Last Seen Alive Nov. 13, 2012, in Omaha, Neb. John David Gosch (November 12, 1969 - disappeared September 5, 1982) was a paperboy in West Des Moines, Iowa, who disappeared between 6 and 7 a.m. on September 5, 1982.He is presumed to have been kidnapped. Clinton County Shenandoah, IA 1781 Quarry Road, Apt. Arrest Date: May 9, 2012 Evelyns body was found in the Cedar River five days after she went missing. He is currently being held in the Linn County Jail on a $3M bond. A grand jury returned a True Bill indictment on Tait Otis Purk, 50, for the crime of Murder in the First Degree in violation of Section 707.2(1) of the Code of Iowa. The indictment alleges that, on or around May 31, 2014, the three persons named conspired to, and then did, rob Booher of methamphetamine that he posessed and the proceeds from the sale of meth. The perp was born in September 1955, and at age 18 he was already making the news for his criminal acts. In February 2021, researchers from Parabon and ES Genealogy, who examined familial relationships, concluded that Thomas O. Freeman, of West Frankfort, Illinois, was the source of the suspect DNA. Est. Jackson County June 25, 1982 Their findings were submitted to the Iowa Attorney Generals Office and the Tama County Attorneys Office. Toxicology reports showed no drugs or alcohol in her system. During an interview with the Des Moines Register, Laymon called the arrest "amazing" news and said she was relieved. [16] Another rumor emerged that a second stabbing had happened in the following days and that police were keeping it secret, which police denied. SE in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. His case remains unsolved. Jasper County Sheriff John Halferty said that while the case is now considered closed, his office would leave the door open to entertain new leads if they become available. His vehicle remained parked in the garage. Eldon, IA (Wapello County) Farleys mother, Mary Brubaker, long suspected Smith was responsible, having written to police six months after her daughters death. During the initial investigation, the affidavit indicates Ridnour gave inconsistent accounts about his location at the time Callahan went missing, and about his relationship with her granddaughter. 13th St. in Council Bluffs, Iowa. The woman communicated her information to the daughter of the secretary of the Public Safety Commissioner and believed that it would be passed on to police if it was important. Under the plea deal, both sides recommended a 10-year sentence, which Judge Richard Meadows imposed on Pilcher. A judge finally ordered him to take the medications to remain competent. Henry County Brian Davis was arrested Oct. 29, 2014 and charged with first-degree murder in Hollys death. Date of Crime: September 24, 1995 Georgia Department of Corrections. Police interviewed Smith in 1971 but did not have enough evidence to charge him or any other suspect. Arrests Made: March 24, 2016 On Thursday, Dec. 22, 2016, Omaha police announced theyd arrested 41-year-old Shanna Goylar at her home in Persia, Iowa, and charged her with first-degree murder in Cari Farvers death. Lee Rotatoris graduation photo. Weve done all we can do on this case, he said. Crime Date: December 25, 2016 [36][37], On August 7, 2020, Burns was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Polk County Verdict: Reached Sept. 19, 2019 Annette Cahill found Guilty of second-degree murder. In jesus name i pray Amen. Iowa police have solved the 50-year-old cold case murder of a 17-year-old girl through DNA evidence. His hands and arms were also examined for scars possibly left by the assumed cut sustained during the attack. Twenty-month-old John Joseph Snyder Jr., the son of John Snyder Sr. and Lisa Sellman, was reported as missing from his fathers 10 S. Adams Avenue Mason City apartment on Wednesday morning, July 20, 1994. Through Iowa history, a dark path of evil has wound through woods, along rivers and streams, across farm fields, near barns, beside highways and railroads, into small settlements, and up to the doors of homes. [2][4][27], In pretrial hearings, Burns' attorneys claimed that police needed a search warrant to gather his DNA from the discarded straw, but the judge determined that discarded property cannot reasonably be considered private. Golyar chose a bench trial over a jury trial. Date of Crime: April 4, 1999 On Thursday, Sept. 19, 2019, jurors found Cahill guilty of second-degree murder in Wienekes death. Prosecutors said they did so through means of actual and threatened force. Fremont County When the roommate returned at 4 a.m. the following morning, Elizabeth was gone, though she did not have access to a car and all her personal belongings were left behind. Utah, Iowa, Arkansas, West Virginia and Florida, are pitching school . Cedar Rapids, IA Woodbury County [22][12] From that, police were able to build a partial DNA profile. Floyd County 610 N. 5th Street Date of Crime(s): April 13, 1984 The results were entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), the national DNA database, but no matches were found. His trial was originally scheduled for October 14, 2019, but in September the defense requested a delay in order to gather more evidence and interview witnesses. According to a statement Des Moines police posted to Facebook Tuesday, William Billy Rulli, 35, who currently is serving time in a state penitentiary for first-degree burglary, has confessed to the murder. Johnson was arrested in Cedar Rapids after being released from the Federal Bureau of Prisons after serving about five years for possessing a firearm as a prohibited person. "The family never gave up hope that this case would be solved,"Jerman said. Arrest Made: Feb. 3, 2023 Maureen Brubaker-Farley was reported missing on Sept. 20, 1971. Robert Huntbach, 85, and his wife Goldie, 77, were bound, gagged and tortured in their modest Waterloo home before someone shot each of them twice in the head sometime late Sunday night, Jan. 12, 1981. She was stabbed multiple times. [10] She wore a black jersey dress and black scarf, black tights and heels, and a waist-length white and brown rabbit fur jacket, and she carried a brown leather purse. An autopsy showed Preston died of gunshot wounds to the head and abdomen. The images looked considerably different from the 1980 composite sketch and showed a man with blond hair and blue eyes. Declared Legally Dead: Oct. 10, 2011 Well. Courtland Clark, age 26, from Flowery Branch, Georgia, Robert Beaver, age 35, from Sioux City, Iowa, and . Cerro Gordo County Wapello County Investigating Agency: Cedar Rapids PD Cold Case Unit 311 W. 10th St. He was never charged with the Martinko murder, he denied the accusations, and DNA evidence, found later, did not match his DNA. Her friend declined. Case # 83-1119 Investigating Agency: Des Moines Police Department More:Read stories and watch videos about Iowa's unsolved murders, at DesMoinesRegister.com/GoneCold. Found: Area of Rock Creek cabins at 2829 U.S. 67 On Oct. 23, 2013, Story County jurors acquitted Mitchell on both the murder and robbery charges. Using newer technology, Cedar Rapids police were able to procure DNA from case evidence in 2006. Police suspected Rulli was the killer early in the investigation but didnt have enough to move forward with an arrest. Had you not done your work, and Iowa Cold Cases not put it out there, he would have been never identified., 29 YOA GEDmatch returned one person who shared DNA markers with the suspect in Martinko's murder, and it determined her to be likely the killer's second cousin once removed. 1401 George St. Golyar will be sentenced to life in prison in August 2017. [2][5] Her hands bore defensive wounds, which police said to indicate that she had fought back against her killer. Pottawattamie County The sketch indicated a white man in his late teens or early 20s, weighing between 165 and 175 pounds, and standing about 6 feet tall. Jasper County Attorney Steve Johnson acknowledged there was some known drug activity in the area, but said he personally believed the murders were up close and personal.. Here is a link to the perps appeal (which the perp lost). Reported Missing: July 4, 2009 Tama, Iowa On Wednesday, May 10, 2017, jurors found Purk guilty of first-degree murder. Johnson County Council Bluffs Police officers were sent to investigate the death of a female at the Best Western Frontier Motor Lodge motel at 2216 27th Avenue in Council Bluffs, Iowa, at 12:27 p.m. Friday, June 25, 1982, after a motel employee found a body. Sioux City police announced on Friday, June 10, 2016, that theyd arrested and charged all three men in Canfields homicide and that all three individuals entered guilty pleas. