DUBUQUE, Iowa — Oct. 21, 2026 — A nearly 40-year-old Iowa cold case now has a name. Skeletal remains discovered by an Iowa Department of Transportation worker in Woodbury County in 1988 have been identified this year as Clarence Ames, a man originally from Dubuque, according to investigators.

Forensic genetic genealogy produced the identification, ending 38 years in which the remains sat without a confirmed identity. The technique compares DNA from unidentified remains against commercial genealogy databases, building out family trees until investigators can zero in on a name that older methods could not reach.

Ames died sometime between 1971 and 1975, meaning he had been dead for more than a decade by the time his remains were found. His cause of death is not known, but investigators do not suspect foul play, according to the findings reported this week.

The remains were discovered in far western Iowa, a long way from the Dubuque area where Ames was from. The identification answers the question of whose remains they were, but it leaves another unanswered: investigators still do not know how or why Ames ended up in Woodbury County.

Ames’ remains have been taken back to Dubuque by his only known living relative so that he can be laid to rest alongside his family, giving the family a resolution that eluded it for nearly four decades.

The case is among a growing number of decades-old unidentified-remains cases being closed through genetic genealogy, which has become one of the most powerful tools for resolving cold cases that stymied investigators when they were fresh.

Sources: Radio Dubuque, Oct. 21, 2026.

Article 2: Muscoda Police Officer Katelyn Fleischauer Dies in Accidental Drowning

MUSCODA, Wis. — Oct. 21, 2026 — A 12-year veteran of the Muscoda Police Department has died in what investigators have determined was an accidental drowning.

Muscoda officers responded to an address in the village on Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026, where they found Officer Katelyn Fleischauer in an indoor pool. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

A preliminary investigation and the findings of an autopsy led investigators to conclude that the drowning was accidental. No other details about the circumstances surrounding her death were released in the initial report.

Fleischauer had served with the Muscoda Police Department for 12 years. Muscoda is a village in Grant County in southwestern Wisconsin.

The death of a serving officer is a heavy loss for any department, and smaller departments in particular feel the absence keenly — 12 years of service represents a substantial share of institutional experience on a small-town force.

Further details, including funeral arrangements, were not included in the initial report.

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