IA IA - KLUNDER, Michael J: Violent Sexual Offender, Murderer, and Suspected SK

[Ausgirl]

Nov. 15, 1986 — Attacks ELG, 15, in Kensett.

Feb. 22, 1989 — Attacks a co-worker at her home

December 15, 1991 -- Flashes his car lights to stop a woman driving alone. When she does, he forces her into his car and assaults her. When a passing motorist spots the woman flailing her arms, and follows Klunder's car, he pushes the woman out on the road.

December 16, 1991 -- Kidnaps two 3-year-old girls from the front yard of a day care center in Charles City, and takes them to Worthy County where they are found later the same day in a trash receptacle. Both had been choked, one severely.

May 20, 2013 — Lures 12-year-old D and 15-year-old Kathlynn Shepard of Dayton, into his truck by promising them summer jobs mowing lawns. When he says that he will drive them home to ask their parents for permission, the girls enter his car. He then drives to a remote area and assaults both girls, killing Kathlyn Shepard. D escapes, and Klunder commits suicide.

Many more details at this link.
http://globegazette.com/news/local/...cle_b448708a-db89-11e2-bf27-0019bb2963f4.html

ELG suffered similar wounds when Klunder attacked her in 1986.

Read more here
http://globegazette.com/news/local/...cle_36b8ec80-db89-11e2-acb2-0019bb2963f4.html

Reading this thread, I was really struck by this particular post...

I think what I'm looking at there is the evolution of a killer, who went from single attacks to the next stage, where he learns how to abduct more than one victim starting with two very young children (easy to control, while experimenting with his fantasy) and working up to older girls later on. He also learns that it's safer to remove the victims to a distance from their homes.

It's just really interesting, for that factor alone. If he's connected with other dual-abduction crimes, I would not be at all surprised - that is clearly where he was headed as a rapist/killer, and apparently stuck with 'formula' until his death.

I hope all his movements are being tracked. I can almost guarantee there's other victims of single -and- dual crimes no-one knows about -- yet. No way he stopped, unless he was in jail, taking every opportunity he could. That's just how guys like this are.

 

[alliemay]

Reading this thread, I was really struck by this particular post...

I think what I'm looking at there is the evolution of a killer, who went from single attacks to the next stage, where he learns how to abduct more than one victim starting with two very young children (easy to control, while experimenting with his fantasy) and working up to older girls later on. He also learns that it's safer to remove the victims to a distance from their homes.

It's just really interesting, for that factor alone. If he's connected with other dual-abduction crimes, I would not be at all surprised - that is clearly where he was headed as a rapist/killer, and apparently stuck with 'formula' until his death.

I hope all his movements are being tracked. I can almost guarantee there's other victims of single -and- dual crimes no-one knows about -- yet. No way he stopped, unless he was in jail, taking every opportunity he could. That's just how guys like this are.

Does anyone know, with each of the incidents above, what the distances were from his home to each abduction?

 

[B4igo2it]

2013 (May): Residence to Dayton (abduction of KS/DH) is 9.23 miles approx. travel time 12 minutes
then he took the girls to Pilot Mound, IA is 9.18 miles (this is where DH escaped after he took off with KS)

map of these locations: http://mapq.st/19nraH7

 

[B4igo2it]

1991: 2 toddlers were kidnapped in Charles City, IA and were disposed of in a garbage bin in Northwood, IA approx. 51.5 miles away (an hour drive).

map of location: http://mapq.st/JpxpRd

 

[alliemay]

1991: 2 toddlers were kidnapped in Charles City, IA and were disposed of in a garbage bin in Northwood, IA approx. 51.5 miles away (an hour drive).

map of location: http://mapq.st/JpxpRd

Did he live in Charles city when he took the two toddlers in Charles City? Just trying to find out how close his home was to each victim that he either abducted or assaulted.

 

[Foxfire]

Did he live in Charles city when he took the two toddlers in Charles City? Just trying to find out how close his home was to each victim that he either abducted or assaulted.

Skeet, MJK lived in the same apartment complex where the 3 year olds were abducted.
http://globegazette.com/news/local/...cle_b448708a-db89-11e2-bf27-0019bb2963f4.html
Dec. 16, 1991 — Klunder is now living at the Lantern Park Apartments in Charles City and working at Comprehensive Systems recycling center.