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. In January 2016, the case was reopened after information came to light that two individuals started the fire after a physical altercation at the residence shortly before the fire was discovered. It includes cases where suspects have been convicted or acquitted, cases solved by exceptional means, and cases currently making their way through the criminal justice system. Investigators had reviewed Burns' 2018 internet searches and found that he regularly visited websites showing blonde women being raped, stabbed, and strangled, and which depicted sexual intercourse with murder victims. George M. Smith of. Market data provided by Factset. Iowa police have solved the 50-year-old cold case murder of a 17-year-old girl through DNA evidence. Turney was fined, though Cisneros cannot be tried again due to double jeopardy. He pleaded guilty to that charge in 2018. Or maybe chat. Arrest Made: July 27, 2012 Case # 07-01804 [23] Out of more than 80 potential suspects that had been identified over the years, more than 60 people were tested and cleared of suspicion. Iowa Cold Cases. On Friday, Feb. 17, 2017, Klein entered an Alford plea on charges of second-degree arson, willful injury causing serious injury and suborning perjury in the death. [4] Documents concluded that fewer than one in 100 billion people would match the DNA profile. Legal Statement. Estling, 14, of Maynard was driving a moped south along Highway 150 on June 28, 2018 when he was hit by a vehicle. Police arrested Jerry Lynn Burns, 64, on Wednesday morning in the decades-old fatal stabbing. At this point Hibbler then shot Canfield in the head on the front porch. He described her family as grateful for their efforts. Linn County [2] Police determined from the lack of blood outside the car that Martinko had been killed while in the car, and the medical examiner later estimated she had died between 8 and 10p.m.[17] The murder weapon was "sharp-pointed" but not definitively a knife, and the medical examiner could not determine its size. One month before Syperda vanished, her estranged husband, Michael Lee Syperda, had been arrested for assaulting both his wife and her roommate. Arrest Made: December 9, 2016 From: Maynard, Iowa Went Missing From: Mount Pleasant, Iowa, on July 16, 2000 Bellevue, Iowa Linn County Throughout the investigation it was determined that DeWoody was dating the wife of Burtch. On June 25, 2018, Henry County District Court Judge Mark Kruse announced Michael Syperda was guilty of first-degree murder in Elizabeth Syperdas death. Kerstens former boyfriend, Steven J. Klein, was arrested in Muscatine July 17, 2015, and charged with first-degree murder in the nearly 20-year-old unsolved homicide. It's clear that in many cases, when cold cases do get solved, the suspect has already died. In 2018, the company entered the DNA data from the case into the public genealogy website GEDmatch, where it found a familial DNA match. Investigators believe shed been killed in her home on Sept. 20. 58 YOA Killed: Sunday, May 1, 2011 (Council Bluffs) -- A suspect is in custody in connection with a 38-year-old murder case in Pottawattamie County. Arrest Made: March 3, 2014 Rotatori had lived at the motel for about a week while in training for her new job as food service director at Jennie Edmundson Hospital in Council Bluffs. On January 25, 2016, Christopher Joseph Yenger, 28, of Ottumwa, and Zachary Allen Dye, 27, of Council Bluffs, were arrested and each charged with two counts of Felony Murder. [8][9] She attended Cedar Rapids Kennedy High School, where she was an above average student and well regarded by school officials. April 9, 1974 Arrest Made: August 16, 2013 On Wednesday, May 24, 2017, Judge Burns found Golyar guilty of first-degree murder and second-degree arson in Farvers death. When Burns disposed of the straw, the investigator collected it and tested it for DNA. On Feb. 13, 2019, a Jackson County jury found Mangler, 24, guilty of second-degree murder in Remakels death. Camanche, IA Missouri authorities executed Six in 1997 for the 1987 kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old Kathy Allen. For Immediate Release. On Feb. 20, 2015, Black Hawk County jurors acquitted Supino in both counts of first-degree murder. On Thursday, July 12, 2012, Derrick J. McElroy, 26, of Fort Dodge, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder in connection with Prestons death. Although there are a handful of cases from the hawkeye state that gripped the nation many have gone years without notice. Date of Death: January 22, 2012 They also played a later recording, after Burns' arrest, in which Burns questioned whether he could have blocked out the memory of committing the crime.[30]. 