An artistic and independent spirit, Julie Ann Benning was an 18-year-old woman with a future full of promise. The eldest of five sisters from a farm near Clarksville, Iowa, Julie was known for her creativity and ambition. Having recently graduated from Plainfield High School in the spring of 1975, she painted landscapes, designed and sewed her own clothes, and harbored a passion for writing and investigative journalism, fueled by her love for Nancy Drew mysteries.
To save money for college, Julie had taken a job as a cocktail waitress at the Sir Lounge in the nearby city of Waverly and was temporarily staying with her grandmother in town to be closer to work.
The day after celebrating Thanksgiving with her family, on Friday, November 28, 1975, Julie vanished. The initial report stated she was last seen on Bremer Avenue in Waverly, walking to her job. When she didn't show up for her shift for two consecutive nights, the owner of the Sir Lounge contacted her parents. Her father, Lowell Benning, immediately drove to Waverly to report his daughter missing, certain that the responsible and close-knit young woman would never leave without a word. The family began a desperate search, combing through fields and buildings, but found no trace of her.
For nearly four agonizing months, her family waited and worried. Their hopes were shattered on March 18, 1976, when a Butler County road maintenance worker made a grim discovery. In a culvert under a quiet, rural road near Shell Rock, just a few miles from her home, lay Julie's body. The spring rains had washed her remains from where they had been hidden. She was found completely nude, and her body was severely decomposed after being exposed to the elements all winter. An autopsy later confirmed the family's worst fears: Julie had been a victim of "homicidal violence, caused by injury to the throat area." She had been strangled.
Julie's murder sent a wave of fear through the small Iowa community, as it bore chilling similarities to another unsolved case. In 1971, 14-year-old Valerie Klossowsky had also been found strangled and left in a rural area outside Waverly. The parallels were undeniable. The investigation into Julie's death was a joint effort by the Butler and Bremer County sheriff's offices, along with the Iowa Bureau of Criminal Investigation. However, the trail had gone cold. No clothing was ever recovered from the scene, and due to the condition of her body, it was impossible to determine if she had been sexually assaulted.
Just six months after Julie's body was found, the community was terrorized once more. In September 1976, 19-year-old Wartburg College student Marie "Lisa" Peak was found strangled, her nude body left in a cornfield north of Waverly. The three unsolved slayings became known as the "Waverly stranglings" or "The Waverly Three," and authorities began to suspect they were the work of a single serial killer. The FBI was consulted to create a psychological profile of the killer, noting the similarities in how the victims were left and that two of the killings occurred around holidays.
Decades have passed, but no one has ever been charged in the murder of Julie Ann Benning or the other two victims. The cases remain cold, a lingering source of pain for the families and the community. Over the years, investigators have revisited the evidence, and in 2015, a man came forward claiming he saw Julie at the Sir Lounge the night she disappeared, alleging she was abducted from the club by several men. This account contradicted the official narrative that she never made it to work, but it did not lead to a breakthrough. The cases of the Waverly Three remain open, a haunting reminder of three young lives cut short and a killer who was never brought to justice.