But he loses his job on the morning of Dec. 16.

“He was really depressed, said he needed friends. He was really blue,” said Kristin Hesse, one of Klunder’s neighbors.

Klunder becomes the main suspect in the kidnapping of two, 3-year-old girls, who were taken from the front yard of their Charles City day care
_______________________

Klunder is listed on the state's sex offender registry, prison records show. He spent several years in prison after being convicted on kidnapping and assault charges, including the 1991 abduction and assault of a Rudd woman and the kidnapping of two toddlers from an apartment complex in Charles City, according to the Mason City Globe Gazette. The girls, both 3, were found alive inside a dumpster.
In December 1991, Klunder flashed his lights to get a 22-year-old woman to pull over on a highway outside Mason City and told her that her taillights weren't working. When she got out, he threw her to the ground, got on top of her and threatened that he had a knife, police say. He wrestled her into his car and turned down a gravel road, where the woman waved out the window for help to an oncoming vehicle. Klunder pushed her out of the vehicle and fled.

The next day, Klunder snatched two 3-year-olds from an apartment complex in Charles City. Klunder was angry at one of the toddlers, who was the daughter of a female acquaintance.

Klunder put the girls into a trunk and drove them to a secluded area in Northwood, about 50 miles away, and left them in a trash bin. A county worker found the girls alive hours later. A doctor later found that one girl had been choked.
Read more at http://gazette.com/massive-search-u...in-iowa/article/feed/6597#liuPDBufDxbJ1KsI.99

 

[watcher9]

Maps can be interesting.
Did you notice how close Charles City is to Bremer County?
I checked mileage from Charles City to Seven Bridges Park and it's 55 miles or one hour. He may have been very familiar with that area.

Charles City is also close to Minnesota. It looks like it's less than 50 miles to the border. Maybe we need to look at unsolved cases up there.

It would be very helpful to have a map that shows the different places he lived with a timetable legend.

 

[carbuff]

yes, I agree. I have another POI in the Lyric/Elizabeth abduction/murder myself. However, in doing research on Klunder .... he sure could be the one responsible. It is scary knowing there are so many people "out there" that are capable of hurting others.

Yeah, it's sobering. I can't say that I have a theory of what happened, but I thought there were several other possibilities that were more likely than a serial killer snatch.

 

[Foxfire]

Imo, if MJK is responsible. Vengeance may have played a part in the motive for EC & LC's abduction, murder, and body disposal location..

RE: According to an administrative law judge who reviewed the psychologist’s findings in 2002, Klunder was still brooding then about “getting back at the people who he thinks are responsible for the pain in his life.”


http://thegazette.com/2013/05/22/backpacks-purse-found-of-missing-girl-in-dayton-abduction-case/

Floyd County Attorney Norm Klemesrud said Tuesday the sentences from both cases were run consecutively and Klunder was released in 2011 according to court records. The charges involving the kidnapping of the 3-year-olds originated in Floyd County but transferred to Bremer on a change of venue. The other kidnapping was prosecuted in Cerro Gordo County. -

http://globegazette.com/news/local/...cle_b448708a-db89-11e2-bf27-0019bb2963f4.html
Sept. 18, 1992 — Klunder is sentenced to 30 years in prison on reduced charges of third-degree kidnapping and one count of willful injury.

All told, he is sentenced to 41 years in prison during the 1992 trials.

May 29, 1992 — Klunder is sentenced to 11 years in prison on the Cerro Gordo County kidnapping charge and one year on the assault. He maintains his innocence.
Dec. 29, 1993 — A request made by Klunder to the Iowa Court of Appeals to dismiss his conviction on the Cerro Gordo County charges, citing sensational pre-trial publicity, is denied.

 

[B4igo2it]

hmmmm.... father's obit that we have been using for reference has been removed (Post 114 above).

 

[carbuff]

Imo, if MJK is responsible. Vengeance may have played a part in the motive for EC & LC's abduction, murder, and body disposal location..

