Gerald W. Mork was a 31-year-old patrol officer with the Iola Police Department when he was murdered during the early morning hours of July 14, 1985. Mork, who also served as an EMT, firefighter and the village’s fire chief, was found face down near his squad car in Riverside Cemetery, about a quarter-mile outside the village limits along Highway 161. He had been shot twice in the head at close range; his service weapon remained holstered. Investigators could not determine why he had gone to the cemetery or whether he had been summoned there.

Evidence at the scene included two fired .380-caliber cartridge cases and bullet fragments consistent with having been fired from an Italian Beretta Model 1934 semiautomatic pistol. That type of Beretta had been taken from a local tavern earlier, and Iola Police Chief Michael Schertz admitted selling firearms taken from the tavern months before the murder. Schertz and Mork were reported to have a strained relationship, and witnesses described seeing both Iola squad cars head toward the cemetery shortly before a sound like a gunshot. A judge later found probable cause to charge Schertz with first-degree murder and a warrant was issued.

Does anyone have additional information about Mork’s movements that night or about the Beretta traced to the tavern?