22 YOA Devery Hibbler sentenced Sept. 1, 2016, to 35 years in prison. Last edited on 20 February 2023, at 04:20, "Michelle Martinko's murder 'haunted' the Cedar Rapids community for 40 years. Then we went through a little bit of anger, I think, because he was allowed to live his life without facing justice in this world," Schenzel said. 37 YOA Killed: June 26, 2011 On Wednesday, April 18, trained police dogs discovered Miss Lades body in a ravine about a half-mile from where they found Mrs. Links body. Sioux City, Iowa In 1999, 13-year-old Minerliz Soriano was assaulted and killed on her way home from her New York City school, according to People.In November 2021, Joseph Martinez, 49, was arrested in her death after police possibly matched his DNA to semen found on Soriano's sweatshirt. A double homicide of two teens in Montana has been solved after more than 60 years thanks to forensic genealogy. She told another person Wieneke had been killed with a baseball bat before that was public knowledge or the weapon had been recovered, officials said. Susan Kersten, a 38-year-old gifted artist and divorced mother of four including 1-year-old twin daughters was killed in Iowa City on Sunday, Sept. 24, 1995, sometime after returning home from a family reunion. Polk County Date of Crime: April 16, 2000 Body Identified: November 2014. Two Cedar Rapids investigators ended up traveling to Modesto, California to speak with Roberts in person on April 28, 2020. Copper Dollar Ranch Nancy Grace featured the cold case in 2010, and the family received a new . [31] The defense argued that DNA evidence had been mishandled,[31] and that different articles of clothing from the scene should not have been stored together in one evidence bag. Cora Ann Okonski, a 23-year-old young mother engaged to be married the following month, went missing from her Tama, Iowa, home around 9 p.m. on Palm Sunday, April 16, 2000. [30] The doctor who performed Martinko's autopsy and investigators in the original case, all now retired, took the stand to testify to how the investigation was conducted, and to Martinko's cause of death. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Case # 74-00243 Mrs. Bloomfields body was found three days later, bound with pantyhose and wrapped in plastic bound with duct tape, in a ditch along a highway about a half-mile south of Rockford, Illinois. [2] She did not have many close girlfriends or confidantes, which was speculated to be caused by jealousy from other students over her beauty and stylish clothes[11] or conflict over a boy she had dated. Both the suspected killers were living in Cedar Rapids at the time Brian was slain while working at a Kum & Go on Mount Vernon Road SE, Denlinger said. Trial Began: Feb. 4, 2019 On Sept. 7, 2016, Courtland Clark was sentenced to 21 years in prison for his role in Tony Canfields death. 1101 10th Avenue Updated: Jun 8, 2021 / 10:10 PM CDT SIOUX FALLS, S.D. [9] The killer left no fingerprints, which led police to believe they had worn gloves. He died Nov. 6, 2014 while awaiting trial. 33 YOA Estranged Husband, Michael Syperda, arrested and charged Nov. 30, 2017, with first-degree murder Armed with shields, rifles and crowbars, officials arrested Mitchell at the home without incident, and later charged him with first-degree murder and first-degree robbery in Stickleys homicide. More than 30 years later, The Iowa Department of Public Safetys (DPS) Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI), in cooperation with the Coralville Police Department, arrested Anthony Burtch, 57, of Iowa City, on March 24, 2016, and charged him with Murder in the First Degree, a Class A Felony, in DeWoodys slaying. Legal Statement. 111 S. Second St., Apt. GONE COLD: EXPLORING IOWA'S UNSOLVED MURDERS; RECENT NEWS; News Archives 2019; NEWS ARCHIVES 2018; NEWS ARCHIVES 2017; NEWS ARCHIVES 2016; NEWS ARCHIVES 2015; NEWS . The Fayette County Sheriffs Office was assisted by the Des Moines Police Department in the investigation. Davis told authorities Holly had committed suicide. She had looked into the parking lot as she drove by to check for her daughter's car because her daughter worked at the mall and had had car trouble before. Cedar Rapids, IA Trial Date: March 4, 2019 On Sunday, January 22, 2012, he passed away in Tampa, Florida, where his family had taken him for longterm care. On August 7, 2020, Burns was sentenced to life in prison without parole. The murder of Michelle Martinko occurred in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on December 19, 1979. Sentencings: Sept. 1, Sept. 7, 2016. Mary Jayne Jones, 17, of Ottumwa, Iowa, was found slain in a farmhouse near Blakesburg, Iowa, on Tuesday, April 9, 1974. Based on the number of stab wounds particularly to the young womans face police considered the homicide personal in nature. COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (KMTV) On Friday, the Council Bluffs Police Department announced the identity of Lee Rotatori's killer, closing a case that had been open for nearly 40 years. She had been shot once in the head and once in the heart at close range with a high-powered rifle. Webster County Mitchell was sentenced Monday, Jan. 23, 2023 in U.S. District Court to the maximum term of 20 years in prison. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in federal prison. Burns was held Wednesday night at the Linn County Jail, records show. Thank you in advance! Bellevue police said officers were summoned to the house about 1 p.m. Sunday, where they found Remakel deceased inside the residence. According to an email Callahans granddaughter, Trish Hall, sent to Iowa Cold Cases on Jan. 12, 2014, her grandmother was bludgeoned and placed in the river. In March of 2015, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) reopened Okonskis case. In 2010, WHO-TV Channel 13s Aaron Brilbeck ran a story about the case as part of an ongoing cold case series with Iowa Cold Cases. The Cascade County Sheriff's Office announced on Tuesday that it has closed the. Although the tip did not lead to any suspects, the investigator discovered what he believed to be the killer's blood while he was reviewing the case files. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. The trial began Feb. 10, 2020, and on Feb. 24, the Scott County jury of seven women and five men returned a guilty verdict after deliberating just shy of three hours. Johnson was taken to the Webster County Jail on a $1 million cash bond. On Thursday, August 31, 2017, a federal judge ruled Mitchell finally competent to stand trial, although Christopher Nathan, Mitchells lawyer, asked that the court be closed for discussion about setting a new trial date because it involves trial strategy that he didnt want to make public at this time. Pilcher will receive credit for the two years served since his arrest, and also will quality for reductions for good behavior. All Rights Reserved, Home More than 30 years later, Fisher's estranged . 17 YOA Cedar Rapids, IA Police interviewed numerous people, and several were cleared of suspicion through use of a polygraph. He lay face up on the floor of an open-air park shelter, dressed in blue jeans, a blue jacket and tennis shoes. It was a cold case until 2018, when familial DNA identified a suspect 39 years after the crime who was charged, tried and convicted of her murder. On April 3, 2015, a Boone County, Iowa jury found Green guilty of second-degree murder in Kosters death. Mitchell refused to take antipsychotic medications prescribed by prison doctors. 22 YOA Burns' defense team objected to the wording of one of the prosecution's questions, which they claimed implied unequivocally that Burns' blood had been at the scene. Arrest Made: Oct. 29, 2014 20 months old Arrest Made: March 4, 2014 Lade, like the others, had died from blows to the head. John Bloomfield dies while awaiting trial: Nov. 6, 2014. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, Burns, who was 25 when Martinko died, will make his first court appearance Thursday morning in Linn County. Linn County She was partially clothed with no shoes. Federal prosecutors charge and indict Mitchell April 26, 2016, in U.S. District Court for violently robbing Stickley on April 29, 2011. He began to search for her, as did the police. In November 2014, the woman checked out the story again on the iowacoldcases.org website, and was sure the body belonged to her ex-husband, Robert Bryan McMahon. [24], In 2018, the DNA phenotyping company took the data they had collected the year before and entered it into GEDmatch, a public genealogy website that has been used by law enforcement to solve other cold cases, most famously that of the Golden State Killer. But in recent years, there has been a glimmer of hope. Killed: June 28, 2018 There was NO physical evidence linking her to the crime. Five-year-old Evelyn Miller was reported missing on July 1, 2005, from the Floyd, Iowa apartment her mother, Noel Miller, shared with her fianc, Casey Frederiksen. Guess I just needed to know why . For Michelle Martinko murder suspect Jerry Burns, Timeline: What we know about Michelle Marie Martinko's death and investigation, Friend 'happy Michelle finally gets justice' after police make arrest in Martinko killing, Michelle Martinko of Cedar Rapids, killed in 1979, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Tama County Wapello County Rural Fire and Rescue and the Hedrick Fire Department were called and responded to the scene. Roberts made his first court appearance in Linn County District Court on Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021, where he was charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder and going armed with intent. 