By David Lohr

November 30, 2006

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OAKLAND, Iowa (Crime Library) — The Pottawattamie County Sheriff's Office received a phone call Sunday evening from Montgomery County law enforcement officials, alerting them of a possible body found in a well near the town of Glenwood.  Investigators were immediately dispatched to the scene, located near a farm on Elmtree Road.  "We didn't know for sure it was a body," Pottawattamie County Sheriff Jeff Dankerk told reporters from KCCI 8.  "We just know there was something down there."  Impending darkness hampered their initial search efforts, so investigators decided to secure the area and return the following day.

On Monday morning, investigators returned to the scene, along with several members of the Oakland Fire Department.  In the light of day, they were able to get a better look into the well, at which time they observed what appeared to be a human body floating some 30 feet down.  Emergency personnel from the fire department put together some homemade rigging, which they used to snag the body and pull it up to the surface.  It was immediately apparent that the badly decomposed body was female, however no other identifiable information was found at the scene.

The Iowa Medical Examiner's Office in Ankeny performed the autopsy, however they were unable to identify the remains or find an immediate cause of death.  It was initially believed that the remains could be that of April Corter, 24, of Red Oak, who went missing in September, or possibly 19-year-old Jessica O'Grady, a University of Nebraska-Omaha student was last seen in May.  Nonetheless, dental records from both girls were compared to the remains and both cases have been ruled out.

According to news station WOWT 6, a forensic anthropologist is now being called in to look at the remains.  "In the case where just skeletal remains (are found) the traditional means, such as finger printing can't be used," Nebraska Medical Center pathologist Dr. Kerry Bernal said.

Over the past six months, three other bodies have been found hidden throughout western Iowa.  In May, skeletal remains were found in a barrel north of Council Bluffs.  One month later, the body of 25-year-old Brianne Smith, a known prostitute from Omaha, was found in a roadside ditch.  It was another five months, before the remains of 44-year-old Debra Barajas, also a prostitute, were discovered on Nov. 14, on a farm outside of Glenwood.  As the numbers stacked up, several residents began to question whether or not a serial killer might be operating in the area. 

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Contact  David Lohr at           crimewriter74@hughes.net

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