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

[JurassicParker]

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

I do believe something like that exists. They could just walk over where the daughter says the bodies are and they should be able to pick up abnormal anomalies under the surface. I wonder how far down they are buried?

 

[Stunned]

I do believe something like that exists. They could just walk over where the daughter says the bodies are and they should be able to pick up abnormal anomalies under the surface. I wonder how far down they are buried?

If he used to little kids to bury them, I would say not that deep.

 

[JurassicParker]

If he used to little kids to bury them, I would say not that deep.

That was my guess as well. What a horrible human being to do that to your young children.

 

[bbqkaren]

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

DDS parents Ira Study and Rosa Lee Reeves lived in Scott Township, Fremont Co Iowa, 1930-1940, 1950 Ira is there with the 2 boys but in a house he didn't live in in 1949. 1950 Location was NW Q Sec 13 Scott Twp Fremont Co Iowa this matches Green Cook Road. Rosa lee is in Nebraska with her 2nd husband Frank Drewel m. 1950 and 1952

Rose Lee Reeves Study-Drewel (1909-1973) - Find a...

Born in 20 Nov 1909 and died in 24 Aug 1973 Thurman, Iowa Rose Lee Reeves Study-Drewel

www.findagrave.com

Ira “Bud” Study (1886-1957) - Find a Grave...

Born in 19 Apr 1886 and died in 29 Nov 1957 Thurman, Iowa Ira “Bud” Study

www.findagrave.com

 

[vls12345]

While that's probably true for modern wells, the wells around here "back in the day" certainly had a diameter large enough for a body. My fam had a total of 3 wells, I'd guess them to be 2 feet in diameter. Most active wells had something covering them (like a platform for a pump) and most old wells had at least a platform covering them. Our moms had a fear instilled in us about falling into a well, it seemed like a very real possibility.

My grandparents had a well on their rural property like you describe. I think anyone who was a kid growing up in/around a property like that knows the adults certainly put the fear of god in you about staying away from the well lest you fall in. I know I always stayed far away from the well.

 

[DS2021]

There doesn't seem to be enough tangible evidence to suggest that any crime actually took place

Havent Cadevar dogs picked up a hit? I know the older sister claims a stillborn child was buried out there, but after all these years would the dogs even be able to pick up that scent?

 

[Rolypolyoly]

If he used to little kids to bury them, I would say not that deep.

I wonder about burying them. When I read the first article,I imagined him (or the children) literally throwing the bodies in the well,and walking away. I was imagining a huge pile of bones at the bottom of the well

 

[DSCrime]

I'm going to be careful about what I say in this thread until law enforcement makes any more announcements. It's early in this investigation.

If it turns out to be true & they find human remains, it would not surprise me that it took so long for it to be investigated. There are cases of small town police departments being afraid of dealing with certain people, for example, "The Bully of Toulon" & the infamous case of Ken Rex McElroy:

The Bully of Toulon

https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/us/16bully.html


So however this case proceeds, I'm glad that other law enforcement agencies are also involved, so it doesn't just fall on the backs of the locals.

 

[Stunned]

I wonder about burying them. When I read the first article,I imagined him (or the children) literally throwing the bodies in the well,and walking away. I was imagining a huge pile of bones at the bottom of the well

Me too. I wonder if he did both? I would think at some time in the winter you would not be able to dig graves? The ground would be frozen.

 

[sgmet]

Havent Cadevar dogs picked up a hit? I know the older sister claims a stillborn child was buried out there, but after all these years would the dogs even be able to pick up that scent?

Experts: Cadaver dogs 95 percent accurate, can smell remains 15 feet underground

A state police dog alerted twice in a cabin in the woods of Mexico where searchers are looking for Heidi Allen's remains, lawyer says.

www.syracuse.com

How old can the skeletal remains be? Hundreds of years, said Cat Warren, a cadaver dog expert from North Carolina who published a book, "What the Dog Knows: The Science and Wonder of Working Dogs."

 

[vls12345]

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

That has been mentioned:

Aistrope says there are different possible approaches to looking for human remains.

"If we core drilled some 4-inch holes around there and there was that many bodies, we would probably come up with a bone, I would think," Aistrope said.

