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Patricia Ann Veach ////// 941
01:03:49
This month marks fifty seven years since someone killed little Patricia Ann Veach. Patricia was less than a month away from her ninth birthday when she was killed. Two weeks before the murder, she served as a flower girl at her aunt and uncle’s wedding. While Patricia Ann Veach’s murder remains unsolved it will forever be tied to convicted killer Anthony Erthel Williams. Williams was convicted for the abduction murder of ten year old Pamela Powers. Williams proclaimed that the murder of Patricia Ann Veach seven months later was proof that the real killer of Powers was still out there and the little children of Iowa were not safe.
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- [00:01]
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- [01:27]
Nick
Welcome to True Crime Garage. Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, thanks for listening. I'm your host, Nick and and with me, as always, is a man with a reminder that guilty feet, they've got no rhythm.
- [01:40]
Captain
Here is the cap and they kind of stink. It's good to be seen and good to see you. Thanks for listening. Thanks for telling a friend.
- [01:48]
Nick
Today we are drinking big Hazy Wolf. That's a hazy double IPA from the good folks at Golden Road Brewing. We got the extra tall cans today, 19o. This big hazy features a blend of Simcoe, Cashmere and Idaho 7 hops along with tropical fruit, citrus and white wine grape notes. And because it's a double, it's 9% ABV garage grade four and a quarter bottle caps out of five. And let's give some thanks and praise to our good garage friends. First up, a cheers to Jen Daly in Osceola, Indiana.
- [02:29]
Captain
And the big talk hands in the air too, Leslie in Fort Pierce, Florida.
- [02:34]
Nick
Next, here's a cheers to Jordan Keon listening to the garage and parts unknown. And last but certainly not least, we have a big Ron Swanson. Please and thank you going out to Julie Showalter from Anaheim, California. Julie was kind enough and sent us today's featured beer. Everyone we just mentioned helped us to fill up the old garage fridge. And for that, we thank you.
- [03:02]
Captain
Yeah, yum yum. Get you some BWW and beer. Run for everything. True crime. Check out truecrimegarage.com while you're there. Check out the merch page and here's a little promo code for you. July 2026. And that will get you 25 off in the merch store. And that's just, that's good for another couple days. So run and get some merch and that's enough of the business.
- [03:27]
Nick
All right everybody gather round. Grab a chair, Grab a lets talk some true crime. According to Project Cold Case data tracked by advocacy groups, it is estimated that over 300,000 homicides went unsolved in the United States between 1965 and 2021. Homicide cases that remain open indefinitely after all original leads have been exhausted are commonly referred to as cold cases. Today we are featuring a cold case, the murder of Patricia Ann Veach. Typically, cases go cold and investigations stall due to several factors. One, a lack of evidence. Two, a lack of witnesses or issues with the witnesses. Three, technological limits and four, the victim is unidentified. The case that we are covering today has gone cold due to three of those four reasons. Lack of evidence, lack of witnesses and technological limits. At the time of the murder here our victim was easily identified. In fact, she was killed in her home in her bedroom in the middle of the night. Listeners of this show know that today cold cases regularly are heating up. With advancements in technology and science, we have been able to close out and solve and bring some form of justice and closure to many cold cases. Modern advancements have allowed cold case units to break through decades old brick walls. Cracking a cold case primarily starts with genetic genealogy. Re examining the files, newly formed public databases and renewed media attention. This week we are giving some attention to an Iowa cold case. We are hoping that Patricia Ann Veach's case will soon join the list of old cold cases that are cold, no longer and finally solved. This is true crime garage and this is the cold case homicide story of Patricia Ann Veach. Today's case is known in police records as case number 691-292-5 and it centers on the death of Patricia Ann or better known to friends and family as Trish Veech, last name Veech, an 8 year old girl living with her family in Des Moines, Iowa and Polk County. One of the strongest public records of what happened has been preserved by IowaColdcases.org a site dedicated to keeping unsolved cases from the great state of Iowa visible and advocating for answers years and even decades after the victims are gone and and in this case over five decades now trying to get to the bottom of this one. And some folks Captain, instantly lose all hope when hearing how long a case has remained unsolved. This case as of just a few days ago is 57 years with a case file in the unsolved unresolved stack. But I say stay with us friends as there is reason to be optimistic in the IowaColdcases.org profile for Patricia's case. There is a photograph of her taken at Christmas 1968. It's an ordinary image of an eight year old girl caught in a moment that should have belonged only to childhood. You can see her sitting there happily kind of leaning on the couch with a drink in her hand and probably very excited to be experiencing and sharing the Christmas season with her family. But that would be a memory that would turn very painful from happy to painful and what would come. Roughly six and a half months later, Patricia was eight years old and nearing her ninth birthday. She lived with her parents, William, known as Bill Veach and Etta Veach, and her older brother Billy. This at 805 Southwest Lay street on the south side of Des Moines. The case summary on IowaCoolcases.org is written by Jody Ewing, who does absolutely amazing work and she lays out the grim facts with clarity. So let's start by going back to that terrible summer morning. For the Veaches, this would be a frantic, confusing and heartbreaking day, to say the very least. On the morning of Thursday, July 10, 1969, Patricia was found dead in her bedroom inside the family home. Investigators determined that she had been sexually molested and early reporting said that she had either been strangled or smothered. Patricia's father, Bill Veach, told police he went to check on his daughter at about 7:25am that morning. Before he reached her room, something at the front of the house had already signaled to him that whatever had happened during the course of that night was not ordinary. In fact, quite alarming. The home's front screen door had been slashed near the latch and the door was found ajar.
