Courtesy photo Shannon Salmons Jay Grahlman with daughter Jaymie I always know this day is coming long before it arrives. With a list of unsolved cases now at 615, one would think it would be difficult to keep them all straight. With some — where few details are available — the answer would be yes. […]
Today’s anniversary tribute is written by Jessica Raleigh, whose mother, Delores “Toni” Hornung was shot to death in their Keokuk, Iowa home on Valentine’s Day 1999. Jessica posted the following comment on her mother’s case summary page: “I am Toni’s daughter and it has been very hard living without my mother, and the fact that we […]
During this holiday season, Iowa Cold Cases would like to thank the many friends and family members of all our lost loved ones for taking the time to write to us, to comment on a case or send along photos that helped us make a loved one’s story more complete. Your correspondence not only helped […]
Today’s guest blog is written by Shannon Salmons, mother to 6-year-old cold case victim Jaymie Grahlman. Today, Jaymie — called ‘sis’ by her brothers and her mother — would have celebrated her 15th birthday. Below is a letter Shannon wrote to her daughter, followed by a poem chosen as a memorial. If You Were Still […]
Today, on the 8th anniversary of the day 30-year-old Corey Poffenberger left many lives, we have two very special tributes written by his family. The first tribute is written by Corey’s mother, Cindy Poffenberger, and the second by Corey’s sister, Kelli Sims. They have shared with us not only their heartfelt and moving memorials, but […]
All were young. They should have been just getting settled into careers, raising children, discovering challenges and rewards that accompany adulthood. Instead, they all went missing under mysterious circumstances, leaving in the wake families still left wondering what happened to their loved ones. Richard Neil Forsyth was only 27 when he disappeared October 18, 1979. […]
Ruth “Ruthie” Kingery-Pohlmeier has already missed eight birthdays: the first one on August 1, 2004, and the eighth one today, August 1, 2011 — the day she would have turned 45 years old. The last birthday she’d celebrated was her 37th, and there would be no more. On Sunday evening, April 25, 2004, her body was […]
She’d been just 17 when she lost her mother in 1981. The following year, her 52-year-old father died at the Madrid Home for the Aging. Perhaps the young Ronette (Peterson) Burton wanted to leave the past behind. Some time in the mid-eighties, Peterson, 22, left her Madrid, Iowa, home for unknown locations in Georgia and […]
My sister Valerie Peterson was killed 40 years ago today. It is still my hope that a task force pulled from Iowa law enforcement, legislators and community groups will be formed in Iowa, as it has been done in other states, to examine and put forth best practices in Iowa for the prioritization of cold cases, evidence extraction and bulk evidence […]
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