The Author’s Words

For Shame, Boone! For Shame, Iowa!
The Disappearance of Norma Maynard

I am Going to Tell You a Story

[Excerpt from the book Foreword]

I am going to tell you a story, the likes of which you may never have heard. It is the story of how my sister, a sixty-one-year-old, recently widowed citizen of a small town in central Iowa vanished from her home sometime in the latter part of January to the first part of February, 1979. She was never seen or heard from again, and no trace of her was ever found.

If that were all there was to the story, it would hardly be worth the telling, or reading. Individuals vanish daily in this country, and, unfortunately, in too many cases they are never found, nor any trace of them. We read of exhaustive searches, tireless investigation, all coming to naught.

What sets my sister’s story apart, what gives it a hideously unique quality, is that no investigation, no search was done by the local police department. For nine years the disappearance was kept secret by that law enforcement office.

When, after nine years, I began to look into what happened, the local Chief of Police insisted my sister had disappeared of her own volition – that she had taken a Greyhound bus to Los Angeles where she vanished. Throughout twelve years of my efforts, this police chief submitted item after item of “evidence” that was patently false. To my knowledge, he never contributed even one fact or bit of evidence that was valid and true. The state-level investigation that occurred only after two years of intense struggle on my part, he destroyed.

Today – more than thirty-five years after the disappearance as this is being written – what was a simple local murder case remains unsolved. I shall show that from the beginning there was no “mystery.” It will be made clear that both the missing woman’s son, my nephew, and the Chief of Police knew who the culprit was. The murderer, of course, knew. How many others may have known cannot even be speculated.

Follow along, if you will, as I battle that police chief, who held all the cards. Watch as I deal with a disinterested County Attorney. Be amazed as I am threatened with lawsuit by members of the legal profession. Gasp at the genuine incompetence of state-level “Special Agents” as they stumble through an investigation involving “many hundreds of man-hours” that was ill-fated from the beginning. Wonder that throughout, no local or state official – elected or appointed – no law enforcement official, no attorney or court judge, showed the slightest concern that an innocent woman had been murdered and made to vanish.

All of that, and much more, contributes to this effort being titled For Shame, Boone! For Shame, Iowa! The Disappearance of Norma Maynard. From beginning to end, what happened in that small town in a Midwestern state is above all else, shameful!

There is a truism that truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. Like many old adages, there is at least a grain of wisdom therein. The story I tell is true – I lived what I write. The Norma Maynard disappearance has to be true – no one would ever accept it as fiction. Agatha Christie or Conan Doyle would never have considered spinning a plot including as many oddities as my sister’s case, fearing the public would reject it as impossible or even unbelievable.

My story, throughout, teeters on the very brink of incredulity. The reader is called upon to accept that the following all intruded at some point in the Norma Maynard story:

• A disappearance that makes no sense at all.
• A “farewell” note allegedly written by the missing woman – as claimed by her son – which no one has ever seen.
• A statement that the missing woman “did board that bus” changed to “someone closely resembling her.”
• A report of an elaborate search for the missing woman in a distant city that never happened.
• A second missing person report filed ten months after the first report was made.
• A funeral home check that turns out to be not what it is presented as meaning.
• Two Greyhound bus schedules.
• Ten missing hours that were never accounted for.
• A mysterious nun.
• A dead woman’s diary.
• A “witness” who claimed his now dead wife had told of seeing Norma Maynard eleven years earlier on the day she “officially” disappeared – in spite of the fact that date was not made public until 1990.
• A “witness” the police chief claimed saw Norma Maynard alive in California – that “witness” never actually existed.
• Strange, “backed-in,” letters to the Grand Prairie Police Department.
• An investigation by Iowa state-level law enforcement conducted by two “Special Agents” that was straight out of “Theatre Boffo” or the silent screen’s Keystone Kops.
• And finally, for good measure, the hoariest of all clichés used by hack mystery writers, the “anonymous” letter.

Yes, all of that appears in the story I tell.

For the aficionado of the strange, the eerie, the just plain bizarre, I throw in an incident from a case that seems distantly related to the Norma Maynard disappearance. A midnight necropsy is performed at a Des Moines funeral home on a still-warm body which had been pronounced dead only three and a half hours earlier. (Yes, there is an official record). That should sate appetites for weirdness – at least for the moment.

We live in a skeptical age. And it is well that we take all manner of caution as to what we accept and believe, for seemingly there is no end to “sharpies” out to con anyone they can, including the public at large.

For the hard-shelled skeptic, who refuses to believe anything, as well as the gentler, more accepting reader, I present complete documentation and identification of articles and documents cited herein. Throughout, I repeatedly encourage, even at times challenge readers to seek out their own copies of said sources and build their own file. When they have done so, there will be a basis, rather than ungrounded opinion, for saying “I don’t believe that!” or “I see it differently,” if such is the case.

That is the very basic premise and construction of For Shame, Boone! For Shame, Iowa! The Disappearance of Norma Maynard. The book is a necessary read for anyone wishing to fully understand the Norma Maynard story. As stated in the book, the facts cannot be told orally – the listener’s eyes would glaze over within minutes, as they become totally lost. With the book, the reader can return again and again to parts not understood until it all becomes clear.

The book is not a “light” read like the sports pages or a romance novel. At least a reasonable level of reading comprehension and retention must be employed. (One reader told me she “enjoyed” reading the book. “Enjoyed” reading of how an innocent woman was murdered and that murder was covered up to allow the perpetrator to walk free? Obviously, she had no understanding at all of what she had supposedly read).

The book is a powerful indictment of law enforcement involvement in criminal activity and of cities which fail to control their police departments. It also speaks forcefully of how helpless the ordinary citizen is in attempting to cope with such circumstances.

It is the author’s contention that law enforcement involvement in crime is much more common than is generally known – especially in small towns, where the offenders can get away with it (as did the Boone Chief of Police). It is believed stories similar to the Norma Maynard case could be found in all fifty states. In the book, the author expresses hope that families suffering similar losses and experiencing similar failure of local officials to perform the responsibilities incumbent with their position, will find new strength and determination, new voice, to fight again from reading the Norma Maynard story. At least they know the author has some understanding of their problem.

Lest there be those who have not yet grasped the enormity of the Norma Maynard case, material from a charge letter sent to the Boone mayor in October, 2018 is submitted next.

That letter was ignored, as was a copy of For Shame, Boone! For Shame, Iowa! The Disappearance of Norma Maynard which was delivered upon publication in 2017.

The attitude of Boone officials (and Iowa state officials) seems to be: “Just ignore it! It’ll go away.”

What they are overlooking is, murder never goes away. Murder is forever! The victim is dead forever. The perpetrator is guilty forever, as is anyone abetting the crime. There is no statute of limitations on murder.

That is what puts the City of Boone (From this point, the designation “City of Boone” will be used to refer to city officials, when “Boone” is used, it refers to the city – this is necessary to separate the good citizens of Boone from any responsibility in the Norma Maynard story. None of them had any involvement, and most have never even heard of the case) in a perilous position: by covering up the murder of Norma Maynard to allow the perpetrator to walk free, the Chief became an accessory after the fact. He is believed to have no part in the murder, itself. However, he knew a murder had occurred and who the perpetrator was. In his position as Chief of Police, he stepped over the line and entered the world of crime by covering up the murder – it never happened.

This is of great consequence to Boone because the Chief of Police was a city employee. The city, like all employers, is responsible, liable, for all acts committed by its employees in the line of duty. The Chief, when he allowed the perpetrator to walk free by covering up the murder and issuing misleading statements, was acting in his official capacity.

It would appear its police chief has left Boone with an indelible stigma of momentous proportion and hideous content – that of a town of twelve thousand residents which has, for forty years, covered up the murder of an innocent woman to allow the perpetrator to walk free.

But the damage the Chief created did not stop there.

• He robbed Norma Maynard completely of her dignity as a human being by covering up her murder and causing her to vanish as if she had never existed.
• He destroyed the life of Norma Maynard’s son by forcing him to be a part of the murder cover-up although he had no part in his mother’s death. This included the son burying his mother’s body in the dirt floor of the basement of her own home.
  After a year the remains were moved to an outside location on the Maynard property.
  Thus, Norma Maynard was caused to vanish as if she had never existed.

• Having involved the son, the Chief then controlled him for the remainder of his life.
  It appears the son was forced by the Chief to take on a type of employment that was beneath his performance level and probably paid poorly, all in order that he could quickly be transferred if there was danger imminent (This actually happened when the son was transferred out of the state of Texas just days after he was offered a polygraph exam).
• The son and his family lived, as if in exile, in Tennessee for the remainder of the son’s life.
  This must have created terrible stress in the family. The son and his wife divorced, remarried, then apparently divorced again.
• Because the son cut all ties with both his mother’s and father’s family, his two sons grew up with no extended family on their father’s side.
  In the book it is stated I do not know where those sons are today (they would be in their thirties), however, should they ever seek retribution from the City of Boone for the life it sentenced them to through the Boone Chief of Police, I would give them all the support I could.
• The Boone Chief of Police destroyed Norma Maynard in every way possible by covering up her senseless murder and allowing the perpetrator to walk free.
  She was from a long-lived family and had no known health problems. She likely would have lived a minimum of twenty more years. This, and any closure over Norma’s death the family may have had, was all taken away by the Boone Chief of Police – and the City of Boone.

It is suggested in the book that the Norma Maynard story provides a good deal of possible material for authors searching for subject matter. Several suggestions are presented, with the knowledge researchers will find others of worthy and adequate importance.

Of prime consideration is the Boone Chief of Police. He is fascinating! The type one cannot turn away from.

It is suggested the Chief was not “born bad.” He apparently performed reasonably well in law enforcement during his early career. The Boone mayor who appointed him acting police chief seemed assured that his choice was valid. Of course, he could not know that within three years his choice for Chief of Police would cover up the murder of an innocent Boone citizen in order that the perpetrator could walk free.

As fate would have it, just days after the appointment as acting Chief of Police, there occurred in a northside tavern a deadly biker brawl in which there was a fatal stabbing. The odd, over the top peculiar way this was handled by the new Chief is chronicled in the book’s Prologue and examined in detail in a later chapter.

[The author was having fun with his readers when he titled the Prologue “There is a Tavern in the Town.” That comes from the title of an old, what might be thought of as a “drinking” song. It begins:

“There is a tavern in the town,
In the town.”

It was felt this was fitting, as the brawl took place in a tavern.

However, that bit of cleverness backfired. To this day, not one reader has caught the significance of the title. The song can probably be found in musical collections. Fair warning! The tune is catchy, and the reader may find themselves uncontrollably humming it as they read.]

There is more to the Chief of Police. Much more. In the book, he is likened to a cosmological “black hole.” He is the center of everything in the Norma Maynard case. Everything revolves around him, and him alone. Further, individuals who enter his orbit are unable to extricate themselves – ever. Their lives may be changed forever. (Example – Norma Maynard’s son).

Another possible victim – the Boone County Attorney. In the book he is designated “Mr. Frankly, I agreed with his conclusion.” The Attorney wrote me that he “did visit” with the Chief of Police and, based on the Chief’s comments about the Norma Maynard disappearance, he agreed. Note that nothing was said about examining investigation files and reports. A few soothing “comments” from the Chief were sufficient to erase the Attorney’s total interest in a woman who had been murdered, and whose murder was covered up by the Boone Chief of Police. The question is raised in the book whether the Boone County Attorney did, himself, become an accessory after the fact of murder through his action – or lack thereof. (That County Attorney would later become a judge).

Of particular note should be the last lines of the Prologue:

Three years – almost to the day – after the biker brawl, Norma Maynard vanished from her home in Boone.

Her disappearance would be the second unsolved murder during the first three years of the Boone police chief’s tenure.

Readers are encouraged to visit the town of Boone as a number of the sites mentioned in the book can be readily accessed which will give the story a more real background. (Be sure to bring your book with you).

All sites mentioned in the book exist (though some may have changed over time) and are easily accessible. These include:

• The former Maynard house and property.
  The spot where Norma Maynard’s remains are buried – and have been since the spring of 1980 – is clearly visible from the street. (An area the police chief would not allow investigated).
• The alley beside the house.
  This is of interest because the Chief claimed a neighbor across the street stated his late wife had told of seeing Norma “going down” that alley carrying a suitcase on the day she “officially” disappeared. There are problems with that:
  1. The “official” date of Norma’s disappearance was not made public until the Des Moines Register story in 1989 – ten years after the fact.
     How could this neighbor recall his wife saying she had seen Norma on that exact day?
     Actually, as is pointed out in the book, the Chief was desperately using the “sighting” ruse to save himself: if Norma was seen on the day she allegedly disappeared, she was alive at that time. Thereafter, she boarded that Greyhound bus and vanished. There was no murder, the police chief was not an accessory after the fact. A major difficulty is, the Chief never produced anyone who saw Norma Maynard one, two three, etc. days after she supposedly left Boone. For that matter, he never produced anyone who saw her one, two three, etc. days before she supposedly left. He couldn’t – facts indicate Norma Maynard was dead for as long as six days before the supposed bus trip.Nevertheless, the Chief hung on to that “sighting with a suitcase” nonsense.
  2. In telling his story, the Chief forgot about the weather at the time of the alleged disappearance.
     There was as much as thirty inches of snow covering that alley, making foot traffic all but impossible.
  3. If Norma had been “going down” that alley, she would have been traveling north, away from the bus stop, which was located four blocks west, on Seventh Street.

