THE DARK SIDE OF IOWA
Unsolved
Mariana Redrovan
Offender: Unsolved
Age: 15 years old
Case #: 98-00744
County: Polk
City: West Des Moines
Date of Crime: January 23, 1998
Age: 15 years old
Case #: 98-00744
County: Polk
City: West Des Moines
Date of Crime: January 23, 1998
On Friday, January 23, 1998, Ecuadorian immigrant Mariana Redrovan, 15, was stabbed to death in a room at the West Des Moines Walnut Creek Inn where she worked as a housekeeper. A supervisor found Mariana’s body in a guest room.
Mariana was employed illegally at the Walnut Creek Inn because she did not have proper documentation to enter the country and worked more hours than the law allows for a 15-year-old. Neal Roth’s, the hotel’s general manager, said Mariana presented a driver’s license and a social security card with a last name of “Prieto” and an age of 17 when hired nine months earlier. Neal said Mariana worked 28 to 32 hours a week for $6 an hour. Under labor regulations, 15-year-olds could not work more than four hours a day. Mariana was working to support her parents, siblings and other relatives.
Authorities have long wondered whether Mariana’s slaying might be connected to the slaying of Zurijeta Sakanovic, a 21-year-old Bosnian refugee who was strangled and stabbed to death in September 1997 at the Budgetel Inn in Clive where she worked, as well as the slayings of Patricia Lange and Julie Davis. Zurijeta’s body was discovered in one of the hotel’s guest rooms two hours after she reported for work on September 4, 1997. She was found naked from the waist down with her wrists bound. Donald was convicted in 2001 for Zurijeta's murder.
Zurijeta’s murder came less than one week after the stabbing death of 33-year-old Julie Davis of Marion, who died August 28, 1997, at her office near downtown Des Moines. Julie’s murder also remains unsolved.
Donald Arthur Piper of Des Moines – a former hotel maintenance man – was convicted June 18, 2002, in Zajeta’s murder. At the time of that conviction, the 41-year-old Donald was already serving a life sentence for murdering 36-year-old Patricia Lange, an August 1993 guest at the University Park Holiday Inn in West Des Moines.
Patricia, like Zurijeta, was found strangled in a guest room. Donald was convicted of first-degree murder in 2000 for Patricia’s death and sentenced to life in prison with no parole. Officials linked Donald to Patricia’s homicide through DNA evidence recovered from the hotel bedspread and a sock.
In January 1999, authorities confirmed that a West Des Moines police officer and a Polk County prosecutor also questioned Roberto Rodriguez-Perez to see whether a statement he’d recently made referred to Mariana’s slaying. He was sentenced January 20, 1999, for the April 14 slaying of Connie Sue Osburn at a Denny’s restaurant. “We have nothing to link him to the crime,” West Des Moines police said.
If you have any information about Mariana’s unsolved murder please contact the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation at 515.725.6010.
Mariana was employed illegally at the Walnut Creek Inn because she did not have proper documentation to enter the country and worked more hours than the law allows for a 15-year-old. Neal Roth’s, the hotel’s general manager, said Mariana presented a driver’s license and a social security card with a last name of “Prieto” and an age of 17 when hired nine months earlier. Neal said Mariana worked 28 to 32 hours a week for $6 an hour. Under labor regulations, 15-year-olds could not work more than four hours a day. Mariana was working to support her parents, siblings and other relatives.
Authorities have long wondered whether Mariana’s slaying might be connected to the slaying of Zurijeta Sakanovic, a 21-year-old Bosnian refugee who was strangled and stabbed to death in September 1997 at the Budgetel Inn in Clive where she worked, as well as the slayings of Patricia Lange and Julie Davis. Zurijeta’s body was discovered in one of the hotel’s guest rooms two hours after she reported for work on September 4, 1997. She was found naked from the waist down with her wrists bound. Donald was convicted in 2001 for Zurijeta's murder.
Zurijeta’s murder came less than one week after the stabbing death of 33-year-old Julie Davis of Marion, who died August 28, 1997, at her office near downtown Des Moines. Julie’s murder also remains unsolved.
Donald Arthur Piper of Des Moines – a former hotel maintenance man – was convicted June 18, 2002, in Zajeta’s murder. At the time of that conviction, the 41-year-old Donald was already serving a life sentence for murdering 36-year-old Patricia Lange, an August 1993 guest at the University Park Holiday Inn in West Des Moines.
Patricia, like Zurijeta, was found strangled in a guest room. Donald was convicted of first-degree murder in 2000 for Patricia’s death and sentenced to life in prison with no parole. Officials linked Donald to Patricia’s homicide through DNA evidence recovered from the hotel bedspread and a sock.
In January 1999, authorities confirmed that a West Des Moines police officer and a Polk County prosecutor also questioned Roberto Rodriguez-Perez to see whether a statement he’d recently made referred to Mariana’s slaying. He was sentenced January 20, 1999, for the April 14 slaying of Connie Sue Osburn at a Denny’s restaurant. “We have nothing to link him to the crime,” West Des Moines police said.
If you have any information about Mariana’s unsolved murder please contact the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation at 515.725.6010.
Source: Iowa Cold Cases