22 YOA He grew up in Manchester, Iowa, and graduated from West Delaware High School in 1972. Case Number: 14011355 December 26, 2016 Alford Plea Entered: Feb. 17, 2017. Both parents have been gone for decades: Martinko'sfather died in 1995, and her mother died in 1998. Shortly after her return, Burtch left for approximately an hour-and-a-half. Busch pleaded guilty in April to Conspiracy to Commit Robbery Affecting Interstate Commerce and Discharging a Firearm During a Crime of Violence Resulting in Murder in connection to the death of James Booher, a known drug dealer, in 2014. 20, and his girlfriend Melisa Gregory, 17, were bludgeoned to death on a ranch northwest of Newton, Iowa, in 1983. (Courtesy Council Bluffs Police via Greg Gunsalus). Various authors have claimed to have solved the case with books such as "Slaughter on North LaSalle" by . He could not offer a plausible explanation for why his DNA was found at the crime scene, authorities said. 19 YOA Have u heard the saying if u cant say anything dont say anything at all. 22 YOA 211 15th St. Johnson allegedly drove Preston around on gravel roads in rural Webster County before shooting and killing him. In 2012, while serving a life sentence for an unrelated attack, the man died in prison from colon cancer. CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) Authorities say they have solved the 50-year-old killing of an Iowa teen but not before the suspect died of old age. [9] Martinko was found inside collapsed over the passenger seat and stabbed to death. Murder Charges Dropped: Jan. 31, 2017. Youll need to fire up some Crystal Meth or something to attempt to follow anything shes trying to articulate beyond that totally unintelligible. Officially, the case remains unsolved. More than 17 years after Liz Syperda went missing, her estranged husband, Michael Lee Syperda, 52, was arrested Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017, in Rifle, Colorado, near Glenwood Springs, and charged with first-degree murder in his wifes death, despite his wifes body never being found. 2005 2023 He could not offer a "plausible explanation" forwhy his DNA was found at the crime scene, authorities said. Police found the victim in Room 106 clad in pajamas and lying on her back in a pool of blood on the beds right side and identified her as Lee Rotatori, 32, of Nunica, Michigan. At first, detectives werent sure if Golinsky was killed or whether he had perhaps died by suicide or accident, Law & Crime reported Oct. 26. Robert Beaver sentenced Sept. 1, 2016, to 20 years in prison. Sentencing: March 22, 2019. Council Bluffs, IA No other issues were discussed. Jasper County Attorney Mike Jacobsen said his office would not have brought charges against Supino if they didnt feel they could get a guilty verdict. Yancey pleaded guilty in May to the same charges. Perpetrator: Thomas O. Freeman of West Frankfort, Ill. The victim was 17-year-old Maureen Brubaker Farley, a newly married woman not much older than the boys who found her. A Des Moines Register story published Oct. 14, 2019, said a jury wont gather to determine Burns fate until Feb. 10, 2020, if not later. Remains Found: Nov. 5, 2012 Because his business was illegal and involved interstate commerce, Sioux City police and the Woodbury County Attorneys Office referred the case to the United States Attorneys Office, and federal prosecutors were able to claim jurisdiction in the case. Ely Road SW An autopsy report determined she had been sexually assaulted and struck in the head, causing a skull fracture that killed her. DNA technology unavailable at the time of Farley's killing allowed police to confirm that Smith was Farleys killer. On Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012, Casey Frederiksen was charged with first-degree murder and first-degree sexual abuse in connection with Evelyns death. 73 YOA Iowa Cold Cases pic.twitter.com/COPUDpaDMP, Within days ofMartinko's killing, police received more than 200 phone calls and letters from people who wanted to help, according to Des Moines Register archives. All rights reserved. In April 2019, Council Bluffs investigators submitted the unknown male DNA profile to Parabon Nanolabs to begin a genetic genealogy case. Case Closed/Solved: On Oct. 5, 2021, police announced DNA had helped identify her killer, George M. Smith, who died in 2013. On Dec. 8, Purk was found guilty of second-degree murder. Council Bluffs, IA U.S. District Judge Leonard Strand found Mitchell premeditated and intentionally killed cabdriver and mother Catherine Ann Boyle Stickley, 54, of Cedar Rapids, and robbed her to buy crack cocaine April 29, 2011. On Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2014, Robert Gene Pilcher, 68, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in Mary Jaynes death.