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The Evansdale Murders /// Part 2 /// 394

November 16, 2023 / 01:00:25

This episode of True Crime Garage covers the abduction and murder of two young girls, Elizabeth Collins and Lyric Cook, in Evansdale, Iowa. The hosts discuss various suspects, including Michael Kunder and Jeff Altm, and the investigation's challenges.

The episode begins with a recap of the girls' disappearance in July 2012 while riding their bikes. Investigators initially focused on registered sex offenders in the area, but no leads materialized. The hosts highlight the fear in the community due to a series of attempted abductions around the same time.

As the investigation unfolds, the hosts discuss the discovery of the girls' bodies in December 2012 and the ongoing mystery surrounding their deaths. They mention the lack of released details regarding the cause of death and the challenges faced by law enforcement.

Michael Kunder, a convicted sex offender, is discussed as a potential suspect due to his history of abduction. However, he was later ruled out by authorities. The conversation shifts to Jeff Altm, who was arrested for attempting to lure children and has a history of similar crimes.

The episode concludes with a discussion on the impact of the case on the community and the ongoing efforts to solve the murders. The hosts encourage listeners to provide tips to law enforcement.

TLDR

The episode discusses the unsolved abduction and murder of two girls in Iowa, focusing on suspects and investigation challenges.

Episode

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everybody gather around grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true [Music] [Music]
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crime longtime listeners of this fine program will know that one of the tactics I
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would certainly use in any of these investigations is what I like to call the old pervert Roundup and that is
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exactly what law enforcement did investigators Tracked Down approximately 10 registered sex offenders living in
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Evansdale and all were cleared by police but according to CNN there were 200 registered sex offenders in a 10mile
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radius this scary stuff yeah the town of water has wait did you make sure that there wasn't a prison I I did the town
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of waterl has one registered sex offender for every 236 residents for comparison purposes
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Evansdale has a registered sex offender for every 484 residents overall the DCI says it
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looked into over 300 sex offenders to date throughout the investigation investigators had a hard time figuring
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out exactly how the girls were abducted where the bikes were left was quite far from their house and was not in an area
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cars could travel on further the girl sense had seemed to lead into the woods how had a predator or Predators managed
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to get control of two girls silently and sight unseen in broad daylight yeah but
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we we've talked about this many times normally I'm going to guess that it's by threat of violence I show you a gun I
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show you a knife you're a little kid it's not going to be that hard for me to you know most little kids are not
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going to think hey I could take off running right now or maybe I can scream or I could do something you're going to
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see that gun and once that threat is made now that perpetrator's in control yeah and what you have to wonder about
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too is do you take that a step further and say were they lured to a vehicle perhaps by someone they knew and trusted
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and there was no reason for them to scream or run away right I think that's your second option the other thought too
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had they been grabbed from another location perhaps a long Road alongside a road which would make sense and then the
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bike's left by their abductor on the trail and the dogs are just mistaken or confused well and we talked about this a
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little off the Record was the idea that what if the perpetrator had a truck or had uh a truck with maybe a cap on it
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where he got the girls got control of the girls they're now in his vehicle he has the their bikes but now he's afraid
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that once he takes off off that maybe somebody sees the bikes in the back of his truck here's the other thing to
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consider as well staying along the idea that it was a stranger abduction could we have a situation
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where they were somewhat targeted meaning had someone been watching the two girls as we said this bike ride was
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pretty routine they were out riding together often and I would imagine it would be roughly about the same time of
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day mhm so did somebody put together a you know a carefully and attack a snatch and grab of these two girls especially
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if they were following them and then followed them all the way to the lake that might have presented the
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opportunity the perpetrator was looking for mhm there were a rash of child abduction attempts throughout Iowa in
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2012 the following reports appeared in various media Publications and I'll kind of go through these one at a time
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captain and you just kind of jump in where you see fit May 19th 2012 authorities say they were
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looking for a man suspected in the attempted abduction of three girls on the west side of Perry Iowa Perry police
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say the man stopped his car about 8:00 p.m. Friday and asked the girls ages 8 and nine for directions to a convenience
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store he then tried to get the girls into the car asking for them to show him the way show him the directions police
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say the girls ran to a neighbor's house thankfully on June 6th of that same year
