Mary Lange (Photo courtesy the Burlington Hawk-Eye)
Mary Bernice Lange
37 YOA
Rural Danville, Iowa
Iowa DCI Case Number: 70-01291
Case Summary compiled by Jody Ewing
Mary Bernice Lange, 37, had been missing for two days when her fully clothed body was found shortly before 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 19, 1970, floating in Long Creek's shallow waters below a bridge on the seldom-used Agency Road nine miles west of Burlington.
A July 25, 2004 article in the Burlington Hawk Eye described the discovery of Lange's body:
Floating in a brook, her hand seemed to wave from her watery grave to the farmer who found her.
Des Moines County in Iowa
Burlington in Des Moines County
An autopsy concluded Lange suffered three blows to the head from a blunt object, and then, while unconscious, was dragged into the water to drown.
At the time of her death, Lange was married to Marvin Dale Lange, 50, but divorce proceedings were pending and the couple was in the middle of a nasty custody dispute over their three children.
Marvin Lange had withdrawn about $2,000 from an Illinois bank account around the time his wife was killed.
Officials involved in the investigation believed Lange was struck elsewhere, put into the trunk of her car, and then driven to Long Creek where she was removed from the trunk and dumped into the water.
Lange — a clerk in the municipal court office — had not been sexually assaulted.
On Wednesday, Dec. 16, she had attended a Christmas party for city employees at Memorial Auditorium. Sometime between 8:45 and 9 p.m., she left the party to meet Charles Robert Hutson, a 42-year-old married man from Galesburg, Illinois.
Mary Lange timeline
as reported by the Hawk Eye
Wednesday, Dec. 16, 1970
7:30 or 8 p.m. Diane Lange said her mother left for a Christmas party at Memorial Auditorium.
8:45 or 9 p.m. Lange leaves the party early and meets with Charles Robert Hutson. They go to Fort Madison, then head back to Burlington.
2:45 a.m. Lange and Hutson part ways near Fourth and Washington streets.
3 a.m. Brothers Ivan and Don Gugeler are called by Marvin Lange to his home to wait for Mary Lange's return. They allegedly leave about 5:30 a.m.
That afternoon, Dorothy Malloy, Mary Lange's sister, reports her missing to police.
12:37 a.m. Mary Lange's white 1966 Chevrolet Impala is found, locked, parked on Smith Street, just off Plane Street. Police believe the car was parked there early Thursday morning.
Saturday, Dec. 19
10:05 a.m. Farmer William Moore finds Mary Lange's clothed body floating in Long Creek near a bridge in rural Danville about nine miles west of Burlington.
Mary Lange's funeral is held.
According to Hutson, the two drove to the Palms Restaurant in Fort Madison, where they had three or four drinks. They parked on a gravel road on the way back to Burlington, he said.
Hutson said Lange dropped him off about 2:45 a.m. Thursday near Fourth and Washington streets and told him she was going home. Hutson said he'd made sure all doors to Lange's vehicle were locked, and that he'd locked the front passenger door as he left.
Lange's blood-spattered car — a white 1966 Chevrolet four-door sedan — was found on Smith St. at Plane (off Division) by Burlington police at 12:37 a.m. Friday, according to the Hawk-Eye's Dec. 21, 1970 paper. A total of 31 items — including four sets of fingerprints — were sent to the FBI lab in Washington where tests were performed on blood, the fingerprints, mud and the rug found in Lange's car.
Killer believed to be familiar with area roads
Police estimated Lange was killed sometime between 2:45 and 7 a.m. Thursday.
Authorities said they were fairly certain Lange was killed by someone who knew her and who also was familiar with roads in the area.
In the Hawk-Eye's Dec. 21 article, Police Inspector James Ewing said Lange's male companion "was as good a suspect as you could have found," but that following a polygraph (lie detector) test in Cedar Rapids, the man was cleared as a suspect.
Hutson, who lived in Galesburg, took the polygraph the day after Lange's body was found.
Ewing said a Cedar Rapids "veteran administrator" BCI agent conducted the test, and said it determined Hutson — who denied any knowledge of Lange's disappearance or death — was telling the truth.
