In the late spring of 2004, the life of 46-year-old Sally Kennedy, a female carnival owner from Council Bluffs, Iowa, came to a tragic and violent end. On the evening of May 23, her body was discovered in her trailer at the Bluffs Run RV Park. The gruesome discovery would unravel a story of a soured romance and a deadly rage that culminated in two murders across state lines.
Sally had been in a personal and business relationship with Michael Gunther, who managed her traveling carnival,
Blue's Amusements. Their relationship, however, had recently deteriorated, and Sally had decided to end both their romantic and professional ties. This decision set in motion a chain of events that would end in her death. On the day she was killed, Sally, her daughter, and Gunther had attended a high school graduation and later went out to dinner. Friends noted that Gunther seemed agitated during the meal. After dinner, Sally and Gunther left together, with Sally telling her daughter she was going to lie down.
Later that evening, surveillance footage captured Gunther's vehicle at Sally's trailer. He would later claim that he went there to collect his belongings. According to Gunther's account, an argument ensued. He left the trailer and drove to Bellevue, Nebraska, where the carnival was set up. There, in a public and horrifying display of violence, he shot and killed a carnival employee named Michael Zawodny, a man he believed Sally had been involved with.
The investigation into Zawodny's murder quickly led law enforcement to Sally's trailer in Council Bluffs. Inside, they found a bloody scene and Sally's body; she had been stabbed multiple times. The evidence against Gunther was overwhelming. Blood found at the scene in the trailer was a match to him, and Sally's blood was found on his clothing at the time of his arrest. In his possession were two handguns that belonged to Sally. Following his arrest, Gunther confessed to a local television station that he had killed both Sally Kennedy and Michael Zawodny.
Michael Gunther was subsequently tried and convicted for both murders. In Nebraska, he was found guilty of first-degree murder for the death of Michael Zawodny and sentenced to life in prison. He then faced trial in Iowa for Sally Kennedy's murder. His defense did not dispute that he had killed her but argued for a lesser charge of manslaughter. However, a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder, bringing a legal conclusion to the violent end of Sally Kennedy's life.
