by Leslie Rule
Big Lake Park, in Council Bluffs, Iowa, is beautiful in the daytime but creepy after dark. Authorities rushed to the site on December nights in 1975 and 2015—first when a UFO reportedly crashed here, and later when a call to 911 reported a violent act.
Murky waters at Big Lake Park may hide debris from a UFO crash and, detectives suspect, a gun stolen from David Kroupa.
Photos by Leslie Rule.
The Pottawattamie County Sheriff’s Office overlooks the south side of sprawling
Big Lake Park.
Shanna Golyar ventured into Big Lake Park on a cold black night. She later told police she recognized the voice of her attacker.
Photos by Leslie Rule.
Pottawattamie County Special Investigator Anthony Kava worked thousands of hours to track a sadistic killer.
Omaha, Nebraska, Detective Dave Schneider joined forces with Iowa detectives to crack a case that had stumped many before them.
Detectives Ryan Avis (left) and Jim Doty set a clever trap to outsmart their suspect and saw the fruits of their labor realized here, at Omaha’s Douglas County Courthouse.
Photos by Leslie Rule.
Douglas County prosecutors Brenda Beadle (left) and Jim Masteller had a scant four months to prepare for one of the most challenging cases of their careers, but they were determined to get justice for Cari Farver.
Brenda Beadle photo by Alison Clark;
Jim Masteller photo by Ann C. Miller.
Omaha’s award-winning defense attorney James Martin Davis represented the killer of Cari Farver, with his efficient assistant, Cheyann Parr, by his side. As usual, Davis gave his client the best defense possible, but he never received his fee.
Photo by Leslie Rule.
Cody Nathaniel Golyar was a colicky baby. Cody’s father, Raymond Strahan, pictured here with infant Cody in the winter of 1998, was the only one able to soothe him.
Photo below by Shawn Flanigan.