Human bones were recently discovered inside a building set to be torn down in Dow City, Iowa. That's raised a lot of questions. Whose bones are they? How did they get there? And, are they connected to a 14-year-old Crawford County "cold case".


Monday night a few people were getting ready to tear down what they call "the old blue building" on Franklin Street.

They were inside going through big piles of junk when they found what looked like human bones in barrels. They were wrapped up in bread bags sitting at the bottom.

Two bags were found in all, confirmed by the Crawford County Medical Examiner to be a bunch of human bones.

"Oh I'd say approximately 27 to 30 (bones)," said Crawford County Sheriff James Steinkuehler.

The discovery came as a big surprise to this small town.

"I've lived here most of my life and you don't really hear about stuff like that in a small town like this," said Dow City resident Carissa Summerfield.

"I've been in there three or four different times and there's so much stuff in there you wouldn't imagine what you might find in there," said another resident Cory Wood.

But who's bones are they? There was some thought they could be the missing remains of Connie Ruddy who disappeared in '97. Only her jaw bone was recovered in the Boyer River a few years later and officials have been searching ever since.

Crawford Sheriff Steinkuehler says he's ruled out the Ruddy connection because of the types of bones found in Dow City.

"There was a jaw bone recovered, so we know that this has nothing to do with the Connie Ruddy case," he said.

He and others in town believe it's much more likely no crime was committed, and that the bones were just a purchase of recently deceased Denison man, who bought and stored antiques here.

"He was one of those, I call it a hoarder, who went and bought anything and thought one day it might be valuable," said Steinkuehler.

"The stuff that's in there has been bought, at like, auctions over years and years," said resident Wood.

To rule out any chance of a homicide, the remains have been handed over to the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and the State Medical Examiner's Office. They'll check the age, origin, and identification of the bones.

The bones are being examined by anthropologists. Officials said it will take three to four weeks before any information is released on where they came from and who's they are.