The Morningside Murders
On the morning of 3 December 1974, Harriet Isom stopped by her son's home along Sioux City's quiet Morningside Avenue to check in on him. Billy Isom shared the aging, two-story home with his pregnant partner, Freta Bostic, and coworker/friend Jesse Hanni. Inside, Harriet would discover the bodies of all three, which had been sitting undisturbed for more than a day…
Sioux City resides in the northwestern section of Iowa, split between the state's Woodbury and Plymouth Counties. While the city has a modest population of approximately 85,000 residents - a population that's remained pretty static over the past century - that population doubles when you factor in the entire population from the larger metro area, which includes residents of multiple states.
While Sioux City is almost entirely contained within the state of Iowa, it is located along the borders of both Nebraska and South Dakota. Not to be confused with Sioux Falls, South Dakota - which resides approximately 85 miles north - Sioux City sits at the head of the Missouri River, making it the furthest upstream point to which cargo ships can travel, making this geography an important part of the city itself.
It was here that three people lived in 1974, all of whom were in their mid-twenties. Jesse Hanni, his friend and coworker Billy Isom, and Billy's girlfriend Freta Bostic lived together at 1117 Morningside Avenue, in the district of town sharing the same name - Morningside. The three lived in a rental property approximately five blocks away from Morningside University (which was known then as Morningside College).
On the morning of December 3rd, 1974, Harriet Isom arrived at the home to check in on her son Billy, who had been missing from work for several days - along with his friend and roommate, Jesse Hanni. Billy was no stranger to getting himself in trouble, so Harriet just wanted to check in and see if the two had been intentionally skipping work... or not.
Just after 11:00 that morning, Harriet arrived at Billy's home and failed to receive a response at the front door. Moments later, she walked in and made a horrendous discovery inside. There, she found that the bodies of all three residents - including her son - had been resting inside the home, undisturbed, for at least an entire day. Their killer - or killers - had left behind no trace of themselves, leaving behind a tragic mystery that endures to this day.
This is the story of the Morningside Murders.
Jesse James Hanni was born on November 22nd, 1948 in Billings, Montana. At the time of his death, he was 26 years old.
Jesse was raised almost entirely in the state of Montana, specifically in Red Lodge, near the Wyoming border, approximately 800 miles northwest of Sioux City. His parents - Edwin and Audra Hanni - continued to live there throughout his early adulthood, along with his four siblings - three brothers and a sister.
From an early age, Jesse aspired to become an engineer, excelling in his studies throughout high school and college. However, a bad breakup with a longtime girlfriend caused a change in his demeanor and personality, causing him to drop out of school. As a result, he ended up serving in the U.S. Army between 1970 and 1971... years that happened to correlate with the Vietnam War.
During his service, Jesse saw combat multiple times, and later told his older brother Ray about some of the missions he participated in; some of which resulted in Jesse having to kill members of the Viet Cong.
After returning home from the war, Jesse seemed to be a changed man. He returned to Montana, purchasing a home in Billings (about an hour away from his hometown of Red Lodge). According to the Sioux City Journal, this home was meant to serve as a "safe house" for friends of Jesse's, some of whom were involved in the world of illegal narcotics. While drugs weren't the sole intent of Jesse opening up this home, that's ultimately what it became... a hideout for drug addicts and dealers looking to lie low.
However, Jesse wasn't really around to see his house transform into the drug-den it eventually became. Shortly after returning home and purchasing the home, Jesse began following work wherever he could find it. This eventually led him to Colorado, where he met a young woman named Susan, who became his girlfriend. There, he also happened to befriend a coworker of his named Billy Isom.
Ernest William Isom Jr. - known as "Billy" Isom by almost everyone - was born on September 2nd, 1947 in Hammond, Indiana. He was 27 years old at the time of his death.
Billy's father, Ernest Sr. ("Big Ernie") was a war hero from World War Two, having served in the Kansas National Guard in the leadup to the global conflict. After war broke out, Big Ernie entered the U.S. Air Force and flew in 32 missions, shooting down two German fighter planes and was himself shot down three times. He received the Air Medal with the Silver Star and became a member of the prestigious Lucky Bastard Club.