- [09:26]
Captain
The dad wakes up in the morning to make his morning cup of joe. Checking on the house, that's what you do as a dad, right? Go check the front door, the back door, you see the door is ajar. You open it up, you see the screen door cut. But this is also pretty confusing because I believe him and his wife stayed up pretty late that night.
- [09:47]
Nick
Bill found his daughter Patricia. She was lying on her back, uncovered and, and wearing only her pajama top. There was blood on her body and on the bed as well. Now we need to discuss the layout of this house because ultimately what this case would lead to is accusations against the family, mainly the dad and brother, but with family and friends saying that someone broke into the home and killed the girl in the middle of the night and then police questioning everyone and everything. So first off, we have to point out that this is a rather small home. It's in fact a very small home. Patricia's room is located right across from the front door. So if you are standing on the front porch and looking into the house, you can see into the little girl's room or if the door were to be closed, see the door closed right next to her. The room to the door to her room is the door to her parents room. So yes, I'm sure the father regularly got up and checked on the house. But also, I mean, he could have just walked out of his bedroom and notice, holy crap, the screen door to our home has been cut. And so he's instantly checking on the house. As you had said there, Captain, this home does have a basement, which will play a role into this overall story as well. Also, Captain, we mentioned Billy, Patricia's older brother. Yeah, he had actually spent that night elsewhere. He was staying with his paternal grandparents. Now the kids ages there. She's about to turn nine. In fact, I believe she was like 19 days away from her ninth birthday when she was killed. And at this time it's my understanding that her older brother Billy is 13.
- [11:45]
Captain
Makes you wonder though, if is this crime connected to somebody they know? Knowing the fact that Billy was gone
- [11:51]
Nick
that night inside the home on Southwest Lila Street, Bill and Etta told police they had gone to bed about 2am and that Patricia was all right when they had turned in for the night. They also reported that they had heard no unusual noises overnight and stated even their dog had not barked, did not wake them. And so a lot of this reporting is going to cause a lot of people to have suspicions about what actually occurred inside that home that night. Why didn't the dog alert them if there was in fact an intruder? Well, one thing we do need to point out is the dog slept in the basement that night and slept in the basement every night. Yeah, part of the layout to that home too. As we had talked about, small home. This is a two bedroom home. Mom and dad share one bedroom, daughters in the other bedroom. Billy Jr. Sleeps in the basement. So I'm doing a little inferring here, Captain, but my guess is young teenage boy. Yeah, probably begs mom and dad for a dog at some point in his early life and says, I'll take care of him, I'll take care of him. And of course, dog sleeping in your room with you in the basement every night. Bill and Etta were up late as you stated, and we know why they were up late. Or at least it's been reported as to what was going on that night that they had been on the telephone. They were on a telephone call with a relative who was in the Bahamas talking late into the night. Now, further reports state that Patricia went to bed around midnight that night. And so mom and dad stay up on the phone with this relative.
- [13:41]
Captain
Yeah, I'm, I'm that individual. When everybody goes to sleep, I need a good hour or so by myself. But a question here. So we have the screen door. It looks like somebody cut the screen or ripped it or whatever they did, because, you know, sometimes an old screen will have little holes in it that you could poke your finger through and maybe rip it.
- [14:04]
Nick
Yeah, this. This was reported as a. That it was cut, that it was. Or slashed are the two words that are used in the reporting. And I do know that the police removed the screen door and took it in for evidence and actually sent it off to a. An FBI field office.
- [14:23]
Captain
Yeah, they're probably hoping to get some kind of identifier off this evidence. But the door, the main door to the house, was it unlocked? It doesn't seem like they report any damage to the door.
- [14:37]
Nick
Yeah, so there was no damage to the door. It's my belief, according to the way the reports read, that the door was open for the night. So keep in mind, it's when they go to bed, when she turns In, Patricia, it's July 9th. And when they wake up on July 10th, they find her dead. So very likely this is 1969. There's no AC. They probably left windows open. And that was. That was the appeal back then and still is today, to. For having a screen door. You latch the screen door and you leave the door open, Leave the doors open and let air and breeze flow through the home to cool the home so you can sleep comfortably at night. And so when, when the report states that the door was a jar, I think in 2026, our minds have a difficult time processing some of these old reports because we live slightly too very different than how people lived in 1969. So these, today, we are used to screen doors that automatically close behind us when we walk out them. When they state the door is a jar, they're stating that the screen door was a jar. And so these doors back then, most of them, I. I don't know when that mechanism came into existence, but these doors typically back then didn't close behind you. And so you would latch them closed and you would unlatch them to exit through that door. So when father says he finds the door slashed, it's not just cut, it's Cut. And it's. The door is sitting in a slightly open position.
- [16:26]
Captain
Yeah. And Cosmo Kramer would recommend everybody to have a screen door.
- [16:31]
Nick
Later reports would place Patricia's time of death between 3am and 4am on July 10, 1969. So this is a narrow window in the deep middle of the night when most of the neighborhood would have been asleep. If it were a stranger, that stranger might have been able to move through the neighborhood or around this home with less risk of being seen. In the days after July 10, Des Moines police canvassed the neighborhood, trying to find anyone who might have seen or heard something near the Veatch home during those critical hours. An Associated Press article dated Monday, July 14, 1969, quoted police detective Captain Cletus Leeming, who said his men had questioned more than 500 people by that Sunday. Remember, she was found dead on that Thursday. The investigative team, he said, included seven detectives and two identification officers assigned to the case. Despite the manpower and the large number of interviews, Leeming said neither he nor his department had any clues to identify the killer.
- [17:53]
Captain
Yeah, I wish I knew more about this neighborhood. Is, is this a type of road that somebody is using to walk to the local gas station to pick up a drink or a snack? Because to me, some ding dong perv is walking by and sees. Because if you're in this neighborhood and it's this late 12 o', clock, 1 o', clock, almost all the lights would be out. And to see lights on because the parents are up talking, that might. Okay, their, their door is open. Okay, maybe this individual knows that there's a young girl in this house. And so then when he walks by again for the second time, he sees the door still open, the front door open, but the only thing stopping him from getting in this house is a screen door. That's not going to stop me. Right. So that, that's, those are things I, I'd want to know more about as far as the neighborhood is concerned.
- [18:55]
Nick
And I guess I should be clear here. I can't say with 1000% certainty that the, that the front door was actually closed behind the screen door. And what we do know is that the only sign of a forced entry, if there was one, again, there's suspicion here that has been placed on the family over the years and even at the time of the, the when the case first occurred. But the thing here is that that's the only sign of forced entry would be that screen door. And so if we're going to make inferences, I think it's fair to say, maybe mom and dad closed the front door and thought, well, the latch is enough. You know, the screen doors latched, and nobody will. You know, nobody will be able to breach that. And so we don't have to lock the front door. But again, the way that the. I've read multiple reports on this, and every one of them, the way that they read to me.
- [19:56]
Captain
Yeah.
- [19:56]
Nick
Sounds as if the screen door was secured via the latch. And the main door to the home, the front door to the home was left open that night. So the part of that that I wanted to. The reason why I'm circling and being very repetitive here, Captain, is because of what you said about somebody. If there's somebody who happens to be passing by or some perv running around in the middle of the night, it's easy to see this play out where. Look, her door, her room is directly across from the front door of this home. Yeah, it's a small home. That could be a matter of feet. It could be 3ft, 4ft, or just enough to open up the door. And I've lived in some small homes and some tight homes and. And had situations like that where the. The front porch was just large enough to open up the front door or the space behind it in. In the. Inside the living quarters is just large enough to open up the front door, and then there's a wall there or closet there. And so if you are looking through this screen door, like a big perv. The other part that's missing from this report, though, is was her door closed when mom and dad went to bed or when Patricia went to bed? Because if it's not, now you have a scenario where somebody is looking through the screen door and can see there's a bedroom just feet. Just steps from inside this screen door. And, oh, by the way, I happen to have with me a tool that will allow me to cut that screen door and reach my hand in there and undo that latch.
- [21:42]
Captain
Yeah, but that's. Again, I think this perpetrator, AKA big perv, had to have some knowledge because. Because the house being so small. Okay, yeah, there's a bedroom there, but if I don't know what's in that bedroom, am I going to take that chance? Is that a. Is that a couple? Is that a teenage boy? So most of these perpetrators have a victim type. So that makes me believe that whoever committed this crime knew what was behind that screen door, if that makes any sense.
- [22:15]
Nick
That same day, July 14, 1969, Polk County Medical examiner, Dr. Luca, reported that the autopsy showed that Patricia had been smothered to death. But he could not say with certainty whether it had been done with a pillow or with the perpetrator's hand. In an Associated Press story published on the 15th in the Cedar Rapids Gazette, Dr. Luca added that laboratory analysis of blood and hair found at the scene was incomplete. Also on the 15th, police questioned an alleged vagrant in connection with Patricia's death. This was a man that was spotted in the area. He pled innocent to vagrancy charges, was jailed in lieu of $100 bond. But the available reporting on this matter does not frame this as a break in the homicide case, only just really a widening effort to locate anyone who might be linked to what happened. On Thursday, July 17, an AP brief with the Waterloo Daily Courier reported that lie detector test would soon be given to suspects in the case. And so this comes as a statement from the detective, like we've question, you've already heard Cletus Leeming say we've questioned or talked to more than 500 people within the course of three and a half, four days. And now a week after the murder, he's stating, we're now to the point where we're going to start conducting lie detector test for peace for people that we have. Some of these people they may have already talked to.
- [24:01]
Captain
Well, the thing though too is like let's state the obvious. Eight year old girls murdered in her bedroom. Parents claim that they were up pretty late, so mom goes to bed at 12. Is it possible that the father sexually assaults his daughter and then kills her? That's a possibility. That's something that we have to rule in or rule out I think pretty quickly. But I think the tough thing is the time period we don't have today would just go, okay, well, things seem a little suspicious. It's not that hard to create a scene to make there look like there's some kind of break in. But with the technology today, a couple tests probably get the results back by the time the autopsy report is done and then you can clear the father and the brother wasn't there. So we can move on from this being a crime that took place inside the house and somebody's trying to cover it up.
- [24:55]
Nick
Who Patricia was is something we should touch on here, Captain, before her bright life became a homicide case. Nope. This is the second little girl murder, so the second sex murder case in Des Moines in a seven month period, mind you. And we will get into that other story here in a bit. So over the years, Patricia's brother tried to preserve her as more than just a file number and a set of autopsy findings. In an email dated August of 2010 to IowaColdcase.org Billy described Patricia as very bubbly and outgoing. He said the family had few photos of her where she wasn't making a funny face or sticking out her tongue. She was always teasing, always laughing. And he wrote that she could run like a deer, that she loved school, and that she was very, very smart. And one thing that we do know about Patricia and about the family is that two weeks before she was killed, Patricia had been the flower girl at the wedding of her Uncle David and Aunt Mona. 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- [32:44]
Captain
All right, we are back. Tall cans in the air. Getting if you want a discount on merchandise, use our promo code July 2026 to get 25% off@True Crime Garage.com merch store. All right. Cheers to you, Colonel.
