Do you know who killed Joe Junior Floyd in 1967? Joseph “Joe Junior” Floyd Jr., a 42-year-old man, was killed during the early morning hours of July 1, 1967, in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Floyd was a World War II Army veteran who lived at 908 Fourteenth Avenue and worked for Odell's Clean Up Shop. By the time the day was over, his life had been reduced to a trail of blood beside the railroad tracks and a homicide investigation that would remain unresolved for decades.
At approximately 10:30 that Saturday morning, Union Pacific Railroad
switchman Edward L. Stephen discovered Floyd's body near Tenth Avenue between Ninth and Tenth streets. Police and county officials arrived after receiving a report of someone lying in the water. They found Floyd face up at the edge of a shallow pool next to the tracks, with part of his right arm and wrist submerged. A considerable amount of blood surrounded the scene.
Investigators determined that the violence had apparently begun closer to the street. A trail of blood stretched from near the middle of Tenth Avenue, crossed the railroad tracks and ended where Floyd had fallen. A bloodstained handkerchief was found near the street at the edge of the tracks. Police Identification Officer D.L. Clark examined the area and made plaster casts of footprints found near the body, while officers searched for any other physical evidence that might identify the person responsible.
Floyd had suffered small-caliber gunshot wounds to his head. Acting Pottawattamie County Medical Examiner Dr. Arthur Sciortino conducted the postmortem examination and recovered bullet fragments from his skull. One bullet had entered through the back of Floyd's head and traveled toward the front, while another entered from the front and moved toward the back. The direction of the wounds suggested that Floyd had been shot from more than one angle or after his position changed during the attack.
Authorities believed the weapon may have been a. 22- or. 25-caliber handgun, but no gun was recovered. Investigators were also unable to determine exactly how long Floyd had been beside the tracks. County Attorney George Knoke said police believed the killing occurred sometime during the roughly 12-hour period before the body was reported. The available records do not establish whether Floyd was shot at the place where he was found, whether he attempted to escape after being wounded, or whether someone moved him toward the water.
Floyd was identified by his half-brother, Clyde Peoples, after his body was taken to Meyer Funeral Home. His death left behind several children and other relatives, including two daughters, Hattie Mae Floyd and Jo Ethel Floyd; a son, Frank James Floyd; two sisters, Lillie Corrine Freeman and Edie Lynn Jones; a brother, Charles Floyd; and Peoples. Funeral services were held on July 5, 1967, at Beulah Baptist Church, followed by burial at Garner Township Cemetery in Council Bluffs.
No publicly identified suspect has ever been named in Floyd's killing. There is no available record of an arrest, criminal charge, trial or conviction connected to the case. The Council Bluffs Police Department continues to list the homicide under case number D67-18 as unsolved, stating that the offender remains unknown. More than half a century after Floyd was found beside the railroad tracks, the footprints, bullet fragments, blood trail and abandoned handkerchief have not led authorities to the person who shot him.