After returning home, Big Ernie met and fell in love with Billy's mother, Harriet, resulting in his birth in 1947. Billy was the couple's only child, with the family moving around quite a bit because of Ernie's work - which, at times, seemed to change like the seasons. However, Billy seemed like a well-adjusted kid, with his father describing him as:
"... an easygoing guy that most people got along with. I wouldn't say he was wild. He was about average that way and he was a good hard worker."
Billy spent a good chunk of his teenage years in Cushing, Oklahoma, graduating from Cushing High School in 1965. From there, he went on to attend the Oklahoma Military Academy at Claremore for two years, before moving on to stints at Oklahoma State University and Oklahoma University.
Like his future friend and roommate, Jesse Hanni, Billy served briefly in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War and was deployed overseas multiple times between 1967 and 1969. However, his experience was very different from Jesse's, with Billy being wounded twice during his tours. A childhood friend named Mike Tuttle explained to The Weekender in 2004:
"[Billy] was a medic in Vietnam, and in fact was pretty strung out when he came back. His parents realized it and talked to his commanding officer. The commanding officer said basically 'we got thousands coming back and we don't have the resources to take care of them.'"
Returning to the U.S. after his service, Billy seemed a bit disillusioned with his previous ambitions and began settling into a routine of picking up odd jobs here and there. He eventually struck up a relationship with a young woman named Freta Bostic, who followed him around the Midwest for a couple of years as he looked for work. During these travels, he befriended a young coworker of his named Jesse Hanni, and the two seemed inseparable for the next handful of months.
Freta Fawn Bostic was born on August 19th, 1950 in Greensboro, North Carolina. She was 24 years old at the time of her death.
Sadly, not much about Freta's life is publicly known. We do know that she spent her formative years in the Greensboro region, where she lived with her mother, Marguerite Walker Bostic; sisters, Donna and Debra; and brother Douglas. She graduated from Grimsley High School in Greensboro and went on to work for Guilford Mills in the area. She was a very talented artist, a skillset that she carried on through adulthood, hanging up eclectic pieces of her artwork throughout the home she shared with her partner and roommates.
At some point in the early 1970s, Freta ended up pairing up with Billy Isom, although the specific details of their relationship have never been cleared up. No one really seems to know where the two met - or how - but we do know that they started dating, and remained an item until they died in 1974. Some sources claim that the two were husband and wife - perhaps common-law spouses - but if they were ever married, Billy's family remained unaware of it. As stated by "Big Ernie" Isom to the Arkansas City Traveler in 1974:
"He'd known her for over two years, but he never said that he married her. I don't know if he did."
Nonetheless, what Billy's family did know is that Billy and Freta were incredibly happy together, and were planning on bringing new life into the world. At the time of her death, Freta was approximately four months pregnant and was looking forward to the birth of her child the following year.
After living together in Steamboat Springs, Colorado for a time, these three - along with Jesse's girlfriend, Susan - relocated to Sioux City, Iowa in the latter half of 1974.
Established friends at this point, Billy and Jesse were able to obtain jobs as boilermakers, working under Billy's father, Big Ernie, at a construction project being built by Iowa Public Service Co. at Port Neal. Technically, they were hired by Ebasco Services, Inc., a firm based out of New York City that handled construction for IPSC. What attracted them to the job seemed to be the personal connection to Billy's family, which gave the youngsters a sense of solace that they hadn't been afforded in some time.
The four arrived in Sioux City in October of 1974, a little more than a month before the murders. Jesse's girlfriend, Susan, arranged for them to move into a rental property at 1117 Morningside Avenue, with Susan paying the deposit for the building before they moved in. After doing so on November 1st, the group agreed that Freta and Billy would take ownership of the downstairs, while Jesse and Susan moved upstairs.
Things seemed to be progressing smoothly for the four young adults, with all four of them attending Thanksgiving dinner with Billy's parents later that month, on November 28th. Things seemed festive, as both Billy and Freta looked forward to the birth of their child in the first half of 1975.
The next day, Jesse's girlfriend Susan flew back to Colorado to attend to some personal matters, and the three remaining youngsters - Billy, Freta, and Jesse - would make a few social appearances over the next few days. But it was during this period, the days following Thanksgiving, that tragedy seemed to strike.
