On Tuesday, August 8, 1995, the body of 24-year-old Connie Jo Bodensteiner was found in a locked basement storage bin at a south-side Des Moines apartment complex. An autopsy determined she had been strangled; a strap or belt was found around her neck. She was a young mother with a five-year-old daughter, Brittany, who was living with Connie Jo’s parents at the time.

Connie Jo’s mother, Sandy Choate, described a difficult life: Connie Jo had left high school in tenth grade, had several arrests including for prostitution and one drug charge, and had separated from her husband Michael Bodensteiner in 1992. Investigators briefly examined a possible connection to the death of 37-year-old Angela Buck of Waterloo, whose body was found the following day, but authorities said the cases were not linked. No arrests or publicly identified suspects have been announced and the case remains unsolved.

If anyone knew Connie Jo, her associates, or saw anything unusual around that Des Moines apartment complex in early August 1995, please come forward with information.