Donald Dean Studey Bio – Donald Dean Studey Wiki
Donald Dean Studey, who died in 2013, was blamed by one of his daughters for killing up to 70 women. Though there are rumors that the supposed killer also murdered his two spouses, police files contradict this. According to police, both of Donald’s wives died by suicide, and one reportedly choked to death while the other shot herself.
AGE:
Donald Dean Studey was 75 years old.
DETAIL OF INCIDENCE:
State and federal agencies will meet with local officials next week to develop a plan to move forward in the investigation into a woman’s allegations that her late father was a ruthless serial killer. He went undetected by authorities in a quiet, western Iowa city.
According to WHO-TV, authorities are weighing their options, including an excavation of the Thurman, Iowa, property where Lucy Studey alleges she and her siblings helped their father, Donald Dean Studey, who died at the age of 75 in 2013, dispose of 50 to 70 bodies during a killing spree that spanned several decades.
“We have heard about this for years,” Fremont County Deputy Sheriff Tim Bothwell told the station Wednesday. “She (Lucy) told us in 2007 and we went out and there was only one well on the property that we could see, we didn’t realize that it was on other people’s property.”
Lucy alleged her father mostly targeted sex workers in the Omaha, Neb., area and that he would kill “five or six” women per year before dumping their bodies in or around a 90-foot-deep well on their Iowa property, Newsweek reports.
During a Friday search, two cadaver dogs detected the scent of human remains across four sites on the property, reinvigorating law enforcement’s investigation into Lucy’s claims.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation will coordinate with Fremont County authorities regarding how to proceed with the potential for funding and resources from outside agencies.
“The initial excavation of the area was a little over $300,000,” Bothwell told the outlet. “And with a county with a $1.8 million law enforcement budget, that would just devastate our budget.”
Investigators will conduct further research and dig into Lucy’s allegations before breaking ground, DCI Assistant Director Mitch Mortvedt told CNN.
And because Donald died nearly a decade ago, Mortvedt said law enforcement would take their time with the investigation. He estimates a plan will be “months in the making,” as the probe into Lucy’s claims is still in its “infancy,” the outlet reports.
Efforts to reach Lucy on Thursday were unsuccessful, and PEOPLE’s request for comment from the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office was not immediately returned.