On December 3rd, 1974 - less than a week after Thanksgiving - the mother of Billy Isom, Harriet, decided to check in on her son and his roommates after several days of silence.
Billy and Jesse had both been no-shows at their construction jobs since Wednesday of the prior week, having missed out on three entire days of work. This Tuesday made it four. So that morning, Billy's father, Big Ernie - who was their supervisor at Port Neal Station - asked Harriet to stop by their home to check in on them. Harriet agreed to do so, taking a neighbor along with her, Dorothy Stewart.
After arriving at the home, Harriet tried to rouse her son, noticing that his vehicle was in the parking lot with snow accumulated on top of it. Harriet received no response at the door, so she decided to enter the home, hoping to find some trace of wherever her son or his roommates might be.
In between the dining and living room, however, Harriet discovered the body of her son's pregnant partner, 24-year-old Freta Bostic, who was lying facedown, wearing only a robe with her arms tucked under her body. As police would soon learn, Freta had been shot once in the back, a single shot that proved fatal.
Nearby, in the living room, Harriet's gaze came upon another body, that of 26-year-old Jesse Hanni, who was still fully dressed and wearing a winter coat. His body was propped up against a closed door separating the living room from the hallway, and had been shot once in the back and once in the head.
Sadly, the third discovery came just a moment later. This time, Harriet discovered the body of her son, 26-year-old Billy Isom, who - like his partner, Freta - was nude and lying facedown. Having been shot five times, twice in the back and thrice in the head, Billy's body was laying half-off of the bed he shared with Freta, with his legs draped over the mattress while the rest of his body laid on the floor in an awkward position - indicating he'd been attempting to run from the bed when he was shot and killed.
After making these gruesome discoveries, Harriet fled from the crime scene to a gas station across the street, where they used a phone to dial 911. The call came into emergency dispatchers at 11:24 AM, and dispatchers arranged for officers to begin arriving at the scene minutes later.
Members of the Sioux City Police Department responded to the scene along Morningside Avenue just minutes after Harriet Isom's panicked 911 call and would begin the strenuous process of working the crime scene that morning.
On a bizarre note, this was not the first time that police had removed bodies from the home in recent memory, having done so in January of 1972. That is when the elderly residents, Dr. Ture Larson and his wife, Olive, had both passed away from age and malnutrition. Now police were back less than three years later, under dramatically different - yet equally morbid - circumstances.
At the crime scene, authorities could find no sign of forced entry. After documenting the victims' belongings and scarce furnishings, they could find that nothing significant seemed to be missing. There was also no sign of the home being ransacked, meaning that the killer(s) hadn't been searching for anything. However, blood was found all over the home, likely following where the three victims had been shot and then ultimately settled before dying. The spatter indicated that all three victims had died at close-range.
As soon as they arrived at the crime scene, officers noted that the home had been kept incredibly warm - approximately 80 degrees Farhenheit - which stood in strong contrast against the cold, wintery air outside.
The bodies of the three victims were sent to the W. Harry Christy Morningside Funeral Home and their autopsies were conducted by Dr. Thomas Coriden, the medical examiner for Woodbury County. He determined that each of the victims had been shot various times:
- Jesse Hanni had been shot twice, once in the back and once in the head. The shot to his head had been fired at close-range into his skull, directly behind the left ear; what authorities would later refer to as "assassin style."
- Billy Isom had been shot five times in total, three times in the head and twice in the back. He had seemingly been sleeping in bed naked, as was his custom, when the shooter took him unawares. By the awkward position of his body - half on and half off the bed - he appeared to have been jumping out of bed and beginning to run when he was shot and immobilized.
- Freta Bostic was shot once in the upper torso; with the original autopsy ruling that she'd been shot from behind; although authorities would later theorize that she'd been shot from the front, indicating that the gunshot featured an indistinguishable exit wound. However, this single gunshot had resulted in a lung hemorrhage, which proved fatal... killing not only Freta but the unborn daughter she'd been carrying for approximately four months.
