Gregory Snodgrass, a 29-year-old White male, died on September 20, 1981, not in Des Moines, but near Ottumwa, Iowa. His death was the result of a violent encounter involving his estranged wife, Sherryl Ann Snodgrass, and her lover, Michael L. Hood. On that day, Sherryl, accompanied by Hood and her three children, traveled from Missouri to the farmhouse she had shared with her husband.
The purpose of the trip, she claimed, was to pick up clothing for the children before returning to Missouri to live. The journey was made with a small arsenal of loaded firearms: a. 30 caliber carbine, a. 357 revolver, and a 16-gauge sawed-off shotgun.
Upon their arrival, an argument ensued between Gregory, Sherryl, and Hood. The accounts of what happened next diverge. Sherryl claimed that after hearing her husband go to a hall closet where he kept a shotgun, she heard a shot and a yell while she was in a bedroom with the children. Hood's version of events painted a different picture. He testified that Gregory aimed a shotgun at him when he entered the house unarmed. He then heard a gunshot and saw that Gregory had been wounded in the chest, with Sherryl holding a shotgun.
Forensic evidence later determined that Gregory was shot while standing in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room. The fatal shot came from the 16-gauge shotgun. Following the shooting, Hood stabbed the wounded Gregory three times. In an attempt to conceal the crime, Sherryl and Hood cleaned the farmhouse, wiping away fingerprints. They then placed Gregory's body in the trunk of his own car and drove back to Missouri with the children.
Once in Missouri, Hood, with the assistance of fellow Ku Klux Klan members, disposed of Gregory Snodgrass's body by dumping it into the Mississippi River. The investigation into Gregory's disappearance and murder led to the arrest of both Sherryl Ann Snodgrass and Michael L. Hood. They were jointly charged and, after a trial, both were convicted of first-degree murder for their roles in the death of Gregory Snodgrass.
