Cedar Rapids Cold cases ignore Paula Oberbroeckling
September 6th, 2014 § 1 Comment
Did we expect anything otherwise?
http://thegazette.com/subject/news/turning-up-the-heat-on-cold-cases-20140906
No mention of Paula Oberbroeckling here. Okay, we understand, there have to be priorities. The detectives have told us they’re only going after the “low hanging fruit.” Easy-peasey. Even at the time they didn’t take Paula’s death seriously and implied that she had brought it on herself. Murder. The victim is guilty. Okay, we get it. But… We’ll change this. A GoFundMe campaign starting up soon, to raise funds for a reward leading to new information on Paula’s case. We won’t quit. We won’t give up. We will solve this crime. Promise. Watch this space for more… coming soon.
Austin & Garf – Mary Nell Blair: “Daisies and babies and you, why don’t we ever see it through?”
May 9th, 2014 § 2 Comments
According to Billy Ben Carroll’s statement to the police, on the night of her disappearance, he and Paula and Lonnie Bell went to the Nowhere Lounge to hear a local favorite band, Austin & Garf. Here they are, singing “Mary Nell Blair,” recorded in 1970 at Karrleton. Arranged by Garf. Produced by Willie Kyle.
Have a listen…
Was there a third boyfriend? New update suggests: YES
April 30th, 2014 § 1 Comment
Our first update (The Third Guy) is now available on the website for all to read, so if you don’t have the Kindle ebook version of the story, you can still check out the update. Please comment and let us know what you think. We’re counting on your input to help us solve this crime and put Paula’s story to rest.
You’ll find the update HERE.
Update: “The Third Guy”
April 17th, 2014 § 1 Comment
The Update is here! If you already own a copy of the Kindle ebook version of What Happened To Paula, you will receive notice that your book has been updated and that updated version will appear in your Cloud, ready for download. (If you’ve signed up for automatic updates, you’ll receive a new version of the book automatically on your Kindle or Kindle App.) We’ve added new information, integrated with excerpts from previously published newspaper articles, police reports, statements and interviews in the Updates section of the book under the title: “The Third Guy.” If you have not yet purchased the book, that update will appear in all current versions of the book, which is available for purchase HERE.
For those of you who have been following the story on the website, we’ll be adding this update there at the beginning of May.
As always, we’re eager to hear your thoughts.
Paula’s is Case of the Month
March 3rd, 2014 § Leave a Comment
Over at Defrosting Cold Cases, Alice De Sturler is highlighting the Paula Oberbroeckling case. We urge you to pay a visit and add to the discussion there.
Defrosting Cold Cases was set up byAlice de Sturler to give victims of unsolved homicides a digital footprint. She is the host of #CrimeChat on Twitter and blogs for Geoff Searle and theAISOCC. Her free ebook about the quadruple capital punishment case of William Thomas Zeigler case can be found here. In 2013, this blog won the ABA Top 100 Blawgs in the category criminal justice. Alice is interested inblogging, networking, and preparing old files for re-investigation.
Drop by the site (http://www.defrostingcoldcases.com/case-month-paula-oberbroeckling/) and see what others have to say about Paula’s murder.
“What Happened To Paula” ebook is now available on Amazon
February 24th, 2014 § Leave a Comment
AVAILABLE FOR YOUR KINDLE HERE
At the time of her death in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, during the summer of 1970, eighteen-year-old Paula Oberbroeckling was a beautiful leggy blonde who dreamed of becoming a model. She disappeared in the early morning hours of July 11th, after she’d borrowed her roommate’s car to go off on an unspecified errand. She was barefoot and dressed in a sky-blue nightgown with matching panties. The next morning, the roommate’s car was found parked in a no parking zone near a grocery store, and Paula was gone. Four months later, a pair of young brothers who were on a hike along the railroad tracks down by the Cedar River came upon some human remains and homicide detectives were called in. While rumors flew, the ensuing police investigation brought no conclusive answer to what had happened to Paula. All these many years later, the case remains unsolved.
