Unsolved Crime & Wanted Individuals

Murder
Council Bluffs Police Officer John L. Stephens, 32, and Paul J. Rayer, 55, were shot and killed on Tuesday, December 5, 1967, during a robbery of the “64 Club” restaurant where Officer Stephens was moonlighting as a plain-clothes security guard.

Officer Stephens was accompanying Rayer, the restaurant’s manager, as he counted the day’s receipts in preparation for a night deposit.

Stephens, who had been hired as a body guard, was shot five times at close range. Rayer was shot three in a “gangland style slaying.” Two guns were used in the slayings, including a .25 caliber and a .38 caliber.

The last employee had left at 2:06 a.m., and the bodies were discovered at 7:30 a.m.

The 64 Club, a popular restaurant owned by George Elias, used to stand just north of East Kanesville and McKenzie Avenue.

It is believed both men were shot after the suspects stole the money because Officer Stephens recognized one of the suspects. Both Stephens and Rayer were found dead in the restaurant’s office, and about $1,500 cash was missing.

Murder
Around 10 p.m. on the night of September 27, 2007, Robert Bruce “Kip” Bates - a Marine who fought in Operation Desert Storm - was shot twice while working at the Carter Lake “Jump Start” convenience store.

“The shooter did walk up to the store entrance where he was met by the victim,” said Pottawattamie County Deputy Sgt. Dwayne Riche.

Surveillance video is the best evidence they have and depicts Bates being shot twice: once in the lower-left abdomen, which exited Bates’ back, and once in the chest, which Driver said struck Bates’ spine.

Investigators ask anyone with information about the killing to call Pottawattamie County Crime Stoppers at 712-328-STOP (7867) or Carter Lake Police at 712-347-5920.

Tipsters can remain anonymous and if their information leads to an arrest and charges, they could get a cash reward.

Murder
On Monday, March 6, 1967, Burlington Railroad employees found the frozen body of 24-year-old Gloria Faye Slump under a trestle over Pony Creek three miles south of Council Bluffs, Iowa.

She had been dead two to three days. She was beaten, stabbed 14 times in the throat with a dull knife or an implement similar to a beer can opener, and left to bleed to death. There were no signs of sexual assault.

On Sunday, March 6 - the day before Gloria’s body was found - an Iowa State Highway patrolman discovered an abandoned car 150 yards east of the Pony Creek railroad bridge. It belonged to 24-year-old Jerry E. Neve of Omaha, who was seen with the victim before she disappeared.

Neve was questioned and released by Sheriff Wichael. He also voluntarily took a polygraph at the Iowa BCI. The test showed deception when he was asked about knowing Slump or having information about her death.

Jerry Neve killed himself on Saturday, March 11, 1967, with a shotgun in the backyard of an Omaha residence. His stepfather, Cecil Fellows, told the Oelwein Register that Neve said he did not murder Gloria but, “was just being a good fellow and that ... he was so involved he did not know what to do.”

Later FBI testing of Neve’s car confirmed that a piece of cloth found there came from the victim’s clothing.

On Saturday, June 10, 1967, Omaha Police - acting on a tip - found the victim’s coat in a hotel room once registered to Jerry Neve and Herschell L. Gitchell, who at the time was awaiting trial on burglary charges.

Gloria Fay Slump was born April 7, 1942, in Red Oak, Iowa, to Kathleen Ione Williams and Carroll Riggs Slump. She was survived by her parents, a brother, and four sisters.