50 Years Ago This Teen Was Found Dead In The Trunk Of An Abandoned Car And Her Killer Has Finally Been Named After 5 Long Decades
Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It was the summer of 1971, and 17-year old Maureen Brubaker-Farley had just made the move to Cedar Rapids.
She did not know many people who lived there, but she had decided to move to be near David Farley, who was her husband.
David had been sentenced to a brief amount of time, and Cedar Rapids was the nearest place to where he was serving out his sentence, so, Maureen moved there alone.
Maureen was able to find herself an apartment located at 522 10th St SE, and then she got a job at a diner.
Facebook; pictured above is Maureen
“Maureen was a ball of fire and lived fast,” her younger sister Lisa wrote on a Facebook page dedicated to remembering her.
“I’ve heard over and over from many how she was liked by everyone; perhaps by one just a little too much that she was killed.”
Maureen had not been a resident of Cedar Rapids for very long before she went missing on September 17th, 1971.
Three days after Maureen had last been seen, the diner where she worked reached out to the police.
If true crime defines your free time, this is for you: join Chip Chick’s True Crime Tribe.
Officers started out by searching through the apartment where Maureen lived, but nothing seemed concerning to them.
Out in the apartment’s parking lot, her car was sitting there like it was on any normal day, so where had she gone?
Facebook; pictured above Maureen sits in her car; the very same one found in the parking lot of her apartment
It was a question that authorities really didn’t have any answers to, as they couldn’t find any evidence to point them in the direction of Maureen.
That would all change four days later.
Facebook; pictured above Maureen sits on a couch
Four days after Maureen disappeared, two boys in their teens were walking through a wooded area close to Ely Rd SW when they saw a woman lying inside of the trunk of a car that had been abandoned out there in the woods.
That woman turned out to be Maureen, and she had some of her clothing on, but she was not wearing any shoes. Strangely enough, her feet were completely clean, so she could not have walked out to the area.
“An autopsy was conducted and it was determined that Farley had been hit in the head causing a skull fracture which caused her death,” the Cedar Rapids Police Department said in a statement.
“The evidence also suggested that Farley had been sexually assaulted.”
Facebook; pictured above Maureen smiles
“I remember so well, even though I was 4, the phone ringing,” Maureen’s sister Lisa recalled in a Facebook post about the day her family learned that Maureen was murdered.
“The male caller asking for my mom or dad. My mom taking the phone and immediately bursting into tears and yelling, “David! David! They found Maureen! She’s dead!” FOUR YEARS OLD and I remember.”
Facebook; pictured above is a post from Lisa
Authorities were able to gather evidence and come up with a list of several suspects to speak with, but the problem was there was too little evidence to formally charge anyone on the list with Maureen’s murder.
Years continued to go by, and then, Maureen’s case grew cold. It wasn’t until decades later in 2006 that Maureen’s case got a new set of eyes.
Detective Doug Larison started looking into Maureen’s case, and he realized some of the evidence that had been gathered at the crime scene was eligible to be tested for DNA.
Something that particularly interested Detective Larison was a swab that had been taken, and so it was sent out.
After all of those years, male DNA was found on the swab, and Detective Larison went back to the list of suspects to get DNA from them to try to match it.
Unfortunately, after being run through CODIS, there wasn’t a hit there, so it was up to the DNA from the suspect list to help catch Maureen’s killer.
Earlier this year, authorities had determined that 15 men they had considered suspects were not a match to the DNA found on that swab.
While looking through the suspect list again, the name of George Smith caught the eye of investigators.
He was someone on the list that had passed away when he was 94-years-old in 2013, and there was no way for his DNA to be gathered.
“Smith had been identified by multiple people as an acquaintance of Maureen Farley’s from the diner that she worked at,” the Cedar Rapids Police Department explained.
“According to officer’s reports, in the month after Farley’s murder, Smith had gone to the Police Department on more than one occasion, suspiciously inquiring about the progress with the investigation.”
“Smith was also known to operate a hauling service which may have had him making trips to the landfill located near Ely Rd SW where Farley’s body was found. Smith was also reported to have worked at the Party Lane liquor store, located at 1000 5th Ave SE, right next to Farley’s apartment.”
After Maureen’s murder, authorities spoke with George several times. He did refuse to take a polygraph when asked, but that wasn’t exactly enough to accuse him.
Facebook; pictured above Maureen poses for a photo
Authorities knew that their next step was to get a warrant so that they could get DNA from a relative of George’s that they had found.
They were able to obtain the search warrant, and DNA from George’s relative was sent to a lab.
It was September 24th of this year, which ended up being 50 years to the day since Maureen had been found dead, that authorities finally were able to name her killer. It was George.
After 5 long decades, Maureen’s case was finally solved. Due to the fact that George is now dead and charges cannot be brought against him, Maureen’s case has been closed.
More About:True Crime
Read This Next