RE: According to an administrative law judge who reviewed the psychologist’s findings in 2002, Klunder was still brooding then about “getting back at the people who he thinks are responsible for the pain in his life.”


http://thegazette.com/2013/05/22/backpacks-purse-found-of-missing-girl-in-dayton-abduction-case/

Floyd County Attorney Norm Klemesrud said Tuesday the sentences from both cases were run consecutively and Klunder was released in 2011 according to court records. The charges involving the kidnapping of the 3-year-olds originated in Floyd County but transferred to Bremer on a change of venue. The other kidnapping was prosecuted in Cerro Gordo County. -

Oh, good catch. Yes, I wonder if there's a connection of that sort?

 

[watcher9]

hmmmm.... father's obit that we have been using for reference has been removed (Post 114 above).

Maybe it's a dated thing, but it did bring me to a site where I typed in Klunder and his obit was the first one listed.

I don't know if this is the same link posted before, but here is the link where it came up tonight, but it may not bring you straight there.

http://tributes.com/show/Jimmy-Dwain-Klunder-96325776

 

[watcher9]

Imo, if MJK is responsible. Vengeance may have played a part in the motive for EC & LC's abduction, murder, and body disposal location..

RE: According to an administrative law judge who reviewed the psychologist’s findings in 2002, Klunder was still brooding then about “getting back at the people who he thinks are responsible for the pain in his life.”


http://thegazette.com/2013/05/22/backpacks-purse-found-of-missing-girl-in-dayton-abduction-case/

Floyd County Attorney Norm Klemesrud said Tuesday the sentences from both cases were run consecutively and Klunder was released in 2011 according to court records. The charges involving the kidnapping of the 3-year-olds originated in Floyd County but transferred to Bremer on a change of venue. The other kidnapping was prosecuted in Cerro Gordo County. -

From your link -

339 Taylor Avenue in rural Dayton, Iowa — This is the location the suspect, 42 year old Michael J. Klunder, was found dead at approximately 8:00 PM. Preliminary information indicates Klunder died of self-inflicted injuries. His red, Toyota Tundra pickup which was described by the 12 year old, was also located at this address.
400 block of Kale Avenue, in Boone County — This is the location where the girls’ backpacks were located.
924 Byron Street, Stratford, Iowa — This is Klunder’s residence.

For some reason I had been thinking that he killed himself at his house
which made me wonder where his wife was at the time, but according to this, his residence was in another place. What is the connection to the Taylor Avenue address?

 

[watcher9]

Again, from the same link - http://thegazette.com/2013/05/22/backpacks-purse-found-of-missing-girl-in-dayton-abduction-case/

Klunder picked up Kathlynn and a 12-year-old girl around 4 p.m. Monday after they got off the school bus, officials said. The girls were taken to a rural agricultural facility southeast of Dayton at 4:30 p.m.

The 12-year-old girl escaped and found help at a nearby house. She was taken to Trinity Regional Hospital in Fort Dodge.

3023 400th Street in rural Pilot Mound, Iowa — This site is where the 12 year old girl escaped from the abductor and ran to a nearby home at approximately 4:30 PM.

I can't remember if a timeline had been worked up on this case, but all of this keeps running through my mind. Maybe I missed something, but have LE came out with details of what all happened? Klunder's dead and their case is solved and closed. I know we may not know what all happened but maybe something could help us with Lyric and Elizabeth's murders if it turns out not to be Klunder?

4:00 Klunder picked up the two girls.
Was there time then to dispose of the book bags, etc.?
4:30 The girls were taken into the office at the pig parlor building?
? Klunder took Kathlynn out of the office to where?
Is this when the blood outside the building happened?
4:30 DH escaped and ran through the woods and fields?
How was she able to sneak past him? Was there another way for her to get out? Was the truck still there or had he driven off to dispose of Kathlynn's body then?
4:30 DH arrived at the nearby house for safety?
Time depending on how you read each line?
? 911 call made to LE?
? Klunder drove past the house DH ran to, probably in search of DH. Was this before or after the 911 call? Was Kathlynn in the truck, in the river or back at the pig parlor?
But, this had to be before the police showed up in answer to the 911 call because they would have chased after him.
Did Klunder return to the pig parlor for Kathlynn or just take off?
? DH taken to hospital.
Is this when he disposed of the book bags and/or Kathlynn's body?
Did they ever find out where on the river he had disposed of Kathlynn's body? Could it have been right there at the bridge where she was found?
8:00 Klunder was found dead at Taylor Ave.

