The FBI and authorities in Iowa have launched an investigation after a woman named Lucy Studey claimed that her late father, Donald Dean Studey, killed “50 to 70” people before his death in 2013.
Lucy Studey’s claims were published in a Newsweek article published Saturday. She told the outlet that she had alleged for 45 years that her father was a serial killer but that “few had paid her much attention.” But, this month, cadaver dogs indicated suspected human remains at a location in Thurman, Iowa, which she claimed was a burial ground for her father’s victims. Donald Studey died in 2013 at age 75.
Lucy Studey claimed her father would have her and her siblings move the deceased bodies in a wheelbarrow or a toboggan and that they helped dispose of them. Some were disposed of in a well on the property. Over the years, she said he killed “dozens” of women and at least two men.
Lucy Studey’s older sister, Susan Studey, told the outlet that the allegations about their father being a serial killer were false. She said that she believed the cadaver dogs “must have been fooled” by animal remains, including a golden retriever dog buried at that location, as well as Lucy and Susan’s aunt, who was a stillbirth and laid to rest on the property.
"The first time I ever heard about bodies was when I talked to Lucy about a year ago," Susan Studey said. "My father was not the man she makes him out to be. He was strict, but he was a protective parent who loved his children... Strict fathers don't just turn into serial killers... I'm two years older than Lucy. I think I would know if my father murdered. I would know if my dad was a serial killer. He was not, and I want my father's name restored."
The dog handler and a sheriff told Newsweek that the cadaver dogs are highly skilled and are trained to ignore animal remains.
Lucy Studey offered to take a lie detector test and gave two recorded statements to the FBI and the local sheriff’s office.
The next steps include more extensive searches by cadaver dogs and mapping the site with the locations where Lucy Studey believes bodies are buried. She said many of them were dumped into a 100-foot well. The search could include boring the well and excavating if remains are found.
An unnamed local source told the outlet that the cadaver dogs detected shallow graves in four locations. In one specific location, the dogs scented “multiple hits.”
Lucy Studey told Newsweek she began telling people about her father being a serial killer in elementary school. She said that some teachers and priests told her to keep the secret within the family. As time passed, she called authorities in Iowa and Nebraska, but her claims were dismissed, and investigations were never carried out.
Ten years ago, Fremont County Sheriff Kevin Aistrope got a call from Lucy Studey. He sent a deputy to look for the well and did not find it. Last year, Sheriff’s Deputy Mike Wake got a call from Studey and took her claims seriously. Wake had grown up hearing stories that Donald Studey was “erratic” and “often violent and inebriated” and “regularly started fights.”
Wake became more interested when Lucy Studey took him to the property and showed him the well on land “drastically changed” by bulldozing and logging. Last Friday, two cadaver dogs showed “hit after hit” of suspected human remains on the landscape.
KMTV Omaha spoke to Wake as well. Wake said that he had “several dealings” with Donald Studey.
"One time he held himself hostage with a gun, was threatening to do self-harm. We talked him out of that," Wake said.
"Growing up, in the area, we'd hear stories about bodies in a well and stuff. Didn't have names associated with it and that sort of stuff, but I just thought it was worth looking into," Wake stated.
“All we have is a woman who came forward and told us a story about bodies in a well,” Aistrope told CNN. “We did bring a couple of cadaver dogs. Cadaver dogs looked in there or looked around the area, and they did indicate in the area. I’m not going to say it was right over the well, but they did indicate in the area.”
“We’re going to do everything we can to prove or disprove there may be a crime scene,” Aistrope said.
"We're gonna follow through. We're gonna finish this one way or another. We're gonna get the answers to this," Aistrope told KMTV.