On the evening of Thursday, May 1, 2025, a call to the Appanoose County Sheriff's Office reported an injured person, breaking the quiet of Mystic, Iowa. Deputies arrived at a residence on 490th Street around 9:14 p.m. and found Stanley Brown, a 75-year-old White male, unresponsive in the yard. Tragically, he was pronounced dead at the scene.
An investigation into his death was promptly launched by the Appanoose County Sheriff's Office and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.
As deputies and agents examined evidence and conducted interviews, their investigation led to the arrest of Dana Rhea Haub, a 62-year-old man from rural Moulton.
Haub was taken into custody without incident and charged with first-degree murder in connection with Mr. Brown's death. He was held in the Appanoose County Law Enforcement Center while the case proceeded through the legal system. According to court documents, Haub pleaded not guilty to the charge, and his case was set for a jury trial.
In May 2026, an Appanoose County jury found Haub, then 63, guilty of first-degree murder. Following the conviction, a judge scheduled his sentencing for July 9, 2026. Under Iowa law, a conviction for first-degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
