298 Cases Solved. Advancing justice for missing persons, unsolved homicides, unidentified and unclaimed remains.
Statistics
Iowa missing persons & unsolved case statistics
Numbers behind 1,074 missing person, death by force, unidentified, unclaimed, serial killer and mass murder cases in Iowa – by state, decade, age, sex, race and how many are solved. Free to read and link to; members get every breakdown, filters, sortable tables and CSV downloads.
“Solved / resolved” means a missing person located, a death by force marked solved or charged, unidentified remains identified, or an unclaimed person claimed. Our homicide records focus on unsolved cases, so these shares are not police clearance rates – see the methodology.
Cases by type
Missing Persons138 125 still missing
Deaths by Force895 759 unsolved
Unidentified Remains21 15 unidentified
Unclaimed Persons14 14 unclaimed
Serial Killer Profiles4
Mass Murders2
By state & province
Cases per state and per 100,000 residents, a shaded state-by-state list, top cities, and Indigenous missing and murdered (MMIP) by state.
Cases by state and province
Click a state or province to see its statistics. All case types.
Per 100,000 residents: 2020 U.S. Census / 2021 Canadian Census populations. "%" columns are the share of that type's cases marked located / solved / identified / claimed.
Top cities by open cases
Missing, deaths by force, unidentified and unclaimed cases, by the city recorded on the case.
Indigenous missing and murdered (MMIP), by state / province
Cases where the person is recorded as American Indian, Alaska Native, Indigenous or First Nations. 1 missing persons were reported missing from tribal land (1 still missing).
Decade of the date last seen (missing), date of death (deaths by force), date found (unidentified / unclaimed), first year active (serial killers) or date of the attack (mass murders).
Solved / resolved share by decade
The “cold case curve”: the share of each decade’s cases now marked solved, located, identified or claimed (decades with fewer than 10 cases are left out).
Decade of the date last seen (missing), date of death (deaths by force), date found (unidentified / unclaimed), first year active (serial killers) or date of the attack (mass murders).
Cases by year (last 50 years)
Recent years include many newly added cases; older years are more likely to be resolved and removed from public databases.
Race and ethnicity as recorded by the source (NamUs, police and news reports). U.S. population shares are from the 2020 Census (Hispanic of any race; the other groups are non-Hispanic, one race). Unidentified remains are often recorded as “uncertain”.
Solved / resolved share by race / ethnicity
Share of each group’s cases marked solved, located, identified or claimed (groups with fewer than 10 cases are left out).
Race and ethnicity as recorded by the source (NamUs, police and news reports). U.S. population shares are from the 2020 Census (Hispanic of any race; the other groups are non-Hispanic, one race). Unidentified remains are often recorded as “uncertain”.
Solve rates & how long cases stay open
Case status for deaths by force, how many years open cases have been open, and a state-by-decade solved-share heatmap.
Deaths by force: case status
How each case is recorded. “Charged / in court” counts as solved in the solved share; accidental and self-inflicted deaths are left out of it.
Firearms recorded in the Violence Project data for incidents up to its last update (90 with 1 firearms, 52 with 2 firearms, 28 with 3 firearms, 31 with 4 or more firearms). All incidents (not affected by the filters).
These statistics count the cases in the Crime Solvers Central database as of October 29, 2026. They are rebuilt every night.
What is counted
Missing persons – NamUs, NCMEC and Canadian police cases. “Located” means the case is marked resolved (found alive or deceased). Age is the age when last seen.
Deaths by force – homicides and other violent deaths from police, news, court and public records. “Solved” includes cases marked solved, charged / in court, primary suspect deceased or substantiated. Deaths ruled accidental or self-inflicted are counted but left out of solved shares.
Unidentified remains and unclaimed persons – NamUs cases. Unidentified ages use the middle of the medical examiner’s estimated range.
Serial killer profiles are placed in the state where they killed and the first year they were active; victims are the confirmed victims listed on the profile. Mass murders are incidents, dated by the attack; attacker and firearm details come from The Violence Project coding where available.
Race and ethnicity are as recorded by the source and grouped into broad categories; “Multiracial” is used when more than one is listed.
Per-100,000 rates use 2020 U.S. Census and 2021 Canadian Census populations.
Limits
This is not a complete count of all crime. Our homicide records lean heavily toward unsolved cases, so the solved share is much lower than official police clearance rates and should not be reported as one.
Coverage differs by state and by year: some cities and states have been imported in full, others only partly, and recent years include many newly added cases.
Cases without a date, age, state or race are left out of that breakdown only (they still count in the totals).
How to cite
Crime Solvers Central. “Iowa Missing Persons & Unsolved Case Statistics.” Data as of October 29, 2026. https://crimesolverscentral.com/statistics/iowa
You’re welcome to link to this page or to any state’s page (for example /statistics/texas). Each chart’s Cite button copies a citation that links straight to that chart.
