Ashley Flowers

The deputies had a dispatcher try calling the landline inside.

They could hear it ring and ring.

And when no one answered, they decided it was time to go in.

When backup arrived, they approached the front door.

And Deputy Edens could see that it had been left wide open.

Only the screen was closed.

But inside, everything was still.

And they didn't even have to open that screen door before they knew what they were really dealing with.

Not a hostage standoff, but a homicide.

Just inside the house, Tom was laid out on the living room floor on his back with his hands and feet each bound with two different types of rope.

One nylon and the other something like a red, white, and blue jump rope.

And no one had to question whether or not he was still alive.

The cut to his throat from ear to ear made it clear that he was beyond saving.

Keith Whitlatch was serving as the sheriff 34 years ago at the time of Tom's murder, and our team got a chance to sit down with him.

Even at 88 years old, he said this case sticks with him.

And he knew from day one that this was going to be big, bigger than his department could handle alone.

While former Sheriff Whitlatch waited for the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, DCI, to come and help, the local investigators shifted their focus to their only witness, Tom's wife, Dawn.

She was their best hope of identifying Tom's murderer.

So that night at the hospital and the next day as well, investigators pressed her for more details.

The conversation deputies had with Don at the hospital was recorded.