IA IA - Daughter Alleges Father (Donald Studey) is Serial Killer - Searches Yielded No Evidence - Thurman

[Curiosa20]

Oh

Annie died 2006

Thanks! I will correct that. Where is she buried?

 

[Curiosa20]

Third wife

Anna Jeanette Flynn Tordoff Studey (1937-2006) -...

www.findagrave.com

 

[airportwoman]

It said in the first Newsweek article that Lucy stated her father was involved with transporting drugs and guns to and from Arkansas. She didn't say what kind of drugs but the meth problem in Iowa was just getting bad in the 1990's (it's very bad now) If the father had a steady supply of drugs to offer drug users, that could explain how he lured people to come with him

I would guess cocaine and/or marijuana in the 1980s, or even 1970s.

 

[airportwoman]

A friend of mine recently had a new well drilled. It is over 200 feet deep, but it is only four inches in diameter. How can you drop a human body down a well shaft that is is only four inches in diameter?

How Much Does Well Drilling Cost? (2025)

Well drilling costs $30 to $80+ per foot or $6,000 to 16,000 on average to install a 200-foot-deep residential well.

homeguide.com

"Residential water wells are typically 100' to 300' deep and 4" to 6" in diameter. Local well drillers or neighbors can give you an idea of how deep to drill."

Back in the day, wells were often hand-dug, or at least the equipment wasn't as sophisticated as the type used now, and the openings were much wider. (Remember Baby Jessica?)

Earlier, there was a reference to the town of Tabor. The book "Gilead" by Marilynn Robinson, which is very good (and is nothing like "The Handmaid's Tale") is inspired by Tabor, Iowa.

 

[airportwoman]

Can someone help me pinpoint the location of the 5 acre property?

Closer to Thurman, and between Thurman and Tabor.

View attachment 375723

I saw another message board where people were talking about this case, and one person said s/he was from the region, and they'd always been told to avoid the Green Hollow area, and they did, because they heard viable rumors that it was not a safe place, to put it lightly.

 

[airportwoman]

I’ve begun looking for Missing women in Iowa. So far in the 90’s and 80’s I’ve found 3 young women and all are identified as missing under Involuntary Disappearance, defined under the Incidence code as abducted or kidnapped!

I e-mailed Home | Iowa Cold Cases when this story broke, and just got a reply from the administrator. She wanted to let me know that she'd heard about it too, and the story warranted more coverage, which it's getting.

 

[bbqkaren]

DDS mother Rosa Lee Reeves Study Drewel
1909- 1973
m. 1927 Ira Bud Study
5 children on census
Sentenced to prison for Adultery July 1948, released April 1949
description 5'6" dark complexion brown hair brown eyes.
1950 census father Ira Bud has the 5 children and is listed as separated
1950 census Rosa Lee Study as lodger with Frank F Drewel (blacksmith)
1950 and 1952 Rosa marries Frank F Dewel (2 marriage licenses, 2 marriages in paper)
1957 Ira Bud dies in an accident. 7 (?) surviving children mentioned in newspaper. Children not named.
1973 Rosa Lee buried beside Ira

 

[Curiosa20]

DDS mother Rosa Lee Reeves Study Drewel
1909- 1973
m. 1927 Ira Bud Study
5 children on census
Sentenced to prison for Adultery July 1948, released April 1949
description 5'6" dark complexion brown hair brown eyes.
1950 census father Ira Bud has the 5 children and is listed as separated
1950 census Rosa Lee Study as lodger with Frank F Drewel (blacksmith)
1950 and 1952 Rosa marries Frank F Dewel (2 marriage licenses, 2 marriages in paper)
1957 Ira Bud dies in an accident. 7 (?) surviving children mentioned in newspaper. Children not named.
1973 Rosa Lee buried beside Ira

Do you know where they lived, at least in the Census? Omaha by chance? I can’t find a grave for either one.

 

[Vern]

A friend of mine recently had a new well drilled. It is over 200 feet deep, but it is only four inches in diameter. How can you drop a human body down a well shaft that is is only four inches in diameter?

How Much Does Well Drilling Cost? (2025)

Well drilling costs $30 to $80+ per foot or $6,000 to 16,000 on average to install a 200-foot-deep residential well.

homeguide.com

"Residential water wells are typically 100' to 300' deep and 4" to 6" in diameter. Local well drillers or neighbors can give you an idea of how deep to drill."

There' a photo of what seems to be the well head in this photo; def a large hand-dug well. It's in the photo immediately below the pic of the Sherrif's vehicle.

Cops launch probe into serial killer accused of slaying up to 70 women

Lucy Studey claims that her father Donald Dean Studey was a serial killer who forced her and her siblings to transport bodies of women he killed into a 100ft well on land in Iowa.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Also, on this map, if you zoom in on the property enough, there seems to be a debris pile behind the property so I'm wondering if the well is in that area as the road certainly doesn't seem to go through past their place to another property. Also zooming all the way in, #2285 seems to show up as a property number behind them.

