We all love celebrating birthdays, especially (these days) on Facebook. We send all sorts of good wishes, emojis of birthday cakes and big “Happy Birthday!” images, and tell our friends and loved ones we wish them another great or exciting or successful next year. When I last updated the ICC homepage, I couldn’t help but […]
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5 Lost Birthdays
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7 Days, 14 Anniversaries
Cold case anniversaries are always tough. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the anniversary of a loved one’s unsolved homicide, a birthday he or she would have celebrated, or even the date the body may have been found. The most important lesson I’ve learned in my years writing about cold cases is that it doesn’t matter […]
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My Front Page
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Evelyn Resh
Montgomery County in Iowa Red Oak in Montgomery County Evelyn Resh Homicide Evelyn Resh 87 YOA 400 E. Coolbaugh St. Red Oak, Iowa Montgomery County September 16, 1997 velyn Resh, 87, died Tuesday, Sept. 16, 1997 after someone deliberately set fire to the Red Oak apartment house where she lived alone. Her death is one from a […]
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Shawn North
Shawn Michael North Homicide Shawn Michael North 30 YOA at time of crime 45 YOA at time of death 1200 block of Doreen Ave. Waterloo, Iowa Black Hawk County Date of Crime: May 21, 2001 Date of Death: August 30, 2016 Shawn Michael North, 30, was shot in the 1200 block of Doreen […]
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Douglas Shondel
Douglas James “DJ” Shondel II Undetermined (Suspicious Death) Douglas James Shondel II 21 YOA 1000 N. 16th St. Fairfield, Iowa Jefferson County Sunday, March 11, 2001 Jefferson County in Iowa Fairfield in Jefferson County any things don’t add up in 21-year-old Douglas James Shondel II’s mysterious March 2001 death. Crystal Knight, Shondel’s 9-months-pregnant girlfriend at the […]
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Fairfield
Cold Cases in Fairfield, Iowa Homicide Douglas James “D.J.” Shondel II 21 YOA 1000 N. 16th St. Fairfield, Iowa Jefferson County March 11, 2001 Douglas “D.J.” Shondel II, 21, of Fairfield, Iowa, died Sunday, March 11, 2001 after sustaining a broken neck and head trauma injuries under suspicious circumstances. His pregnant girlfriend, […]
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My Front Page
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Thecla Gerken
Courtesy photo Sioux City Journal Thecla M. Gerken Thecla Gerken Homicide Thecla M. Gerken 23 YOA Corner of Ninth & Jones streets Sioux City, Iowa Woodbury County June 27, 1917 Information Courtesy the Sioux City Journal, the Dyersville Commercial, and a compendium of newspaper clippings researched and written by Tom Larson. The story, in brief: […]
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Shirley Carter
Shirley Dene Carter Homicide Shirley Dene Carter 68 YOA 132 Perry Street Lacona, Iowa Marion County (jurisdiction) June 19, 2015 NOTE: Although Shirley Carter’s murder has not yet been classified as a cold case, we are including the information here because her husband, Bill Carter, would like to keep the unsolved murder […]
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Lacona
Unsolved Murders in Lacona, Iowa Homicide Shirley Dene Carter 68 YOA 132 Perry St. Lacona, IA Marion County June 19, 2015 Shirley Carter, a 68-year-old grandmother, suffered two gunshot wounds to her back on Friday, June 19, 2015, inside her rural Lacona home in Marion County. Her husband, Bill Carter, has […]
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Unidentified
Unidentified Persons The following list includes all unidentified persons found in Iowa. Some are known homicides, while the manner of death for others remains unknown. All are cold cases. Unidentified White Male 18-39 YOA Des Moines, IA Polk County ME Case # 10-1398 January 1, 1924 Unknown Baby Boy 2-3 hours old Highway 30 […]
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Larry Martin
Polk County in Iowa Des Moines in Polk County Larry Odell Martin Missing Person Name: Larry O. Martin Age at Report: 44 Weight: 195 lbs. Height: 5’11” Race: Black/African American Hair: Black Eyes: Brown Sex: Male Incident Type: Endangered / physical Missing From: Des Moines, IA Polk County Case Number: 1994-1345 NamUs MP#: 17067 Missing Since: December […]
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Which first? The good news or bad news?
Okay, I’ll make it easy. The bad news comes first, because I believe bad news should always be followed by something good. The bad news: On my home desktop computer (a Mac Mini), I’ve lost all emails dated between early evening Sept. 12 thru Sept. 26. Yup. Two weeks’ worth. I “had” received and even […]
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Defrosting Cold Cases Nominated for ABA Journal Top Blawg
For the past six years, the American Bar Association (ABA) has allowed the general public to vote on the year’s best-of-the-best blogs, zeroing in on a blogger’s dedication, creativity and engagement with readers. Now in its seventh year, the “blog-ranking rodeo” has polls open through the close of business on Dec. 20. Here’s where you […]
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Jessica Altman Remembers Her Mother
Today’s guest blog post comes from Jessica Altman, the daughter of Iowa Cold Case victim Angela Altman. Angela was found dead on the kitchen floor of her Fort Dodge home by her sister on Saturday afternoon, Jan. 24, 1981. Many thanks to Jessica for sharing her thoughts with us and our readers. 33 Years By […]
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Cedar Rapids Police Seeking Tipster in Michelle Martinko Case
According to a Cedar Rapids Police Department Media Release dated April 10, 2014, the Cedar Rapids Police Department is requesting additional assistance from a Linn County Crime Stoppers tipster who provided investigators with information about the December 1979 Michelle Martinko homicide. On December 16, 2013, the police department received information from an individual that led investigators to a […]
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Guest Blog Book Review on Cold Case Research
Jack Weakley, a cold case analyst with the Tulsa Police Department’s Cold Case Squad, passed along a cold case book review he thought might be of interest to our readers. “The book contains a detailed description of tools that might be of help to cold case investigators who are not familiar with them,” he said. […]
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Willis Hughes Memorial Fund Established
We at Iowa Cold Cases would like to extend our deepest condolences to the family of Willis J. Hughes. Mr. Hughes, 45, was last seen in Davenport on December 21, 2013. His body was recovered from the Mississippi River on Tuesday, April 29, 2014. On Wednesday, April 30, Muscatine County Chief Deputy C.J. Ryan confirmed a […]
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From the Mighty Mo to the Mississippi: Aug. 3-7 Marks 12 Unsolved Cases
The years spanned more than a century — from 1886 to 2013 — but five days this month marked a dozen departures from many loved one’s lives. On August 3, 1886, prohibitionist preacher George C. Haddock was shot dead in Sioux City, Iowa, after leaving his buggy at a local stable. Just four years earlier, Iowa voters had […]
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