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Metro Police are teaming up with following a string of attempted child abductions in the De Moine Iowa area
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note this is like 125 miles away from Evansdale but I I I want to go through some of these as we as we can here the
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most recent of these attempts happened in Pleasant Hill on May 23rd of that year police say a man in a SUV tried to
00:11:02
lure a young girl into his vehicle in the same article they're talking about walki police were investigating an
00:11:09
incident that happened around the same date there were two girls they say they were followed by an SUV in June parents
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in for City Iowa were notified of two abduction attempts in one of them the driver of a tan panel work style van
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stopped three children on bicycle on North 8th Street and told them he was going to get them the children ran away
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and the driver drove off it seems like we need another stranger danger campaign through this country I mean with all
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these creeps and all these pieces of [ __ ] to teach these kids one stay away run away run to the nearest house yell
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for help well what I always find interesting in these situations is when you do have some a child or children who
00:11:58
actually go go missing and then the thought is abduction you'll see these little stories in the newspapers in the
00:12:05
local newsp papers and they are just that they are little tiny stories because they don't know much about the
00:12:11
offender they don't really fully know what the offender was attempting to do the actual crimes they were attempting
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to carry out but it's scary stuff and they're really just delivering a little short warning to the community and to
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the parents in the area what happened once you have a child who actually goes missing these stories all start to cycle
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back through the news because now you have people making connections and you're going all right there's a shark
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in the water and he's over here swimming around in this area and look try to get
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somebody here and try to get somebody there uh in the same article Captain they are going all the way back to March
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of that year where they say the police department investigated a possible attempt to abduct a 10-year-old boy
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the boy who was in front of his home said he was approached by an Asian male approximately 50 years old with a thin
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face the suspect was driving an older gray van possibly with Iowa license plates the man reportedly tried to lure
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the boy into his van after asking for directions to a church whether these attempts could have been the same person
00:13:25
who took Elizabeth and laric is almost certainly something that police in Evansdale would have been considering at
00:13:33
the time on the 4mon anniversary of The Disappearance a letter appeared in the newspaper and it read to whom it may
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concern we would use your name but we don't know who you are or maybe we do maybe you are someone who knows the
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girls maybe you're someone who just acted upon impulse maybe you had planned to take them we don't know because we
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don't know who you are but we can sort of imagine that you must not have had the things you needed to grow up feeling
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safe and loved because only someone who hurts inside would hurt another person in their family we've all heard the
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saying hurt people hurt people we believe this to be true we are so sorry for what happened to you when you were
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growing up certainly all children do not receive all the love and care they deserve some are even abused by those
00:14:38
who are supposed to have taken care of them when that happens it is very wrong taking the girls from us has caused much
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pain pain for them pain for us and our families since the time you took them maybe you've wondered more than a few
00:14:56
times how you could ever make it right right how to be a hero not a monster things probably look pretty hopeless for
00:15:05
a good outcome we want you to know that we are praying for you to do the right thing by
00:15:12
releasing the girls everyone wins even you the person who took them imagine how it will feel to have everyone remember
00:15:22
that you were the one person in all the missing children cases the one person person who cared enough to let the girls
00:15:30
go you will not be remembered as the one who took the girls but as the one who let them come home our lives have not
00:15:40
been the same since July 13th please let our girls come home to us do the right thing be a hero sincerely and it's
00:15:49
signed by both of the families well and then we're going to learn that that's not an option anymore to return the
00:15:55
girls because the girls would be found yeah yeah this takes place on December 5th of that same year
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2012 the family they get the phone call that they were really hoping not to get the family was told that two bodies had
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been found and at that time they believed them to be the girls three Hunters found two small corpses in Seven
00:16:19
Bridges Wildlife Park in Brimmer County north of Evansdale this was a totally offthe
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grid 166 acre Wildlife Area about 22 M from Myers Lake 22 mi from where the bikes were found mhm the area was not
00:16:37
one that someone would just stumble upon it was frequented mostly by hunters ATV
00:16:45
riders fishermen you know outdoor people yeah this wasn't uh the type of Park that you would just take your kids for a
00:16:52
hike this was like you said more for hunters and fishermen ATV riders and to kind of clue everybody in that's not
00:17:00
from that area when I see these types of statements it really it really puts it into perspective for me what kind of
00:17:08
place what kind of area we're talking about this is also an area where people would drive and dump appliances you know
00:17:16
how you see things that that are just dumped that are unwant wanted that they have no other idea of how to get rid of
00:17:22