- [33:01]
Nick
Cheers to you, Captain. July 2026. That sounds like a good deal. Use that promo code. So for Billy, the older brother, that look, this wasn't just the trauma of the loss of his sister. Because what the way this plays out, this turns into like a long, grinding aftermath that starts instantly from when she's killed. So the weeks, months and years after the murder, life did not return to normal. And in fact, suspicion in this case did not fall neatly where it probably belonged. So Billy, he remembers decades during which his father, Bill Sr. Lived under a cloud of suspicion. He said his father was questioned daily during the first week after Patricia's murder. And then by the end of that first month, he says the family could no longer make it through the night living in that home. Patricia's mom, Etta, her family is from Northern Ireland. Okay. And remember, there was a wedding recently, and I don't know if she was visiting for the wedding or visiting for multiple reasons or what have you. But when it came time for Patricia's maternal grandmother, which would be Etta's mom, to return home to Northern Ireland, Bill Veach surprised his wife and son with tickets to travel to Ireland with her. Okay, so she, they go away, and Etta and Billy actually spent a month away from Des Moines, Iowa, away from the neighborhood, away from the questions, away from the constant sense of being watched and judged. Yeah, but Bill senior had planned another change for when they returned. So while they're gone, he purchased a new home and he moved the family into that new home. But even with a fresh start, there was nothing clean about this. They could never get a clean break from the suspicion. Even in this new neighborhood, this new community, members of that community still eyed him them with suspicion. Billy said people circulated a petition trying to keep the family out of the neighborhood. He lived with the fear that his father might never be fully cleared. But this all happening in the shadow, as we said, of another child's murder. Patricia's death did not happen in an isolation, did not happen in isolation from the fears of the era. It came seven months after the Christmas Eve 1968 slaying of 10 year old Pamela Powers, a suburban Urbandale girl abducted from the Des Moines ymca. And we'll go through some of the particulars of this case because it does have a connection to Patricia Veach's case. So on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1968, 10 year old Pamela K. Powers was abducted from the Des Moines YMCA while attending a wrestling tournament. Des Moines police launched an immediate missing person and kidnapping investigation. The following day on Christmas, police found Pamela Powers, some of her clothing and some of her personal articles in a room at that YMCA rented by a man who was going by the name of Robert Anthony Williams. Okay. His real name is Anthony Erthel Williams and he was actually an escaped mental patient.
- [36:53]
Captain
Oh, he went crazy because his parents gave him the middle name of Earthel.
- [36:58]
Nick
So he escapes from wherever he's being housed or receiving treatment and therapy. And while he's on the run, he decides, I'm gonna go. You know, it's fun to stay at the YMCA like they say. So he went to stay at the YMCA and obviously he spotted this victim here and managed to abduct her. And based off of the evidence, it looks like he first moved her to his room and then at some point moved her out of the facility altogether. So a multi state warrant is issued for his arrest. The following day, the day after Christmas, December 26, 1968, this Williams contacts a lawyer in Des Moines and he turns himself into police. So he turns himself into the police. But now he's all the way in Davenport, Iowa. So the Des Moines police detectives have to drive all the way out to Davenport to retrieve him. Okay, so it's the holiday and everything's happening very fast and he's only a suspect, but there is a warrant for his arrest. They make all these arrangements and this is key here, they make all these arrangements and there's an agreement that he, while being transported from Davenport back to Des Moines, that he could not be interrogated for Pamela Powers for that case.
- [38:26]
Captain
Right.
- [38:27]
Nick
It's agreed upon by his lawyer and it's agreed upon by the detectives picking him up. And so everything's going to be hunky dory. And then they won't question him until they return him to Des Moines. And then that lawyer that he contacted will be present during the course of that questioning. Okay, now there's a couple things that I find fascinating about this investigation. The Pamela Powers case, this is sort of an open and shut case here. Okay? We have this guy that we have a record that tells us he's. He's probably capable of something. And we find evidence of the missing girl in his room. So in that sense, it's a bit of an open and shut case. You're going out to retrieve this guy, you believe he's killed this girl. But not so fast, Mr. Because we don't have a body. So, Detective Leeming, a name we've already mentioned several times, he is going to be the lead on this Pamela Powers case. And he's going to be one of the detectives in the vehicle that goes to Davenport to retrieve Williams. In fact, he's sitting in the back seat with him while they are traveling back to Des Moines. And remember, they're not allowed to question him.
- [39:47]
Captain
Well, that would be a fun car ride.
