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Iowa police are planning to excavate farmland after a woman claimed her father was a prolific serial killer who killed up to 70 women — and ordered his children to dump their bodies into a 30-foot pit.
The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office plans to excavate a piece of land in Thurman, Iowa, close to where Donald Dean Studey and his family lived.
His daughter Lucy Studey McKiddy, 53, made the bomb claims last week, telling investigators she and her three siblings were forced to move the corpse across the country.
She said Studey, who died in March 2013 at age 75, was “routinely drunk” and liked to kill women by smashing or kicking their heads in a trailer.
Investigators believe his daughter’s claims, which would make Studey one of the most prolific serial killers in American history.
Sheriff Deputy Tim Bothwell told WHO-13 that McKiddy had previously told them about her father’s alleged history in 2007 – leading them to excavate some of the property.
The lawsuit cost the county more than $300,000, but agents are now planning a second dig after searching land behind Studey’s property.
Studey, who died in March 2013 at age 75, was “routinely drunk” and liked to kill women by hitting or kicking their heads in a trailer.
The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office plans to excavate a piece of land in Thurman, Iowa, close to where Donald Dean Studey and his family lived
Cadaver dogs alerted at least four spots on the property, the latter receiving multiple ‘hits’ in the vicinity of the well.
Sheriff’s officials plan to meet with the FBI and Iowa’s Division of Criminal Investigations this week to discuss plans.
However, McKiddy has been accused of making “contradictory claims” about her father, with her older sister Susan denying the charges against their father.
Susan told Newsweek. said, “I’m two years older than Lucy. I think I would know if my father killed.
“I would know if my father was a serial killer. He wasn’t, 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 sister, who was buried in a shoebox on the property, as well as the body of a golden retriever.
Investigators believe his daughter’s claims would make Studey one of the most prolific serial killers in American history
However, McKiddy has been accused of making “conflicting claims” around her father, with her older sister Susan denying the charges against their father.
Sheriff Bothwell said he doubted McKiddy’s credibility after admitting she stole $16,000 from her father and the officer was unable to locate the well.
But Sheriff Kevin Aistrope said the FBI has pulled out of the investigation in recent weeks, adding, “I’m not going to let it die. I just won’t let that happen.
“We have to go with Lucy. It doesn’t matter if they say it’s not true or say she’s crazy or whatever they can say, we have to look at it. We have no other choice.’
McKiddy told deputies in 2021 that she had “heard stories that up to 15 bodies could be buried” on her father’s land, but that she knew only five of them personally, the Des Moines Register reported.
Her claims differed from those made to Newsweek, where she told police she saw her father and two others carrying a body from the trunk of a vehicle.
The Fremont County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that cadaver dogs were alerted in several spots on the property, as well as some on adjacent land
According to Lucy, the four siblings complied with their father’s orders when he told them to “go to the hills” because they were terrified they “wouldn’t come back,” his daughter said.
Sheriff Bothwell said he doubted McKiddy’s credibility after admitting she stole $16,000 from her father and the officer was unable to locate the well.
She suspected that her father sexually assaulted and killed a 15-year-old girl in the 1970s or 1980s while she was in the car with him. The girl disappeared the next morning.
But she told Newsweek that the victims could be as young as 70, and that her father kept the gold teeth as trophies.
McKiddy claims 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 he lured a woman, believed to be sex workers, from Omaha, Nebraska, to his five acres of land before killing them.
Police reports also confirm that Dtudey’s two deceased wives committed suicide, with one dying by strangulation and the other shooting herself.
Studey reportedly had a history of violence and clashes with the law, including threatening to kill family members.
Sheriff’s office officials plan to meet with the FBI and Iowa’s Division of Criminal Investigations this week to discuss plans.
The FBI and Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation are both assisting local law enforcement in the investigation
The property, on Green Hollow Road, is not an official crime scene as officers have not yet discovered any remains.
Studey, who had “love” and “hate” tattooed on his knuckles, is said to have a criminal past, but was known to use different aliases.
He was jailed in Missouri in the 1950s for petty robbery, in Omaha in 1989 for drink-driving – as police confirmed they rarely went to the trailer he lived in because they were “warning” of him.
Studey reportedly forced his children to pile dirt and chemical lye on the bodies after dumping them in the pit.
Lucy said: ‘All I want is for these sites to be excavated, for people to be shut down and for these women to have a decent burial. My father was a lifelong criminal and murderer.