Monona County

Cold Cases in Monona County, Iowa

 
Please Note: Some of these cases may fall under a city police department’s jurisdiction. They are listed here for cross-reference purposes. For more information, please visit the individual victim’s case summary page.
 

Homicide
George Earl Dean
55 YOA
Mapleton, IA
Monona County
Case # 66-00722
June 29, 1966

On Wednesday evening, June 29, 1966, George Earl Dean was found deceased in the street in front of his Mapleton, Iowa home. Dean had suffered fractured facial bones and fractured ribs on the left side, leading officials to first believe he had been struck by a car.

Earl Thelander

Earl Thelander
80 YOA
Crime Location: 20877 Gum Ave.
Onawa, Iowa (Monona County)
Case # 07-SO0855
Date of Crime: August 28, 2007
Date of Death: Sept. 1, 2007

Earl Thelander of Onawa, IA, died September 1, 2007 from burns sustained in an August 28 house explosion caused by copper thieves who’d stripped propane gas lines from the home and let it fill with gas. Earl and his wife Hope had purchased the rural property from Hope’s mother and recently deceased father, and had been readying the home for a new renter.

Brenda Dailey

Homicide
Brenda Ann Dailey
53 YOA
702 Monona Street
Mapleton, IA
Monona County
August 24, 2015

Brenda Dailey, 53, was badly beaten in her Mapleton, Iowa, home on Monday, Aug. 24, 2015, and then allegedly pushed down her basement stairs. According to a press release issued Tuesday by the Iowa Department of Public Safety, the Mapleton Police Department received a 911 call for an unresponsive female at 702 Monona Street in Mapleton on Monday, Aug. 24, at approximately 10:30 a.m. After police, paramedics, and first responders arrived, Brenda Dailey of Mapleton was transported by medical helicopter to Mercy Hospital in Sioux City where she later died.

Daniel Hieber

Homicide
Daniel Hieber
58 YOA
823 Main Street
Mapleton, IA
Monona County
September 20, 2015

Daniel “Dan” Hieber, 58, of Castana, Iowa, was found unresponsive and near death at the bottom of a staircase in a Mapleton residence early on Sunday, Sept. 20, 2015. The woman who owned the residence said he’d fallen down the steps. An ambulance transported Hieber to Mercy Medical Center in Sioux City, where he was pronounced dead. Hieber’s suspicious “falling down the steps” death was the second to occur in Mapleton in less than a month.