Warren County in Iowa
Norwalk in Warren County
Janet LaFratte
Homicide
Janet LaFratte
35 YOA
Norwalk, IA
Warren County
Case # 73-00272
June 20, 1973
On June 20, 1973, Janet LaFratte was reported missing by her husband at 5:30 p.m. At 8 p.m. her body was found floating in a farm pond behind the LaFratte home.
Undetermined – “Very Suspicious”
Tamara Lynn Lass
10 days old
Norwalk, IA
Warren County
March 1, 1988
On Tuesday, March 1, 1988, Teri Lass claimed she found her 10-day-old daughter, Tamara Lynn, unresponsive, and the child was later pronounced dead. Authorities were first led to believe the baby died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, but State Medical Examiner Thomas Bennett said, “In any of these cases of a sudden death for a very small child, anyone less than three weeks of age, you have to be very suspicious because usually SIDS doesn’t occur in that first two- or three-week period of life.” Bennett listed the cause of death as “undetermined” — which left the case open for future prosecution if warranted — and perhaps rightly so; less than four years after 10-day-old Tamara’s untimely death, the Lass’s 6-day-old son, Shane Lass, was murdered. (See below.)
Shane Lass
Homicide
Shane Alex Lass
6 days old
Norwalk, IA
Warren County
February 19, 1992
On Wednesday, February 19, 1992, Teri Lass claimed her 6-day-old son, Shane, was kidnapped from her unlocked car outside the Norwalk post office while she was inside buying stamps. The baby’s body – clothed only in a diaper despite the freezing temperatures – was discovered the following afternoon in a garbage bag placed inside a cardboard box in a rural ditch just south of Norwalk. Shane had died from injuries to the head. Mark and Teri Lass had an infant daughter, Tamara Lass, who died unexpected at 10 days old. Her case also remains unsolved.
Arlys Ponce
Homicide
Arlys Darlene Ponce
42 YOA
Norwalk, IA (Warren County)
Case # 97-10958
October 8, 1997
On October 8, 1997 at approximately 3:15 p.m., Arlys Ponce was seen lying on the floor when her son peered through a window. The son contacted a neighbor, telling her he couldn’t get into the house but that he could see his mother lying on the floor. The neighbor contacted the police, who entered the residence and discovered Arlys Ponce had been beaten and stabbed.
Bill and Kay Wood
Homicide / Missing Person
James William “Bill” Wood, 79
Kaidena “Kay” Wood, 72
2698 Highway R-63
Norwalk, IA
Warren County
July 30, 2011
Bill and Kay Wood’s rural Norwalk home burned on Saturday night, July 30, 2011, after the couple attended an auction in Stuart, Iowa. A body discovered in the home’s charred remains was identified as 79-year-old Bill Wood. His wife, Kay, has not yet been found.
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