Strong content warning for this article.
An Iowa woman spent decades living a nightmare, with very few believing her story.
The woman, wanting only to be identified by her maiden name of Lucy Studey, says that her late father, Donald Dean Studey, was a serial killer who could have been responsible for around 70 deaths. But her plea to get people to investigate her claims has gone unanswered for years.
"He would just tell us we had to go to the well, and I knew what that meant." Before his death in 2013, Donald had owned farmland in the area of Thurman, Iowa.
"I thought he would kill me because I wouldn't keep my mouth shut."
Lucy had attempted to tell teachers and authorities while growing up, but says she was often ignored or not believed.
Lucy believes the women were mainly transients and sex workers that Donald would bring home to Thurman, which is close to Omaha.
"Studey said her father not only made sure his children knew what he was doing, but forced them to help with the burials," Newsweek writes.
Lucy alleges that they would dump the bodies in a well on the property, covering them with dirt and lye. Lucy estimates that her father is responsible for anywhere from 40 to 70 murders.
Several years before Donald's death, Lucy reached out to local authorities with her story, but they seemingly searched in the wrong spot.
Tim Bothwell, Deputy Sheriff of Fremont County, told WHO13, "We have heard about this for years."
"We didn’t realize that it was on other people’s property."
Since then, Lucy has made other attempts to have authorities recover the bodies.
According to the Des Moines Register, Lucy claimed in 2021 that there were "five or six" bodies buried near a well on Donald's property. It took the county the next year to locate the well and get permission to investigate.
It seems that they may have a lead, as well. Two cadaver dogs, lead by their handler, Jim Peters, have possibly detected the scent of cadavers in the areas in which Lucy alleged the bodies to be.
But the fact that the dogs got a hit where Lucy told their handler to search is at least compelling enough for Sheriff Kevin Aistrope, who was also on the scene.
"It's hard for me to believe that two dogs would hit in the exact same places and be false," he said. "According to the dogs, this is a very large burial site."
h/t: Newsweek