- [39:50]
Nick
And it's not a short ride either. Now this Detective Leeming, he's already got the mind of like a profiler and he would have been a perfect profiler. And I think that he. These are all things and abilities that he learned through experience, through many years of, of being a detective and a homicide detective. So he already had a theory. He believed that Pamela Power's body was in the Mitchellville, Iowa area. Okay. Now how did he come up with that theory? He says, we know she was abducted from Des Moines. We know that he fled with her from Des Moines. So how do we know that he fled with her from Des Moines? They. Not only did they find some of her belongings in his room, but they also found a witness who says, I held the door for that Williams guy while he was carrying out this big bundle of something and something that was wrapped up in either towels or carpet or something of that nature. He held the door for him. And he said when that guy placed whatever that bundle was into the back of a vehicle, I'm pretty sure that I saw some feet sticking out of the bottom. Oh, and I think he described it as little white feet. So now we have a witness that's placing him as removing something. I'm guessing based off of that witness, that's how they arrived to the conclusion or the theory that the poor little girl unfortunately is already dead. Or that was going to happen shortly after. So our detective now believes, hey, not only are we retrieving this guy, but we're also looking for a body. And he says he came about this theory because another belonging or some additional clothing belonging to the girl had been found in the Grinnell area. He also says Colfax, Grinnell, and the Newton areas all had been searched without locating the girl. His experience in homicide told him that he believed that the murderer probably got rid of the body as soon as he could after he left Des Moines. He knows where the guy that he's going to go pick up is. He's in Davenport, and not much time has passed. So he has basically a path between Des Moines and Davenport where he believes he's going to retrieve the killer. Well, in that direction. The next city over is Altoona, but the seasoned detective says that would have been just a little too close. So Leeming said that left Mitchellville. Okay, so now they're in the car. He already thinks that the body's somewhere in the Mitchellville area, and he believes he's sitting next to the killer who disposed of the body. He tells Williams, while they're on the road, he says, I'm going to tell you something. Remember, he's not allowed to question him about the murder. That was what they agreed on. I'm going to tell you something, and I don't want you to answer me, but I want you to think about it as we drive along. He said he told Williams that he believed the Powers girl's body was in the Mitchellville area and that if they stopped and found it, the parents could give her a good Christian burial. And he says he told Williams, look, they are predicting several inches of snow for tonight. And I feel that you yourself are the only person that knows where this little girl's body is. If you get a whole bunch of snow on top of it, even you yourself may not be able to find it. And it may be several days before the body would be found because of this approaching snowstorm.
- [43:30]
Captain
Right.
- [43:31]
Nick
He is playing off of something he already knows about Williams. This also goes to the profiling, the profiling of where he thinks he might find the body and how he thinks he might be able to get the offender to talk. He knew that Williams was a deeply religious man. Williams sat with it for a while, silently, and eventually said, you're right. I'm going to show you where it is. So on December 26, on the return drive to Des Moines, Detective Cletus Leeming delivered what will forever be known as his Christian burial speech to Williams about giving the girl's parents a Christian burial.
- [44:13]
Captain
Williams essentially a confession.
- [44:15]
Nick
If he knows where the body is, he's he. And we found these things in his room and we have a witness that places him carrying a bundle with little white feet sticking out of it. Yeah, you're getting a conviction. Williams then directs police to a snowbank in eastern Polk County, 2 1/2 miles outside of Mitchellville. So he nailed it on all kinds of different levels here, this legendary detective. So they find Pamela Powers body. From February to May of 69, the Des Moines police and the county prosecutor's office are preparing their case, their murder case against Williams for trial. And In May of 69, he is convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. However, through the appeals process, it's constantly brought up that he wasn't supposed to be talked to, he wasn't supposed to be question. And he was questioned without counsel, without representation, even though he had already secured counsel by turning himself in and contacting that lawyer. So he is convicted in May. And then we do know that July 10, 1969, eight year old Patricia Ann Veach is found murdered in her bed. Captain, this conviction of Williams will be overturned multiple times. And in fact it goes to the level of the state supreme court which they overturn it multiple times. What ends up happening now we got to fast forward many years later to 1977. He would ultimately get life in prison. And he never gets out, he dies in prison. But where this ties to the Veach case on multiple occasions at these trials, like as said, he gets tried several times, he gets convicted several times, it gets overturned several times. Ultimately they come this like as far as courtroom drama goes. And as for lawyers and attorneys go, and defenders and prosecutors, this was a huge case even on a national level because of this Christian burial speech and what is now known as the, as inevitable discovery, which is don't, we don't need to go down that road. We'd have to start a whole new episode. Okay, but there, there is a term that is still used to this day as inevitable discovery.
- [46:41]
Captain
Right.
- [46:41]
Nick
Okay. So the way that it ties to the Veach case is that every time that this Williams dude is sentenced to life in prison, he brings up the Veach case before they can sentence him. So he's convicted and he's, they allow you to give a statement at your sentencing before your sentence. And each time he stands up and tells the court, look, not only, not only am I sane because you know, he had been in this, he was escapee prior to the Powers murder. He would declare his sanity and he would declare his innocence. And his evidence to his innocence was simply that the person who took the life of Pamela Powers was allowed to be free, remain a free man because you arrested me. And that same individual committed the Veach killing in July of 69.
- [47:38]
Captain
Sure.
- [47:39]
Nick
So if you take the 30,000 foot view of this case, like to take
- [47:46]
Captain
a 30,000 foot pole and shove it up this guy's ass.
- [47:49]
Nick
Patricia Veach case. If you take, if you take the, just the tiny little one paragraph version of this case, it will tell you that Williams was investigated. I mean it didn't take much of an investigation because he was locked up when Patricia Veach was killed. He, he couldn't have killed her. And that, that 30,000ft pole, I, I, I'm all on board with that. Not just because of this murder of this little girl. He also years later was involved in a prison takeover where the inmates they, they managed to construct homemade rifles and at gunpoint took the prison over. So I mean this guy was, was bad from the beginning and was bad to the end.
