News : Pair of women keeping Benton County and Iowa cold case victims in the spotlight

        Most Iowans know about some well-known "cold cases" -- murders or disappearances that remain unsolved.     

     The 12-year-old paperboy from Des Moines.

     The Mason City TV anchorwoman who was abducted from outside her studio just after her 27th birthday.

     Nancy Bowers, however, wants Iowans to become familiar with the names of all of the state's cold case victims.

     "When I tell people that I work with cold cases, they immediately mention Johnny Gosch and Jody Huisentruit," said Bowers. "I am not saying we shouldn't talk about those two cases, but we have more than 600 people in Iowa whose cases have not been solved. None of them is more or less special than the others. I would like to give each of them a chance in the spotlight."      

     Bowers is the co-administrator of Iowa Cold Cases, a non-profit organization started in 2005 by Jody Ewing after she wrote a series of articles about cold cases for the Sioux City Journal. Bowers believes that Iowa Cold Cases is the only statewide organization devoted to cold cases in the country.     

     "Jody bought the domain names for other states, but we are still busy with the Iowa cases," said Bowers.  

Benton County Research      

     Bowers compiled the information about all five Benton County cold cases. She spent many days researching newspaper articles, and other historical documents, as well as talking to people involved in the cases. She is familiar with each case, and the mysteries that surround them.     

     Bowers does not actually investigate the cases; that is for law enforcement to do. But her research gives investigators and family members more information about the cases.      

     "I have a real strong sense of justice," she said. "I think it's tragic that murderers are not brought to justice."     

     A trained historian with a doctorate in English, Bowers is also a retired Ames Police Department employee. Her education and work background and her love of language make her uniquely qualified to research and tell the almost-forgotten stories of Iowa's unsolved murders and disappearances.
     "I like detective stories," says Bowers, who was an avid Judy Bolton reader as a young girl. "I like puzzles and police work and using my research skills. I hope to do some good."

     Cold cases is a non-profit organization; Bowers and Ewing work full-time on the project.

     "I usually work during the daytime hours," said Bowers. "Jody is a night owl. So at almost any time of the day, one of us is working on cold cases, answering email, following up on Facebook contacts, sharing information with family members or media and adding to our database."

    Bowers and her husband often take short trips around Iowa, visiting cemeteries and other places related to the cases. She said that anyone with any information -- even "legend and lore" about any cold case is encouraged to share what they have heard or learned about the cases. While Ewing generally works with the more modern cases, Bowers does most of the research on the older cases. She said one of the cases that intrigues her most is the story of Sheila Collins, an 18-year-old Illinois student and student at Iowa State, who was killed in 1968.

     The earliest cold case in the Iowa database is from 1847.

     "People are shocked to know that our earliest cases go back to the middle of the 19th Century," she said. "But even then, people were being people; the motives for the murders are the same: Greed, passion, land, money."

    Even with cold cases, says Bowers, sometimes people are afraid to get involved. She said people are welcome to leave anonymous tips. Iowa Cold Cases is a non-profit organization that does not solicit or accept advertisements; its sole source of support is donations.
    More information is available at the Iowa Cold Cases web site. That site includes the cold cases database, which can be searched by year, county or name.