s family.
    Making a call like this is very difficult. I live in the Omaha area and have been researching the murders of Thomas Hunter and Shirlee Sherman in March 2008. I was sitting on information for months nbot wanting to make then referral because it seemed to point toward one of the boy’s family, but have done so. Sometimes we have to do these things, if only to lay matters to rest. Please, do the right thing and God bless.

  62. Marie Derrey says:

    Was all of the girls uncles questioned and cleared. My Aunt was married to one of them. He had a reputation in our family as a molester.
    My mother told me, that a few days after the death of this child, my Aunt called her and told her she found a pair of mens bloody under wear hid in her basement.
    Mom said, she told her sister to call the police, and she would be right over to her house to give moral support.
    When she arrived my aunt told her she had burnt the shorts because she was afraid they would blame her husband.
    I thought mom said she had called the police any way. I always wondered why nothing came of that call, does any one know if that call was ever made?
    They are all passed away now, but ever one in our family knew of this happening way back at the time of the childs death.

    • Lois says:

      Which Uncle are you talking about? I am related to the family and I have been in misused by one of my uncles but he is dead now.
      Lois Sears

      • Marie says:

        name was Roy And he is passed. Which uncle was it, I understand some family members are afraid to name one of the molesters in the Veach family, But if he is passed on no need to be afraid now. Please speak up.

        • Lois says:

          It was Uncle Roy. He drank most of the time. I think his wifes name was margaret I”m not sure. he was uncle Arthur’s brother.

          • Marie Derrey says:

            I am very sorry you had to live through, and with it all of these years. We new he was amolester because he molested my sister when she was a baby, and tried again when she was a little older, but by that time she was old enough to stop him, only because Margaret was in the house. Margaret was my mothers twin sister. My younger brother also said he was lmolested by Roy and His adopted son Paul Veach, If Paul had committed this crime, his DNA would not show any relation ship to the veach family. I don’t Know if Paul had been screened or not. He would have been about twenty one at the time. Some say the DNA proved it was not a memeber of the Veach family, but the officer I spoke to said the DNA was to degraded to get results, But Paul veach’s DNA would show up as not being a memeber of the Veach family. But wither the police new that or not. I don;t know, He is dead now also.

  63. Martin says:

    Were any of the neighbors ever questioned as suspects? There was one acquantance of my parents who lived next door to the murder scene whom I recall as being a bit strange; my family always said they wondered if he did it.

    • Jody Ewing says:

      Martin, I’m fairly certain the police would have questioned most of the neighbors, but I’m intrigued about this neighbor. We wouldn’t want to publicly name names here on the site, but if you have more information would you be willing to send it along in an e-mail? If you click on the Contact link in the menu bar, you can either fill out the form or use the e-mail links given on the page’s top right side. This was such a sad, tragic case, but even after 42 years, I believe it’s possible to still be solved. Thanks for contacting us!
      Jody

    • Cheryl Luzinski says:

      I would look into all those who were part of or attended her uncle’s wedding ceremony. I don’t believe that her being a flower girl at that wedding ceremony and her subsequent rape/murder (only 2 weeks later) is a coincidence – do you? I’d especially look at anyone who had paid a bit too much (inappropriate?) attention to her during/after the ceremony. Any known (or rumored to be) pedophiles related to or friends of the aunt & uncle’s family?

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