Evansdale woman’s drug trial invokes painful death of daughter

Mary Kangas intently listens to an audio recording playing during the closing argument because she knows what's coming.

'I knew I couldn't react, so I kept calm,” Kangas said later as her voice quivered. 'I got to hear her voice. I know it's not under the best of circumstances but I still got to hear her again.”

Kangas of Waterloo, hadn't heard her daughter Shanda Werkmeister's voice since July 6, 2013. The 35-year-old left her mother's home that afternoon and three days later her body was found floating in the Cedar River, near the Highway 20 bridge in Waterloo. The cause of death was drowning but the manner of death was unknown, according to the autopsy report.

Werkmeister's cell phone, sunglasses, flip flops and a can of air or dust cleaner were found on a nearby footbridge. Kangas said the unknown is what haunts her. She was frustrated at the time because the police didn't investigate and the initial police report and autopsy report had inaccurate information about evidence found at the scene and both have been amended after Kangas raised questions.

Police said there was no evidence of foul play and the autopsy showed no traumatic injuries and found evidence of refrigerant, which is used in air cleaner, in her liver. She died from drowning. Police concluded she huffed the air duster and fell in the river.

Werkmeister's voice was on the recording played in last week's federal synthetic drugs trial because she was a confidential informant for police and made a controlled buy June 19, 2013 from Mary Ramos, 52, of Evansdale. Ramos was convicted Thursday for distributing and selling synthetic drugs.

Kangas continues to search for answers of what happened to her the day she died. At one point, she even hired a private investigator to look into the death. She was drawn to Ramos' trial out of grief as she faces the one-year anniversary of her death.

Kangas bluntly admitted her daughter was a drug addict, who also had been diagnosed with mood and anxiety disorder, poly substance dependence and antisocial personality disorder, according to mental health records.

Werkmeister started losing control of her life when she discovered methamphetamine. When meth and other drugs weren't available she turned to synthetic marijuana and bath salts.

Werkmeister was in and out of jail, drug rehab and even graduated from the county drug court but continued to use, Kangas said. After being charged with manufacturing methamphetamine in 2009 she received probation but had violations that led to being a confidential informant to avoid more jail time.

Kangas feared for her daughter's safety as a snitch and feels it only contributed to her daughter's drug problem. She admits her daughter didn't need an excuse to use but she would attempt to be clean at different times, and going back around dealers and users to make the controlled buys just put money in her pocket for her participation and then she would go buy drugs.

There has been much controversy regarding the use of confidential informants over the years. The informants are untrained and are put at risk much of the time. The news media have done investigative pieces on police operations going bad and criminal informants being exposed and put in danger.

A Loyola Law School professor, Alexandra Natapoff, in Los Angeles, even devotes a blog, 'Snitching Blog,” to the subject she has said criminal informants have become an 'influential part of the American criminal process.”

According to Natapoff's blog, these deals affect investigations to arrest, prosecution and sentencing because they are mostly informal, unregulated and secretive. Her blog provides information about informant use, law and policy.

Guy Cook, attorney with Grefe and Sidney in Des Moines, said the use of confidential informants in drug busts and other crimes is common in Iowa, as most other states.

'It's really two bad choices for offenders,” Cook said. 'Distributors don't put up with snitches and offenders are caught in prosecution because of the federal sentencing guidelines. They are forced into the ‘choice'.”

Tom Farnsworth, defense attorney with Keegan and Farnsworth in Iowa City, said he always tells his clients to learn the risks, rewards and benefits of being an informant. It depends on the offender's situation.

'Those with more criminal history don't have an option and have to consider providing information,” Farmsworth said. 'My job is to just make sure they understand the pros and cons. It's not my decision to make.”

Kangas said her daughter was already in a downward spiral when she worked as an informant targeting Ramos and Ramos' son Earl Ramos, also convicted earlier this month for synthetic drugs, during a national synthetics operation June 26, 2013.

Kangas said she had to go to the Ramos trial to hear some of the evidence.

'It doesn't matter,” Kangas said after learning of the guilty verdict. 'But I'm glad she (Ramos) can't sell to anyone else. I hope it's a good example for others who think they can operate a business like that.”

Kangas said she still cries every day and blames herself, thinking she could have done more. She tried not to enable and would advise any parent in that situation to use 'tough love.”

'I wished I would have done it more,” Kangas said tearing up. 'It would be better to have a child in jail or prison – at least you can still visit them. If they're dead, there's nothing you can do but talk to ashes in a box.”