Terry Lee Vanden Hull
Homicide
Terry Lee Vanden Hull20 YOA
2 ½ miles southeast of Maxwell, IA
Story County
February 24, 1975
Terry Lee Vanden Hull
Terry Lee Vanden Hull was born August 15, 1954, in Sheldon, Iowa, to Viola (Smith) and Jake Vanden Hull.
He was buried at East Lawn Cemetery in Sheldon, Iowa, in O’Brien County.
Circumstances:
Twenty-year-old Terry Lee Vanden Hull of Archer, Iowa, was last seen alive on Monday, February 24, 1975.
Three men moving machinery discovered the young man’s badly decomposed body Thursday morning, April 17, 1975, behind a corn crib on a vacant farm 2-1/2 miles southeast of Maxwell.
Story County authorities identified the body as that of Vanden Hull, and said he apparently died of a slashed throat.
Courtesy photo Bill Weaver, The Nevada Evening Journal
County and state investigators gather near the corn crib where Terry Vanden Hull’s body was found April 17, 1975.
“I believe the death was drug related,” Story County Sheriff John Stark is quoted as saying in a Des Moines Register article published April 18, 1975.
According to Sheriff Stark, Vanden Hull had only recently been released from the drug treatment unit at the State Mental Health Institute at Cherokee on January 31.
Three Maxwell area men were moving machinery at the Colleen Shaffer farm when they found the body sometime between 8:30 and 9 a.m. No one resided at the farm at the time.
John Oxley of Maxwell told the Register that he and two other men, Clyde Martin and Laverne Elding, were moving machinery from a shed at the farm when they discovered the body hidden in a grassy area behind the corn crib.
Register reporter Alan Koonse also wrote:
Stark said authorities were pursuing Vanden Hull’s death “as a homicide,” and that identification and a small amount of money was found on the victim’s body.
In addition to the money, about 20 earrings were found in Vanden Hull’s pockets, the Nevada Evening Journal reported.
Prior to his death, Vanden Hull had been staying with friends in the Maxwell and Collins area but hadn’t been seen since mid-to-late February.
“We know he was in Collins in the latter part of February,” Sheriff Stark told the Register.
BCI Director Craig Beek said four agents were assigned to work the case, and that interviews with several persons would be conducted and leads followed.
Three Story County deputies helped BCI agents with the investigation, and despite developing a primary suspect, officials didn’t believe they had sufficient evidence to successfully prosecute the alleged offender.
Terry Vanden Hull’s murder remains unsolved.
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If you have any information about Terry Vanden Hull’s unsolved murder please contact the Story County Sheriff’s Office at 515-382-7458 or the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation at 515-725-6010.
Sources:
- Story County Sheriff’s Office
- Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation
- Terry Lee Vanden Hull (1954 – 1975) — Find a Grave Memorial
- “Cold cases never close for Ames police,” by Grayson Schmidt, The Ames Tribune, Part of the GONE COLD: EXPLORING IOWA’S UNSOLVED MURDERS series, August 16, 2015
- Sue Sheeler, post to Iowa Cold Case’s Facebook Wall, March 16, 2012
- “Memorial Gardens Cemetery, Formerly Known as East Lawn Cemetery, Sheldon, O’Brien County, Iowa,” iagenweb.org
- “Believe Archer man’s death drug related,” by Alan Koonse, The Des Moines Register, Friday, April 18, 1975
- “Maxwell man’s death probed; throat was cut,” Waterloo Courier, Page 23, April 18, 1975
- “Homicide probe near Maxwell,” by Bill Weaver, The Nevada Evening Journal, April 18, 1975
- “Young man found dead near Maxwell farm,” The Nevada Evening Journal, April 17, 1975
- Terry Vanden Hull
- Terry Lee Vanden Hull (1954-1975) - Find a Grave...
- FamilySearch.org
- Dying For Drugs: Murder of Terry Vanden Hull 1975 - Iowa Unsolved Murders: Historic Cases