The “suitcase sighting” tale does not hold up from start to finish.

• The location of the Greyhound bus stop in January/February 1979.
  Just four blocks from the Maynard house, yet part of the “official” story has Norma leaving her home ten or more hours before boarding the bus for Los Angeles.
• The location of the Boone Police Department in 1979.
  Although only three blocks from the Maynard residence, the Boone police did not have a photograph of the missing woman until 1990 – eleven years after the fact – when I presented them with one (the same photo as on the book cover).
  Add to this that Norma’s son, Edward Maynard, who would have had access to pictures of his mother, and, because of his work schedule, was home most of the day, was never asked by the Boone police for such evidence.
  How can a search for a missing woman be done with the searchers having no concept of how that person looked? (In the book, it is pointed out few people in Boone knew Norma. It was not as if she were a very public figure, with her pictures before the masses constantly).
• The location of the tavern where the fatal biker brawl occurred in 1976.
• The house where Melba lived.
• Melba’s grave.
• Norma Maynard’s gravestone.
• The house where Norma roomed for years prior to her marriage.
• The beauty salon where the story originated that I might be involved in my sister’s disappearance.
• The offices of Edward Maynard’s Boone attorneys.
  They shepherded the estate of a murdered woman through the “court declared death” procedure.
  In 1986, the Iowa 2nd District Court, sitting at the Boone County Courthouse, solemnly declared legally dead a woman who had been murdered seven years before. A murder that was never investigated.
• The Boone County Courthouse.
  Site of the above-mentioned court and the office of the Boone County Attorney (“Mr. Frankly, I agreed with his conclusion” in the book).
• The Boone city park, where Norma Maynard’s remains were buried, according to the police chief’s “anonymous” letter.

All of this, and possibly much more, is available to round out and dramatize an understanding of the Norma Maynard disappearance. Walking the sites associated with a brutal, unresolved murder is an experience like nothing else.

There has been, and, it is likely, will continue to be, public derogatory commentary concerning both the book and the author. This is all personal opinion, having no solid basis of facts, whatsoever. Opinion without facts is just that – opinion. To use a legal phrase, it is “irrelevant and immaterial.” Opinion has little standing in court, because, as pointed out, it has no valid, strong, base.

For Shame, Boone! For Shame, Iowa! The Disappearance of Norma Maynard, on the other hand, is so meticulously researched it can, and will, stand up in court, if need be.

It will be noted throughout names are withheld. This was the author’s choice for two reasons:

1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. Names withheld would have little meaning for today’s reader
               2. The behavior, misconduct, of cited officials would be burdensome to family members and descendants who had no part in the grotesque murder cover-up

For those who simply must know names, finding them should not be difficult. Documents and newspaper articles cited are all real and can be located rather easily. The Ericson Public Library in Boone has a file of Boone News-Republican back issues. A number of cited documents may be viewed at the Boone County Courthouse – identifying document numbers appear in the book.

Letters cited may be more of a problem. Copies of the most important letters cited will be provided media upon request. Said copies will stand up to the most thorough of vetting – they are absolutely authentic, not altered in any way.

Individuals issuing denigrating commentary may feel they have the very best of intentions in, perhaps, defending the involved Chief of Police. What they are failing to recognize is, they are falling into the abyss created by that law enforcement official. They are helping the City of Boone maintain the cover-up of the murder of an innocent woman in order that the perpetrator could walk free. No matter how vigorously, loudly they attempt to cause distraction, that basic fact is not changed – cannot be changed – in any way.

The City of Boone and the state of Iowa are facing a dilemma of gigantic proportion: those entities, along with Boone county, are guilty of participating in the cover-up of murder to allow the perpetrator to walk free. This situation was created by a single, lone individual – the Boone Chief of Police.

All three entities sat on their collective you-know-what during the twelve years I battled the Boone police chief, spending thousands of dollars in the process, to have my sister’s murder properly investigated. Those officials did nothing. Not one said: “Wait a minute! There is a woman missing and unaccounted for!”

In a way, this is partially understandable. The Chief was the only official at any level (city, county, state) who had actually met me. None of the others had even spoken with me on the phone or even seen my photo. The Chief used this to his advantage, painting me as everything from an idiot to (one of his gentler terms) a “dingbat.” Who would these officials believe? An unknown individual hundreds of miles away or their Chief of Police? The answer is obvious.

