Iowa Woman Says Her Father Was a Serial Killer Who Murdered and Buried as Many as 70 Bodies

An Iowa woman believes her father was among the most prolific serial killers in the United States. Fremont County Sheriff's deputies and state officials are now looking into this claim of Lucy Studey.

Fremont County Sheriff Kevin Aistrope told the Des Moines Register on Monday that Lucy said his father, Donald Dean Studey, killed "five or six" women yearly for many years and buried them in and around an abandoned well on his property near Thurman.

Donald's five-acre property is about 40 miles from Omaha, Nebraska, according to police. Aistrope said two cadaver dogs brought to the site on October 21 had "hits" of the possible existence of decaying remains in the area of the well.

"She's got a hell of a story, but we don't have any proof of anything other than we had a cadaver dog hit... We've got to have more proof than that," Aistrope told the Register.

Aistrope said he had already requested assistance from the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI).

"I'll get with DCI, and we'll get a game plan here together, and this just adds... credibility to her story," Aistrope noted.

Iowa Woman Says She Knows Where the Bodies Are Buried

For 45 years, Lucy Studey will tell anyone who would listen that her father had killed and buried dozens of young women with the help of his children. But no one believed her.

"I know where the bodies are buried," Lucy told Newsweek. The Iowa woman described how her father would ask her children, including her, to assist him in moving the bodies, either using a wheelbarrow in summer or a sled during winter.

"He would just tell us we had to go to the well, and I knew what that meant... 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," Lucy said.

The Iowa woman claimed they would put dirt and lye on top of the bodies as his father dropped them into the well. Investigators said early this week that cadaver dogs have now found what they think were human bones in the spots she pointed out in a remote part of western Iowa.

FBI Joins the Investigation for Alleged Serial Killer's Burial Ground

The local sheriff and an FBI source said the FBI is now working with local and state authorities to find out if the victims of an alleged serial killer were buried in the rural area of Iowa.

The Fremont County Sheriff's Office and the Iowa DCI are directly communicating with at least one FBI agent from the Omaha field office, the local sheriff said.

All parties will meet next week to discuss the next steps in investigating the allegations by Lucy against her father, who died in March 2013 at the age of 75. The Iowa woman believes that her father murdered 50 to 70 women over three decades.

"We're in a holding patten until everyone gets together," Aistrope told Newsweek.

According to Aistrope, he and his deputies started looking into Lucy's claims in 2021 when she initially contacted the sheriff's office to report his father's crimes.

Since then, Aistrope told the Register that investigators tried to find the well and get permission from the present owners of the property and neighboring properties to conduct searches.

He noted that the old well, since filled in, was 90 feet deep, and excavating it would be an arduous undertaking.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Bert Hoover

WATCH: Fremont Serial Killer Investigation Begins - From We Are Iowa Local 5 News