Dr. Thomas Coriden believed that the shootings had taken place sometime early on Monday, December 2nd, likely within 24 hours of the bodies' discovery. As previously mentioned, the gunshots had likely been fired at close range, inside of the home, and likely fired as all three fled from the shooter.
Authorities struggled to ascertain what circumstances had led to each of the victims dying at approximately the same time in various states of undress; with Jesse being fully dressed at the time of his death (and wearing a winter coat) while Billy and Freta were nude.
Inside the home, authorities also found the victims' two dogs, with one of the canines having been locked up inside of a bathroom inside the house. Both were unharmed, thankfully, but were sadly unable to explain what they might have seen or heard.
Despite finding two firearms on the property, authorities stated early on that neither was the murder weapon. Based on the wounds, they believed that a .380-caliber semi-automatic pistol had been used to kill the three victims, with shell casings belonging to that type of firearm left scattered across the crime scene.
The only firearm found inside of the home - which belonged to Billy Isom, and did not match the murder weapon - had been found inside of a closet inside. The other firearm, however, seemed to have been precariously placed, leading to many questions. This weapon, a .357 revolver belonging to Jesse Hanni, was found inside of a lunchbox in the blue Pontiac parked in the driveway, indicating that Jesse carried the gun with him almost everywhere he went... even work. We'll dive into some theories why later in this episode.
In the hours after this crime was reported to the press, two men came forward to police with one of the victim's vehicles: a green 1971 Datsun bearing Colorado plates, which had been noticeably missing from the crime scene. The men claimed that they were friends of Jesse Hanni's - and had borrowed the car days beforehand - but knew nothing of the murders. Police checked out their story and believed it to be valid, releasing the men without filing any charges against them.
A canvas of the neighborhood surrounding the crime scene revealed no witness reports whatsoever. No one reported hearing gunshots in the days surrounding the crime, no one recalled seeing anything out-of-the-ordinary... it was as if someone had committed this crime in the blink of an eye, getting in and out without being seen or raising a peep. This meant that authorities had little to work with other than the evidence procured at the crime scene, which sadly, wasn't much. Whoever the killer was, they hadn't left behind much of anything to be identified forensically.
Authorities would reach out to those that had known the victims in the area, but unfortunately, they were still so new to the region that they didn't have a lot of established friendships or social contacts. Police did reach out to Susan, Jesse Hanni's girlfriend, who had returned to Colorado approximately one week before the murders. She claimed not to know anything about the case, and... that seemed to be that. As far as I can tell, she was never questioned again, and she wasn't ever really pursued as a witness or person of interest.
Later, when speaking to the publication the Weekender, officers that worked on the case early on speculated that Susan knew more than she was letting on, but this was little more than a hunch.
Regardless, within days of police taking on the case, it began to grow cold.
To help them understand the case a little bit, officers and investigators with the Sioux City Police Department began to establish a timeline of the victims' last known whereabouts. They hoped that doing so might help establish a motive of some kind since the shooting deaths seemed totally unprovoked and unwarranted at first glance.
According to some reports, both Jesse and Billy had been absent from work for several days. Early reports indicated that the two had only been missing on Monday and Tuesday - the day their bodies were discovered as well as the day before - but other sources indicated that they had been absent the previous Wednesday and Friday. These were the two days blanketing Thanksgiving, which we know they had both been alive for.
Investigators received word that the two might have quit their job, perhaps due to a labor issue arising at the time. The topic of unionization had reportedly been broached at the construction site, which split a lot of the employees into two camps: those for forming a union, and those against. According to Police Captain Frank O'Keefe, there had been "some kind of walkout" that Jesse and Billy took part in, resulting in them not showing up for work in the days before their death.
It was unknown if this is the truth of the issue since even those that knew the victims well - including Billy's father - weren't quite sure if they were striking or simply absent from work. Some theorized that this unionization effort had potentially made enemies of their coworkers, but investigators discarded this as a possibility early on.
As I've already discussed, the three victims had Thanksgiving dinner with Billy's parents on Thursday, November 28th, 1974. This, however, was not the last time that the victims were heard from or seen alive.
That Saturday - November 30th - the three young adults had gone out to a downtown pub known as "The Jet." There, they had met up with some newer friends of theirs and proceeded to get rowdy. That night, they invited the friends back to their home and continued the party there. The house was reportedly left in a bit of a mess that night.
