According to a Newsweek article published Tuesday, Iowa woman Lucy Studey has claimed for 45 years that her father, Donald Dean Studey was a serial killer and committed up to 70 murders. Lucy has also claimed that she helped dispose of some of the bodies in a well on her father’s property near Thurman Iowa. It is only now that law enforcement has started to investigate. However, Lucy’s sister Susan has told Newsweek that her sister’s claims are false.
10 years ago Lucy Studey called the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office and reported the allegations against her father. A deputy went out on the property to find the well she mentioned but was unsuccessful. It wasn’t until last year that a Deputy got a call and took it seriously, enough to start investigating the situation. Lucy has claimed she first started telling people about her father when she was in second or third grade, she also has never stopped telling adult authorities in her life. Though her accusations were not taken seriously until she was older.
Police have brought cadaver dogs to the 10-acre area Lucy identified as the burial site and the dogs, according to police, indicated hits in the area. While Lucy’s older sister Susan has said that Lucy is essentially lying and mentioned the dogs could have hit on a family dog or Donald Studey’s stillborn sister who was buried in a shoebox, both of which were buried on the property.
Authorities have brought in the FBI and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) to help with the case. They are currently stating they are investigating the claims, and are hoping to figure out if the claims are true. If these claims end out being true they will then move on to creating a time frame and moving forward from there. The DCI Director Mitch Mortvedt has said the case is still in “infancy” and they are “months in the making.”