Exactly what the Chief was doing has to be recognized. When he initiated the cover-up in 1979, it was to allow the perpetrator to walk free. However, when I began investigating my sister’s murder in 1988, the actions of the police chief changed drastically; he was now frantically attempting to save himself. He had made himself an accessory after the fact by covering up a murder! He was in the direst of straits: an accessory after the fact may be considered as guilty of murder as the actual perpetrator. Thus, all the triple-tongue lying he was doing to local officials. He was changing the focus from murder to me as a mentally disturbed interloper.

It worked. Those officials, so handicapped by the factors measured on the BGM scale (see the book) they could hardly move, accepted everything the Chief told them.

In this way, the Boone Chief of Police succeeded not only in walking free himself, but in setting up the situation he bequeathed to the city, county and state – now all guilty of the cover-up of murder.

Another reason why the Chief might have found his task almost unbelievably easy is raised in the book: sexism. It is pointed out every official – at every level – I encountered and attempted to work with, was male. It was felt they, to a man, were saying “It’s only a woman – who cares?” It is wondered whether a female official might have seen things differently. The question seems to hover like a ghost that will not go away: Is the City of Boone, Boone county and the state of Iowa sexist to that frightening extent?

*     *     *     *     *

That is the Norma Maynard story in all its ugliness.

The next move is up to the City of Boone, Boone county and the state of Iowa. What will they do? What can they do to remove the awful guilt of which they are a part?
With publication of For Shame, Boone! For Shame, Iowa! The Disappearance of Norma Maynard options became more restricted and acute.

Up to that point, officials at city and state level could, with wide-eyed innocence, say: “We didn’t know!” I had been silent since 2000, the Norma Maynard murder was once again buried and (those involved felt with relief) forgotten. Today’s officials may never have heard of the case.

That changed in 2017 when a copy of the newly published book was delivered to the Boone mayor, along with a notice of its meaning for the City of Boone.

That was ignored.

In 2018 a charge was delivered to the Boone mayor which clearly, precisely, stated the City of Boone’s participation, responsibility and guilt in the continued cover-up of a 1979 murder.

That was also ignored.

In doing so, the City of Boone changed its role in the Norma Maynard murder cover-up from one of omission to one of commission. Where before, the City’s participation was failure to fulfill its responsibility to maintain control of its police department which, through the Chief, was guilty of the murder cover-up, now the City was actively taking part in the cover-up. No more innocent-eyed “We didn’t know!” They had been informed – twice! They knew, and it was known that they knew.

The same, generally, can be said for the state of Iowa. The governor’s office had been notified twice of the situation: a town of twelve thousand residents had covered up the murder of an innocent woman for forty years in order that the perpetrator could walk free.

This was ignored. The state knew of the situation in Boone, and it was known that it had been informed at the highest level. By its inaction, the state became compliant with the Boone murder cover-up.

In fairness, it may be that the City of Boone simply has no idea of what to do to resolve the situation it is in. So, it just ignores it, hoping it will go away. That only makes matters worse. City officials are now, knowingly, participating in the cover-up. It can only get worse.

In my charge to the mayor, I suggested a reasonable starting point for seeking a way to end the dilemma: First, recover the remains of Norma Maynard, then work backwards from there. In the book it is revealed where those remains are, where they have been since the spring of 1980 – in an area of the former Maynard property the police chief would not allow investigated. Recovery of those remains would remove any questions whether a murder and a cover-up existed. With proper handling, it might be determined, even after forty years, how Norma Maynard died.

With the remains recovered, the logical question becomes: How did they get there?

This is covered in detail in the book, as well as the police chief’s believed involvement.

Further, in the book one possible perpetrator of Norma Maynard’s murder is set forth and a possible tie-in with the Boone Chief of Police is suggested. There never was much in the way of mystery surrounding the murder – the Chief knew, from the very beginning, who the perpetrator was and elected to cover up said murder in order that the perpetrator could walk free. In doing so, he affected, destroyed, the lives of a number of individuals who had nothing to do with the murder. And, he succeeded in his aim – the murder perpetrator did walk free.

A last few words about For Shame, Boone! For Shame, Iowa! The Disappearance of Norma Maynard. The book is available in both print and digital format for those with electronic readers. It is a massive tome of more than a thousand pages. Only dedicated readers should contemplate attacking it. Readers are cautioned not to be distracted by a number of typos – particularly in the latter part of the book (one has me writing a letter on the 39th of the month). These are publisher errors and have nothing to do with the accuracy and truth of my manuscript.