Lange's purse and one shoe, the only two personal items not found with her body, were recovered Sunday, the Hawk-Eye reported. According to Monday's article:
The shoe was found in a barbed wire fence which cuts across Long Creek — the same fence in which Mrs. Lange's body was caught when discovered.
The purse was found one mile west of Middletown on the north side of the Geode blacktop.
Deputy Sheriff Mel Berges said it appeared the purse had been tossed from the operator's side of an eastbound vehicle. Its contents were strewn over a 20-yard area, but Mrs. Lange's unwashed payroll check was still in the purse. (The Burlington Hawk-Eye, Dec. 21, 1970)
Had Wife Followed
During the pending divorce proceedings, Marvin Lange had hired brothers Don and Ivan Gugeler to follow his wife and document her comings and goings. The night of the party, Marvin Lange called the brothers at their homes at approximately 2:30 a.m.
Arriving in separate vehicles, the brothers parked down the road and walked to the Lange home, where they said they sat in a dark kitchen with Marvin Lange while waiting for Mary to return home. The brothers said they left around 5:30 a.m. when Mrs. Lange failed to show up.
One week later, the brothers served as pallbearers at her funeral.
Courtesy photo Burlington Hawk-Eye, Sunday, Dec. 20, 1970
Click here for the full story in PDF format
Lange's murder was the only one of six homicides in 1970 the state BCI did not solve.
When the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) established a Cold Case Unit in 2009, Mary Lange's murder was one of approximately 150 cases listed on the Cold Case Unit's new website as those the DCI hoped to solve using latest advancements in DNA technology.
Although federal grant funding for the DCI Cold Case Unit was exhausted in December 2011, the DCI continues to assign agents to investigate cold cases as new leads develop or as technological advances allow for additional forensic testing of original evidence.
The DCI remains committed to the resolution of Iowa's cold cases and will continue to work diligently with local law enforcement partners to bring the perpetrators of these crimes to justice for the victims and their families.
About Mary Lange
Mary Bernice Lange, the daughter of Wilbur Allen and Rose T. (Bacon) Grinnell, was born Jan. 24, 1933, in Burlington. Her home was in Flint River township and she worked as a clerk in the Burlington municipal court.
She was a member of First United Methodist church, Burlington Women's Bowling Assn., and Eagles auxiliary.
She married Marvin Dale Lange at Wapello on March 10, 1951.
Survivors included her husband, her mother, Mrs. Rose Williams; three children: Connie, 18, Danny 14, and Diane, 11, all at home; two brothers, Robert Grinnell, Las Vegas, Nev., and Raymond Grinnell, Burlington; and a sister, Mrs. Dorothy Malloy of Burlington.
Funeral services were held at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Prugh's chapel with Dr. G. Dempster Yinger officiating.
Pallbearers, in addition to Donald and Ivan Gugeler, included Dale Johnson, Bernard Tucker, Municipal Judge Gary J. Snyder from the office where Lange worked, and Paul Rynell, the county assessor for whom Lange worked prior to transferring courthouse positions two years before her death.
Fellow employees called Lange a punctual and diligent worker.
Mary Lange was laid to rest in Burlington Memorial Park Cemetery.
A number of original articles about her unsolved murder are available for download in PDF format in the 'Sources' section below.
If you have any information about Mary Lange's unsolved murder, please contact the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation at (515) 725-6010 or email dciinfo@dps.state.ia.us. You may also contact the Burlington Police Department Crime Stoppers at 319-753-6835 (319-75 DO TEL), or the Des Moines County Sheriff's Office at 319-753-8212.
Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, Cold Case Unit, November 26, 2009
"Only information can reopen cases," by Dorothy de Souza Guedes, The Hawk Eye, Tuesday, July 27, 2004
"CASES UNSOLVED: Decades-old murder cases remain open for local investigators," by Dorothy de Souza Guedes, The Burlington Hawk-Eye, July 25, 2004
"Unsolved Iowa killings: friends 'still feel scars' / List of 'case open' slayings in Iowa," by Nick Lamberto, The Des Moines Register, Sunday, September 8, 1974
"LEGALS: Notice of Probate of Will," The Hawk-Eye, Friday, February 26, 1971
"Local homicide among BCI 'unsolved' cases in 1970," The Burlington Hawk-Eye, February 17, 1971
"Lange death still a mystery," by Dave Collogan, The Burlington Hawk-Eye, Wednesday, February 17, 1971
"Another suspect cleared," by Bob Wilson, The Burlington Hawk-Eye, Wednesday, January 13, 1971
"Investigators probe Lange divorce record," by Don Henry, The Burlington Hawk-Eye, December 29, 1970
"Judge would disqualify himself in Lange case," The Burlington Hawk-Eye, Monday, December 28, 1970
"Try to fill gap in Mrs. Lange's acts," The Sunday Hawk-Eye, December 27, 1970
"Mrs. Lange drowned," The Burlington Hawk-Eye, December 24, 1970
"No sign of major break in slaying investigation," by Dave Collogan, The Burlington Hawk-Eye, December 23, 1970
"Victim of slaying laid to rest here," by Dave Collogan, The Burlington Hawk-Eye, Tuesday, December 22, 1970
"United States Social Security Death Index," FamilySearch.org, Mary Lange, Dec 1970; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).
"Death notices: Mary Lange," The Burlington Hawk-Eye, December 21, 1970
"Mrs. Lange death early Thursday," The Burlington Hawk-Eye, Monday, December 21, 1970
"Find body of murder victim / Husband provides identification of body," by Dave Collogan, The Sunday Hawk-Eye, December 20, 1970
"Iowa, Births and Christenings, 1830-1950," FamilySearch.org, Mary Bernice Grinnell; citing Burlington, Des Moines, Iowa; FHL microfilm 1683572.
"Iowa, County Births, 1880-1935," FamilySearch.org, Mary Bernice Grinnell, 1933.
"Iowa, County Births, 1880-1935," FamilySearch.org, Rose T. Bacon in entry for Mary Bernice Grinnell, 1933.
Tagged with: Bernard Tucker • Blunt Force Trauma • Bob Wilson • Burlington Hawk-Eye • Burlington IA • Charles Robert Hutson • Cold Cases • Custody Battles • Dale Johnson • Danville IA • Danville Iowa • Dave Collogan • Des Moines County IA • Des Moines Register • Divorce Disputes • Don Gugeler • Don Henry • Dorothy Miller • Dr. G. Dempster Yinger • Drownings • Iowa Bureau of Criminal Investigation • Iowa Cold Case Unit • Iowa Cold Cases • Iowa DCI • Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation • Iowa Unsolved Murders • Ivan Gugeler • James Ewing • Long Creek • Marvin Dale Lange • Mary Bernice Lange • Mary Lange • Mel Berges • Municipal Judge Gary J. Snyder • Paul Rynell • Unsolved Iowa Murders • Unsolved Murders in Burlington IA • Unsolved Murders in Iowa
7 Responses to Mary Lange
LakeLife says:
All three men just happened to be able to provide alibis for eachother the night she goes missing & Melvin admitted that he had hired these guys to follow her?!
It was obviously him!!
Tracy N Kory Moore says:
How can the FBI ignore the horrible alibi that the husband and Gugeler brothers gave. Why in the world would they park down the lane and walk to the house, unless they were going to kill her for being out late and wanting a divorce. There is DNA testing now, where you can get a composite of what the killer looks like, this has solved many lingering cases.
Thomasine Neal says:
One of those 3 had something to do with it!
Caroll Martin says:
I agree .
Sounds like the husband to me.
BillieJo Glandon says:
And or the brothers he hired to stalk her.
Meg Grinnell says:
Mary Lange was my aunt. I stumbled across this website today. The memories it brought back. I am thankful that you are still working on cold-cases & hope that you continue this case. We already know what happened we just need proof which wasn't available in earlier decades. I & other surviving family members would like closure & finality of what happened-the truth. Please don't let this case drift away again. Thank you.