In the winter of 1974, a sense of unease settled over the family of Ernest Billy Isom, a 27-year-old White/Caucasian male living in Sioux City, Iowa. Known as Billy to his friends and family, he shared a two-story home on Morningside Avenue with his 24-year-old pregnant girlfriend, Freta Bostic, and a 26-year-old coworker, Jesse Hanni. Concern mounted when Billy and Jesse failed to show up for their jobs as boilermakers.
On the morning of December 3rd, Billy's mother, Harriet Isom, unable to shake a bad feeling, went to the house to check on them. Her worst fears were realized when she stepped inside.
The home at 1117 Morningside Avenue had become a scene of unimaginable violence. Harriet first discovered Freta's body; she was lying facedown near the fireplace, having been shot once in the back. Nearby, propped against a door, was Jesse Hanni, fully clothed and shot twice – once in the back and once execution-style behind his left ear. The final and most brutal discovery was that of her own son. Billy Isom was found nude and facedown, half on his bed, having been shot a total of five times in the head and back. It appeared he had been trying to get out of bed when he was attacked. Authorities later determined the three had likely been killed sometime between the evening of November 30th and the afternoon of December 1st, their bodies lying undiscovered for more than a day.
The investigation into the triple homicide, which became known as the "Morningside Murders," quickly hit a series of frustrating dead ends that left the community and law enforcement grasping for answers for decades to come. Police explored various theories, including the possibility of a drug deal gone wrong, as small amounts of drugs were reportedly found in the home. Jesse Hanni had allegedly told his brother he was afraid of a drug dealer he had crossed. Investigators questioned a couple, one of whom was a coworker of the victims, who had abruptly quit their job and left Sioux City just hours before the bodies were found. They were located in New Mexico but were not charged.
Further complicating the case, two men came forward with Billy’s missing 1974 Datsun, claiming they had borrowed it days before the murders and knew nothing of the crime; they too were released. Rumors swirled throughout the town, with speculation ranging from a disgruntled coworker to a professional hit. Despite hundreds of interviews and decades of suspicion, the case grew cold. No suspect was ever officially named, and no arrests were ever made in connection with the murders of Ernest Billy Isom, Freta Bostic, and Jesse Hanni. The brutal crime that shook the quiet Iowa neighborhood remains an unsolved mystery.