In the book conclusion, the authors tells of a relative who hates to visit Boone on the occasions when she must as she feels an evil cloud hovering over the town. I had a similar sensation – it was likened to the menacing, roiling clouds of God’s wrath that must have hung over Sodom and Gomorrah prior to their destruction.

Today, knowing what occurred in Boone, and the knowing and deliberate cover-up which has followed, I would see that presence as a pall of unremitting evil.

Perhaps other visitors will experience a similar sensation.

For amateur sleuths, would-be Sherlocks, the Norma Maynard case has much to offer. The book suggests how those wanting to try their hand at discovering the remains of Norma Maynard (which the City of Boone seems loath to do) might proceed. It would not be a Herculean task. One or two individuals armed with spades or long-handled shovels would make quick work of the investigation. The area to be considered is small and test holes would probably need to be no more than two to three feet deep. Once bones are detected, the site is turned over to authorities.

In my charge to the Boone mayor in 2018, I spoke of contemplating court action against the City for its part in the continued cover-up of Norma Maynard’s murder. But that presents a problem for me. I stated to the mayor that I had no wish to harm the citizens of Boone, who were in no way involved in either the murder or the cover-up.

Yet, if there were a court judgment with monetary award, it would be the citizens of Boone who would pay. That, to me, is simply not fair! In addition, I informed the mayor that I found the possibility of financial gain from my sister’s death repugnant in every way. However, that appears to be the route the City of Boone prefers. There may be no shortage of attorneys willing, and able, to take on the case for a percentage of the award. It should not be a difficult matter- the City of Boone, caught with a murder cover-up and the remains of a murdered woman buried within city limits, would have no defense.

I could be wrong, I must accept. Perhaps the City of Boone is not ignoring my 2018 effort to communicate. In my charge, I stated no one should contact me until they had read the book and fully understood the Norma Maynard story. It may be city officials did read the book – unlike 2017, when it was completely ignored. As a result, they may be so stunned at realization of the City’s awful position they may be unable to respond. They don’t know what to do.

One indication that might be the case, is the silence from Boone attorneys. In my charge, I asked that I not receive any fiery, saber-rattling, attorney letters trying to use the old lawyer trick of changing the focus by threatening me with all manner of legal actions. It was pointed out there can be but one focus: Norma Maynard. Saber-rattling letters would not only be inappropriate, they would serve no useful purpose. (It was felt this was necessary, for, as the book chronicles, such attorney letters flew rather thick and fast from city, county and state level during the twelve-year period I attempted to have my sister’s murder properly investigated).

That is the status of the Norma Maynard murder today.

It is unbelievable, terrible, and, yes, sad, that in this day of supposed enlightenment, governments at city, county and state level would slavishly, willingly, almost joyfully maintain the cover-up of the murder of an innocent 61-year-old woman that was initiated in 1979 by a Chief of Police who had stepped over the line into criminality. All this in order that the scumbag committing the senseless murder could walk free.

It is equally unbelievable, terrible, and, yes, sad, that a brother, attempting to have his sister’s murder properly investigated had to battle the Boone Chief of Police for twelve years, spending thousands of dollars in the process. The Chief of Police blocked his every effort, meanwhile denigrating the brother in every way possible. That effort ceased when the Boone City Attorney wrote that the City of Boone would do no more investigating (when did they do any?) and suggested that in Boone investigation of murder was a do-it-yourself project for family members of the victim. The brother spent years writing a book which, in turn, in minute, indisputably accurate detail chronicled the facts of the Norma Maynard case. That book was ignored at city and state level. Finally, this website was created to bring the Norma Maynard story out to the world in a way that it can no longer be covered up, hidden, forgotten.

What course of action City of Boone officials choose to follow, they will never succeed in erasing the blotch on their burg’s history – the forty-year cover-up of the murder of an innocent woman in order that the perpetrator might walk free that the city was led into by its Chief of Police in 1979. The guilt may be lessened somewhat by at least attempting to resolve the situation rather than just continuing to stubbornly ignore it. It will never go away on its own. As stated earlier: “Murder is forever.”

Forever, Boone will be the Iowa town of twelve thousand residents that covered up the murder of an innocent woman for forty years in order that the perpetrator walk free. And Iowa will forever be the state that allowed, even blessed, it would appear, such a blatant disregard within its boundaries for law and order and for the rights of the murdered woman and her family.

For shame, Boone!
For shame, Iowa!