Cops scrap search for human remains on Iowa property

Iowa cops find NO evidence of 70 dead women on farm where daughter claims her ‘serial killer’ father dumped their bodies: Three-day ‘exhaustive’ search is over

• The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation said no evidence has been found after searching property in Fremont County for possible human remains
• Lucy Studey McKiddy, 53, has claimed for decades that her father Donald Dean Studey is a serial killer, and that she helped dispose of the bodies on the property
• Cadaver dogs alerted at least four spots on the property, which prompted a dig
• But after three-day search and exhaustive efforts nothing concerning was found

Authorities in Iowa have called off the search for human remains after no evidence was found in a three-day excavation of a property where a woman claimed her father dumped more than 70 women’s bodies.

Lucy Studey McKiddy, 53, told the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office in 2007 her father, Donald Dean Studey, was a serial killer who forced her and her siblings to dispose the corpses of the women he killed.

A recent tip prompted local, state and federal officials to conduct a search of the rural Studey property near Thurman, in which cadaver dogs alerted at multiple locations of possible human remains back in October. 

But after spending three days excavating the areas, and ‘exhaustive efforts’ to collect and examine soil samples, no evidence or other items of concern were found, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation announced on Thursday. 

Authorities searched the property of Donald Studey, who died in 2013, after his daughter claimed that he murdered at least 70 women. They found no evidence to support her claims

Lucy Studey McKiddy, 53, told the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office in 2007 that her father was a serial killer who forced her and her siblings to dispose the bodies of the women he killed

The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the lead agency on the case, issued a brief statement Thursday. The agency was assisted by the FBI and the Fremont County Sheriff’s Department.

‘Over the past three days, state, local, and federal law enforcement assisted with an investigation in Fremont County,’ the statement read. ‘Authorities brought in an array of experts representing several disciplines and significant assets to excavate, collect and examine soil samples from a site identified by a reporting party. After exhaustive efforts, no evidence or other items of concern were recovered.

‘Law enforcement agencies coordinating this effort included the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Division of Criminal Investigation and the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office.

Lucy Studey McKiddy has pushed for an investigation into her claims for 45 years.

She said that Studey, who died in March 2013 at the age of 75, was ‘routinely drunk’ and liked to kill women by smashing or kicking in their heads inside a trailer.

McKiddy visited the site with officials back in 2021 to show them where her father allegedly dumped bodies. McKiddy and her three siblings were allegedly told to pour lye and dirt on top of the suspected graves, she claimed. 

McKiddy stayed at her home in Florida during the most recent search, but reportedly told Newsweek: ‘I hope that the authorities dig in the right locations and find all the bodies.’

Cadaver dogs alerted at least four spots on the property, with the last getting multiple ‘hits’ in the area surrounding one of the wells.

McKiddy said the right well to search was actually the dry well, not the wet well. But the dry well, according to a witness, was never searched Tuesday and Wednesday.  

‘I now understand how my dad got away with it, and why it’s been 45 years of disappointment from authorities,’ she said. ‘I’m not giving up. I’m getting those bodies out of the ground.’

McKiddy has been accused of giving ‘conflicting claims’ surrounding her father, with her elder sister Susan denying the allegations against their father.

Susan told Newsweek. said: ‘I’m two years older than Lucy. I think I would know if my father murdered.

‘I would know if my dad was a serial killer. He was not, and I want my father’s name restored.

‘He was strict, but he was a protective parent who loved his children. Strict fathers don’t just turn into serial killers.’

She also believes the cadaver dogs were fooled by the remains of their stillborn infant sister, who was buried in a shoebox on the property, as well as the body of a golden retriever. 

Cadaver dogs alerted at least four spots on the property, with the last getting multiple ‘hits’ in the area surrounding one of the wells

Sheriff Kevin Aistrope said earlier this week that the FBI have backed away from the investigation in recent weeks, adding: ‘I’m not going to let it die. I’m just not gonna let that happen’

Deputy Bothwell said that he doubted McKiddy’s credibility, after she admitted stealing $16,000 from her father and the officer was unable to find the well.

But Sheriff Kevin Aistrope said earlier this week that the FBI have backed away from the investigation in recent weeks, adding: ‘I’m not going to let it die. I’m just not gonna let that happen.

‘We’ve got to go with Lucy. No matter if they say it’s not true or say she’s crazy or whatever they can say, we have to look into it. We have no other choice.’

McKiddy told deputies in 2021 that she had ‘heard stories that there could be up to 15 bodies’ buried on her father’s land but she only knew about five personally, the Des Moines Register reported.

Her claims were different to those she made to Newsweek, telling police that she watched her father and two others carry a body from the trunk of a vehicle.

McKiddy told deputies in 2021 that she had ‘heard stories that there could be up to 15 bodies’ buried on her father’s land. Pictured is Donald Study’s former home in Thurman, Iowa

Investigators have previously said that they believe that he lured woman, thought to be sex workers from Omaha, Nebraska, to his five acres of land before murdering them

She suspected that her father sexually assaulted and killed a 15-year-old girl in the 1970s or 80s when she was in the car with him. The girl vanished the next morning.

However she told Newsweek that the victims could be as many as 70, and that her father kept the gold teeth as trophies.

McKiddy claims that the women all had dark hair, were white and most were in their 20s and 30s except for a 15-year-old runaway.

Investigators believe that he lured woman, thought to be sex workers from Omaha, Nebraska, to his five acres of land before murdering them.

Police reports also confirm that Studey’s two late wives killed themselves, with one dying by strangulation and the other shooting herself.

Studey reportedly forced his children to pile dirt and chemical lye on top of the bodies after dumping them into the well. He died in March 2013 at the age of 75

Studey reportedly had a history of violence and run-ins with the law, including threatening to kill relatives.

Studey, who had ‘love’ and ‘hate’ tattooed on his knuckles, is understood to have a criminal history but was known to use several aliases.

He was jailed in Missouri in the 1950s for petty larceny, in Omaha in 1989 for a drunk driving offense – as cops confirmed they rarely went to the trailer where he lived because they were ‘wary’ of him.

Studey reportedly forced his children to pile dirt and chemical lye on top of the bodies after dumping them into the well.

Lucy said: ‘All I want is to get these sites dug up, and to bring closure for people and to give these women a proper burial. My father was a lifelong criminal and murderer.’

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