Julie Bell Davis was 33 when she was killed in her Des Moines satellite office on August 28, 1997. She was found stabbed multiple times with her throat slashed. There were no signs of forced entry or a struggle, and nothing was taken, so investigators treated the attack as personal in nature.

Crime-scene details were puzzling: despite a bloody scene, no fingerprints or footprints tied to a suspect, and the lead investigator said the killing had the hallmarks of a professional, targeted act. Her husband and the acquaintance who discovered her were both cleared. Police followed leads in Cedar Rapids and elsewhere, and considered a possible link to other similar murders in the next six months; a man was later arrested for two of those killings, but no definitive connection to Julie’s case was made.

No arrests have been announced and the killer remains unknown.