- [48:34]
Captain
You give me a real rifle, I'll take my chances against a home homemade one. But like you said in the first case, the, the abduction in the ymca. So I'm guessing this guy was in and out of residency there.
- [48:53]
Nick
He was staying there at the time. And there was a, some kind of wrestling tournament which we know. Iowa. I mean wrestling huge in Iowa.
- [49:02]
Captain
Yeah.
- [49:03]
Nick
And there was some kind of wrestling tournament or competition that she was there with her family. So I don't know if she had a family member that was a participant in this competition or if she was there as a spectator, but she's there for that purpose. And he's probably like, you know, he's a monster. He's looking through the crowd and she leaves to go to the restroom and never returns. He probably sees her by herself or goes into the bathroom, the public bathroom and pulls her out of there. I don't know the particulars of that, but I, I can tell you that he is guilty of the murder of Pamela Powers.
- [49:43]
Captain
But here's the thing. Big perv. Some kind of monster. You're staying in a facility that other people that don't have anywhere to go, no friends probably no family because they're big pervs. Because they're monsters themselves. Well, they, they, they, no other monsters.
- [50:02]
Nick
Yeah, but that's not who stays at the ymca. It just, that's, I mean there's a lot of people that go there that are not bad people.
- [50:09]
Captain
Right.
- [50:10]
Nick
It's, this is not like a treatment facility or a prison or a jail. It's the YMCA where they're having a wrestling meet.
- [50:16]
Captain
Don't hear what I'm not saying. What I'm saying is this guy that happens to be there, no matter if it's there or other circles, these sick, big pervs, they find each other. There's communities of these guys they know. So is it possible, like you said, if he's locked up, there's no way that he could commit that crime. But is it possible that he knows who did? Sure. Because again, these guys are kind of lone wolfs, but they're not. And they seem to find each other.
- [50:52]
Nick
Well, I did tell you that there is some optimism here in this case, and let's get into that portion of it because it's been doom and gloom so far, and I don't feel so good about this story. So as the years passed and forensic science advanced, evidence that once could not speak began to slowly offer more. Because you've heard us go through the Patricia Veach case, the evidence they had was the screen door that they removed. I would like to know if. If Cletus Leeming was how quickly he was at the murder scene. Because this guy is legit. This guy knows how to conduct an investigation. This guy knows how to find the bad guy. This guy knows how to get the conviction. He ultimately got the conviction, even though some judges said that he might have done it the wrong way. This is a guy that gets things done. He solves cases. Because what. What I would have been looking for at this crime scene, there's not a lot of physical evidence. It's the screen door that they removed. But oftentimes, what is overlooked at crime scenes, and keep in mind, it's also 1969, so you have a lot less to work with, less resources. But I would have been looking for anything on the ground or floor of that crime scene. I would have been looking for tire tracks, tire impressions, be it from a car or a bicycle. I would also been looking for shoe impressions on the floor on the front porch, if that's possible. A lot of times, something that is often overlooked in a crime scene is what is beneath us, what is below our own feet. So what we are told here in the Patricia Veach case is that at one point they believe they had possible 81 pieces of evidence.
- [52:50]
Captain
It's a lot of pieces, a lot
- [52:51]
Nick
of pieces of evidence. The state crime lab said that out of all of that, they only obtained a few DNA markers. Because what did we. Just what did we describe earlier? The unfortunate situation that there's blood on the body and blood on the bed. So I'm guessing A lot of those pieces of air quotes, evidence that were collected. We're hoping that you find the blood of the perpetrator there, as well as it's going to be blood with the victims out of all that. You know, just because they collect things that they believe could be evidence doesn't mean that they ultimately end up being evidence. They only obtained a few DNA markers, not enough at the time to run through the FBI database. But then on March 8, 2011, Billy Jr. Received news that the family had waited decades to hear. According to Sergeant Steve Woody, the state crime lab had resubmitted evidence to check for familial DNA. Remember, Billy Jr. And Senior had been under a cloud of suspicion for decades. Billy said the results definitely excluded his father, his father's brothers, and Billy himself from suspicion. So the DNA, the suspect DNA that was deposited at the scene does not belong to Bill Jr. Bill Sr. Or the brothers of Bill Sr. Thankfully, his father was still alive when the break in the case took place. He told his father of the news and he said they both together broke down in tears.
- [54:33]
Captain
Yeah, because one, you find your daughter murdered, your baby murdered, and then the speculation. And as far as law enforcement goes, you, you have to look into this and. But every parent that cares about their child understands that. But once it becomes society, the community, people that don't really know you, that would be a, a sentence in itself. And I couldn't imagine trying to live in that community. And lucky for them that they were able to get out of it. But doesn't take people long unless you decide to change your name and, and never tell your story and never bring up that you had a, a daughter in the first place. This is something that's going to just fester on you like a mold.
- [55:24]
Nick
Billy said of Patricia's murder that it left a huge hole in their hearts. It never made sense to them, to anyone in the family who could do something so vile to someone so young.
- [55:35]
Captain
Yeah.
- [55:35]
Nick
He said even with some measure of relief from suspicion, the hardest part of this whole thing remained not knowing who did it or why.
- [55:45]
Captain
But with this evidence, do we think that there's a possibility that there's will be a arrest in this case one day?
- [55:52]
Nick
I'm very hopeful because what I'm thinking happened here is, well, if you're hopeful, I'll stay hopeful. Well, this could be the term used here. Familial DNA makes it a little confusing because, okay, it doesn't make it confusing, but we should be clear that it's not genetic genealogy DNA. So Using the term familial DNA leads me to believe that they went and conducted buccal swabs on all of these individuals and they did a straight up one to one comparison. And what you may have here, Captain, is a situation where you have DNA evidence that allows you to have enough markers for exclusions, but not enough markers that you could do the genetic genealogy work and it lead you to the killer.
