About Iowa Cold Cases
Writer Jody Ewing launched the Iowa Cold Cases website in December 2005 after working on a cold case series for the Sioux City Weekender.
Her first in the series -- the 1974 triple slaying of two young men and a pregnant woman shot execution style in the home they shared together -- would pose a new kind of challenge for the Iowa author and set the stage for what Ewing now calls one of her greatest passions and commitments.
She made first contact with the Sioux City Police Department in March 2004 and over the next three weeks interviewed dozens of people, tried to contact many more and logged hundreds of e-mails, web sites and hours of audio tapes in an effort to tell the story as completely and as accurately as possible. Her reporting created a maelstrom of activity amongst the families, friends and case's original investigators, many with whom she continues to correspond.
Ewing -- who admits she loves research almost as much as writing -- returned in 2006 to Iowa State University to add a Criminal Justice Studies Minor to her Bachelor of Liberal Studies degree in order to gain a better understanding of criminology and its varying dimensions.
"My goal is for the Iowa Cold Cases website to serve somewhat as a hub where families, friends and law enforcement officials can come together and share what information they can," Ewing says. "It just might -- in some small way they least expect -- be that one missing puzzle piece that leads to solving another case."
Ewing concedes there will always be certain details officials can't release to the general public, but would like to encourage city police and county sheriff departments to provide what information they can, particularly in older cases where previously reluctant witnesses might be ready to clear his or her conscience and do the right thing.
Resources here will include case descriptions and photos, newspaper and feature articles, links to Iowa police and sheriff's departments, a weblog, sex offender registries and other helpful links to governmental and national organizations. Please feel free to pass along any other links you find useful.
If you know of or would like to submit a cold case for inclusion here, please fill out the Contact form and we'll do our best to research the case and get back to you in a timely manner. Anonymous tips are acceptable.
If you'd like to submit an article for consideration, please e-mail Jody. We will accept feature articles, essays, memoirs and other cold case related non-fiction works. Reprints are fine as long as the writer owns reprint permissions or cites original publisher and publication date. This site is operated on a strictly volunteer basis, so while we can't pay for articles at this time we're more than willing to include your byline.
Thank you for taking the time to visit.