Sheila Foley:1975, Oelwein, Iowa

   


  Sheila Lynn Foley was born on November 25th, 1959 in Waterloo, Iowa. Her parents were Pauline Jean Sinnott Foley and Edmund G. Foley. Sheila was an only child. 


 Sheila was a 16 year old Sophomore at Oelwein Community High School. 


  On December 2nd, 1975, Sheila and a couple of friends went to Oelwein. Sheila’s friends stopped off and went inside the Paddock Lounge. Sheila opted to wait in the car. 


  When her friends returned Sheila was gone. Her handbag had been left behind in the car. 


  Searches initially turned up no sign of Sheila. 


  On December 10th, 1975, Sheila was found just West of the junction of Hwy 150 and Hwy 190 1 ½ miles south of Oelwein.  An Amish farmer spotted her body as he drove his buggy down the road. 

 

  Sheila was face down and perpendicular to the road. She had been abducted, sexually assaulted and it appeared at first that she had been run over by a car. Later tests would show that she was intentionally murdered. It wasn’t a hit and run car accident. 


  Gary Lynn Frazer was convicted on May 29th, 1976 of the murder of Sheila Foley. That night he used a hacksaw blade to cut a hole in the metal ceiling of his cell. He escaped. He was on the run until October 21st, 1976 when he was apprehended in Colorado and returned to Iowa. He is still incarcerated in Iowa. He is serving a life sentence for Sheila’s murder. 


 I believe he is responsible for other murders in the area. I think he killed Julia Benning on November 28th. She was abducted at about 2 p.m. while walking to her job at the Sir Lounge in Waverly. She was found in March of 1976. 


  In the Fall of 1976, there were other murders: Arlene Gehrke was robbed and shot outside a small isolated church near Iowa Falls on Saturday, September 4th, 1976. The CB radio, which actually was not working, was ripped out of her car as well. This murder happened while Frazer was on the run after escaping jail. 


  Lisa Peak was abducted, assaulted and murdered just outside Waverly on Tuesday, September 7th, 1976. She was walking from her dorm to a local store. 


  It’s worth noting that in 1971, Valerie Klossowsky, was also abducted, sexually assaulted and strangled. She lived in Waverly as well. Frazer would have been 20 years old then. 


  Could Gary Lynn Frazer have killed all of these victims? He was free for each of those murders. 





  Sheila Lynn Foley is buried at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Hazleton, Iowa. 


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