Beer, Sex & Jealousy

Albia, Iowa, is a small town of 3,713 people in the south central part of the state, where the median household income is $43,877 and the median home costs $115,800. The murder this episode follows did not happen in Albia itself but about 45 minutes away in Derby, a near ghost town of 90 people with a post office open from eight until noon. Everybody involved, however, was from Albia.

this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed That autumn he had started spending time with a distant cousin, 18-year-old Jeff Willems, and had moved into the house where Willems lived with his mother Susan and stepfather Ivan Snow in Derby. Willems had a reputation as a hothead who drank too much and had once punched his father in the face over a comment about a girl.

On Wednesday 23 November 1983, the day before Thanksgiving, Ivan Snow sharpened a knife and gave it to Willems, telling him it was illegal to carry it. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it In the early evening they drove to the Albia home of Willems's 17-year-old ex-girlfriend, Stephanie Clark, and drank with her until about ten. The three of them then set off in the truck, drinking as they went, and after midnight they arrived back at the Snow house and carried on. Ivan and Susan Snow came home around two in the morning and joined the party. Between noon and four in the morning the two young men got through about 60 beers.

At about four in the morning Clark went upstairs to bed. this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it The two men went outside and sat in Willems's truck, Willems in the driver's seat, and drove off. this part of the story is covered for now

A block or two away the truck stopped. details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it Snow knocked him to the ground, punched him and threatened to kill him, then ran to the truck with Susan Snow and Clark. Willems was lying across the driver's seat, bleeding from a stab wound about three inches deep that had damaged his heart. They laid him in the back of the car and drove 14 miles to the Lucas County Hospital in Chariton. this part of the story is covered for now

details of the account remain covered until revealed He crashed it after two blocks, stole a second car, passed a deputy sheriff going the other way, crashed that one too and ran off into the snow. The hospital had called the sheriff's department, and a manhunt of about 40 officers, including the highway patrol, the Bureau of Criminal Investigation and a plane from Des Moines, followed his footprints to a barn on the Archangel Farm south of Chariton on Highway 14. They found him huddled under lumber and scrap metal, frostbitten from the knees down, with the loaded rifle beside him.

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it He claimed he had stolen the cars only to rush to the hospital. No knife was found in the truck; the blade was still in Willems's chest when he reached hospital.

this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it His defence argued accident and involuntary manslaughter, pointing out that he was left-handed and would not have put the knife in his right pocket; the prosecution argued intentional killing, that he provoked the fight and that only deadly force can answer deadly force. this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed A reporter said it was like someone popped his balloon and he shrank in his seat.

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed