Clarence in Cedar County
Cedar County in Iowa
Sandra Jo Pittman
Homicide
Sandra Jo Pittman — SOLVED
17 YOA
Highway 30 Rest Area
Clarence, IA (Cedar County)
September 17, 1980
At 8 a.m. Sept. 17, 1980, 17-year-old Sandra Jo Pittman’s body was found at a Highway 30 rest area one mile east of Clarence in Cedar County. The teen died from a blow to the head with a pipe or tire iron sometime between midnight and 7 a.m. Investigators believed she was killed elsewhere and dumped at the rest area.
Nearly 20 years later, Dean Ray Tumey, 53, of Knoxville, Iowa — who would have been around 34 at the time of the crime — was charged with first-degree murder in Pittman’s death. On Oct. 1, 1999, a Cedar County jury deadlocked on Tumey’s culpability, voting 7-5 for acquittal before giving up on ever reaching a unanimous verdict.
Tumey spent a total of nine months in jail before a second Cedar County District Court jury exonerated him in Pittman’s murder. Jurors deliberated for eight hours before returning the not guilty verdict on Tuesday, Feb. 8, 2000.
THis case was solved, but the jury found the killer not guilty.
Keith, thanks so much for your comment. Though it was noted on Sandra Jo’s page that the case was solved, I’ve added the details about Dean Ray Tumey’s acquittal on this page as well as the Cedar County page.
In instances where cases had been cold for some time before being solved, I keep the case information on the website because readers (as well as researchers) are often interested in how they eventually came to be solved.
Thank you for your service in law enforcement!