them right they just dump these appliances out in the middle of nowhere so and this is also a place that pretty
00:17:28
much only the locals know about you wouldn't know about it if you weren't from the area I mean you could find it
00:17:34
on a map but as said it's it's very much like you just described it's only going
00:17:40
to be frequented by people that are specifically intending to go to that area for the purpose of hunting or
00:17:47
fishing now some locals used to use the area as a party spot so if you were local you were aware uh particularly
00:17:56
high school kids you know kids out looking for a place to drink some beers the bodies were found by hunters making
00:18:02
their way through the brush near a river the hunters nearly stepped on one of the
00:18:09
corpses the two corpses were lying about 20 yards apart from one another Blackhawk County Sheriff Tony Thompson
00:18:17
said even the hunters you know in describing this area he says even these Hunters if they had just gone 5T in
00:18:24
either direction they would have never have found those bodies mhm the area where
00:18:30
the bodies lay was accessible only by one road this is 270th Street this road had a dirt road off of it that went a
00:18:39
short distance to a dirt parking area and a turnout near the riverbank the bodies were found about 150 ft from this
00:18:49
turnout in the woods the whole place is incredibly desolate the kind of place where you could go and know that that
00:18:58
you're not going to see any other human beings the Iowa State medical examiner office confirmed after autopsies that
00:19:05
the remains were in fact that of L and Elizabeth the medical examiner was able to determine a cause of death but this
00:19:14
has never been released by law enforcement law enforcement made statements to the effect that details
00:19:21
surrounding the cause of death would be known only to the Killer and Evansdale police Chief Kent smok said
00:19:30
investigators had an idea of how much time passed between the girl's disappearance and when they were killed
00:19:38
however he would not release that detail to the public investigators have also never addressed whether they have
00:19:45
suspect DNA in this case although given that the bodies were exposed to the elements for what could be close to 5
00:19:54
months DNA recovery could be difficult Drew cins has stated that he was never informed whether DNA of anyone other
00:20:04
than the girls was found in the family chose not to learn how the girls were killed well I think the important
00:20:11
information that they're putting out there is we know roughly when they were abducted and we roughly know when they
00:20:18
were killed yes yes very much so and then one of the more famous leads in this case Captain this comes about on
00:20:27
July 24 2013 and there's some different parts to this lead um I actually think they had a good amount of this
00:20:36
information in advance but this is when we become aware of it this is almost a year to the date of when the two girls
00:20:44
were abducted the authorities announced that they received information from three Witnesses who saw a vehicle that
00:20:51
could be important to the case all three Witnesses reported seeing a large and clunky white SUV an older model likely a
00:21:02
Chevy Suburban or Ford Bronco parked on arbitus Avenue on Friday July 13th arbitus Avenue is crossed by the
00:21:13
Evansdale nature trail and is the road that is closest to the part of the trail where the girls bikes were found two of
00:21:22
these Witnesses said that they saw the white SUV parked between two bike trail signs
00:21:28
and the other witness told police they saw the vehicle parked near the woods on the east side of the lake a few hundred
00:21:35
fet from where the girls bikes were found right but that that would be where the scent dogs took investigators yeah
00:21:42
roughly the same area what made these witness statements so intriguing was that all three Witnesses said they seen
00:21:50
the SUV sometime between 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on the day the girls went missing and if you recall the cyclist my
00:22:01
boy Ted G told police he had seen the bikes on the trail sometime between sometime around
00:22:09
12:20 so this whole time period is all really fitting together two of the witnesses made their statements as part
00:22:17
of the original police canvasing the third came forward months later having assumed that someone had already
00:22:24
reported it this third report caused police to go back can reexamine the other two statements about the SUV and
00:22:32
decide that it was likely very important to the case but it's unknown whether the
00:22:38
public release of this information regarding the white SUV dredged up any further helpful
00:22:45
tips in 2013 the year after LC and Elizabeth were murdered Iowa investigators were alerted
00:22:54
to another double Abduction of two girls on May 20th 12-year-old Desiree Hughes and her 15-year-old friend Kathleen
00:23:05
Shepard were abducted while walking home from school this is around 400 p.m. in the afternoon in Dayton Iowa they got
00:23:14
into a vehicle with a man who offered to pay them to mow Lawns but he just keeps
00:23:20
driving with them and eventually taking control of the two girls by waving a gun
00:23:27
while in the vehicle this item was actually described as a gun to be a gun but later we would
00:23:35
learn that this instrument was actually used to euthanize livestock MH their abductor Michael kunder drove around for
00:23:47
about 90 minutes and then took the two to a hog processing facility where he worked at the time he zip tied their
00:23:56
hands he then left one of the girls in his truck and he dragged the other girl off
00:24:02
into places unknown right the girl in the truck she bravely escaped the vehicle and hit out in the woods before
00:24:13
approaching a nearby home and then asking them to call for help around 8:00 p.m. police located cunder truck at a
00:24:22
nearby property where they found that kunder had hung himself yeah I believe that he wasn't that far
00:24:31
from his truck and I think at some point he came back to check on the other girl
00:24:37
and she was gone and that's when he knew oh game's up you know I got to do whatever I'm going to do plus I got to
00:24:45
take my own life yeah Desiree was the girl who bravely escaped and unfortunately when police when they find
00:24:53
kunder who had hung himself Kathleen Shephard is nowhere to be seen no there was a significant amount of
00:25:00
blood which they believe to be hers that was found on his truck her body was found uh sometime later by fishermen
00:25:10
about 15 to 20 miles down the de MO River she had been stabbed and beaten to death by a sharp instrument Michael
00:25:20
kunder who was a 6t 6 in tall 42-year-old farmand he had already D time in prison from 1992 to
00:25:31
2011 this was half of the sentence that he received for the 1991 kidnapping and assault of a young woman he grabbed her
00:25:42
hit her and pulled her into his car in an unrelated case kunder abducted two three-year-old twin girls this is like
00:25:52
the strange one of the strangest stories I've ever heard who were later found in
