Arlene Gehrke, 58, was shot in the head and killed inside her small one-room church in Buckeye, Iowa, on the evening of Sunday, September 5, 1976. She had gone to practice the organ for upcoming Labor Day services when an intruder entered the building and fatally shot her.

Investigators from the Iowa Bureau of Criminal Investigation processed the scene. Arlene’s car had been ransacked, which led to early speculation about robbery as a motive, but the pastor’s wife said little of value was normally kept in the church. Detectives spent two days searching for clues but developed no significant leads. No suspects were publicly identified and no arrests were made; the case remains an unsolved homicide in Hardin County.

Does anyone have memories from Buckeye in 1976 or information that could help bring new attention to this case?