FREMONT COUNTY, Iowa — Iowa State and Freemont County investigators are laying the groundwork for a serial killer investigation, after a woman claimed that she helped her father bury 50 to 70 bodies inside a well west of Tabor, Iowa, KETV reported.
"We are actively investigating this, and who wouldn't?" Fremont County Sheriff Kevin Aistrope said.
Aistrope said county deputies have been in contact with Donald Studey's daughter for the past year. Lucy Studey alleges that her dad, who's been dead since 2013, killed 50 to 70 people over the span of 30 years, according to Newsweek.
Lucy Studey did not respond to KETV's calls.
Aistrope says, "All we have is a woman came forward and told us a story about bodies, and a well."
The Sheriff says that the crime scene located just off of Green Hollow Road is not a crime scene because officials haven't found bodies or bones, only hits from cadaver dogs.
The cadaver dogs, "did indicate in the area," according to Aistrope. "Not gonna say it was right over the well, or where, but they did indicate in the area."
The Sheriff said Donald Studey and his family are no longer tied to the property. A woman at the property chose not to speak with KETV, and requested that they leave the property.
The FBI and Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) are assisting the Fremont County Sheriff's office with the investigation.
Assistant Director of Iowa DCI, Mitch Mortvedt, says, "it asked us to assist with the investigation as well as the FBI and and we're happy to do so. Try to provide manpower and resources."
Officials will search the identified Loess Hills area with other cadaver dogs and tools like metal detectors and ground-penetrating radar in the coming weeks to prove or disprove allegations of mostly sex workers and transients from Omaha buried underground.
According to Sheriff Aistrope, the rumor of Donald Studey murdering multiple people has been around for years.
"It's a big mission for a small county," Aistrope said in an article posted Friday on Newsweek.com
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