Compiled by Bethany Kohoutek bethany@dmcityview.com

911 call

Dispatcher: Polk County Sheriff’s Office…

Caller: Hi... I got a guy… who’s stalled in his car. He’s an older guy. I don’t know if he’s bee• Drinking or not. He’s been in the ditch a couple of times, and he came into my shop…

D: He’s right out there by your business?

C: Yeah. … I was trying to help him out, but the poor guy has been sitting there long enough with the flashers on, and the battery’s dead, so something’s up, you know what I mean?

D: What kind of vehicle?

C: It’s an old Mercury.

D: What color?

C: A white one. … I asked him, I said, ‘Why don’t I just call Polk County and get some help for you?,’ and he agreed. So I don’t know if he’s drunk enough to agree to it or not. Maybe he hasn’t been drinking; I don’t know. … I figured instead of helping him out, getting him going and turning him loose and letting him crash into somebody…

D: OK, we’ll send somebody out to check on him.

C: Appreciate it.

Officer’s Report: I was dispatched… reference a vehicle stalled in the roadway with the driver possibly intoxicated. I made contact with the driver… as he got out of his vehicle and approached my vehicle. I noticed a very strong odor of alcoholic beverage on his breath. I asked if he had anything to drink, and he said that he had a couple of beers. He said he was coming from a funeral home from somewhere to the north, where he was at his brother-in-law’s funeral. He said that he drove to this location, where his car would not start. I conducted standardized field sobriety testing on him… [The suspect was unable to correctly perform most tests, including the eye test, the “walk and turn” test, the “one leg stand” test, the “thumb to fingertip” test, and the alphabet recitation test.] I requested preliminary breath test from him. He consented, and the test results were .159. He was then taken into custody for public intoxication. He was then transported to the Polk County Jail.

Docket diving

Greg May’s family thought he had simply disappeared. May, a tattoo artist with a passion for collecting Civil War-era memorabilia and Native American artifacts, lived in Bellvue, and he rented out his basement to a friend, Douglas DeBruin, and DeBruin’s girlfriend, Julie Miller. In January of 2001, May suddenly disappeared, and his tenants were nowhere to be found. It would be four years until his body was discovered.

On Dec. 9, 2003, the Jackson County Attorney received a letter from DeBruin. It was postmarked Arizona, and in it, DeBruin requested that “the murder investigation against him be pursued,” according to court documents — even though there were no criminal charges pending against him. Prosecutors decided to reexamine the case.

It turned out that Iowa wasn’t the only state that wanted DeBruin. He also had warrants and/or charges pending in Arizona and Wisconsin. And, oddly, although DeBruin himself had contacted Iowa authorities about May’s murder, he repeatedly refused to waive extradition to Iowa.

Finally, in August 2004, authorities managed to get DeBruin transferred to Iowa to stand trial for murder. His girlfriend, Julie Miller, also had been arrested in Arizona for unrelated theft charges, and she agreed to testify against him. The story she relayed shocked the jurors.

On Jan. 11, 2001, she said, DeBruin covered the basement floor with plastic, then strangled May with a rope. Miller admitted to helping DeBruin drag the body to the washing machine, where DeBruin slit May’s throat and drained out the blood. The couple then used a knife and a chainsaw to dismember the corpse. DeBruin, she testified, put May’s severed head in a five-gallon bucket of cement, which he later left at a Missouri truck stop. He threw May’s torso into the Mississippi River, and his arms and legs into a ravine in Bellvue. The couple then traveled the country, selling-off May’s antique collection.

DeBruin disputed his girlfriend’s story. He claimed it was the other way around: that it was Miller who murdered May, and DeBruin simply aided in the dismemberment process.

The jury ultimately convicted DeBruin of first-degree murder and first-degree theft, after the prosecution revealed that law-enforcement officials had found pieces of May’s body exactly where Miller said they’d be. He was sentenced to life in prison. Miller was sentenced to five years in prison for initially lying to authorities, and for stealing May’s property.

Recently, DeBruin appealed his conviction, complaining that his right to a speedy trial was violated — a claim the justices found to be “without merit,” given that DeBruin himself had delayed his trial by continuously refusing extradition.

90 : percentage of Iowa counties that received federal grant funds allocated through the Governor’s Office of Drug Control Policy

Sucks to be you

Name: Robert Courtney Bevington

Location: Polk County Jail

Posed for this picture because: When police arrived at the Fareway grocery store on Euclid Avenue, they found Bevington sitting on the floor, with Fareway employees standing guard over him. Apparently, Bevington had ordered two porterhouse steaks from the meat counter, then slipped the package into his coat and attempted to leave the store. Employees eventually apprehended Bevington, but not before he headbutted one worker, breaking the worker’s glasses. Police transported Bevington to jail.

Doing time

According to Polk County’s Web site, here’s what a typical day in the county jail is like: 5:45 a.m.: staff awakens inmates; 6-6:30 a.m.: shave; 6:30-7:20 a.m.: breakfast; 8-10 a.m.: shower and cell-cleaning; 10-10:45 a.m.: dayroom open (phone, TV, exercise); 10:45-11 a.m.: lockdown; 11-11:30 a.m.: lunch; 11:30-noon: lockdown; noon-3:30 p.m.: dayroom open (court hearings, visitation, programs, Bible study); 3:30-4 p.m.: lockdown; 4-5:30 p.m.: supper; 5:30-10:30 p.m.: dayroom open; 10:30 p.m.-5:45 a.m.: lockdown/sleep.

On the clock

Des Moines Police – Nov. 13

11:00 a.m.

Bomb squad response at #25 E. First Street. A suspect sent a letter to Des Moines Police Chief McCarthy. Care was taken with the letter, due to his last letter sent. The letter contained no threat. It was photographed by I-DENT, and put on property.

1:30 p.m.

Theft in the 1000 block of Locust Avenue. Easy Check Cashing had a suspect attempt to cash a $3,000 company check, which was later determined to be stolen property. The business had a copy of the suspect’s ID.

4:12 p.m.

Burglary in the 2700 block of Second Avenue. The owner of a barbecue restaurant reported that some food items had been stolen during the night from a freezer behind the restaurant. The freezer, which was locked with a bike chain, is located in a fenced-in area with a door. When the owner returned in the morning, the door was open, and the bike chain had been broken. A nearby business owner reported finding several cases of frozen ducks in her dumpster. Missing items include: four pigs, valued at $360; five cases of ducks, valued at $200; two boxes of pork butt, valued at $140; and two bags of beef, valued at $60.

5:15 p.m.

Burglary in the 1500 block of Stewart Street. The victim returned to his residence to find that the back door had been kicked in. Nothing had been taken, and police had no suspects at the time of the report.

6:53 p.m.

Burglary in the 6200 block of S.E. 5th Street. The victim left her second-story apartment for about 45 minutes. When she departed, she left the kitchen light on and the living room window open. Upon her return, she noticed the living room blinds were awry, and the screen was pulled out of the window and placed on the floor. One side of the screen was bent in. The only thing missing from her residence was a Sony Playstation II.

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