Who murdered Alta Marie Braun in 1917? In the late summer of 1917, the small town of Le Mars, Iowa, was visited by the Yankee Robinson Circus, an event that brought with it an air of excitement and festivity. For twelve-year-old Caucasian female, Alta Braun, the evening of August 20th was an opportunity for simple childhood joy. With a dime from her father, she set off to enjoy the merry-go-round, a bright spot in a life that had taken on adult responsibilities, as she cared for her invalid stepmother and young half-sister.
After her rides and a stop at the Vienna Bakery for a small bag of candy, Alta began her walk home, parting ways with a neighbor around 9:30 p.m., assuring her she was not afraid to walk the remaining distance alone. That was the last time she was seen alive.
The following morning, August 21st, her father, Chris Braun, discovered her bed had not been slept in. A sense of dread that began in the Braun household soon enveloped the entire community. Around 11:00 a.m., a neighbor, investigating what she initially thought was a mannequin lying in an alley near the railroad tracks, made a horrific discovery. It was the body of young Alta. She had been brutally assaulted and strangled with her own black underskirt. The scene told a story of a violent struggle; her clothes were torn and her body was bruised. Near her, a spilled sack of candy lay on the ground.
The investigation immediately focused on the transient workers of the Yankee Robinson Circus. Suspicion fell upon a Black circus employee named Ed Nelson after a local man claimed to have overheard him making a threatening remark about a girl at the merry-go-round. Nelson was arrested at the end of August but was released in September as authorities could find no evidence to connect him to the heinous crime. Another circus worker, a cook named Charles Smith, was also questioned, but no charges were filed against him in Alta's case.
Despite a thorough investigation, which included the discovery of a man's stickpin in Alta's clothing, no one was ever convicted for her murder. Alta's father never believed the killer was a circus worker, convinced instead that it was a local resident familiar with the town's layout. Rewards were offered and outside detectives were brought in, but the identity of the person who cut short Alta Braun's life remained a mystery. The tragic event left an indelible scar on the community of Le Mars, and the case of the young girl who went to the circus and never came home grew cold, officially remaining unsolved for over a century.