Earlier that evening, Freta had called Billy's parents to let them know they planned to stop by the following day - Sunday, December 1st. That night, Big Ernie and Harriet Isom had set out a couple of plates for their son and his partner, in case they ended up staying for dinner, but the two were complete no-shows.
Later that night, a new friend of the young adults stopped by their home at 1117 Morningside Avenue but didn't receive a response at the door. Feeling dejected, this individual just left.
The following day, the victims' landlord, Kent Branson, decided to stop by the home to check in with the tenants. He hadn't yet received their rent check for December and decided to see if they were home to settle things. He noticed the blue Pontiac in the driveway - knowing that the vehicle belonged to one of the residents - but snow had covered both the vehicle and the yard. With no tire tracks or footprints leading away from the home, Kent believed that the tenants were out-of-town. He decided to wait another day or two for the rent check to arrive, theorizing that they might have mailed it to him.
Early the next morning - December 3rd - an IPS meter reader knocked on the back door of the home, hoping to read the home's utility meters. Unable to rouse anyone inside or get a response, the meter reader let himself inside, walking towards the basement. He later told police about this, having entered in through the backdoor and noticing a woman laying on her side near the fireplace. He reportedly didn't look further, not wanting to intrude, simply heading down to the basement, reading the meters, and leaving.
Later that morning, Harriet Isom had discovered the bodies of her son, his partner, and their roommate.
Because of this timeline, it was believed that the three victims were shot and killed sometime between the evening of November 30th and the afternoon of December 1st, approximately two days before the bodies were discovered inside of the aging, two-story home. This put their last known activity on the night of November 30th, when they had gone to hang out with new friends at a bar named "The Jet," with police learning that they had brought some of these friends home with them to continue the party, mere hours before their deaths...
The day after the bodies were discovered - December 4th, 1974 - a pick-up-and-hold order was issued for a young couple potentially linked to the crime.
This young couple - whose names and ages were not immediately released by authorities - had reportedly left the Sioux City region early on the morning of Monday, December 2nd. This was immediately after the crimes were supposedly committed... a circumstance that seemed far beyond coincidence for investigators.
According to these early reports, the man had worked for Ebasco Services Inc. - the same employer as Billy and Jesse - and had decided to leave town with his young girlfriend at 1:30 AM on Monday, without giving any kind of notice or heads up to anyone they knew. The man quit his job and they just left.
After discovering the bodies inside of their home, police began making calls to authorities near Carlsbad, New Mexico, where they believed the pair of youngsters were headed. They asked for authorities there to move in and detain the couple, so that questioning could be carried out.
The young couple was discovered at an all-night diner early on the morning of December 4th, just outside of Carlsbad, New Mexico. Investigators from Sioux City were flown out to question them about their potential involvement in the shooting deaths. When speaking to reporters, however, Sioux City Police Captain Frank O'Keefe clarified that these two young adults were not suspects, but - in his words:
"... we felt we should talk to them about the case because of the man quitting his job and their leaving the area so abruptly. We also have other questions to ask them... they were friends of the victims."
These two were later identified by numerous outlets as 25-year-old Van L. Chadwick and 18-year-old Diana Renee Lindley, who had both lived in Salix, Iowa, about fifteen miles south of Sioux City. As alleged by earlier reporting, Chadwick was confirmed to have been a coworker to both Jesse and Billy.
While held in custody in Carlsbad, New Mexico, Chadwick and Lindley were questioned by investigators from Sioux City, who grilled them throughout December 5th and administered polygraph tests... which the two reportedly passed. Because of this, the two were released early that evening and were then free to go about their lives.
Eddy County District Attorney Dave Hougland told eager reporters:
"No charges will be filed against the couple in New Mexico and it is my understanding that no charges will be filed against the two in Iowa."
From this point, it seems like authorities gave up on the two as suspects or potential witnesses, believing that their midnight exodus from Iowa - which had taken place at around the same time that the three victims were killed in Morningside - had no relation to the crime whatsoever. At least, no connection that could be proven.
