As the eldest of seven siblings, Maureen Brubaker would babysit for her six younger siblings whenever their parents, David and Mary Ann Brubaker of Sioux City, Iowa, decided to go out. David and Mary Ann knew what a challenge that job could be, but always told the children they’d make it worth their while if […]
This cold case “Anniversary” blog post was written by an ICC volunteer using the material from Jody Ewing’s Case Summary on Jane Wakefield. Every year, scientific methods at DCI labs advance significantly. Cases once thought to be colder than cold now have a chance for resolution. The tiniest amount of DNA, fabric, or hair can […]
As part of the ongoing “Cold Case Thursdays” series, WHO-TV Channel 13’s Aaron Brilbeck will report tonight on the unsolved August 1997 Julie Bell Davis slaying. Davis, a 33-year-old Marion, Iowa, mother of two, was found August 28, 1997, in the Skyline Display’s satellite office in east downtown Des Moines where she worked. Her throat […]
On July 17, 2000 — 10 years ago today — 22-year-old Mount Pleasant resident Elizabeth “Liz” Nicole Forshee-Syperda disappeared from her East Madison Street apartment sometime between 10:30 p.m. and 4:00 a.m. She left behind all her belongings and never claimed her last paycheck or accessed her bank account again. Her roommate — who was at […]
On Thursday, June 10, the Mount Vernon-Lisbon Sun featured a story about the Iowa Cold Cases website, and spoke with ICC’s co-administrator Ms. Bowers about the unsolved murder of Lisbon resident Marlene Padfield as well our organization’s commitment to providing every resource available to help solve cases like Marlene’s. “You can shake loose a memory […]
Ruth Ann Kingery-Pohlmeier had an abundant smile and zest for life, always looking to find the good in all who crossed paths with her. Her trusting heart may have been what led to her death. On Sunday evening, April 25, 2004, her body was found wrapped in a blanket next to the AMF Des Moines Lanes […]
Thirty-four years ago on a cold Friday night, March 26, 1976, Alice Mae Van Alstine — a former “Minutemen” sympathizer who’d recently abandoned the right-wing paramilitary organization — tucked her children into bed at their 29th Street Des Moines apartment and then vanished into thin air, never to be seen nor heard from again. Her […]
As I continue adding and updating pages on the Iowa Cold Cases website, I’m constantly amazed at the number of young women killed either on their way to work or after leaving work, and sometimes, even while still on the job. And while victimology studies and reports often help profilers and investigators track down offenders, […]
She was bright, beautiful, spunky and ambitious, and always eager to get out and meet people and make things happen. She had a zany laugh and quick smile, designed and sewed her own dresses, loved live music and the weekly Top 100 Countdown. She also was an avid reader — Nancy Drew mysteries were a […]
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