Iowa True Crime cases

[CascadeClone]

I worked with the fiance when that episode came out. She didn't want to do it but Dateline had said they were going forward with the story and if she didn't participate, they would most likely spend part of the episode making her look suspicious.

That's a problem I have with this true crime stuff. They spend the first 80% of the show making everyone look like a suspect, even people that had no motive and an airtight alibi. Saw one once where the boyfriend was literally out of town, confirmed by multiple witnesses. But they spent 5 full minutes on him, implying a bad breakup and maybe history of stalking/violence. Then went to commercial break, and then came back and said "but he was literally 2 states away so nevermind".

And then they can lean on you (extort?) to be involved - like the above, with the implication spoken or not, that they will make you look bad. All for their own benefit. Some of these folks are garbage people.

 

[g4ce]

Here is Iowas cold case site.

Home | Iowa Cold Cases

Iowa Cold Cases is the first and foremost clearinghouse for cold cases in Iowa, including unsolved homicides, persons who went missing under suspicious circumstances, and unidentified human remains.

iowacoldcases.org

One that sticks out to me other than the ones you mentioned.

Adam Lack

Adam Lack | Iowa Cold Cases

Adam Lack, 33, was killed July 13, 2008 after being lured from his family's Mitchell County, Iowa home by one of many bullying upstream polluting farmers.

iowacoldcases.org

and his father

Gary Lack

Gary Lack

Gary Lack, 58, was poisoned by a Mercy Hospice nurse at his Nora Springs, Iowa home Jan. 14, 2004, after fighting Mitchell County point source water polluters.

iowacoldcases.org

Corruption at its finest.

That was a hard read. Erin Brockovich level stuff right there. Don't know if its all true but people can be horrible.

 

[2speedy1]

That was a hard read. Erin Brockovich level stuff right there. Don't know if its all true but people can be horrible.

Right, the question is how much is true, how much is exaggerated etc.

As I said before, I am sure its somewhere in the middle. I am sure some of what was written is absolutely true, some is exaggerated and some is straight up conspiracy theory. Unfortunately we probably will never know.

 

[CycloneRulzzz]

The Adam Lack case is complete and utter ******** that people unfamiliar with how any of this works have bought into hook line and sinker.

You have to accept that an entire fire department, sheriff’s department, and district court judge let a guy die over an argument that didn’t even have major financial consequences. You also have to accept that a vehicle that had its brakes cut went through multiple T intersections, and crossed a state highway without the driver being aware that said brakes were cuts.

If the circumstances surrounding the Lacks deaths resulted in a conspiracy of nearly hundreds of people determined to kill them, rural Iowa would be littered with cases like this.

Found a podcast called ODFM that covered the Lack case. Person who did the research was a high school friend of Adam.

Podcast was only 30 minutes but packed in so much information.

From the dad being poisoned by drugs the nurse had stolen and then his body being cremated without knowledge or consent from the family to Adam's incident where he was trapped in his vehicle for around 7 hours then not using jaws of life to help extract him.

Made me feel ill inside.

 

[farm85]

Iowa Woman Fatally Shot Her Boyfriend Four Times: Why Her Self-Defense Alibi Raised Eyebrows | Oxygen

An Iowa woman shot her live-in boyfriend multiple times and claimed she fired repeatedly in self-defense. Find out how investigators learned the truth.

www.oxygen.com

 

[MJ29]

Iowa Woman Fatally Shot Her Boyfriend Four Times: Why Her Self-Defense Alibi Raised Eyebrows | Oxygen

An Iowa woman shot her live-in boyfriend multiple times and claimed she fired repeatedly in self-defense. Find out how investigators learned the truth.

www.oxygen.com

It's definitely always suspicious when someone has multiple partners who die from not natural causes (illness, etc.).

 

[BCClone]

It's definitely always suspicious when someone has multiple partners who die from not natural causes (illness, etc.).

First inclination of hearing two people argue is to grab a gun? Most would look to see what is happening or try to defuse it.

 

[flynnhicks03]

I enjoy listening to true crime podcasts and like ones that go in depth on a single case at a times. A couple go state by state doing cases so I've heard a few Iowa ones. Among then are the following:

Small Town Murder

Rick Forsyth's rampage in Norwalk in 90's

Shawn Bentler in Bonaparte in 06 crazy case where his daughters got the family inheritance

James Klindt in Davenport in 80's

Spoiler: crime committed

who cut up wife with a chainsaw and put her in the Mississippi and only ended up serving 20 years

Murder in America

Vasillica Murders, Gitchie Manitou and Breasia Terrell in 2020

Michelle Martinko both United States of Murder and Killer Cases on Hulu

United States of Murder
Cari Farver
Amy Mullis
Gitchie Manitou


Unspeakable:
Noah Crooks

Mom's and Mysteries
Jodi Huisentruit

These I haven't listened to yet
Malvern Manor
Cory Wienke


Curious to hear people from areas where these happened (outside of Vaslliica and Jodi these were all new to me when I heard them) and any Iowa cases that are out there that others have come by on other true crime podcasts.