Trying to read into the map at this same link. Apparently, he headed south after taking the girls, but there was a 30 minute time frame before arriving at the pig parlor. Could he have disposed of the backpacks further south before heading back up to the pig parlor and stay in the time frame? Or, did he travel all over to dispose of the backpacks and/or Kathlynn's body after he knew he was going to be caught?

I still think if DH hadn't been able to get away and sound the alarm, we would have had another unsolved case with no clues as to what happened to them.

 

[Foxfire]

From your link -

339 Taylor Avenue in rural Dayton, Iowa — This is the location the suspect, 42 year old Michael J. Klunder, was found dead at approximately 8:00 PM. Preliminary information indicates Klunder died of self-inflicted injuries. His red, Toyota Tundra pickup which was described by the 12 year old, was also located at this address.
400 block of Kale Avenue, in Boone County — This is the location where the girls’ backpacks were located.
924 Byron Street, Stratford, Iowa — This is Klunder’s residence.

For some reason I had been thinking that he killed himself at his house
which made me wonder where his wife was at the time, but according to this, his residence was in another place. What is the connection to the Taylor Avenue address?

Abduction timeline: Investigators retracing Shepard's day

http://www.kcci.com/news/central-io...ion/-/9357080/20256630/-/15qpb9x/-/index.html

 

[B4igo2it]

S - Added to Map,
This is a house built in 1954 that was owned by MJKs parents. It appears that they may be first owner until it was sold 06/23/1995.

What are the odds that this house is only 20 minutes from the halfway house MJK last spent his incarceration time and his release in February 2011.


https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=...BFNu6MKXvhzHkGyxLyKIV8A&oq=Mar&t=h&mra=ls&z=8

 

[B4igo2it]

Here is another map with labels https://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=...cJr-inf73L9NQ7uhzG07M_UQYAL7w&t=h&mra=ls&z=10

Iowa Chief State Medical Examiner Dr. Julia Goodin announced today that an autopsy on the body found Friday night in Boone, which is about 11 miles from where Kathlynn was kidnapped, confirmed that it is the 15-year-old girl.
Kathlynn died of "multiple sharp and blunt forced injuries," the medical examiner said.

NOTE: (G,H,I related to MJKs brother-in-law and may be totally irrelevant. I was wondering if this is what brought MKJ to this area as the property has been owned for several years)

How did he meet his wife? What is the FL connection (wedding) Just things I am wondering about now.

 

[alliemay]

His attempts to be a parent from prison.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/ar...e-Dayton-kidnapping-suspect-s-delusional-past

"Authorities would later say the blood of his final kidnapping victim was found on his body."

I did not know that her blood was found on his body, I thought it was only found on his truck bed.

 

[B4igo2it]

His attempts to be a parent from prison.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/ar...e-Dayton-kidnapping-suspect-s-delusional-past

"Authorities would later say the blood of his final kidnapping victim was found on his body."

I did not know that her blood was found on his body, I thought it was only found on his truck bed.

I had not seen that published before either, although it is not surprising he got her blood on himself as he dumped her into the river.

I just can't get over all that transpired within only 4 hours. I know the experts say it happens that way, but I just have never seen it myself. This will be such a sad Christmas for Kathyn's family. Ironically, it will be a happy one for DH's family! (DH is so fortunate she was able to escape and we are fortunate to learn what actually happened through her testimony and Kathyn's parents are not left to wonder who would do such a thing to their beautiful daughter.)

 

[watcher9]

Abduction timeline: Investigators retracing Shepard's day

http://www.kcci.com/news/central-io...ion/-/9357080/20256630/-/15qpb9x/-/index.html

Thanks for providing the link about the timeline. This was back in May before Kathlynn was found. I guess I need to find DH's statement again.

From your link I clicked on another link where they talked about the autopsy report.


The report shows Klunder died of suicide by hanging. He was found dead on the day of the abduction about four hours after the girls disappeared. He was found at a hog confinement building.

Earlier they said he was found dead in his house. Then they said he was found dead in his truck at his house on Taylor Avenue. This article says differently, but makes more sense if it was a building where he died by hanging. Is there a hog confinement building on Taylor Avenue? Could the building be behind the house?

http://www.kcci.com/news/central-io...rls/-/9357080/20229204/-/o6jgt0z/-/index.html