Mariana Redrovan was 15 and of Ecuadorian descent when she was found murdered in a West Des Moines hotel on the morning of January 16, 1998. Employed full-time as a housekeeper at the Walnut Creek Inn for about nine months, she was discovered by a supervisor lying on a bed with multiple stab wounds; there were no immediate signs of sexual assault.

Investigators noted disturbing similarities between Mariana’s killing and other recent hotel homicides in the Des Moines area. Attention focused on Donald Arthur Piper, a former hotel maintenance man with prior convictions for the 1993 murder of Patricia Lange and the 1997 murder of Zurijeta Sakanovic, both killed in hotel rooms. Piper was questioned and considered the prime suspect, but prosecutors did not bring charges in Mariana’s death because physical evidence was insufficient to support a case.

The police list the investigation as closed despite no criminal charge in this killing. Did anyone who knew Mariana or worked at the Walnut Creek Inn in 1998 notice anything unusual around January 16?