00:25:55
a trash receptacle these were the daughters they were alive thank God these were the daughters of a
00:26:02
female acquaintance cunder said he was angry with one of the little girls so he kidnapped them drove 50 miles with them
00:26:11
in his trunk MH and then left them in the garbage one of the girls did show signs of possibly have been choked
00:26:20
kunder completed a sex offender treatment program in prison and registered as a sex offender upon his
00:26:27
release yeah but you shouldn't be serving half your sentence you it should always be a little more than that or
00:26:33
let's make the sentences a little bit longer if you're only going to have to serve half of them yeah there should be
00:26:38
like no good behavior for this man yeah I mean this show nothing but bad behavior this guy gets out a year before
00:26:45
this and he starts committing crimes like this this is a monster this a very dangerous individual and police and
00:26:52
Evansdale and Dayton Iowa thought that theunder c could be connected because of obviously the similarities between the
00:27:02
two abductions M two girls taken in daylight from a public place kunder spent some time in Brimmer County where
00:27:11
Seven Bridges was located in the 90s so he may have been familiar with that Seven Bridges location well look we have
00:27:18
evidence that this individual likes to drive commit crimes and drive so you know when he takes capture of these two
00:27:27
girls n 90 minute drive you say and then the other one we have U 50 miles right so
00:27:34
this is individuals not afraid to commit a crime and then drive to different locations like I said it when we covered
00:27:41
Ted Bundy you know a long time ago I I reiterated that when we covered Ed keer these serial killer types and we don't
00:27:51
know if numbers actually would put kunder into the serial killer uh category but it
00:27:59
seems like he was going that direction he he kidnapped two girls that day we know he's guilty of that he killed one
00:28:05
of them but these serial killer types their vehicle is one of their weapons and maybe one of their most important
00:28:13
weapons a lot of these guys do a lot of driving a lot of trolling a lot of hunting I I just think this guy is a
00:28:20
very good suspect I do too um now they claim that he's not a good suspect anymore yeah and here's the thing when
00:28:32
you see a suspect that that feels this good feels like a a possible connection I want a little bit more of a
00:28:40
reason why he's not well and and I know they don't owe me that but I'm I'm selfish well here here here's my problem
00:28:48
with their findings is is and again we don't we we only know so much we don't even know if there's DNA that they
00:28:55
matched or didn't match and that's how they ruled him in or out what what the statements they have given to the public
00:29:01
or what I've heard is if you look at these crimes yes there's a lot of similarities but there's a lot of
00:29:07
difference and that's why we ruled him out and my argument for that would be he takes one girl away to isolate her he
00:29:15
comes back this is again what I believe he comes back and finds that the other victim is gone okay now everything has
00:29:23
to be sped up now did he kill the other girl before this happened or after I'm not for sure but again these things were
00:29:30
sped up and then he kills himself so I I I don't think you can look at the actual
00:29:37
murder or the manner in which it was done and compare the two and say it was it similar or different so what you're
00:29:45
referencing Captain is on May 14th 2014 where DCI said they were and this is this is their words here they were
00:29:55
pretty confident Michael plunder was no longer a person of interest in the Evansdale case right so here's what
00:30:05
they're citing in this they said that he did have an alibi for the day that the girls went missing that he was at home
00:30:11
in Stratford and I don't know how many people are there at this home or what puts him there that they're that they
00:30:19
sound this confident in this Alibi now one thing we should note though straford is about miles away from
00:30:29
Evansdale yeah that's not that far though hour and a half not with how much this guy seems to like to drive and then
00:30:35
as you pointed out they stated there were forensic differences between the two cases that's an interesting choice
00:30:43
of words because with all the information that they're holding back in the Evansdale case they can't clearly
00:30:50
come out and tell us exactly what those forensic differences are because that could be showing their hand in the
00:30:56
Evansdale case so where we don't know if we have DNA suspect DNA in the Evansdale case if
00:31:04
they do and they compared it to kunder DNA and they don't get a match well that technically would be a forensic
00:31:12
difference but you don't want to say that out to the public and let them know that you have DNA remember they're
00:31:19
holding back just as much in this Evansdale case as they are in the deli case and other cases that are similar to
00:31:29
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00:32:13
premium all right we're back this case I mean this you know I've heard of it before but to spin the time and dive
00:32:22
into it it's it's very complex and and it's very very confusing well and it's one of those cases where we have enough
00:32:31
information to lead us to more questions and we're sitting here now spinning our
00:32:37
tires trying to answer some of those questions but it's an intriguing case it's one that I'm very confident that
00:32:44
they're still very active with and we'll get into to some of that as we go and before we leave you today we will give
00:32:51
you the tip number if anybody should have any information or thoughts that they want to pass along to the proper
00:32:58
authorities on August 21st 2014 more than 2 years after L and Elizabeth were killed Evansdale police
00:33:08
held a press conference announcing a new website dedicated to the girl's case and
00:33:13
I used some of that for my note taking when doing research for this case part of this website Captain discusses the
00:33:22
likely characteristics of the killer because law enforcement developed a profile of sorts with the help of the
00:33:31
FBI's behavioral analysis unit who believed that the killer was a single individual stating he was familiar with
00:33:39
both Myers Lake in Evansdale and Seven Bridges Wildlife Area in brimer County he likely selected Seven Bridges as a
00:33:48
Dumping Ground because he was familiar with the area and knew it was secluded according to the profile the offender
00:33:56
blame lanss in with the community at large and may be a resident of Blackhawk or Brimmer counties he likely used quiet
00:34:05
coercion to subdue the girls and coers them into leaving with him using a ruse or threats of violence like you pointed
00:34:14
out the cousins were possibly the victims of opportunity seized by someone who had expressed interest in underage
00:34:23
girls and possibly had attempted abductions in in the past finally the suspect likely altered his appearance
00:34:32
and or cleaned painted or disposed of his vehicle after the abduction right but this this profile matches kunder
00:34:43
right they just described Michael cunder yeah so I I I just really am interested
00:34:49
to know what they had that that that points away from him I agree with you Captain I cannot shake this suspect I
00:34:58
can't I can't get him off of my list because he just seems too good he seems to fit too well with what we believe
00:35:06
we're looking for very violent yeah History of Violence also the same victimology that we would see in both
00:35:15
cases he doesn't mind look a lot of offenders are looking for that opportunity to find a vulnerable a
00:35:24
person that's in a vulnerable position and alone a lot of offenders will be turned off when they cannot find a
00:35:32
potential victim by themselves he seems have to to be able to overstep that obstacle we know that for a fact because
00:35:42
he took two girls who are walking home from school it might be a part of his ML and he used quiet coercion right just
00:35:51
like they described in the profile and that's really what these offenders and these perpetrators want to do when
00:35:57
they're trying to get somebody in their vehicle be it an adult or a child you don't want screaming you don't want a
00:36:05
violent altercation to have to go down because what does that create it creates ear Witnesses and eyewitnesses and
00:36:12
that's bad for your business his business is getting the victim into his vehicle sight
00:36:19
unseen and that can be done by offering to pay them for mowing lawns or as you said waving a gun in the face with
00:36:28
threatening you know with threatening violence toward them we do have some you know just when
00:36:36
this case can't get any more strange we did get two confessions over the years people who alleg that they were
00:36:43
responsible for killing the girls here's what we should start doing from now on if you confess to a crime that you
00:36:50
didn't commit we just put you in jail you get 30 days just for fun no no no you you get whatever that crime
00:36:57
would entail so if if it's murder and you confess to it and we know you're lying you still get 30 years just lock
00:37:04
you up because because it makes zero sense I don't understand well but the problem with that is it often it's
00:37:12
somebody with some pretty severe mental issues okay right right that come forward you could put them in in a
00:37:19
hospital usually these people need some kind of treatment that they're in a bad place and they're confessing to
00:37:25
something that they they weren't even capable of doing and I mean that from on many different levels well and that's
00:37:31
the import these are not bad people they're not evil people they're just they're confused because of of their
00:37:37
illness right but the the that's where law enforcement holding things close to the vest is important because when these
00:37:45
individuals come forward then they they can match certain things up and if your story doesn't line up or or the evidence
00:37:54
doesn't match your story we know that you're you're lying right and unfortunately hundreds of years ago we
00:38:00
would have just hung the person or a lesser Police Department would have went ahead and put this person in jail or
00:38:07
taken them to trial well but some sometimes with these crimes look at like John B Ramsey we've had so many people
00:38:13
come forward and confess well there's so much information out there it's really hard to okay they got this wrong or they
00:38:21
got this wrong well what if they only got a couple things wrong you go well did they just miss remember that or or
00:38:28
are they really not the Killer and this is pretty common especially when you have a case that's
00:38:34
like famous on the state level I mean Amy mahalic that we've covered several times there were multiple people that
00:38:42
confessed to to her murder and we have every reason to believe that none of them actually killed her one of the guys
00:38:48
confessed in the middle of church he got up on a Sunday morning and started marching up and down the the aisles conf
00:38:56
in to the whole congregation that he had killed Amy M now now that's a weird that's a weird Church experience right
00:39:04
there beyond weird right put a few extra bucks in the collection plate for the theatrics for that day now we let's get
00:39:11
into another good suspect now that we're past the two confessions that that don't
00:39:18
go anywhere there's no validity to those conf and and when you go over the suspect it's almost like you're making
00:39:26
this up Jeff altm yeah yeah so in late 2016 Iowa authorities received a report of an
00:39:35
attempted abduction a man pretending to be an undercover police officer MH tried
00:39:41
to lure a young girl into his car this is one of the more bright spots in this whole story and let me go
00:39:50
through this in in good detail here so the girl tells her parents and police uh that okay so she's she's going
00:40:01
through the the neighborhood bag right what's that this [ __ ] bag yes yes so so she tells her parents about this
00:40:09
attempted abduction right her neighbor and some brothers run out and they can still see the guy's vehicle she gave a
00:40:20
description of the vehicle to to her parents and to these these guys yeah he was still in the neighborhood he was
00:40:26
just leaving the neighborhood so they get in a vehicle and they start chasing after him and there's a really good
00:40:33
article about this in the De Moine register that that I recommend but what what it ends up being here Captain is
00:40:40
this pervert was 58-year-old married father of two Jeff altm mhm he was arrested in charge with enticing a minor
00:40:49
and impersonating a public official yeah but what's interesting is he has a a little tiny Ford Focus so they easily
00:40:57
catch up with him right and and then they're yelling at him and then this guy is threatening them saying he's law
00:41:04
enforcement and you better you know leave me alone the the coolest thing of this is and I don't have the guy's name
00:41:12
in front of me but the kind of the leader of the of the group of guys chasing after this man after the Pervert
00:41:19
man in the silver little Ford Focus go [ __ ] M this is a younger dude like he looks to me like he's like 18 or 19
00:41:26
years old and he's not put off by any of the things that this Jeff altm saying to
00:41:32
him because they pull up window to window yeah and he's not like you know pardon me do you have any gray Pon he's
00:41:39
like did you try to kidnap a girl yeah sick [ __ ] and the guy's like he's like no I didn't and I'm an undercover cop
00:41:48
and thinking that that's just going to end this situation yeah to which he then altm says to to this guy that's chasing
00:41:59
him if you don't leave me alone I'm gonna beat you up so he then says okay get out of your
00:42:05
car yeah and alm's like nope I don't I don't want to get out of my car to which he then says again I'm undercover police
00:42:13
trying to scare these guys off the guy says just think if you could get your hands on somebody like that you'd beat
00:42:20
