In the early morning hours of Wednesday, September 29, 1982, the quiet of a Clinton, Iowa neighborhood was broken by the sound of a single gunshot. Robert M. Clary, a 48-year-old White/Caucasian male, was discovered deceased in his mobile home located at 419 4th Avenue South. His landlady, Jackie Chadwick, made the grim discovery shortly after 7:00 a.m. when she noticed his door was ajar. Inside, she found Clary, fully clothed, lying on the floor next to a blood-soaked chair. He had been shot once in the chest.
Clinton Police and an ambulance arrived at the scene around 7:30 a.m., and the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation was called in to assist with the homicide investigation. Investigators found no signs of a struggle within the mobile home. A broken window was noted, but it was determined to be old damage. Robbery was quickly ruled out as a motive, as Clary was unemployed and known to carry very little cash. The Clinton County Medical Examiner estimated the time of death to be around 5:00 a.m., which aligned with reports from some neighbors who recalled hearing a gunshot at that time. Curiously, several neighborhood dogs, known to bark at any disturbance, remained silent that morning.
The investigation into Robert Clary's life in the days leading up to his death revealed a man who kept to a small circle of friends. On his last day, he followed his usual routine, visiting with friends at a local bar in the morning and later cashing an unemployment check. He spent the afternoon moving between his usual haunts, seemingly just missing his friends at each stop. That evening, he met up with them at another establishment, appearing somewhat downcast to those who knew him. He left around 7:30 p.m., stating he was going home to sleep for a couple of hours before returning, but he was never seen alive by his friends again.
As the investigation progressed, a possible motive emerged centered around a romantic entanglement. Friends of Clary told police they believed his death was connected to a love triangle involving a married woman he was dating. They recounted an incident just days before the murder where the woman's husband had allegedly damaged a gift Clary had given her. Police had also been called to Clary's residence multiple times in the two days prior to his death for undisclosed disturbances, with one neighbor mentioning a fight at a party. Despite these leads and the assistance of state investigators, no arrests were ever made in the shooting death of Robert Clary, and his case remains an unsolved homicide.