2319 Green Hollow Rd · 2319 Green Hollow Rd, Thurman, IA 51654

Building

www.google.com

 

[Rolypolyoly]

Third wife

Anna Jeanette Flynn Tordoff Studey (1937-2006) -...

www.findagrave.com

The first wife died very young. I wonder what she looked like. Same question for his Mother. It says his Father went to prison for adultery,maybe he blamed his Mother?, it wouldn't be the first time we have seen a serial killer who chose victims that resembled their Mother.
What a mess!.

Edit- Sorry,I think I quoted the wrong post of yours. I'm still getting the hang of following a decent true crime website,instead of Facebook groups!.

 

[MrsWatson]

I'm hoping Meaghan from The Charley Project offers her thoughts on some possible victims.

 

[KKinMA]

DDS was first married to a Barabra J Voogd in Wyoming (Married Dec. 1961- Div. May 1964)
Divorce lists 3 minor children.

He then married Lucy Hogan in Nebraska Aug 1964. Their children were born in '65, '66','68, and '69.
Lucy Hogan died Jan. 1970 (I haven't found cause yet.)
The family was living in Nebraska at the time of a mobile home fire in Sep 1972. There are many newspaper articles referencing donations, the kids ages, and it being Gary's 7th birthday.

Donald's mother Rose Lee Reeves died in 1973. His father had passed years before. I'm guessing he may have moved back to the family property in Iowa after his mother passed.

Assuming marriage to Charlotte between this time and when she died in 1984.
Anna Flynn was married twice before Studey, in 1963 to Harlan Tordoff. Her mother's obit in '93 lists her as Annie Tordoff still, so assuming she married DDS at least after '93.

I just skimmed over prior posts so not sure if any of this has been mentioned.

 

[KKinMA]

It was his mother, Rose Lee, who was convicted of adultery around 1949.
Rose married Frank Fritz Drewel in 1952.

DDS's father, Ira, died in 1957.

 

[ClaireNC]

CNN‘s Brianna Keilar just interviewed the Newsweek reporter. He said the well is 100 feet deep. He also said there are shallow graves in addition to the victims buried in the well. Officials will work on the shallow graves first to get evidence to justify digging up the well. No link yet, but it was CNN’s morning show today, (10/27) at approximately 8:00 am EST.

Here’s an initial CNN article. This was followed up with live updates by Anderson Cooper last night and Brianna Keilar this morning. Authorities 'actively investigating' after woman claims her late father was a prolific serial killer | CNN

 

[Stunned]

The first wife died very young. I wonder what she looked like. Same question for his Mother. It says his Father went to prison for adultery,maybe he blamed his Mother?, it wouldn't be the first time we have seen a serial killer who chose victims that resembled their Mother.
What a mess!.

Edit- Sorry,I think I quoted the wrong post of yours. I'm still getting the hang of following a decent true crime website,instead of Facebook groups!.

Welcome! You’ll get the hang of this site!

 

[Stunned]

DDS was first married to a Barabra J Voogd in Wyoming (Married Dec. 1961- Div. May 1964)
Divorce lists 3 minor children.

He then married Lucy Hogan in Nebraska Aug 1964. Their children were born in '65, '66','68, and '69.
Lucy Hogan died Jan. 1970 (I haven't found cause yet.)
The family was living in Nebraska at the time of a mobile home fire in Sep 1972. There are many newspaper articles referencing donations, the kids ages, and it being Gary's 7th birthday.

Donald's mother Rose Lee Reeves died in 1973. His father had passed years before. I'm guessing he may have moved back to the family property in Iowa after his mother passed.

Assuming marriage to Charlotte between this time and when she died in 1984.
Anna Flynn was married twice before Studey, in 1963 to Harlan Tordoff. Her mother's obit in '93 lists her as Annie Tordoff still, so assuming she married DDS at least after '93.

I just skimmed over prior posts so not sure if any of this has been mentioned.

They got divorced because of indignities? I wonder what they even means?

 

[ClaireNC]

According to history of the area, the Study family was among the earlier settlers. "Fremont County Iowa, History of Green Hollow"

 

[sgmet]

What gets me is that it's been reported (in multiple links upthread) that Lucy has been making these allegations for over 45 years? All the way back to the late 70's? So she's been saying this since she was 10 years old? And this would have been going on the whole time she was making these claims, with the numbers growing and growing...

I would think that if she's repeatedly telling this story there would be multiple instances where she'd talk about shortly after a new incident. If she would make these claims when there was an active search for a missing person it would surely get attention. Would it be unreasonable then to assume that her claims were never directly related to an investigation that was current at the time?

Unfortunately now it looks like social media may have spun this into a really expensive nightmare for law enforcement. There doesn't seem to be enough tangible evidence to suggest that any crime actually took place, yet they'll need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars digging. And if they don't find anything, keep digging.

 

[Rolypolyoly]

Welcome! You’ll get the hang of this site!

Thank you

 

[MrsWatson]

Could they use Ground Penetrating Radar to find out if there are bodies where the dogs alerted?