I'm not sure what ultimately became of Diana Lindley - who, at one point, was alleged to have been an accomplice to this case - but I do know that Van Chadwick seemed to remain in the Carlsbad, New Mexico region for the foreseeable future, passing away in nearby Texas just last year (2021).
At this point, authorities seemed to have little to work with, with the leads they developed early on flaming out - or fading away without any significant progress.
Speaking to the press a couple of weeks after the triple murder, Woodbury County Attorney Zigmund Chwirka stated that authorities had no suspects or known motives, and continued to investigate the three deaths in earnest... four, actually, counting Freta's unborn daughter. Speaking to reporters, Chwirka stated:
"We're still hoping something new will turn up."
Days later, the toxicology reports came back from the three victims, revealing that none had ingested or injected any hard narcotics before their deaths (at least, nothing that authorities commonly tested for). These tests were carried out by Iowa's Bureau of Criminal Investigation in Des Moines, revealing that the three had consumed some level of alcohol before they were shot to death, but not a significant amount. Billy Isom's blood alcohol content (BAC) was the highest at .14, but Jesse Hanni's was only .05, and Freta Bostic's was .04.
Forensic tests also confirmed that Freta had just had sex before her death; likely with her longtime partner, Billy Isom (since the two were found nude). It was possible that the two had just fallen asleep when they were ambushed by their killer(s).
Weeks would continue to pass... and then months.
In April of 1975, an individual was subpoenaed to testify in front of a Woodbury County grand jury about events connected to the shooting deaths. Authorities cautioned reporters from speculating too wildly - not wanting to inspire any false hope - and that seemed to be in good measure. Nothing seemed to come from this testimony, at least nothing known to the public.
That same month, the home that the three victims had lived in - which once stood at 1117 Morningside Avenue in Sioux City - was torn down to make way for a new parking lot. Ironically, the parking lot was built for a funeral home next door.
One of the major theories in this case - which has been explored by police from the onset of their investigation - is a potential link to the world of drugs.
All three victims had prior connections to illicit substances. Both Billy and Freta had previous arrests for narcotics possession, having been charged with possession of marijuana in Arkansas City, Kansas - where Billy and his family lived at the time - and serving brief stints in jail, followed by parole. As previously discussed, Jesse Hanni had owned a home in Billings, Montana, which became known among the local delinquents as a haven for drug dealers and addicts, even in his several-month absence from the property.
According to statements made by police at the crime scene, drugs were found inside the Morningside home. Officers would later reveal that this was marijuana - a fair amount - but evidence surfaced that other drugs had been moved through the home in the days or weeks preceding the shooting. This led investigators to question where the victims may have acquired these drugs, and where they might have gone after leaving the home.
Speaking to reporters in December of 1974, Sioux City Police Captain Frank O'Keefe stated:
"There was evidence that semi-hard drugs had been handled in the structure... and it appeared that a lot of people had been in and out of the house recently."
Captain O'Keefe would go into more detail on the first anniversary of the crime, in December of 1975, telling the press:
"There is evidence that there was some drug usage by the people. The autopsies didn't show the presence of any drugs in their bodies, but that's pretty hard to detect sometimes. We've looked more along the lines that there might have been a drug sale, or something like that, that had something to do with the killings."
Going into more detail years later, Officer Russell White referred to the party held the weekend of their murders when speaking about the three victims:
"They were partying with some pretty well-known folks that we knew were involved in narcotics traffic at that time. Marijuana and traces of harder drugs had been found in the house, and someone already had come forward and admitted to 'ripping off' some pot from one of the victims the night of the party."
In addition to receiving information from newfound friends of the victims - that they had drugs moving through their house, and had been robbed of some marijuana before their deaths - additional sources came forward to claim that at least one of the victims had spoken about a substantial drug deal taking place.
According to Ray Hanni (Jesse's brother), Jesse had driven home the week before his death to visit his family in Red Lodge, Montana. While there, on a walk with his brother, Jesse had expressed fear for his safety. As recounted by Ray years later for The Weekender:
"He said they were after him... He tried to tell me what was going on. But he didn't tell me enough."