​

The Jodi Huisentruit case will always fascinate me (not in a good way, obviously). My girlfriend at the time was going to Waldorf and doing an internship at Jodi's TV station in Mason City. She knew Jodi a little, but said Jodi was hanging out with seedy characters, and mentioned the white van. I try and watch any shows that talk about this.

 

[OWLCITYCYFAN]

Weirdest time was sitting at the wife’s home church and when we shook hands to share the peace. I shook hands in front with DeGues sister, turned around and shook with Dustin’s mom. I don’t think they shook.

I don't like using real names because the families are still out there. Anyway, in December 2001, Dr. Richard N. of Iowa City died in his Cedar Rapids apartment of a single stab wound to the heart, at the hands of his estranged wife while confronting him about infidelity. At trial, she claimed "he walked into it" and she was convicted of manslaughter. I didn't know the N's before, but they attended the same Lutheran church we did and Mrs. N continued to attend for several years while trial and sentencing dragged out. Lutherans basically have "assigned seats" and for unknown reasons she moved to the pew directly behind us, meaning I "shared the peace" many times with someone who had violently taken a life - it was awkward! My three children were in elementary school and could barely contain themselves - without fail, at least one of them would act out the Anthony Perkins Psycho stabbing scene in the minivan on the drive home. Postscript: Mrs. N was a terrible singer, which made having her behind us all the worse!!!

 

[dosry5]

I don't like using real names because the families are still out there. Anyway, in December 2001, Dr. Richard N. of Iowa City died in his Cedar Rapids apartment of a single stab wound to the heart, at the hands of his estranged wife while confronting him about infidelity. At trial, she claimed "he walked into it" and she was convicted of manslaughter. I didn't know the N's before, but they attended the same Lutheran church we did and Mrs. N continued to attend for several years while trial and sentencing dragged out. Lutherans basically have "assigned seats" and for unknown reasons she moved to the pew directly behind us, meaning I "shared the peace" many times with someone who had violently taken a life - it was awkward! My three children were in elementary school and could barely contain themselves - without fail, at least one of them would act out the Anthony Perkins Psycho stabbing scene in the minivan on the drive home. Postscript: Mrs. N was a terrible singer, which made having her behind us all the worse!!!

Sounds like it’s all your fault for not sharing peace with her earlier.

 

[Al_4_State]

The Jodi Huisentruit case will always fascinate me (not in a good way, obviously). My girlfriend at the time was going to Waldorf and doing an internship at Jodi's TV station in Mason City. She knew Jodi a little, but said Jodi was hanging out with seedy characters, and mentioned the white van. I try and watch any shows that talk about this.

Yeah, I don't think there's any doubt that she was murdered by someone that was part of the group, or adjacent to, the group she partied with.

The question is "who" and "where did they hide the body".

 

[OWLCITYCYFAN]

I think you mean Villisca?

Bill James, the famed baseball statistician, wrote a book with his daughter where he makes a pretty compelling case in naming the murderer. The Man from the Train is a pretty interesting book, and if the James' are correct, the perpetrator is responsible for more than one unsolved murder in the state. I grew up within ten miles of this one and had never heard about it until I read The Man from the Train.

Family Annihilation: Murders of James, Earl, and Mary Hardy 1910 - Iowa Unsolved Murders: Historic Cases

Murder Victims James Hardy 63-year-old Farmer 1846-1910 Earl Hardy 29-year-old Farmhand 1880-1910 Mary Emery Hardy 57-year-old Farm Wife 1852-1910 Murder Scene and Date Hardy Farm Van Cleve, Iowa Marshall County June 5, 1910 Cause of Deaths: Bludgeoned Motive: Obtaining an … Continue reading →

iowaunsolvedmurders.com

 

[NWICY]

I don't like using real names because the families are still out there. Anyway, in December 2001, Dr. Richard N. of Iowa City died in his Cedar Rapids apartment of a single stab wound to the heart, at the hands of his estranged wife while confronting him about infidelity. At trial, she claimed "he walked into it" and she was convicted of manslaughter. I didn't know the N's before, but they attended the same Lutheran church we did and Mrs. N continued to attend for several years while trial and sentencing dragged out. Lutherans basically have "assigned seats" and for unknown reasons she moved to the pew directly behind us, meaning I "shared the peace" many times with someone who had violently taken a life - it was awkward! My three children were in elementary school and could barely contain themselves - without fail, at least one of them would act out the Anthony Perkins Psycho stabbing scene in the minivan on the drive home. Postscript: Mrs. N was a terrible singer, which made having her behind us all the worse!!!

You got tagged with the smiley not because of the murder but the minivan stabbing and terrible singer commentary.