- [56:43]
Captain
Right.
- [56:44]
Nick
Now, if that were to be the case in 2011, when they get this good news, well, it's 2026 now, obviously, so a lot of time has passed, roughly 15 years. Technology has gotten better. If that were to be the case in 2011, maybe they can pull more information from it now. And maybe, and hopefully it's already sitting somewhere in a lab being worked to do the genealogy work on it and it will lead us to who in fact the killer was. I would be curious if, if they don't have enough markers for that, can they at least get us the ethnicity and some of the characteristics and of. Of the killer?
- [57:26]
Commercial Announcer
Absolutely.
- [57:27]
Nick
Something like a snapshot DNA that we've seen or identified, DNA. I can't remember the term for it, but we've seen that used in other cases where eventually it leads to this genetic genealogy DNA getting a match a couple years later. So some discussion points here. Right. Father and Billy cleared. That's a big hurdle cleared in this case. But it took 50 years to do so, or almost 50 years to do so. One of the big items here that seems to have gotten lost in the sauce. Right. It was only in the earliest of the reporting in this case is that it said that police and neighbors were looking for a window peeper that was spotted in the Veatch neighborhood just nights before the murder. That nothing ever comes about that. You never hear any more about that story. It's just a one sentence in the early reporting. And I think that that's probably your best lead in this case now that we've been able to clear the people that were inside the home.
- [58:29]
Captain
Absolutely. Regarding also they were able to clear other family members. Right. Like it wasn't just the father, but it's like any of his brothers, so the uncles.
- [58:41]
Nick
And so here's where that part of the story goes. Online discussion groups. I've seen. I've seen post in the. In those that say that they hosted a small gathering that. That people came over to that. To their home that evening for drinks. And we can circle back to that, but there's always been suspicion that goes like this. Father first, Billy Jr. Second and then the uncle's third. The thought being, like going back to what you had said earlier, that it must have been somebody that knew what was going on in that home that night or had access to that home. I think, I think the other part of it too is she was a flower girl just two weeks before.
- [59:28]
Captain
Yeah.
- [59:28]
Nick
In her uncle's wedding. Look, that, that might be the case, but the DNA tells us that it, that it wasn't. I mean, it might be the case that there was reason for suspicion at some point, but we know that the DNA tells us that's only suspicion. It's not proof, it's not evidence. These people didn't do it.
- [59:45]
Captain
Well, when you say access to the house that night, again, I believe access to the houses, outside the house. Was there somebody walking around like you said? If we have this peeping Tom that was seen in the neighborhood. And again, it's such a blimp on the radar here, but what was that report like? Was somebody actually face pressed against the window and they're, they're licking the window, you know, or is it just somebody walking in the neighborhood that somebody thought was suspicious?
- [60:14]
Nick
I would guess that when they say window peeper, they're using that word, that term, because that's the information they received. So what do we know? I mean, we can piece this whole thing together and, and write a book from what little information we have. We know that the, the man in charge, who I've already called a legendary detective, Detective leeming, he says four days into it, three and a half, four days into the investigation, we've talked to 500 people. What are we going to talk to? Did you see anything? Have you seen anything out of the ordinary? Have you seen anything suspicious? Well, when they're told, yeah, a couple nights before the murder, I saw somebody looking in my window. Yeah, I saw somebody looking in my window. So now we have a window peeper.
- [60:58]
Captain
Yeah. And he looked like he's playing a game of pocket pool nights before.
- [61:03]
Nick
Let's move on to some of these discussion points here. Quick, quickly.
- [61:06]
Captain
Yeah.
- [61:06]
Nick
The screen door. Okay, so I could not find a conclusive statement from law enforcement or the FBI. We know that it was sent off to the FBI, but what has been stated on several of these discussion pages is that, oh, the, the screen was cut from the inside. Okay, well, that may be the case, but we don't have anybody in law enforcement ever saying that. Okay. And, and so the thought was, and I think what a lot of this is, is that people just refuse to let go of suspicion. And it's oh, the, the dad killed her, raped her, killed her and then cut the screen. But he was, but he did it from the inside and didn't know how to stage the scene. That's, that's the thing too. Like a lot of times when somebody is staging a scene, they don't, they know how to stage it to how they think it should look to investigators, but they don't know how it actually should look. And so the thought always was that oh, somebody slashed it from the inside to make it look like somebody broke in. And that was never the case. Okay, well there are certain types of blades that will give the appearance of that it was that you can't determine which side a screen was cut from.
- [62:26]
Captain
Yeah, the other thing, that's pretty difficult.
- [62:29]
Nick
Again, two, nobody in law enforcement who tested that screen has ever said what direction it was slashed from.
- [62:36]
Captain
Right. And also if the main door was a jar, would that change how somebody would try to enter the screen door?
- [62:46]
Nick
Possibly. And in fact, if the main door was closed, would the person have ever entered the home to begin with? A lot of the online theories that I don't. Look, I appreciate the people were discussing it and that they are throwing out theories, but I.
- [63:03]
Captain
But you're calling some people a dumb, dumb head.
- [63:05]
Nick
No, no, not at all. I think they're over complicating a very simple situation.
- [63:10]
Captain
Yeah.
- [63:11]
Nick
Okay. Because I've seen things as, oh well, somebody that was there that night having drinks with the family, they must have slipped something into the parents drinks before leaving. They cut the screen from the inside so they could later return.
- [63:29]
Captain
Right.
- [63:29]
Nick
And that's why mom and dad didn't hear anything because they were drugged. And this person, the dog never barked because the dog was familiar with this person because they had already been in the house before. And this person knew that Billy was not at the grandparents house. Okay, fine. Look, could that be the answer? Yes, you're you. I am not here to tell you that you are wrong. That could absolutely be the answer. What I think is the most likely scenario is this. The dog didn't bark because the dog slept in the basement every single night.
- [64:02]
Captain
Check.
- [64:03]
Nick
The dog is used to hearing footsteps and things above his or her little head while it's trying to sleep in the basement. And it doesn't react to that because it's normal for the dog to hear this. And mom and dad unfortunately, maybe they just slept heavy that night or maybe they had a bunch of drinks themselves, staying up late and that's why they were sleeping Heavy and didn't hear anything. The other thing, too, is maybe, just maybe, the guy that broke in to the home and killed the little girl was as quiet as a mouse. He may have been on. Forgive me for saying so, Captain, he may have been on top of her before she could make a noise. We heard what the coroner's report was. I don't know if she was suffocated or smothered by a pillow or by the perpetrator's hand. So something was stopping her and preventing her from waking the parents. I don't think that the killer needed to know a whole lot to go into that home, especially if it was a window peeper. You don't have to be a family member or a guest in the home to know a whole lot about what's going on in a tiny little house. If you've looked into their windows before.
- [65:14]
Captain
Yeah.
- [65:15]
Nick
And he may not care.
- [65:17]
Captain
Walk by, or you're a neighbor, you're monitoring the house from a couple doors down.
- [65:22]
Nick
And do we really think that the killer. So here's the other thing. I think that there's a chance that the killer may not have fully intended to kill the girl or did not enter the home that night with the intention of killing the girl. I firmly believe, because nothing was taken from the home and we do know that a sexual assault occurred, that the killer entered the home with the full intention of raping someone. But I don't. I also can't. I don't think that there's enough evidence to suggest that he knew who he would be assaulting once he got into the home. Unless he could see into that little girl's room, which is. Is a possibility.
- [66:02]
Captain
Yeah. Or.
- [66:03]
Nick
And the other thing, though.
- [66:04]
Captain
Neighborhood. It doesn't take if you're absolutely right. If you're a sick creepo, I guarantee you, you know which houses have little girls in them if that's your victim type.
- [66:17]
Nick
But. But a rapist doesn't always. Doesn't always care about that.
- [66:21]
Captain
True.
- [66:22]
Nick
It. To me, it's. To me, this is a very different homicide case than a little girl getting snatched off the street or the one that we reviewed within this episode where Williams took that little girl, Pamela. And the. The other thing, too, that's often talked about on those discussion pages is, well, the killer knew that Billy Jr. Was gone. Do you really think for a second, again, you could be right. But do you really think for a second that if this person was brazen enough to enter a home in the middle of the night, a home that belonged to A family that he gave a crap that a 13 year old boy wasn't there to stop him.
- [67:05]
Captain
Right.
- [67:05]
Nick
It's dad that you're worried about. It's the grown man inside the home that you're worried about. It's the potential that the family owns a firearm that you're worried about. Not that a 13 year old boy is gone at grandma, so he can't, he can't stop me.
- [67:19]
Captain
Well, the perpetrator might have brought a gun with him. We know they brought a knife, so.
- [67:24]
Nick
Or something that cut.
- [67:25]
Captain
Maybe you're not that worried at all.
- [67:27]
Nick
I, I think we've over complicated a very simple situation, unfortunately. And I think that that is why there's so little physical evidence other than the DNA that police were able to collect from the scene that it was a very simple situation. I think I'll give you a profile. It's not going to lead you to the guy, but I think it was a young white offender who lives in this neighborhood with no priors before the murder. I think, I think he was, I think he was the window peeper. I. I think he was the window peeper and that had been seen prior to. And that's why we don't have a whole lot of witnesses. Somebody good at this would have removed their shoes before going into that home.
- [68:10]
Captain
Well, and also like you said, the intent might have just been rape. It might not have been rape and murder. And so this could be an individual that has never committed a crime again.
- [68:20]
Nick
Yes. If I'm right that he was young at the time, my guess would be no priors to or before. But I would believe that he either likely raped again or attempted to sexually assault again. The lack of physical evidence obviously prevented Des Moines Police Department from ever making an arrest back in 1969 and in the years that followed. But here, the DNA evidence lives on the DNA that cleared Bill Senior, his brothers and Bill Junior. Well, today, my garage friends, technology may be powerful enough to pull enough genetic markers to finally point to the murderer. And we hope that, and pray that that is the case and that this case will soon be solved.
- [69:14]
Captain
Yeah. So just to let you know, we're coming for you, you sick son of a.
- [69:18]
Nick
This case remains a request, not a conclusion. So if you have any information about the murder of this little girl, the murder of Patricia and Veach, contact the Des Moines Police Department at 515-283-4864.
- [69:46]
Captain
I want to thank you for joining us here in the garage. If it's your first time. Welcome for everything. True crime check out truecrimegarage.com remember, we have a promo code going on, I believe, until Friday, July 2026. Promo code for 25 off in the merch store. And until next week.
- [70:05]
Nick
Be good, be kind, and don't.
- [70:45]
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