Jesse reportedly told another close friend of his at around this time about a drug deal he was preparing to make. He spoke about plans to rip off the drug dealer but didn't divulge details to anyone close to him... at least, no one that survived. The only thing these friends knew - or, at least, the only thing they passed along to police - was that Jesse planned on making a lot of money at the expense of an unnamed drug dealer.
Those that knew Jesse well, including his family, believed that he had been involved in drug dealing, and had gotten involved with certain individuals that didn't take too kindly to being jerked around. Later, when speaking to the Sioux City Journal in 1992, Jesse's brother Ray told reporters:
"There isn't any question about it - it was a hit."
Some believe that a hired killer might have been sent to carry out the murders, responsible for killing Jesse and/or Billy and anyone else involved in their alleged drug ring. Many have speculated that Freta Bostic was not one of the intended targets, since she was only shot once in the torso, and wasn't shot in the head like the other two. She might have been collateral damage - or just an unlikely witness - and it was possible that the killer hadn't planned on killing her.
The way that the three had died - which officers would describe at various times as both "gangland style" and "assassin style" - pointed towards a killer or group of killers that knew what they were doing. None of the shots were wasted, and the victims were only shot in the head or at center mass... meaning that whoever was shooting at them was shooting to kill.
If Jesse and Billy had known that they had pissed off someone - perhaps a drug dealer, who might send someone after them - it makes sense that they'd arm themselves. Both had firearms in their possession at the time of their deaths, and Jesse had been carrying his revolver with him to and from work every day. As explained by Officer Russell White, speaking to the Sioux City Journal in 2014:
"These guys were arming themselves appropriately because they thought someone was out to get them."
A theory that I've developed during the research of this story - which adds to the theory about Jesse and Billy being involved in some kind of drug dealing - is that their transient lifestyle likely played a part in their death. Or, at least, the buildup to it.
We know that Billy Isom and Jesse Hanni were both migrant workers, who moved around from place to place to find work, never settling down in one place for very long. Many believe that the two might have been engaged in drug dealing or some other kind of illicit activity. If that was the case, then their transient lifestyle may have been borne out of necessity more than convenience.
Some believe that during their travels throughout America, primarily the Midwest, the pair of young men might have attracted enemies due to their illicit activities.
As reported by numerous outlets, the three victims had lived in Colorado for a time before relocating to Sioux City, Iowa. Before they arrived in Sioux City, however, there were approximately six weeks of their lives that were unaccounted for... other than some scant reports of where they might have gone, not many know where they had been. Well, they might have been trying to lie low, perhaps hanging out in a location such as Jesse's home in Montana, before popping their heads up more than a month later in a nondescript location... such as Iowa, where no one might be looking for them.
An anonymous caller would later phone into a local TV station with a tip for investigators, claiming that before their move to Sioux City, Jesse Hanni had testified against a drug kingpin in Denver. If this was true, this likely earned Jesse (and his friends) the ire of anyone associated with said drug kingpin. While I can't find any additional evidence about the existence of this drug kingpin, this information - paired with the numerous reports of drug dealing and Jesse's admission of ripping off a drug dealer - seems to point towards it being somewhat true.
Otherwise, what would make someone try to murder them inside their home after living in Sioux City for less than six weeks? Unless Jesse and Billy managed to ingratiate themselves to local drug kingpins in less than two months, I don't see why anyone there would want them dead... unless the answers lie back in Colorado, where it's worth pointing out, Jesse's girlfriend Susan had returned to just days before the shooting took place. Not that she's responsible, but that seems to be too much of a convenience for me.
This would also explain why Jesse, Billy, and Freta had decided to lie low for several weeks before resurfacing in Sioux City. If they knew that someone was looking for them, what better way to disappear than lying low for a few weeks, before finding solace in someplace that no one would think to look?
Speaking to reporters with the Weekender, Officer Russ White stated:
"These young people were very traveled and they were from all different parts of the country. They dropped out of sight for about six weeks before they showed up in Sioux City. So we theorized that maybe they were hiding out and then just reappeared in Sioux City, thinking they could blend in with the woodwork up here and not be found."
While their transient lifestyle may or may not have played a part in the victims' deaths, it definitely played a factor in the investigation of their deaths. Speaking to the Sioux City Journal, Captain Joe Frisbie spoke about his frustrations involving this lifestyle, stating:
"The problem with... the victims is that they never stayed anywhere for very long. They were moving all over the country as construction workers... Very few people knew much about them, which severely limited our ability to investigate.
