Suspect in Dayton abduction could have been monitored if current law existed in 1992

If a current law had existed in 1992, law enforcement may have been able to track the activities of a Dayton kidnapping suspect who had been previously convicted of kidnapping a woman and two 3-year old children.

Offenders convicted of misdemeanors and felonies as of 2005 can be sentenced to a special parole which can be 10 years and even lifetime parole for felony offenses. And many of the offenders are required to wear an electronic monitor during the parole.

Michael Klunder42, of Stratford, who committed suicide Monday, is the suspect in the abduction of Kathlynn Shepard, 15, of Dayton. Shepard, along with a 12-year-old girl were abducted from 1st Avenue SW and an area west of the intersection on 7th Street SW, shortly after getting off a school bus, according to investigators. The 12-year-old managed to escape and found help at a nearby house.

Klunder was found dead around 8 p.m. by investigators at a rural property northeast of Dayton, officials said. Authorities and volunteers are still searching for Shepard.

Klunder served about 19  years of a 30 year sentence for third-degree kidnapping and assault resulting in bodily injury and two counts of kidnapping and one count of willful injury in 1992. Klunder was released from prison without parole in 2011. He was required to be on the sex offender registry but not monitored on a daily basis.

First Assistant Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks said Wednesday the special sentence is an effective tool because it provides an additional way to monitor sex offenders in the community. According to statistics many sex offenders are at higher risk to re-offend, he said.

Maybanks said the special sentence has prevented offenders from committing more crimes or at least, provides harsher penalties if they commit another crime while under the sentence.

Maybanks prosecuted one repeat offender who was able to plead guilty to a lesser sex offense because of issues with a witness was only sentenced to two years in  prison, but he remained in jail pending  his trial so he was discharged after the conviction but the special parole subjected him to be monitored for 10 years. The man was also charged in two other sexual assaults but only convicted in one but it was before 2005, so the special sentence didn't apply in the first conviction.

Law enforcement agencies are investigating whether Klunder could the suspect in another Iowa kidnapping which resulted in the murder of cousins Lyric Cook-Morrissey, 10 and Elizabeth Collins, 8, who were abducted last July from Evansdale. Their bodies were found in December.

Evansdale Police Chief Kent Smock said Wednesday they are working on "connecting the dots" right now and about 10 investigators, including FBI, DCI and local authorities, are working on that theory. However, they have "no hard facts" to make that connection at this time. They are similarities between the two kidnappings but they want to be cautious because nobody is interested in naming the wrong person.

"This isn't the first time we have investigated a connection like this," Smock said. "At this point, we want to keep the community and families informed and everybody wants closure but they also want justice. We don't want to falsely implicate him (Klunder) if he's not involved. He's no longer alive but he has family and if we get the wrong suspect, the real one will go free."

Earlier Wednesday, DCI investigators said backpacks and a purse of Shepard's was found in the 400 block of Kale Avenue, in Boone County. They also found an image of Shepard as she was exiting a school bus before she was abducted.