Maria Lisa Peak:1976, Waverly, Iowa

   

Maria Lisa Peak

  Maria Lisa Peak was born on December 10th, 1956 to Mary Virginia Scrivener Peak and Dr. Frank Allen Peak. She had a younger sister named Carmen Dana Peak. 


  Dr. Peak was a veterinarian and the family was very active in their community of Knoxville, Iowa. That is a town southeast of Des Moines. 


  She attended Wartburg College which is located in Waverly, Iowa. It is situated northeast of Des Moines. Wartburg is known for its instrumental and vocal music programs. Maria Lisa Peak studied journalism there. 


  On September 7th, 1976, Maria, who went by her middle name of Lisa, was moving back into her dorm in Waverly. She was a sophomore. That evening she left the dorm to go to the store and pick up a few things. 


  She never made it back to the dorm. She had a date planned that night. He came by the dorm to pick her up and she had not returned which caused her friends to report her disappearance. 


  Lisa was found “just north of the Waverly city limits under a huge cottonwood tree”.  The spot was on a gravel road that had a reputation as a place where young people went to park. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled. 


  In an article about her murder a reporter wondered whether her death was related to the other murders in the area or the sex extortion case “which she had been a victim of”. I think there’s a very strong chance that it was. 


 She was a journalism major and was working with a reporter on a book about the Mason City sex extortion case. Think about extortion for sex. A man says “if you don’t have sex with me I will ruin your life. I’ll tell lies about you and no one will believe you. Everyone will be disgusted by you. They will believe me because I am a man.”  And when you are basically still a kid you stand up to the guy and press charges. Lisa Peak was only 19. That is bravery. 


  John J. Carmody, Jr. was convicted in the rape and extortion case in 1976. He was sentenced to 40 years on May 19th, 1976. Did someone kill Lisa Peak in retaliation? 


  Carmody had been a used car salesman in Mason City, Iowa. He would rape young women, photograph them during these assaults and then blackmail them using the photographs. 


  John Joseph Carmody Jr. was paroled in 2001. It appears that he still lives in Iowa and is in his late 80’s. 


  What about the other area murders? Are they related? Arlene Gehrke was 58 and found murdered in the church where she was a musician. Julia Benning was murdered in 1975 and her body was found in 1976. Valerie Klossowsky had been murdered in 1971. Sheila Lynn Foley had been murdered about 20 minutes away near Hazleton in 1975. Who killed these women? I’ll be researching and writing about each of their cases. 


  Lisa’s killer could be Gary Frazer. He was in the middle of a trial and later sentencing from May until October of 1976. But, He escaped on May 29th, 1976 and was on the run when Lisa went missing. He was apprehended in October in Colorado. 


  Frazer was found guilty of murdering Sheila Foley. He is still serving a life sentence today. It seems odd and unlikely that he would stop off and hang around Waverly to kill Lisa Peak when he had just escaped. His wife drove the getaway car when he escaped and their baby was also in the car. 


   I think Lisa Peak was killed by someone upset about the Carmody sex extortion case verdict. She could have been the random victim of a random killer. It was the 1970’s and all bets are off. Violent crime was rising still. But, her involvement in the case and the fact that she was working with a reporter on a book about that case seems significant.


  Lisa Peak was only 19. 

  

  In November of 1976, Lisa Peak’s younger sister, Carmen, was tragically killed in a freak accident when she was crushed by a horse. I can’t imagine how the parents of these two girls picked themselves up and kept going.  But, they did. 


 Their Dad passed away in 2013 and their Mother passed away in 2014. All four are together at Graceland Cemetery 

In Knoxville, Iowa. 


  We have the technology to solve many more cold cases these days. Othram Labs is doing amazing work in testing DNA with very small samples these days. 

There’s always hope that these cold cases can be solved. 


  If you have information about the murder of Maria Lisa Peak please call the FBI at (712) 258-1920 or Iowa DCI at (515) 725- 6010. 



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