Murder Victim
Anna Marie Medici
21-year-old Office Worker
1941-1962
Cause of Death: Automobile Hit and Run
Murder Scene and Date
US Highway 69
Carney, Iowa
Crocker Township
Polk County
November 16, 1962
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By Nancy Bowers
Written April 2011
from the Oelwein Daily Register
In 1962, 21-year-old Anna Marie Medici lived with her family in the small settlement of Carney in Crocker Township of Polk County.
Although only a ghost town now, Carney — originally known as “New Saylor” — was a stop on the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad that was populated by Italian families who worked the rich veins of coal nearby.
The Medicis lived near the intersection of Highway 69 and what is today Northeast 70th Street.
Anna Marie was an office worker in Des Moines eight miles to the southwest.
☛ Callous Hit and Run ☚
On Friday, November 16, 1962, Anna Marie had finished another week of work. She got a ride home with a friend in a car going north on Highway 69 — “The Jefferson Highway,” a busy north-south road crowded with trucks and other vehicles.
It was a typical Iowa mid-November day: cloudy skies, fog, drizzle, and temperatures in the low 40s. Sunset was a little before 5:00 p.m., so visibility was poor.
Anna Marie’s parents waited for her arrival. Mrs. Medici was looking out the window towards Highway 69 when the car bringing her daughter home pulled over, and she saw her get out.
She called out to her husband Pietra, “Anna Marie is home.” Then she heard a thud. Her daughter had been struck by a car that kept driving.
Anna Marie was thrown 100 feet up the road. She was then hit by another car, which did not stop either. Then her body was run over by yet another car and a truck, both of which stopped.
The occupants of the last two vehicles got out and provided information but said they had not seen Anna Marie and could not describe the other cars.
On November 30, 1962, according to the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation Cold Cases Unit, evidence believed related to the victim was removed from the drive shaft of a 1961 Pontiac registered to an Ankeny man.
However, no charges were ever filed and no one was brought to justice in the death of Anna Marie.
☛ Anna Marie Medici’s Life ☚
photo by lwinslow
Anna Marie was born in Polk County in 1941 to Pietra Medici, a native of Italy, and his wife Marie, who was born into an Ankeny family of Italian descent.
After her death, her parents moved to Highland Park, Illinois; Anna Marie is buried there with them in St. Mary’s Cemetery. On her stone are engraved the words “Ave Maria.”
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Please note: Use of information from this article should credit Nancy Bowers as the author and Iowa Unsolved Murders: Historic Cases as the source.
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References
- ☛ “Daughter Hit by Car As Mother Watches,” Cedar Rapids Gazette, November 17, 1962.
- ☛ Iowa Department of Public Safety Division of Criminal Investigation Cold Case Unit.
- ☛ “Iowa Ghost Towns: Polk County, Iowa,” Annals of Iowa, Vols. XVII & XVIII.
- ☛ U.S. Census.
- ☛ “Young Woman Is Killed When Hit By 4 Vehicles,” Oelwein Daily Register, November 17, 1962.