A woman from Iowa made allegations this week that could reveal a decades-long, unreported crime spree. The woman in question is named Lucy Studey, and she’s accused her father, Donald Dean Studey, of killing as many as 70 women throughout his lifetime. Here’s what we know so far.
Iowa Woman Makes Public Details About Traumatic Upbringing
In Interview with Newsweek Published on October 22nd, Lucy Studey, an Iowa woman, shared her horrifying story with a national audience. What’s followed is a massive investigation that could potentially uncover one of the most prolific serial killers in American history.
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Lucy, Lucy. Newsweek, she’s tried to uncover her father’s crimes for decades. She insists that her story isn’t just suspicion—shockingly, she claims that she helped bury the bodies of her father’s victims. According to the interview Donald would tell Lucy and her siblings to transport the remains of their father’s victims to a well in their woods. Then, they were instructed to pile dirt on top of the victims and then to lye them.
“He would just tell us we had to go to the well, and I knew what that meant,”Lucy made a comment. “Every time I went to the well or into the hills, I didn’t think I was coming down. I thought he would kill me because I wouldn’t keep my mouth shut.”
The Investigation So Far
Lucy Studey’s stories have become local legend. Up until now, the word of one woman hasn’t been enough to spur an investigation sure to cost the state tens of thousands of dollars. Jim Peters of Samaritan Detection Dogs took on the case. Peters took up the case free of charge and led his tracking dogs into the area Lucy believes hides at least 50 victims.
The dogs picked up on the scent of human remains at four different locations, however, the last location took most of the canines’ attention, getting multiple “hits,”Peters explains it. “Today told me there is the odor of human decomposition in the area,”Peters. “More work needs to be done to confirm that … I feel pretty good about what I saw from the dogs, but I’m not going to hang my hat on that.”
The Fremont County Sheriff’s department is now involved, and Sheriff Kevin Aistrope is convinced that there’s something to Lucy’s story. “I really think there’s bones there,”Aistrope. “It’s hard for me to believe that two dogs would hit in the exact same places and be false. We don’t know what it is. The settlers were up there. There was Indian Country up there as well, but I tend to believe Lucy.”
As it stands, however, there is not evidence of a crime. It has not been possible to identify potential victims or bones that have been found. “No one would listen to me,”Lucy explained to the outlet. “The teacher said family matters should be handled as a family, and law enforcement has said they couldn’t trust the memory of a child. I was just a kid then, but I remember it all.” Yet, finally, after 45 years, law enforcement is finally unpacking Lucy’s horrifying tale.