In 2012, Susan Taylor Chehak published a website (www.whathappenedtopaula.com) based on this cold case, in an effort to crowdsource an independent investigation by posting there the entire police file, autopsy, FBI reports and other documents, as well as news articles, photographs, and interviews with people who were related to or knew Paula.
This book is made up of all the material that is on the website, compiled in such a way that it tells the story of what happened to Paula in a more accessible, searchable format. It is a compilation of raw data, for you to explore and come to your own conclusions, as if you were investigating the case yourself.
To help discover the truth about what happened to Paula, you are invited to join this collaborative investigation by visiting www.whathappenedtopaula.com, subscribing to our newsletter for ongoing updates and liking the Facebook page (at www.facebook.com/whathappenedtopaula), where readers share memories, information and insights into the case.
NOTE: This e-book will be continually updated as additional data is added and new information comes to light, and as an owner of this book, you will be able to sign up for alerts to these updates as they’re made by visiting the Manage Your Kindle page on Amazon.com. These updates will show up as an addendum to the original text, so they’ll be easy for you to access and explore.
All proceeds from sales of this e-book will go toward funding what promises to become a powerful collaborative effort to discover and reveal, at last, what happened to Paula.
“If no one is guilty, then everyone’s to blame.”
Celebrate Paula’s birthday by helping us spread the word
February 3rd, 2014 § 3 Comments
In honor of Paula’s upcoming birthday (February 25th), we here at WHTP are working hard to bring more attention to her case. We’ve printed up 1000 stickers and will be slapping them up all over the place, not only in Iowa but around the country, for the next few weeks. If you’d like to join us in this effort, please send us an email (whtp1970(at)gmail.com) and we’ll be happy to send some of these stickers your way.
DNA?
January 28th, 2014 § 2 Comments
We’ve just learned from CRPD that Paula’s case is #3 on their list of Cold Cases that are being re-examined by a team of investigators. Also, they still have the dress and the ropes that were found with her body. We’ve been told that DNA testing on those items may come down to a matter of money, so we are looking into How Much? and thinking about a fundraiser to get that job done. This is all good news. Paula’s birthday is February 25th. We’re going to do our best to bring even more attention to her case as we remember her then. Join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WhatHappenedToPaula
CRPD is looking back at 20 Cold Cases
January 22nd, 2014 § 1 Comment
And Paula’s case is among those 20 that are being looked at again by two retired officers who volunteer their time on a regular basis to comb through the cold case files, looking for any clue or gap that might lead police to an arrest.
You can watch the KCRG TV news report about this story HERE
Unsolved Murders on Reddit
January 22nd, 2014 § Leave a Comment
Paula is getting some attention on reddit now.
Take a look, here: http://www.reddit.com/r/UnsolvedMurders/
Your upvotes will help us spread the word even further.
Was Paula the victim of a serial killer?
November 21st, 2013 § 3 Comments
We’ve been busy here at WHTP the last few days, following up on some comments that have come our way suggesting that Paula might not have been the only victim of whoever it was who killed her.
We have gone back into the newspaper files and cold case reports to look at Marlene Padfield (17), whose partially clad decomposing body was found in a ditch off a dirt road between Cedar Rapids and Mt. Vernon in 1959. Sheila Jean Collins (18) who was found strangled near Nevada Iowa in 1968. Geraldine Maggert (25), who was also strangled and died of a beating and exposure in 1968. She was 3 months pregnant and her body was found near the Coralville Reservoir. Karen Streed (21), who was hitchhiking from CR to Iowa City in 1971. Her body was found near a stream off Highway 218 and she had suffered a blow to the head and three gunshot wounds. Connie Craft (20) who died from a blow to the head and was found at a quarry near Cresco, Iowa in 1975. Diane Schofield (21) who was found strangled in the trunk of a car with her hands tied and feet bound, at the Des Moines airport in 1975. Michelle Martinko (18), a blonde who was stabbed to death in her car in the parking lot of the Westdale Mall in 1979. Sandra Pittman (17) whose body was found near a rest area off Highway 30 near Clarence, Iowa, in 1980. She suffered a blow to the head and may have been strangled.
We are especially interested in the murder of Marlene Brubaker Farley, who was 17 in September 1971 when her body was found off Ely Road SW, just across the river from where Paula’s remains were found. She had suffered a blow to the head and her body had been tossed in the woods, where it landed on the hood of a dumped car and was discovered a week later by some boys out hunting. It turns out she lived at 522-10th Street SE, next door to Thomas Sturgeon, the chiropractor who was implicated in Paula’s death, and she worked at Weida’s, a restaurant at 836 First Avenue NE, which backed up to the Unique Motel.
We can’t say that any of these cases are connected or that we are any closer to finding out what happened to Paula, but we are anxious to follow up on them. And as always, we appreciate your help! If you have any more information about any of these murders, please contact us. Or, feel free to post your thoughts here.
43 years ago today…
July 11th, 2013 § 2 Comments
BEFORE I DIE I WANT TO…
Paula Oberbroeckling went out after midnight and never returned. Her body was found 4 months later, in November. The case remains open and her murder is still unsolved. We’re still trying to contact her boyfriend at the time, Lonnie Bell, who apparently still lives in Cedar Rapids. If you have any information about how we might be able to find him, please let us know, either by commenting here or by emailing us: whathappenedtopaula@gmail.com Anything you can tell us will be confidential until you give us your permission to share it. We’d like to find out the truth. Please help?
Billy Ben Carroll
April 1st, 2013 § 2 Comments
We are chagrined to hear that Billy Ben Carroll has died. He was with Lonnie and Paula the night she disappeared. We tried to find him, so we could ask him about what happened, but were unsuccessful. Until we found this:
And this:
We know this is the right person, from his Statement to the police:
What some people have to say about The Unique Motel
March 19th, 2013 § 3 Comments
On Monday, March 18th, 2013, a conversation was started on Facebook, in the “You Know You Grew Up in Cedar Rapids in the 70’s and 80’s Because…” group when a photograph of the Unique Motel was posted there. Several comments into the discussion, illegal abortion was mentioned along with Joe Abodeely’s name. One reader commented that the Abodeely family has denied that he was ever involved in such activities, and from there the conversation expanded to include allegations of prostitution, child prostitution, and sex trafficking. Some folks took offense to this and eventually the thread was removed, by the original poster, not by the administrators as we had thought at first, because he was uncomfortable with where the thread was going. Fearing that this might happen, we saved the whole thread as a PDF file and are posting it here for you to see and, we hope, comment on, to continue the discussion and provide a space for more victims to speak up about their experiences.
You Know You Grew Up In Cedar Rapids, IA in the 70’s & 80’s Because….
Monday, March 18 2013, 6:53 AM
James Wagner
Like · · · March 10 at 7:16pm
10 people like this.
Kim Melheim wow…I remember this place!
March 10 at 7:20pm · Like · 1
Tiffany Stull Where was this?
March 10 at 7:21pm via mobile · Like · 2
James Wagner By St. Lukes……it was always on our list of drive‐bys while cruising the strip.
March 10 at 7:26pm · Edited · Like · 1
Eileen Boulet The emergency room sits in this spot now.
March 10 at 7:48pm via mobile · Like
Mike Haars thanks for the pic …i worked at the Meeting Place during 1974 cover charge taker
Friday at 5:55pm · Like
Deb Boyles Yes, St Lukes bought it rented it to people who had family in hospital…I worked there in 1986?? or around that time period…
Friday at 6:00pm · Like
Mitch Cumsteen ironic the Emergency room sits there now, because the Unique was used for illegal medical procedures (among other things) in the 50’s/60’s
Saturday at 8:48am · Like
Lynn Brown Mitch Im really confused, I thought this set across from the hospital not next to it?
Saturday at 11:39am · Like · 1
Sharon Kahler Bailey I believe it was across the street from the hospital………
Saturday at 1:29pm · Like
Rick Sampson It was on the same side of A Ave, basically where St. Luke’s parking ramp is now located.
Saturday at 1:44pm · Like
Sharon Kahler Bailey Oh. totally mispictured it then
Saturday at 2:36pm · Like
Steve Clark Rumor has it I was conceived at the Unique and born at St.Luke’s.
Saturday at 3:24pm · Like
Susan Jagerson Huh????
Saturday at 4:46pm · Like
Mike Haars 852 A Ave those motel room face st lukes
Saturday at 4:48pm · Like
Kevin Picard it’s on the same side as Lukes.. the windows of the rooms would be directly opposite the emergency room entrance ( or the origeinal one,, the entrance now sits where the motel was)
Saturday at 7:52pm · Like
Kevin Picard and Mitch… the relatives of the former owner deny the medical procedure thing… but it was well known that if you were a girl in a scrape.. you could get out of it with a scrape in the back room
Saturday at 7:55pm · Like
Kevin Picard and they had strippers in the bar.. and it was rumored that for a small fee……..
Saturday at 7:56pm · Like
Kevin Picard I would LOVE to have that sign for my mancave… if it still exists
Saturday at 7:57pm · Like · 1
Honest Tea I don’t understand why anyone‐‐relative or otherwise of the owner, Joe Abodeely‐‐would deny FACTS. It
is fact that Joe Abodeely was in the abortion and prostitution business. Joe Abodeely spent two years in Ft Madison prison for participating in an abortion, during which the woman died from the abortion and her body was dumped in the Me Too parking lot (I’ll post the articles).
It is also fact that women were prostituted out of The Meeting Place and the Unique Motel, as well as other bars/restaurants in CR. This was human trafficking. It was highly organized. This is fact. And frankly, I think it’s part of our history that the good citizens of CR have not properly addressed or dealt with.
Joe Abodeely and his cohorts trafficked young women (and children were involved as well) in the late 1960’s ‐ the late 1970’s. This is a span of nearly twenty years. It’s unimaginable to grasp how many victims that is.
I understand that people who post here mean no harm. I also believe that some of the snickering about The Unique is not meant to insult or with a bad intent. However, I would like you to consider something. Where do you think those girls came from? Do you recognize that they were human beings who were being taken advantage of and exploited? I was sexually abused and traumatized as a child in this situation. I have found another victim who was a teenager. She was alone in CR, with no parents and a child “of the system.” Upon her arrival, within a week, she was manipulated (and I would say terrorized) into complying and prostituting herself. She’s been in therapy for ten years. Myself, 15 years.
I imagine there are hundreds of victims. Most of these victims would be in their 50’s and 60’s now. Many victims of sexual trafficking and rape don’t even begin to process what happened to them‐‐until they are in their 40’s or 50’s.
I am not pointing fingers at any particular posters. I’m just asking you to consider that for many of these victims‐‐trauma and pain is a part of their daily lives now. Anyone else have teenage daughters? We know how vulnerable they are and how easily they can be manipulated by their peers. Imagine how teenage girls from dysfunctional families (or with no families at all) would fare against an organized system of corruption ruled by powerful people, big personalities and a lot of fear‐‐in an organized system that seemed to have a firm grip on them.
None of those girls became rich. None of these girls longed for this reality as little girls. Only the ringleaders were enriched. Only the ringleaders, like Joe Abodeely and his willing accomplices were realizing their dreams through these activities.
And to those who may be embarrassed that this is part of Cedar Rapids history‐‐please also consider that helping victims and healing broken souls may supersede your discomfort and your desire to sweep truth under the carpet. Please know that when you deny this reality‐‐you are denying the pain of the victims. You are telling them that‐‐once again, they are objects who do not matter.