his ass the the guy says to altm he says um that's fine one of my relatives is in law enforcement and they're on
00:42:28
their way and we've called the cops and we're going to we're all going to sit here and in a few minutes we're all
00:42:36
going to find out the truth yeah so what this leads to is Jeff altm obviously being arrested and charged with enticing
00:42:44
a minor impersonating a public official once police had altm in custody they started to connect other abductions
00:42:52
and attempted abductions to him it turned out out that altm had been trying to lure kids into his vehicle for months
00:43:00
if not possibly longer his moce operandi was to entice children by offering them
00:43:08
$100 to get in his van or his vehicle I'm sorry once they did he would molest them or attempt to he eventually
00:43:17
succeeded in sexually abusing at least two girls yeah but what was his job didn't he have a a a job where he
00:43:25
traveled around that's the scary thing he was a traveling he worked as a traveling automobile damage field
00:43:32
inspector which means he spent a lot of time in his vehicle or what might be his
00:43:38
work vehicle which could have been a van driving around this is I it sounds to me
00:43:43
Captain like he drove around in multiple States now I wonder if he's always using
00:43:48
his own vehicle or if there's a company vehicle but what you're saying is that two cars get in an accident the
00:43:55
insurance company is called at some point his job is to go out there and look at the damage go out and assess the
00:44:01
situation make a ruling right but insurance are normally just uh the laws only apply to that state like if you
00:44:10
even if you live on the border you know like that's true so he probably only works in Iowa but he probably works all
00:44:16
over Iowa well but the the information I have says driving around areas of the Midwest which makes me believe it might
00:44:25
be mle States but all in all regardless of where he's driving police were able to link altm to 19 that's one nine one
00:44:35
short of 20 such incidents in nine different counties as stated in the de moin register between May 31st 2016 and
00:44:45
November 16th 2016 altme is suspected of trying to entice at least 19 children he sexually
00:44:53
abused two of them his victims were all girls with the average age we talked about V victimology here with the
00:45:00
average age of 10 but he went after kids as young as six and as old as 13 right and but these are the ones we know of I
00:45:10
mean there could be way more that that we don't know of well there's one possible case that that that was
00:45:19
unsuccessful for altm thank God where he's he's trying to get somebody into the vehicle uh child enticement case from
00:45:27
Cedar Falls which was only about 12 miles from Evansdale MH so if you want to try to link him as close as you can
00:45:35
to our case that's about as close as we can we can place him or suspect him to be a man reportedly approached three
00:45:44
young girls in that situation at a park in Cedar Falls and offered them money to
00:45:49
get into his car he's not been charged in that actual enticement case cuz he can't prove that it was actually him but
00:45:56
they suspect that it is they continue to investigate this guy right what I'm saying is there could be another hundred
00:46:03
cases of this creep yeah one of the things after his arrest that they showed in some of the newspaper coverage of his
00:46:12
arrest was these $100 bills you know he's he's that is his Mo offering children $100 cash MH he they they
00:46:23
showed a picture of like I don't know 20 $100 bills he must have been keeping them on him on him at all times so that
00:46:32
when he saw an opportunity he had the the cash on him to to try to that ruse on these these
00:46:38
poor kids and I'm assuming he's working five days a week but he's so he's traveling 5 days a week and and way
00:46:46
different parts of the state that we we're not aware of you'd have to go back through his the cases that he was
00:46:53
assigned to but also just the rounding areas cuz how how easy would it be for him to say well I got a flat tire or I
00:47:03
actually took the wrong route or I was at the scene longer than I thought I would be and he was actually just
00:47:11
driving around a as a sick predator and I think that people would be quick to point out like look he's he's got all
00:47:18
these other cases and it seems like he's let the kids go all the time we don't know could something else have gone down
00:47:26
something unexpected in knee-jerk reaction he killed one of the two girls and then had to kill the second one M
00:47:33
you know it doesn't it doesn't always have to fit you know there are these one-off cases there are murders that
00:47:41
take place when people are really just trying to cover up other bad behavior and one thing that made him
00:47:47
very interesting to law enforcement and to to me and to us garage guys here as well we touched upon in the first
00:47:56
episode how how rare it is to try to abduct multiple children at a time MH well we
00:48:06
know of several cases where that is in fact what altm was trying to do so again he's already stepped over that obstacle
00:48:17
that potential obstacle in February of 2018 Jeff altm was sentenced to first degree sentence four
00:48:26
first degree kidnapping second degree sexual abuse and two counts of enticing a minor in Jasper County he got life in
00:48:34
prison and his wife of several decades has divorced him since he's gone away to prison well that's what I meant by this
00:48:43
guy to me when I was reading about this case I go this guy seems BTK like guy that was married
00:48:53
kids seems like a normal guy and always thinking and planning these things out in advance yeah or well
00:49:01
actually putting yourself in that position I mean it could have been the reason why he took the job without
00:49:06
getting too much into it because there's a lot lot of little details there but I
00:49:11
want to Circle back to the family we were talking about Dan morresy and his legal troubles and remember he was still
00:49:19
facing a trial at the time that his daughter went missing eventually he ends getting 90 years in prison for his
00:49:28
charges so he's that's where he is to this day and Misty his wife she continued for a a little bit of time to
00:49:37
be in and out of trouble look the the drug angle of the lyric in Elizabeth investigation does
00:49:45
not appear to have led anywhere apparently it's a still a working theory in the case personally I
00:49:54
feel Captain like I have a little bit of an issue with this Theory and part of that being I see the efforts put forward
00:50:01
and how many different agencies were working together on this case I kind of feel like if that were what was going on
00:50:10
here I kind of feel like it would have been solved by now that that would have been an
00:50:16
easy that would have been an easy thing to investigate for them because it's it the circle and the possibilities of
00:50:23
suspects is much smaller than what we are probably facing in my opinion what what appears to me to be more of a
00:50:31
