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True crime cases in Iowa

16case filesUpdated Jul 18, 2026

Casepin holds 16 case files in Iowa. By legal status, 3 marked unsolved and 13 marked solved.

3unsolved13solved
Open in the map
Files
16
Unsolved
3
Solved
13
Span
1866–2025
With coverage
5
Creators
7
Map of the 16 case files in Iowa, pinned by legal status
16 files in IowaPins coloured by legal statusExplore live

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  • Credit: English WikipediaEditorial useSourceSOLVEDListen

    Westdale Mall parking lot, Cedar Rapids, Iowa · 1979

    Murder of Michelle Martinko

    Michelle Martinko, an 18-year-old Cedar Rapids, Iowa high school senior, was stabbed to death in her family's car in a mall parking lot on December 19, 1979. The case went cold for nearly 39 years until familial DNA analysis and genealogy database matching identified Jerry Lynn Burns, who was arrested in 2018 and convicted of first-degree murder in 2020.

    3 to watch & hear
  • SOLVEDListen

    Brooklyn, Iowa · 2018

    Murder of Mollie Tibbetts

    Mollie Tibbetts, a 20-year-old University of Iowa student, disappeared while jogging near her home in Brooklyn, Iowa, on July 18, 2018. Her body was found five weeks later in a nearby cornfield, and farmworker Cristhian Bahena Rivera was convicted of first-degree murder in 2021 and sentenced to life without parole.

    1 thing to watch or hear
  • UNSOLVEDListen

    Mason City, Iowa · 2025

    Disappearance of Jodi Huisentruit

    Jodi Huisentruit, a television news anchor at KIMT in Mason City, Iowa, vanished from her apartment parking lot early on June 27, 1995, after a phone call in which she said she had overslept and was leaving for work. Evidence of a struggle was found near her car, but despite decades of investigation, no suspect has been identified and she was declared legally dead in 2001.

    1 thing to watch or hear
  • SOLVEDListen

    Iowa City, Iowa, United States · 2014

    Murder of Shao Tong

    Shao Tong, a 19-year-old Iowa State University student, was found dead in the trunk of her own car in Iowa City in September 2014, nine days after being reported missing. Her boyfriend, Li Xiangnan, was charged with first-degree murder, surrendered to police in China, and was ultimately sentenced to life imprisonment there in 2016.

  • SOLVEDListen

    Des Moines / Urbandale, Iowa · 2016

    2016 Murders of Des Moines Police Officers

    In the early hours of November 2, 2016, Urbandale officer Justin Martin and Des Moines Sergeant Anthony Beminio were killed in separate ambush-style shootings near Des Moines, Iowa. Scott Michael Greene was apprehended hours later, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder, and was sentenced to life without parole.

  • UNSOLVEDListen

    Maharishi University of Management, Fairfield, Iowa, United States · 2004

    Killing of Levi Butler at Maharishi University of Management

    On March 1, 2004, university student Shuvender Sem fatally stabbed fellow student Levi Butler in a dining hall at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa, hours after Sem had stabbed another student with a pen. Sem was found not guilty by reason of insanity; a related negligence lawsuit against the university was settled out of court.

  • SOLVEDListen

    University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa · 1991

    1991 University of Iowa shooting

    On November 1, 1991, Gang Lu, a former University of Iowa graduate student, shot and killed five people—three physics faculty, an academic affairs administrator, and a fellow student—and left another student paralyzed, before killing himself in Iowa City, Iowa.

  • SOLVEDListen

    Near Albia, Monroe County, Iowa · 1866

    Lynching of Garrett Thompson

    In June 1866, Garrett Thompson, accused of horse theft and other crimes, was taken from the Monroe County, Iowa jail by a mob known as the Vigilance Committee and hanged in the woods outside Albia after an improvised trial.

  • SOLVEDListen

    Council Bluffs, Iowa, United States · 2009

    Death of Larry Ely Murillo-Moncada

    Larry Ely Murillo-Moncada, a 25-year-old Honduran man, disappeared from Council Bluffs, Iowa, in November 2009 amid what his family described as a mental health crisis. His body was found in January 2019 trapped behind refrigerator units in the now-closed supermarket where he had worked.

  • SOLVEDListen

    Russell-Lamson building, Waterloo, Iowa · 2005

    Murder of Jason Gage

    Jason Gage, a 29-year-old gay man, was beaten and stabbed to death in his Waterloo, Iowa apartment in March 2005; Joseph Lawrence, who had been with him that night, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and the case prompted a local push for LGBT protections.

About these files

Case files in Iowa

The files run from 1866 to 2025. The 2000s hold the most, with 4 files. The oldest is Lynching of Garrett Thompson, from 1866.

They are spread across 12 cities and towns; the most are in Iowa City (3), Mason City (2) and Des Moines (2). By type, the largest groups are murder and homicide cases (13), kidnapping and abduction cases (3) and disappearance cases (2).

5 files of the 16 have coverage attached: 8 videos, podcasts and documentaries from 7 creators. The most covered is Murder of Michelle Martinko, with 3 items to watch or hear. Crime Weekly, Dateline NBC and Bailey Sarian have covered the most of them.

Every file is written from cited sources and pinned where it happened, and every person named carries the legal status the record gives them. If you hold information about an unsolved case, contact the investigating agency named in its file rather than posting it publicly. Families and anyone involved can request a correction from any file.

Every file

Every case file in Iowa

16 files

By outcome

Unsolved, cold and solved in Iowa

Inside Iowa

Cities and towns

Elsewhere in United States

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Questions

What people ask

How many case files in Iowa are on Casepin?

16. By status: 3 unsolved and 13 solved. The count covers published files only and changes as new files clear review.

What is the oldest of these files?

Lynching of Garrett Thompson, from 1866. Open the file

Which case in Iowa has the most coverage?

Murder of Michelle Martinko, with 3 videos, podcasts and documentaries linked from its file. Open the file

Which creators have covered case files in Iowa?

Crime Weekly (1 case), Dateline NBC (1 case) and Bailey Sarian (1 case), among 7 creators in all.

Where in Iowa are most of these cases?

Iowa City (3), Mason City (2) and Des Moines (2).

How current is this page?

It rebuilds hourly from the published files; the newest file change here is dated Jul 18, 2026. A status changes only when the record behind it does.

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