Dayton News

Twenty-one years ago, Grinnell College student Tammy Zywicki, then 21, was driving back to school from her home in New Jersey when her car broke down on an Illinois highway.

Dezi Hughes and her family are living "one day at a time," her father said at a fundraiser for the family in Dayton on Sunday.

Michael J. Klunder pulled up after school and asked two Dayton girls what seemed a harmless question: Do you want to make some money mowing lawns? He promised to take Kathlynn Shepard and Dezi Hughes in his pickup to ask their parents if it would be all right.

Thursday afternoon family and friends said goodbye to Kathlynn Shepard, the 15-year-old who was kidnapped and murdered in May. "For all those who knew her picture her in your mind right now, picture the best memory you have of her and hold it there," said Michael Shepard.

Just days after the discovery of Kathlynn Shepard's remains brought Iowa's latest child abduction probe to its tragic conclusion, state lawmakers already are exploring legislation aimed at preventing similar cases in the future.

Police Chief Nick Dunbar's office inside City Hall is quiet now, except for the occasional outburst of police scanner traffic.

Authorities in Iowa City say two men face intoxication charges in connection with a potential bomb threat over the weekend.

Three thousand purple lights hang around the tree Dayton's Mayor says is the iconic tree of the town.

By Staci DaSilva sdasilva@kcautv.com Monday night 15-year old Kathlynn Shepard's community of Dayton, Iowa remembered the innocent girl who lived and copes with the tragic way she died.

Residents of Dayton plan to hold a special tree-lighting ceremony Monday night to honor Kathlynn Shepard.

This photo shows the Kate Shelley High Bridge, Saturday, June 8, 2013 in Boone, Iowa.

Authorities confirmed Sunday that a body found in the Des Moines River was that of a 15-year-old Iowa girl who was abducted along with a younger friend after getting off a school bus last month.

This file photo provided by The Iowa Department of Public Safety shows Kathlynn Shepard, 15. Authorities announced early Saturday, June 8, 2013 that they have recovered a body believed to be Shepard, who was kidnapped by a registered sex offender while walking home from school.

Both girls are taken in a red Toyota Tundra pickup to an agriculture building southeast of town.

Nearly three weeks after her abduction, Kathlynn Shepard's parents are still struggling to cope with the fact that their daughter isn't home.

Authorities are not prepared to say whether than man suspected of abducting two girls from Dayton in May also played a role in another kidnapping and murder of two young cousins last summer.

The man suspected of kidnapping two central Iowa girls last month told the state Parole Board in his three bids for release that his treatment in prison has made him worthy of parole.

Three times, kidnapping suspect Michael Klunder wrote to the Iowa Board of Parole that treatment in prison freed him from dangerous impulses.

Authorities expect to be back on the Des Moines River later this week to resume their search for a missing northwest Iowa teenager.

Jury selection is expected to begin Monday for a 21-year-old Iowa man accused of killing his mother in Early and kidnapping another woman.