"The things they were involved with at the time... their problems could have come from anywhere."
Authorities would continue to investigate this case over several years, and it is still considered an open case to this day.
Because the three victims were relative newcomers to the town, they didn't have any real roots to look into, nor people that knew them in town and could provide any illuminating background. Attempts to reach out to their family and friends - spread out across the country - revealed very little new information, and it was likely that those who did know something about their murders might have a vested interest in keeping that information to themselves.
The story quickly faded from the headlines, only resurfacing every now and then, but investigators continued to chase down leads on the rare occasion that one presented itself. But eventually, the tips died out completely, and the case stagnated into its current status.
For a time, authorities strongly considered a suspect that lived in nearby Waterloo, subjecting them to a polygraph test months after the murders. This, however, seems to have not gotten anywhere. While authorities haven't divulged any information about this suspect, I think it's likely that this individual was connected to the subpoena filed in April of 1975, which - as we know - led nowhere.
Hundreds of individuals were questioned over the years, but none offered up information the helped police close the book on this case. New leads would surface once every blue moon, but like the prior tips, these similarly led to dead ends.
Joe Frisbie, a patrol officer at the time of the murders, was one of the main officers responsible for tracking down leads and information about the case, alongside his partner Russell White. While White left the Sioux City Police Department a few years later, Frisbie stuck around, climbing the ranks to Police Chief. Speaking to the Sioux City Journal in 1992, as a Police Captain, he stated about this case:
"It's one of the things that really bothers me; I hate to have an unsolved homicide in the community.
"I keep dreaming that someday the big break will come and somebody will want to say something, get us on the right track and get this thing going again."
Sadly, no such smoking gun has arisen over the last thirty years, and the case remains cold to this day.
Many of those linked to this story - the victims' family members and friends - have since passed on.
Bill's only primary family members, his mother and father, have since passed away. Big Ernie passed away in 1987, and his mother Harriet would follow in 2015. The three are buried together at a plot in Arkansas City, Kansas, where Ernie and Harriet grew up.
Jesse's parents met similar ends, with his father Eddie passing away just a few years after his son, in 1978. His mother Audra would remarry, before passing away herself in 2010. His brother Ray, one of the few survivors with a link to this case, remembered his brother when speaking to the Weekender in 2004:
"I was always the one who took him fishing and showed him how to fish and hunt. He was almost more like a son than just a little brother. But Jesse was my little brother. He was a little guy I carried around..."
Freta's mother, Marguerite Walker Bostic, passed away in 1993, leaving behind three of Freta's siblings. Sadly, I have been unable to find much information about these siblings other than their names, but I can only hope that they have gone on to live rich and fulfilling lives of their own. I express the same gratitude towards anyone still mourning the loss of these three lives.
The home that Billy, Jesse, and Freta lived and died in, which once sat quietly at 1117 Morningside Avenue, didn't remain standing for long after it became a crime scene. The building was already penned to be purchased by a neighboring funeral home the next year, 1975, and that purchase went through as-scheduled. The building itself was razed shortly thereafter.
Now, though, the funeral home itself is no more. Where the property once stood is now a parking lot for Adkins Tax Service in Sioux City, which stood empty for years before being purchased by its current owner, Vicki Adams. When asked by the Times Republican about its grisly history in 2013, Adams stated that it:
"Doesn't bother me. Obviously it bothered somebody at some point, because it was a parking lot."
Thankfully, all of the evidence in this case has been maintained over nearly half a century by the Sioux City Police Department, with police officials reiterating - whenever the case comes up in the press - that there is no statute of limitations on murder.
As of this episode's recording, the stories of Jesse Hanni, Billy Isom, Freta Bostic, and Freta's unborn daughter remain unresolved.
Episode Information
Episode Information
Research, writing, hosting, and production by Micheal Whelan
Published on January 8th, 2022
Music Credits
Original music created by Micheal Whelan through Amper Music
Theme music created and composed by Ailsa Traves
Sources and other reading
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/129445333/freta-fawn-bostic
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