Cold Cases in the News – Archives 2008 and Earlier

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GONE COLD: EXPLORING IOWA’S UNSOLVED MURDERS

An ongoing series, published statewide, as part of a partnership between Iowa Cold Cases, the Iowa Newspaper Association, and participating newspapers.

Click or tap on any story title to read the full referenced article.


December 12, 2008
Appanoose County man’s murder remains unsolved
On April 28, 2008, a man was murdered in our community. As logical human beings, we seek comfort in the assumption that an act of this magnitude serves only to punctuate a life full of indiscretions; that surely a man whose life’s light was extinguished so viciously had done something to deserve his fate.


September 5, 2008
Detectives Work on Two Unsolved Murder Cases
DES MOINES — Detectives are working to solve two cases involving elderly women who were murdered in their homes.


August 17, 2008
Iowa cold case proposal in the running for funds
MASON CITY — Television crime show junkies have been watching for five years now as fictional detectives solved cold cases after intense investigation.


August 8, 2008
One year later and still no answers in hit-and-run death of Mark Snopek
BOONE — One year ago today, tragedy struck the Boone community as a hit-and-run accident claimed the life of Mark Snopek, 53, of rural Boone. The incident occurred around 8:53 p.m., while Snopek was riding his bicycle on County Road R18, also known as L Avenue.


August 7, 2008
Tipping point: Polk County Crime Stoppers rely on anonymous tips to solve crimes
DES MOINES — Here’s a tip. Crime only pays when you make an anonymous call to help the police catch the bad guys.


June 21, 2008
Jodi’s journal
MASON CITY — Entries from missing Mason City anchor Jodi Huisentruit’s journal shortly before she disappeared.


June 9, 2008
New ‘Cold Case’ Website Hits Home For Founder
SIOUX CITY — Donna Sue Davis, Terri McCauley, Kenneth Harker. Sadly, these are just a few unsolved murder victims in Sioux City. Now, one Siouxland woman is giving these victims a voice with her website.


May 14, 2008
Inside Edition: Copper Theft
The television newsmagazine reports on the nationwide copper theft epidemic and the death of Earl Thelander of Onawa, Iowa.


May 12, 2008
Family Asks Mystery Killer To Come Forward
CENTERVILLE, Iowa — The family of a man who was shot to death in his southern Iowa home has asked the person who fired the fatal shot to come forward and identify themselves.


May 10, 2008
Remembering Earl Thelander
ONAWA — KTIV Channel 4 Covers Tree-Planting memorial for Cold Case Victim


May 8, 2008
Copper Theft Killing Now a Cold Case Investigation
ONAWA — On the quiet outskirts of town near Onawa, Iowa is the scene of an unsolved and deadly copper crime. Visit the Discussion Forum on this article here.


April 30, 2008
Unsolved Slaying Haunts Retired Bluffs Officer
COUNCIL BLUFFS — Former Council Bluffs Police Sgt. Jerry Mann wishes he could have retired knowing who killed Kimberly Ratliff.


April 30, 2008
Unsolved Cases are Not Forgotten
Russell Neal Sr. has found it impossible to move on since his 16-year-old daughter, Sarah, was gunned down inside the family’s north Omaha home June 21, 2005.


April 29, 2008
Who Shot Chuck Deatsch?
MYSTIC, Iowa — A woman’s 911 call Monday night reported that her husband had been shot, said officials with the Appanoose County Sheriff’s Office.


April 20, 2008
Unsolved murder makes case for DNA, official says
DYERSVILLE — It might be a cold case, but could DNA testing heat up the long-idle investigation of a Dyersville, Iowa, man shot to death in 1984? An official from the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation thinks modern forensics could offer some hope.


March 30, 2008
Finding the lost, naming the unnamed
MASON CITY — It was the year that Michael Jackson introduced “Thriller.” Ronald Reagan was president. “Terms of Endearment” swept the Oscars. It was also the year Grace Esquivel disappeared.


Cold Cases Just Waiting to Happen: The Copper Theft Epidemic
It’s happening in every single state and across the world. Articles on a deadly crime leaving death and destruction in its wake.


March 27, 2008
U.S. News & World Report: Price Hikes Lead to Rash of Metal Thefts
Some robberies have ended in tragedy. In Iowa, someone stealing copper pipes from a farmhouse last August accidentally cut the propane line, filling the house with gas, says Monona County Sheriff Jeffrey Pratt. When the 80-year-old owner tried to plug in a fan, the building exploded and killed him.


March 23, 2008
Iowa to Possibly Add Cold Case Unit
KELOLAND.COM – Over the last five decades, Iowa has accumulated more than 150 unsolved murders. Many of the cold cases remain closed because police either lack the funding to reopen them or are simply busy with recent crimes.


March 18, 2008
Lawmakers consider ‘cold case’ unit for unsolved murders
Iowa moved closer today to the creation of the first statewide unsolved murder cold-case unit when lawmakers included the idea as part of a budget proposal.


December 22, 2007
Family offers $5,000 reward in Earl Thelander death
ONAWA — Doug Thelander said his father was a good man who suffered a painful death because some “low life” broke into his house and stole $20 worth of copper.


November 7, 2007
Renewed Interest in Unsolved Murder Case in Johnson County
IOWA CITY – It has been 12 years since authorities found the body of Susan Kersten in a farm field near her Iowa City home. At first investigators thought the 38-year-old woman died from a car accident. But days later, an autopsy showed someone murdered her. The unsolved murder will soon be back in the public eye.


January 8, 2007
Searching for answers: Area unsolved murders continue to haunt law enforcement officials, families
OTTUMWA — John Robert Hill’s death remains a mystery after 30 years.


June 26, 2006
Investigators say Miller case is not cold
It has been nearly one year since the death of five-year-old Evelyn Miller — and while there’s not been an arrest in the case — Floyd County authorities say they’re keeping a positive attitude about the investigation. Floyd County Attorney Marilyn Dettmer says they’re still looking at every lead that comes into her department.


February 17, 2006
Two other unidentified body cases remain in Northwest Iowa
With the settling of one cold case in Lyon County Thursday, there are now five unidentified bodies the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation is working to identify.


January 29, 2005
Iowa seeks to solve Florida “cold case” murder
The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and the Boone County Sheriff’s Department are taking a shot in the dark to try and find information on the death of an Iowa woman nearly two decades ago.


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One Response to News Archives 2008 and Earlier

  1. Rosemary Clark (Fisher) says:

    There was a homicide of a Black Woman case#2594 Helen Clayton in Harlem, New York in March of 1973. I think the Medical Exam
    Was John F. Furey.searching for newspaper article of the March 23, 1973 incident. Respectfully, Rosegarden1951@yahoo.com

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