stranger abduction right but does because it's easier to investigate doesn't mean it's easier to prove and
00:50:39
that to bring charges against somebody that you have to be able to prove that they could that they did this now many
00:50:47
people are probably recognizing that this case has a lot of similarities to another case that we've covered on True
00:50:55
Crime garage with numerous episodes and that being the deli double murder case that took place in February
00:51:03
of7 MH it's very difficult to do internet searches and be looking around snooping around on either one of these
00:51:11
cases without bumping into to the other now some of the the possible similarities or things that I believe
00:51:20
seem similar and some of these just seem a little too much to be coincidental but so we have two cases
00:51:32
that involve the abduction and murder of two young girls in Midwest Towns now the
00:51:38
towns are 400 miles apart both cases occurred on or near recreational Trails but also in areas where the girls were
00:51:48
not supposed to be or not known to frequent both cases occurred in the middle of the day in broad daylight both
00:51:57
cases occurred on the 13th of the month Deli was on a Monday and Evansdale was on a Friday the dates are palindromes
00:52:07
too which I never would have picked up on that but my friend Jess pointed that out to me them being the same backwards
00:52:14
and forwards 2 131 17 and 71312 21317 71312 in both cases the bodies were found in remote areas that investigators
00:52:28
believe required someone to be familiar with that part of the area with those specific areas both sets of
00:52:37
investigators stopped short of declaring the offender uh to definitely be a local
00:52:43
in both cases a close family member had ties to the drug world and rumors flew that drug connections were responsible
00:52:52
well in both cases very very small towns very low populations yeah neither case is the cause has the cause and manner of
00:53:04
death of the victims been known to the public nor is it known whether there was sexual assault so we can't really
00:53:11
compare some of the more important aspects of the Killer's Mo in these two cases and of course there are
00:53:18
significant differences between the cases as well we do have Authorities on the record stating that they do not
00:53:27
believe that the two are related yeah I think they're too far apart for one um we also in this case in
00:53:38
the Evansdale case the victims were moved or taken maybe brought to a different location and and then 22 miles
00:53:48
away from where the body from the distance between the bodies and the bikes we don't know if somebody took him
00:53:56
somewhere else before that uh Deli it's really tough because the new research that I've come across and we've
00:54:06
talked about this is there's now a debate if they were murdered in that spot and left in that spot or if those
00:54:13
bodies were moved uh but they weren't moved 22 miles I've heard plenty of law enforcement statements in in regards to
00:54:22
Deli that the two girls were killed where they were found and then when we go and we take a look at the Evansdale
00:54:30
case we really have no clue how many different locations they could have been before they were found at Seven Bridges
00:54:38
and as you pointed out how long they may have been kept by whoever took them we do have some thoughts by the
00:54:48
family members now keep in mind the family has chosen not to know how the girls were killed
00:54:55
but we have at least one family member who is on record saying it's of their belief that the girls were alive when
00:55:04
they were when they were brought to Seven Bridges and then killed in that location I don't think that there's a
00:55:12
lot that they're basing this off of other than them knowing the area having been to the area and really just their
00:55:19
suspicions my guess would be that it's it's an area that's not easily traveled on foot
00:55:25
from where you would have to leave a vehicle thus just making it difficult to transport one body let alone two bodies
00:55:34
in 2017 authorities had interviewed over 1,000 people in lric and Elizabeth's case nonetheless the murders remain
00:55:44
unsolved the deaths of the girls rre havoc on their families and people in Evansdale say the town has never been
00:55:52
the same Drew Collins said in an interview that the deaths of the girls devastated the town Drew continues to
00:56:01
assist in cases of missing children even having reached out to Mike and Becky Patty in the deli case to let them know
00:56:10
he was there if they needed anything also similar to Deli Evansdale has turned a small island at Myers Lake into
00:56:19
a dedicated memorial called Angels Park Memorial Island if features memorials to
00:56:26
the girls and other female victims of violence in Iowa as well as gazebos Memorial brick walkways murals and
00:56:34
decorative Landscaping this was an expansion of the 2013 announcement that the trail and
00:56:41
park at Meers Lake would be renamed to honor the memory of LC and Elizabeth the trail that runs around the lake is now
00:56:50
known locally as the trail of angels there is a substantial reward for information leading to a conviction in
00:57:01
this case and tips can be submitted by calling 85530 tips that's 1855 38477 on the 7th anniversary of the
00:57:15
girls abduction authorities reminded us that there are still several agencies that are actively working this case the
00:57:23
Evansdale police Department the Blackhawk County and Brimmer County Sheriff's offices and the FBI saying
00:57:30
they get together regularly to review information and evidence and evaluate new information Drew Collins tells
00:57:38
interviewers that he remains confident that the investigators are working hard on his daughter's case and that
00:57:44
eventually they will catch the guy who did it let's hope he is [Music] right oh hey I want to thank everybody for
00:58:00
joining us in the garage but I want to thank everybody that's been sharing our show with their friends on social media
00:58:07
especially on Instagram stories thank you guys so much thank you Captain we also want to say check out the new book
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murder in mome this case started when the body of 12-year-old Tina Marie Andrews was found underneath a discarded
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sofa in the woods outside of mcom Miss Mississippi she was last seen accepting a ride at a local teenage Hangout to
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this day the case is unsolved Trent Brown's book murder and mome is the only comprehensive examination of this case
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you don't have to write that title down just go to True Crim garage.com and click on the recommended
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page and until next week be good be kind and don't [Music] litter [Music] this show is sponsored by better help do
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Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 90
    Most heartbreaking
  • 80
    Most shocking
  • 75
    Most intense
  • 70
    Most emotional

