Benton County in Iowa
*Please Note: The cases listed below are within Benton County but may fall under a city police department’s jurisdiction. They are included here for cross-reference purposes. More specific information may be found on each victim’s individual page.
Myrtle Cook
Homicide
Myrtle Cook
51 YOA
703 Third Ave.
Vinton, IA
Benton County
September 7, 1925
Myrtle Cook, a Klanswoman and President of the Benton County Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U.), was shot and killed on September 7, 1925, after publicizing the names of suspected bootleggers.
Homicide
James Charles Huff, Jr.
26 YOA
Vinton, IA
Benton County
Case Number: 77-00102
January 1, 1977
On his 26th birthday, November 24, 1976, James Charles Huff, Jr. began a new job as a hired hand working for Lindsey Edgar “Ed” Huelsenbeck northeast of Shellsburg, Iowa. On January 1, 1977, after having suffered a series of “injuries” over several days — including a head wound, skull fracture, bruises and lacerations on his chest, the sides of his arms, legs, and knees — Huff was found unconscious in the Huelsenbeck barn. He was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids and then transferred to University of Iowa Hospitals in Iowa City, where he died four days later on January 5.
Homicide
Charles Plucar
74 YOA
Luzerne, IA
Benton County
Case Number: 77-00373
June 22, 1977
On June 22, 1977, 74-year-old Charles Plucar, a neighborhood handyman who lived alone, was found dead in his home from gunshot wounds.
John Albert Rose
Homicide
John Albert Rose
35 YOA
Vinton, IA
Benton County
Case Number: 78-02418
April 21, 1978
On April 21, 1978, the body of Chicago resident John Albert Rose was found four miles north of Vinton and three miles west of Urbana. He was shot in the head.
Homicide
Amos Wesley Jellison
74 YOA
306 Prospect St. NE
Blairstown, IA
Benton County
DCI Case Number: 81-04503
August 2, 1981
On Sunday night, August 2, 1981, Amos Wesley Jellison, 74, was bludgeoned to death in his Blairstown, Iowa, mobile home.
Homicide
Unidentified Skull
Vinton, IA
Benton County
Case Number: 96-12995
July 28, 1997
On July 28, 1997, a Benton County Deputy submitted a teletype to all agencies nationwide regarding a skull that had been located in Plum Grove Cemetery outside of Vinton, Iowa.
I am a niece of James Bright. Why isn’t he on this list? His nieces and nephews think about him all the time and wish we knew who attacked him.
I believe you already know whom did each one you just need to find more evidence.