In the first case to be arrested by the state attorney general’s new cold case section, an Iowa man has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with a 1989 cold-case disappearance.
After being dropped off at her Woodbine apartment by her then-boyfriend Robert Davis, who is currently incarcerated pending trial on the new accusation, Barbara Lenz vanished on May 6, 1989, at the age of 31.
She never made it to Omaha, Nebraska, where she was meant to see her ex-boyfriend, the father of her daughter Lindsy Crew, who was three years old at the time.
Although Lenz was never located and the case was never pursued, local officials believed she had been taken against her will.
The Iowa Cold Case Unit was re-established in July by Attorney General Brenna Bird with “the goal of aiding local law enforcement in their unresolved homicide cases,” according to the its website.
Originally created in 2009, a cold case unit ceased operations in 2011 after the federal grant funding it expired.
According to a news release from the Attorney General’s Office last week, the unit provided “fresh eyes and a focused team to dig through information, meet with witnesses, and loosen up leads in Lenz’s case.”
Her then-boyfriend, Davis, who is now 61, was taken into custody and accused of first-degree murder.
“This arrest is a milestone in securing justice for Barbara Lenz,” Bird stated in Tuesday’s release. “We are hoping to soon bring peace and answers to Barbara’s loved ones, who have waited 35 long years in the dark.”
The inquiry is still ongoing. On March 20, Davis will make his first court appearance.
Lenz and Davis had a tense relationship; following her abduction, he was charged with kidnapping and sexual assault.
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According to court documents, the couple’s two-year relationship was characterized by abuse, disagreements, and assault.
In a 1989 police interview, Davis reportedly acknowledged “assaulting Lenz in the past and to having a violent temper when things went wrong with Lenz,” according to a court document.
In front of multiple witnesses, Davis told police that he had shoved Lenz around and abused Lenz’s kid in a restaurant in May 1988.
After the restaurant incident, there were a number of arguments, including one in July 1988 in which Davis allegedly slapped Lenz and reclaimed an engagement ring from her.
Davis expressed his disapproval to police enforcement about Lenz’s frequent visits to her ex-boyfriend, who was the father of her daughter, and the ensuing arguments.
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She had “expressed to several people that she was in fear of her boyfriend Robert Davis and that she was trying to get away from him,” according to court documents, in the days before Lenz vanished. Davis allegedly threatened to kill her if she ever left him, she also told at least two witnesses.
According to court documents, he told police that on the morning of May 6, 1989, witnesses saw Davis and Lenz fighting at his home in rural Woodbine because she wanted to travel to Omaha.
Davis reportedly “injure Lenz by slashing her with a sharp instrument across the face” later that day, according to a witness, before the couple departed Davis’ House.
Since then, Lenz has vanished from view and communication.
The same witness who witnessed Davis harming Lenz that night was informed by Davis that he was trying to locate her but was unsuccessful. “Davis and his brother buried something in a rural area near Davis’s home,” according to a later witness account, according to court documents.
Additionally, two witnesses came forward to recount remarks Davis allegedly made to them about how they would “end up like Barbra,” according to court documents. They said these things “long after Barbara’s disappearance.”
In June 1989, Davis stopped cooperating with investigators and was never heard from again.
In 1996, Davis was found guilty of kidnapping and sexual abuse after Lenz vanished.
According to a criminal complaint filed at the time, Davis allegedly forced a woman to have sex with him and assaulted her.
After waiting for Davis to go to sleep, the woman made her getaway. A month later, when Davis tried to drive away with her against her will, he choked her.
Court documents indicate that she suffered injuries to her neck. According to court documents, he received a three-year probationary period, psychological and domestic abuse counseling, and compensation to the victim after spending roughly eight days in jail prior to sentence.
In 2006, there was a lead that gave hope, but there were no answers.
Speaking with her daughter Crews, who had just turned 31 and was the same age as her mother when she vanished, the Des Moines Register in 2018 detailed the nearly three decades that had passed since Lenz’s disappearance. Crews had three children at the time of her abduction.
Crews told the Register that she would occasionally get flashbacks of her mother sitting in their Woodbine apartment or with their cat and kittens. She claimed that she had lost a big piece of her life, a free-spirited mother who cherished horses and the arts.
According to the Iowa Cold Cases website, mushroom hunters discovered the skeletal remains of a lady in a 55-gallon barrel believed to be Lenz, which led to a lead after 17 years without any answers. Later, dental records showed it wasn’t Lenz.
Crews, whose last name is now Baumgart, stated in an interview with KCCI that she is in a “state of grief but is also grateful to the DCI and cold case investigators.”
“It’s very surreal,” Baumgart stated. “I am grateful for the DCI and the cold case investigation unit. I never thought this day would come. It’s honestly something that I have waited for my whole life.”