Episode Highlights

  • Save on Mattresses with Ashley
    Shop top mattress brands at winning prices and special financing options.
    “Snooze now and pay later!”
    @ 00m 08s
    November 16, 2023
  • Insurance Savings with Gabby
    Get an Apples to Apples comparison of your insurance coverage and save big!
    “Gabby customers save $825 per year on average!”
    @ 01m 28s
    November 16, 2023
  • A Heartfelt Letter to the Abductor
    A letter from the families pleading for the return of the girls, emphasizing compassion.
    “Imagine how it will feel to have everyone remember you as a hero.”
    @ 15m 19s
    November 16, 2023
  • Michael Kunder's Crimes
    Michael Kunder, a convicted sex offender, had a history of violent crimes against women and children.
    “This is a monster, this is a very dangerous individual.”
    @ 26m 48s
    November 16, 2023
  • Profile of the Killer
    Law enforcement developed a profile of the killer, suggesting he was familiar with the area.
    “This profile matches Kunder.”
    @ 34m 43s
    November 16, 2023
  • Attempted Abduction Incident
    In late 2016, Jeff Altm attempted to lure a young girl into his car, leading to his arrest.
    “Did you try to kidnap a girl? Sick [expletive].”
    @ 41m 42s
    November 16, 2023
  • The Evansdale Case
    The abduction and murder of two young girls in Evansdale left a lasting impact on the community.
    “The deaths of the girls devastated the town.”
    @ 55m 55s
    November 16, 2023
  • Memorials for the Victims
    Evansdale created Angels Park to honor the memory of the girls and other victims of violence.
    “The trail that runs around the lake is now known locally as the trail of angels.”
    @ 56m 48s
    November 16, 2023
  • Ongoing Investigation
    Authorities continue to work on the unsolved case, with multiple agencies involved.
    “Drew Collins remains confident that investigators are working hard on his daughter's case.”
    @ 57m 41s
    November 16, 2023

Episode Quotes

  • Gabby customers save $825 per year on average!
    The Evansdale Murders /// Part 2 /// 394
  • Imagine how it will feel to have everyone remember you as a hero.
    The Evansdale Murders /// Part 2 /// 394
  • Desiree was the girl who bravely escaped.
    The Evansdale Murders /// Part 2 /// 394
  • He seems to fit too well with what we believe we're looking for.
    The Evansdale Murders /// Part 2 /// 394
  • This guy seems like a normal guy.
    The Evansdale Murders /// Part 2 /// 394
  • The deaths of the girls devastated the town.
    The Evansdale Murders /// Part 2 /// 394

Key Moments

  • Gift of Sleep00:11
  • Insurance Comparison01:01
  • True Crime Garage02:59
  • Listener Cheers03:58
  • Brave Escape24:48
  • Killer Profile33:37
  • Attempted Abduction39:35
  • Memorial Creation56:48

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown