Webster County in Iowa

Webster County in Iowa

Cold Cases in Webster County, Iowa

*Please Note: The cases listed below are within Webster 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.

 

Homicide
William Freimuth
71 YOA
Case # 61-00355
Fawkes Standard Service Station
Highway 20
Fort Dodge, Iowa
Webster County
February 16, 1961

William Freimuth, a 71-year-old Fort Dodge gas station attendant, was shot in the back of the head around 9 p.m. on Thursday, February 16, 1961, by an assailant who took $140 from the cash register.


Angela Altman (right) with daughter Jessica

Angela Altman (right) with daughter Jessica

Homicide
Angela Marie Altman
22 YOA
215 S. 7th Street
Fort Dodge, IA
Webster County
Case # 81-00528
January 24, 1981

Twenty-two-year-old Angela Marie Altman was found dead on the kitchen floor of her Fort Dodge home by her sister on Saturday afternoon, January 24, 1981. Also found inside the residence was Angela’s 4-year-old daughter, Jessica Marie, who was unharmed.


Marvin Brandland

Marvin Brandland

Homicide
Marvin C. Brandland
69 YOA
Ninth Ave. South
Fort Dodge, IA
Webster County
Case # 82-05814
October 30, 1982

On October 30, 1982, Marvin Brandland, 69, was confronted at his Fort Dodge, Iowa, home by a masked “trick-or-treater” brandishing a gun who said “Trick or treat. Give me your money or I’ll shoot.” Believing it was a Halloween prank, Brandland reached for the gun and was shot by the masked man.


Sandra Vanderhoef

Sandra Vanderhoef

Missing Person
Sandra S. Vanderhoef
Age at Report: 42
Missing From: Webster County, IA
Missing Since: September 22, 1986

Sandra Vanderhoef was reported missing to the Webster County Sheriff’s Office in Fort Dodge on September 22, 1986.

 

 


Homicide
Bertha Mae Foy
18 YOA
Fort Dodge, IA
Webster County
August 9, 1987

Bertha Mae Foy was killed in Fort Dodge on August 9, 1987. Two men were questioned in her murder, but neither was charged.


Lisa McCuddin

Lisa McCuddin

Homicide
Lisa Ann McCuddin
23 YOA
Fort Dodge, IA
Webster County
October 2, 2004

On October 2, 2004, Lisa Ann McCuddin was shot and killed while riding as a passenger in a vehicle on its way to a Fort Dodge motel. Officials initially were called to Trinity Regional Medical Center in Fort Dodge where a man had gone after reporting being shot at the Holiday Inn. But when police got to the Holiday Inn to investigate the shooting, a car pulled into the parking lot driven by a man who said he and a female passenger had just been shot while driving to the hotel.


Gregory Howell

Gregory Howell

Missing Person/Suspected Homicide
Gregory J. Howell
Age at Report: 44
Missing From: Fort Dodge, IA
Webster County
Missing Since: January 1, 2005

Gregory Howell was reported missing to the Fort Dodge Police Department on New Year’s Day 2005. Officials and family members suspect he was killed over a drug deal.
 


Roger Brown

Roger Brown

Homicide
Roger Alan Brown
55 YOA
200 blk of 8th St. SW
Dayton, IA
Webster County
September 29, 2015

Roger Alan Brown, 55, was found shot to death inside his trailer in the 200 block of Eighth Street SW in Dayton, Iowa, on Wednesday morning, September 30, 2015. The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation was called in to assist. the Iowa Office of the State Medical Examiner in Ankeny ruled Brown’s death a homicide and the date of death as Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2015.


Wendel Clark

Wendel Clark

Homicide
Wendel Clark
30 YOA
10 block of Fourth Ave. NW
Fort Dodge, IA
Wester County
October 7, 2015

Wendel Clark, 30, of Fort Dodge, Iowa, died Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2015, of two gunshot wounds after being shot in the driver’s seat of his car about a block from his home. The state medical examiner’s office ruled his death a homicide.


Don Preston

Donald Preston

Homicide — Arrest Made
Donald E. Preston
51 YOA
Found in farm field
Fort Dodge, IA
Webster County
December 26, 2016

Donald Edward Preston, 51, had been missing for two weeks when his body was found in a rural farm field southwest of Fort Dodge, Iowa, on Monday, Dec. 26, 2016. Preston had been shot, and the Iowa Office of the State Medical Examiner ruled the manner of death as homicide.

Christopher Todd Johnson, 49, of Cedar Rapids, was arrest Feb. 2, 2023, and charged with first-degree murder in Preston’s death.

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