Authorities, including the FBI, are investigating after a woman says her late father murdered dozens of people and she helped dispose of the bodies as a child.
On Saturday, Lucy Studey was featured in a story in Newsweek where she made the astonishing claims. She says her father, Donald Studey, took 50 - 70 bodies up to a remote piece of property he owned about 40 miles south of Omaha, Nebraska. She says she and her siblings helped him dispose of the bodies, many of them thrown into a 100-foot well and covered with dirt and lye.
Donald Studey died in 2013.
Fremont County Sheriff Kevin Aistrope says that his office, along with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and the FBI, are investigating the case. He says the three agencies are set to have a meeting as early as next week. An FBI source confirmed to Newsweek that at least one FBI agent will be attending the meeting.
Aistrope says he took cadaver dogs out to the location and they indicated multiple spots where human remains may be buried.
“I’m not going to say it was right over the well, but they did indicate the area,” Aistrope said. While the dependability of cadaver dogs is still up to debate, Aistrope is confident there are human remains somewhere near where Studey said her father hid the bodies. “It's hard for me to believe that two dogs would hit in the exact same places and be false. We don't know what it is. The settlers were up there. There was Indian Country up there as well, but I tend to believe Lucy.” Aistrope added, “According to the dogs, this is a very large burial site.”
However, Lucy Studey’s sister, Susan Studey, denies the claims that her father was a serial killer. “I would know if my dad was a serial killer. He was not, and I want my father's name restored,” the elder Susan Studey told Newsweek.
Susan Studey says the first time she heard of her father being a murderer was around a year ago, from her sister.
Lucy Studey says she tried to tell authorities throughout her life, but few believed her. She says in elementary school she told teachers, principals, and priests, but they didn’t believe her; one even told her that secrets should remain in the family.
While in middle school, she says she tried to tell law enforcement, but they said they could not trust the memories of a child. Roughly ten years ago, she managed to convince the sheriff’s department to send a deputy to the property, but the deputy could not find the well she described.
Finally, Lucy Studey got in contact with a police officer from a nearby town, who believed her after she was able to quickly find the well, despite the changes on the land over the decades.
Aistrope says the investigation is in a holding pattern until the three law enforcement agencies can meet and develop a plan. According to the handler who brought the cadaver dogs to the site, the next steps would be to bring out a sonar machine and then dig in any spots that may have human remains. Law enforcement will also need to bore into the well and, if any remains are found, excavate it.