Apartment house razed where 1974 murder took place

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com 

A bit of infamous Charles City history was torn down last week.

A crew from Kamm Excavating spent most of the week leveling then removing the debris from a house and two garages at 403 Cedar St.

The building had been for years divided into a two-unit apartment building, with one renter downstairs and another upstairs.

In 1974, the upstairs renter, a Charles City nurse, was brutally murdered, having been stabbed several times in the chest, abdomen and neck.

According to the Nov. 6, 1974 Press:

“A Charles City licensed practical nurse was found slain in her apartment at 403½ Cedar St. Tuesday, the director of the Iowa Bureau of Criminal Investigation said last night.

“Director Craig Beck identified the woman as Lois Marie Jacobs, 21.

“Charles City police said the cause of death had not been determined, but officials at Floyd County Memorial Hospital said the victim had multiple stab wounds.

“Beek confirmed that six BCI agents had been assigned to investigate the apparent slaying along with local and Iowa Highway Patrol personnel.”

The article concluded:

“Miss Jacobs, who was employed at the Floyd County Memorial Hospital, did not report to work Tuesday afternoon and was found dead in her apartment in the afternoon. Her mother is also employed at the Floyd County Memorial Hospital as a nurse. It was reported that her father is employed at White Farm Equipment.”

In the next day’s paper, Nov. 7, 1974, the Press reported:

“Extra police protection is being provided for women employed on the Floyd County Hospital’s night shift after one of the hospital’s nurses was stabbed to death.

“Charles City Police Chief John Gordon said the murder weapon, an ordinary kitchen knife, was recovered in the apartment. He said he believes the incident is an isolated case and there is no cause for alarm.

“Gordon said Wednesday night that no arrests were imminent in the case. Six Iowa Bureau of Criminal Investigation agents are still working with the Charles City Police on the case.”

Jacobs’s obituary said she lived in Clarksville until moving to Charles City to work at the Floyd County Memorial Hospital.

She graduated from the nursing school at Hawkeye Tech in Waterloo as an LPN in 1973 and immediately began working in Charles City.

The obituary said she was survived by her parents, a sister, a brother and other relatives.

The next day, in the Nov. 8, 1974, Press, an arrest was reported:

“Dennis Steele, (age) 21, 1307 S. Grand Ave., was picked up by Iowa BCI agents and Charles City Police Chief John Gordon yesterday in Charles City, taken to Des Moines and charged on an open charge of murder in the stabbing death of Lois Jacobs.”

The article reported that Steele has been brought back to Charles City where he appeared in magistrate court and ordered held on $100,000 bond.

“Steele attended Charles City High School, spent some time in the Marines and recently has been working as a laborer with the Iowa Terminal Railroad,” the article said.

The Press noted that although an arrest had been made, the investigation was continuing and five Charles City police officers had already logged 77 overtime hours on the case.

Investigative reports said that Steele and a friend had spent the evening of Nov. 4, 1974, in the SOP Lounge in Charles City. At about 2 a.m., Steele’s friend offered to give him a ride to his apartment on South Grand. Steele declined, but his friend later picked him up anyway, as it was snowing.

Steele asked to be let out of the car near the victim’s apartment, court records show.

“The partially clothed body of Lois Jacobs was found the next day with multiple stab wounds to the neck, chest, liver, heart, lungs and trachea,” a report in the Press said.

Steele was a known acquaintance of Jacobs, the report said, and after he was taken into custody for interrogation, he allegedly admitted killing her.

He was then arrested and ordered held at the Floyd County Jail.

On Nov. 29, 1974, Steele wrote a note requesting solitary confinement in the Floyd County Jail, because, he said, card-playing and the TV disrupted his thoughts.

On Dec. 2, 1975, the county attorney requested an insanity test to determine Steele’s competency to stand trial.

He was taken to the Oakdale mental health center where he underwent psychological tests.

On Dec. 13, 1975, Steele was officially charged with first-degree murder.

“He was shuttled back and forth to Oakdale a couple of times, returning one time Jan. 24 to sign a waiver on the 90-day speedy trial requirement,” the Press reported.

On Feb. 5, 1975, Judge C.H. Wild accepted Steele’s plea of guilty to murder in the second degree, after prosecutors determined the evidence failed to establish the premeditation required for first-degree murder.

Sentencing was set for March 13, 1975.

The March 14, 1975, Press reported that at the sentencing hearing, Judge Wild noted that he had wide discretion in sentencing on a charge of second-degree murder, ranging from 10 years in prison to life.

Steele’s attorney, Karl Horn, asked for fewer than 35 years in prison, calling Steele’s parents to testify that they were willing and able to help their son when he was released from prison.

Horn asked the judge to consider the possibility of rehabilitating Steele.

But Floyd County Attorney Roger Sutton argued for a life sentence, asking the judge to consider not only the loss of life by the victim, but the impact her death had on her parents, her siblings and other members of their family.

After a short recess, Judge Wild returned to render his decision.

He said that while he could not predict the future actions of Steele, he could, based on Steele’s prior actions, justify the maximum penalty.

Steele had been convicted of two other charges. In June 1973 he had been found guilty of assault with intent to inflict great bodily injury against a Plainfield woman. The charge had been reduced from an original charge of rape.

He had been sentenced to one year in the state penitentiary in Fort Madison for that conviction, followed by a year of probation.

Steele had also been convicted of possession of a controlled substance, with his sentence on that charge to run concurrently with his sentence on the assault charge.

From Steele’s criminal history and information from a pre-sentencing investigation, Wild said, “You are a man of violence, of compulsive, violent behavior. You are a danger to society.”

Wild sentenced Steele to spend the rest of his life in prison. He entered the prison on March 14, 1975.

According to records with the Iowa Department of Corrections, Steele is still an inmate today at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison. He is now 65 years old.

According to tax records, the property was built in 1920. It was most recently purchased on Oct. 13, 2018, for $57,500 by Cedar Valley Lubes Inc., from the Evangelical Free Church of Charles City. The church had received the property the previous day on a quit claim deed.

Cedar Valley Lubes owns the Express Lube property, which is immediately north of the lot where the apartment house and garages stood.