The sheriff is getting estimates on how much that would cost, but first, he'll bring back cadaver dogs, bring in metal detectors and perhaps use ground penetrating radar to see what's there. He warns the public that the investigation will be slow, but he also makes a promise.

'We'd hear stories about bodies in a well': Could a serial killer have lived in southwest Iowa?

Could a serial killer have been murdering in Southwest Iowa? A woman from Fremont County claims her father murdered dozens of women, burying them in a well.

www.3newsnow.com

 

[Snoopster]

I'm a bit hesitent to believe fully in this story until LE provides more info.

But just an observation....DDS didn't have a mother figure in his life by the time he was a pre-teen. In 1950 he lived with his older father (he was in his 60's by then) and younger (only) brother. I don't know where all of his sisters were. So it appears that all of the females in his life had left. Top this off with the fact that his mother went to prison for adultery (i.e. her fault that she left) and that may have led to a negative relationship with women.

 

[sgmet]

About cadaver dogs picking up skeletal remains "hundreds of years" old... Settlers didn't arrive in Fremont County Iowa until the 1830's, 190 years ago. And burials around the homesteads were common for a long time.

 

[Tippy Lynn]

Here's a link to the to the Iowa well logs

https://www.iihr.uiowa.edu/igs/geosam/map

The link is all of Iowa. To get to Fremont County click on Wells on the top left and click map from the drop down, once the map appears click the search in the bottom left corner, when the form appears you can enter Fremont for the county or whatever other search criteria you might know.

If you hover over the dots on the map the well number and owners name show up and if you click on the dot all the well information is provided.

 

[sgmet]

Here's a link to the to the Iowa well logs

https://www.iihr.uiowa.edu/igs/geosam/map

The link is all of Iowa. To get to Fremont County click on Wells on the top left and click map from the drop down, once the map appears click the search in the bottom left corner, when the form appears you can enter Fremont for the county or whatever other search criteria you might know.

If you hover over the dots on the map the well number and owners name show up and if you click on the dot all the well information is provided.

That is a really neat tool! Unfortunately it's lacking... I zoomed into my family's properties and none of the the three wells are indicated. One of them is actually visible in the satellite image, but not marked as a well.

 

[Jealoushe]

RE: wells

I have a 70 acre farm that is probably at least 100 years old. Back throughout the property there are several wells, at least 3-4 feet across and no idea how far down, far enough you can't see.

My previous farm had 2 dug wells, one was under the back porch and stone lined. Also very wide and deep.

All of these could easily fit many bodies.

 

[Earth]

I understand that this may be a bit premature, but if this woman's claim is correct and her father murdered a teenage runaway, could this girl be a victim?

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

By bringing people, information, forensic science and technology together, NamUs helps resolve cases.

www.namus.gov

 

[ClaireNC]

Here's a link to the to the Iowa well logs

https://www.iihr.uiowa.edu/igs/geosam/map

The link is all of Iowa. To get to Fremont County click on Wells on the top left and click map from the drop down, once the map appears click the search in the bottom left corner, when the form appears you can enter Fremont for the county or whatever other search criteria you might know.

If you hover over the dots on the map the well number and owners name show up and if you click on the dot all the well information is provided.

interesting! I marked the two Wells listed on the Iowa Geological Survey site that are close to the Studey homestead on this map: DDS Map They are about a half mile from the home site.

Of course we don’t know if the IGS map is all inclusive. It looks like it does incorporate surveys and records from at least the early 1900’s, but it might not catch every well In the area. The 2 wells I marked on the DDS map are described as old and there isn’t much info on them.

 

[cocomod]

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.

They took dogs out to the site, and two different dogs indicated the presence of human remains at I think 4 locations which she had shown to LE. This is why they are believing her. They have had 2 different dogs hit on multiple sites that she first pointed out. I think LE is taking this seriously because they now have a reasonable reason to believe her.

 

[cocomod]

If I remember correctly, it took some time before the FBI would dig up the well in connection to the Speed Freak Killers. Just because it seems unbelievable doesn't necessarily make it untrue. There were multiple bodies found in the well they dug up even though the cost of digging up that well was very expensive, I am sure to the families it was well worth the cost.

FBI digging up Calif. well looking for more "Speed Freak Killers" victims

Leads team digging up Calif. well; authorities say pair went on meth-fueled killing spree of as many as 19 victims in '80s, '90s

www.cbsnews.com