New cold case unit hopes to crack 400-plus unsolved deaths in Iowa

DES MOINES — Ashley Okland’s murder in West Des Moines remains unsolved after 13 years.

Her brother, Josh Okland, believes a new investigative unit being established by Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird will bring the justice his family desires.

Bird announced the creation of a new cold case unit in the Iowa Attorney General’s Office during a news conference Tuesday at the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. Using an allocation of $530,000 from the state, the unit will feature three investigators and one prosecutor, Bird said.

Steve Ponsetto, a former Iowa State Patrol trooper and Iowa Division of Criminal Investigations special agent, will lead it. The cold case unit will investigate cases of death in Iowa that no longer have active leads and were identified as a homicide, a missing person with suspicious circumstances or unidentified remains.

Iowa has more than 400 cold cases, including more than 100 in Polk County and at least one in nearly all of Iowa’s 99 counties, Bird said Tuesday.

Iowa has not had a statewide cold case unit since 2011, when federal funding ended for one in the DCI. Legislators in 2021 considered a measure that would create and fund a two-person unit in the Iowa Department of Public Safety, but while that proposal unanimously passed the Iowa Senate, it was never considered in the Iowa House.

“When that hole is created in your life, it’s hard to have no answers, it’s hard to have no justice and it’s hard to know that the person who did that may be walking free,” Bird said. “No one should get away with murder here in Iowa, and it is my personal goal that if there’s anyone here in this state who has committed murder, I want them to be always looking over their shoulder because we’re coming for them and we will always work to bring them to justice.”

Josh Okland said Ponsetto reached out to him when making plans for the new cold case unit, and that he supports the effort. Okland praised the law enforcement officials who have investigated his sister’s murder, but said the added resources could help.

Ashley Okland, who was a Realtor, was shot to death in 2011 while showing a townhome in West Des Moines. She was 27 years old. Her death remains unsolved.

“I do think it’s important to know my family has the utmost respect and trust in the detectives that have worked on Ashley’s case. I think this team is not a substitution, but a collaboration to bring additional resources to help solve cases like these, especially the most limited resource, in time,” Okland said. “I think this new team will bring closure, clarity and justice to the over 400 families like mine.”

Polk County Sheriff Kevin Schneider said his office had a cold case unit that was operating on retired officers and volunteers.

“We don’t have the resources,” Schneider said. “But with the fact that we have now resources available, we can partner with the Attorney General and with other law enforcement across the state. Where we may not always agree on our political views, one thing we agree on is justice and also justice for the victims’ families.”

The Cedar Rapids Police Department’s Cold Case Unit has one investigator, Matt Denlinger, and two retired investigators, Ken Washburn and J.D. Smith, who work on cold cases, usually every Thursday.

Bird and law enforcement officials hope the cold case unit will be able to take advantage of new technology that can help crack long-unresolved cases. Bird during the news conference mentioned the case of Michelle Martinko, whose 1979 murder in Cedar Rapids was unsolved until DNA evidence came to light and police made an arrest in 2018. Jerry Burns, of Manchester, was convicted in the case in 2020.

Leaders with both the Iowa State Sheriffs’ & Deputies’ Association and the Iowa Police Chiefs Association said they support the new state cold case unit. The police chiefs group recently voted to donate $5,000 to help get the unit up and running.

“It sends the message that these cases are never forgotten and never closed until there’s an arrest made,” said Iowa Police Chiefs Association President Sam Hargadine, a former Iowa City police chief.

During the news conference, Bird said for many Iowans, specific cold cases come to mind when the term us used. One such case in Iowa is the unsolved deaths of Lyric Cook and Elizabeth Collins, who were 10 and 8 years old when they went missing near Meyers Lake in Evansdale in 2012. Their bodies were found nearly five months later. No one has been arrested in connection with their deaths.

The Gazette’s Cold Cases series, which began last year and continues with occasional articles, takes a deep dive into more than a dozen unsolved murders from Cedar Rapids and Linn County. Investigators share details of the cases and any new updates, and some of the victims’ family members share memories of their loved ones.

The series, so far has reviewed the cases of Fred Coste, who was fatally stabbed in 1959, Dennis Chaffee, who was fatally shot in 1983, and Josh Wellman, who went missing in 2015.

Comments: (515) 355-1300, erin.murphy@thegazette.com

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