If any of you are survivors of organized childhood sexual abuse or human sex trafficking in Cedar Rapids‐‐and you have felt alone, afraid, overwhelmed, depressed, or fearful STILL of these people who did these things to you‐‐please know that you are not alone. If you have suffered from depression, eating disorders or addiction to quell the pain‐‐I understand. You are not alone. If you have spent thousands in therapy‐‐crying, venting rage that you thought would break you in two‐‐and grieving your lost childhood and teenage years‐‐I get it. You are not alone. It was not your fault. And I hope you are well. You are also welcome to message me via Facebook, if you feel the need and are comfortable.
I have found validation and comfort from the other survivor (and many, many others that have validated my memories of how CR was run in those days). Maybe it’s time for the survivors to reach out and support each other. Others may want to bury this chapter in CR history, but the victims are the most important part of this story‐‐and they have rights, they have voices and they are human beings too. For many of them, they may have only begun to heal.
Thank you for listening.
9hoursago·Like· 2
Honest Tea 6‐9‐71 Cedar Rapids Gazette Abodeely Is
Ordered To
Serve Term
An order was issued in Linn County
District court Wednesday morning: for county
officers to arrest Josef Abodeely and;transport him
to the’penitentiary at Ft
Madison to begin serving a live year term on his
guilty plea in an abortion case.
At ‘mid-afternoon’ authorities
reported they still had been unable to locate Abodeely.
Arrest of the 40-year-old Cedar Rapids
businessman was
ordered after Linn district court
received notice from the Iowa
supreme court to proceed as though Abodeely had made no appeal.
The former nightclub owner’s
conviction was affirmed by the
Iowa supreme court last Sep
tember and the U.S. Supreme court denied an appeal to that
court May 3.
However, the Iowa high court
was not formally notified of the
denial until Tuesday. The order
to proceed was then sent to
Linn district court.
(snip)
(more at Gazette Online Archives)
http://crpubliclibrary.newspaperarchive.com/
9hoursago·Edited·Like· 2
Lynn Brown Bless you for your honesty. I pray that other’s affected will reach out to you. We need to remember in this
same time frame there was a conviction of psychiatrist’s because they had sex with their patients in the treatment rooms at St Lukes. Also another doctor was convicted of providing date rape drugs to others….There is a dark history in Cedar Rapids during this time frame. I’m proud of the people that made those convictions possible …. however so little has been done as a community to support the recovery of those affected by these sex crimes. We also had a priest that was convicted of sex crimes recently that taught at IC in the 60’s as well ‐‐ There were whispers among those in our neighborhood about ‘bad touching’. I hope that you can reach out and as a group become empowered. Healing wishes
9hoursago·Like· 1
Honest Tea Another article that details how Joe Abodeely the “defendant admitted referring seven women over a three year period to Meyers and Geater. Defendant claims he received no financial gain. Evidence produced by the State at the hearing preparatory to sentencing indicates defendant did realize a financial gain and that he referred far more than the seven women he noted in his own testimony. One of the women, Mrs. Wright, died immediately after having been treated by these men.”
Link to full article:
http://ia.findacase.com/research/wfrmDocViewer.aspx/xq/fac.1 9700902_0042094.IA.htm/qx
9hoursago·Like· 2
At this point in the conversation someone named Nick Saba came on and complained about the maligning of a dead person (Joe Abodeely): demonizing was the word used. Then his comments disintegrated into a rant against “liberals” and “our stupid President” for allowing babies to be murdered… We did not get screen shots of that part of the conversation, but it’s not really relevant anyway.
What we’re interested in is this suggestion that there might be other victims out there. We’d like to hear from them. We’d like to see them empowered, as Lynn Brown suggested above.
Let’s talk…
Cedar Rapids is talking…
March 18th, 2013 § 1 Comment
Follow the link below to a public post on the Facebook Group page, You Know You Grew Up In Cedar Rapids in the 70’s and 80’s Because…
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=626611274022054&set=o.111864120236&type=1&theater
and find there a conversation about the Unique Motel, Joe Abodeely, abortions (aka “medical procedures”), sex trafficking, prostitution, victims…