Slaying Investigation Continues

BERENDES, ACHEN, YEAGER, LYONS, TILTON, MCLEAN, THARP, MCCORD, DIGMAN

Posted By: Anne Hermann (email)
Date: 12/9/2008 at 21:32:59

Jackson Sentinel
April 19, 1969

State and county law enforcement officers continue to press an investigation into the early Thursday morning slaying of Bellevue Police Chief Earl H. Berendes.

His bludgeoned body was found at 6:45 a.m. in the Achen Chevrolet garage by mechanic Robert Yeager, who immediately contacted Jackson County sheriff Robert Lyons.

The 60 year old chief, who apparently surprised thieves who had broken into the garage, was found lying face down on the floor at the rear of a pickup truck parked inside the garage.

Investigators impounded a blood-stained ditching spade found about five feet from the body, and sent it to a crime laboratory for analysis.

Lyons said he believes the fatal blow to the chief’s head was struck by the inside corner of the spade. He said the instrument had probably been used against the officer in a “chopping” motion.

The sheriff said that investigators from his department, the Iowa Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the Iowa Highway patrol and Bellevue police believe that Berendes had surprised one or more burglars in the Achen garage. He said there were signs of a struggle.

The chief’s glasses were found in the bed of a pickup truck in the garage; his hat was lying on the cement floor about 20 feet from the body.

Lyons said a broken paving brick found near the body apparently had been hurled through glass in the side door of the garage, but was not used as the murder weapon.

Dr. John Tilton, county medical examiner, listed the official cause of death as a fractured skull.

Investigators said they are checking a report that two men reported to be “acting suspiciously” at a local tavern Wednesday night might be connected with the slaying.

The chief last contacted Ed Buschen, operator of the base station at the municipal light plant by radio at 3 a.m.; Buschen termed it a “routine conversation.” When Berendes failed to arrive home by 5 a.m. the end of his shift, his wife telephoned Ray L. McLean who alternated with the chief on the night shift.

McLean and Ed McCord, a part-time officer, along with Dale Tharp, of Bellevue, an off-duty Iowa Highway Patrolman, began to search for the chief. The police cruiser was found at the Bellevue Creamery, about six blocks from the Achen Garage.

Officers first assumed Berendes had suffered a sudden illness, and began tracing the route he took on his “walking beat.”

As McLean and McCord entered the rear door of the repair shop, they were joined by Yeager, a mechanic who said he had come to work a little early. McLean immediately radioed for assistance after seeing the body.

Yeager said, “It was apparent he was dead and there was nothing anybody could do for him. I hope I never see anything like that again.”

Nothing was reported missing from the auto showroom or the safe in the front office. The garage has been robbed twice in the preceding year. Last spring thieves got $500 in tools and $200 in cash and then in late summer, they struck again but got nothing.

Berendes has been police chief of Bellevue for seven years and had worked for the police department about 13 years.

He planned to retire in two years, said Mrs. Berendes.

Dubuque Policemen Eugene Digman, a national vice president of the National Police Officers Association, said Thursday that because Berendes died in the line of duty, the association will award $1,000 to his widow.

Digman said Berendes also will receive the Medal of Valor, the highest honor the association can bestow. He said the association has offered a $100 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer.