Multiple trial witnesses testified Colvin’s mother LaDawn struggled with mental health and substance abuse, and she lost custody of her children around 2015. Colvin was placed in foster care by the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, and she was shown to have run away multiple times that year and the next. She was living with relatives in Arizona as of 2016, according to trial testimony, while her mother was residing with Bachmurski — evidence indicated he and Colvin’s mother were in a relationship. A court eventually restored custody rights out of concern for the wellbeing of her teenage daughter, according to former Iowa DHHS employee Jessica Lundy. The mother then travelled to Arizona to bring her teenage daughter back to Iowa, where she was to stay with Bachmurski at his farm near Decorah.
Colvin disappeared within a matter of days.
“This happened so fast, and then after it happened, I figured they used me for a patsy,” Bachmurski later told investigators in a recorded interview presented at trial.
Bachmurski’s defense attempted to introduce documents during Thursday’s proceedings which indicated Colvin’s mother — who died in December of 2019 — allegedly knew her daughter’s whereabouts after the teen’s time in Decorah. That evidence was ruled inadmissible for reasons related to hearsay. However, Lundy was able to comment on how trustworthy she found Colvin’s mother.
“It was hard to know what was truth and what wasn’t with LaDawn,” Lundy said. “I would say, no, that I could not rely on what she was giving me.”
Lundy went on to say she herself and, to the best of her knowledge, any other DHHS official had contact with Colvin after March 30, 2017 — the date which investigators said the teen sent her last known electronic message.
Bachmurski’s attorneys introduced evidence Friday of what they said was Colvin’s plan to disappear. The handwritten note included phrases such as “Use phone calls if possible. Once gone, do not get on Facebook no matter what.”
Shane Flesher, an investigator with the State Public Defender’s Office, said previous reports from the law enforcement in central Iowa mentioned Colvin’s alleged plan, which he found to be of interest.
“I think it’s interesting that the plan by Jade is to get away and hide, to not be seen, to stay off the computer, stay off social media — essentially disappear, hide and get a new social security number,” Flesher said.
Update – Aug. 29, 2025: This story has been updated to include additional testimony heard during Friday’s court proceedings. State attorneys prosecuting the case against a former Decorah man accused of killing a young girl in 2017 rested their case on Thursday. The trail against James David...
www.decorahleader.com