THE DARK SIDE OF IOWA
Dennis Gress
#1073536
photo courtesy Des Moines Register
Full Name: Dennis Michael Gress
DOB: August 29, 1956
Charge: 1st degree murder
County: Polk
City: Des Moines
Current Status: Anamosa State Penitentiary
Date of Crime: August 31, 1994
Tentative Discharge Date: Life
Victims: Theresa Barraclough & Anthony Pruitt
DOB: August 29, 1956
Charge: 1st degree murder
County: Polk
City: Des Moines
Current Status: Anamosa State Penitentiary
Date of Crime: August 31, 1994
Tentative Discharge Date: Life
Victims: Theresa Barraclough & Anthony Pruitt
Dennis Gress was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of the bloody slayings of his ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend. A Polk County jury convicted Dennis, 38, of two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Theresa Barraclough and Anthony Pruitt. He was sentenced to two consecutive life terms without parole.
On August 31, 1994, Dennis ambushed Theresa and Anthony at her car in the 1400 block of 31st Street, in Des Moines, pumping three bullets into Anthony’s chest and thirteen bullets into Theresa’s head and torso. During the attack, according to evidence and witnesses, Dennis emptied one ten-round gun clip, reloaded, and then emptied another.
Polk County attorneys portrayed Dennis as a jealous and obsessive man who stalked Theresa before killing her and Anthony, whom she had just begun dating. They also suggested that racism contributed to the crime since Theresa was white and Anthony was black.
Authorities found .22-caliber ammunition, matching that used by the killer, in Dennis’ apartment and storage locker, and matching gunpowder residue on his hands. Witnesses also testified that Dennis carried the same kind of semi-automatic pistol used in the slayings.
Theresa and Dennis met in Irving, Texas, where the two lived together briefly. She broke off the relationship and returned to Iowa. The couple reunited in Des Moines, but Theresa soon broke it off for good. Friends and family say the lives of Theresa, 42, and Anthony, 40, changed the previous summer when they met at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. “When I talked to him last, he was really a different person,” said Anthony’s mother. “I guess they were really turning things around together. They seemed very happy.”
Theresa Dille, 14, was up late studying for school, when the shooting began. Shot after shot, and a bloody massacre unfolded on the street below. Dille told jurors about the violence she saw that night. Theresa and Anthony dead of multiple gunshots. From her window, Dille saw a heavyset man in a white shirt firing a gun into a car on the street. She said she could see the sparks in the dark. She heard ten shots, she said, then the gunman paused, appeared to reload, leaned into the car, and began firing again.
On the same day he was convicted of murder, Dennis was injured in a minor car accident. Dennis was riding in a Polk County Jail van when it hit a car stopped ahead of it on the MacVicar Freeway. Police said the van was in the left lane of the freeway going east at Second Avenue. The car ahead of them stopped because of an accident farther east on the freeway. The van, which was going to the Iowa Medical & Classification Center, hit the car. No one was seriously injured.
On August 31, 1994, Dennis ambushed Theresa and Anthony at her car in the 1400 block of 31st Street, in Des Moines, pumping three bullets into Anthony’s chest and thirteen bullets into Theresa’s head and torso. During the attack, according to evidence and witnesses, Dennis emptied one ten-round gun clip, reloaded, and then emptied another.
Polk County attorneys portrayed Dennis as a jealous and obsessive man who stalked Theresa before killing her and Anthony, whom she had just begun dating. They also suggested that racism contributed to the crime since Theresa was white and Anthony was black.
Authorities found .22-caliber ammunition, matching that used by the killer, in Dennis’ apartment and storage locker, and matching gunpowder residue on his hands. Witnesses also testified that Dennis carried the same kind of semi-automatic pistol used in the slayings.
Theresa and Dennis met in Irving, Texas, where the two lived together briefly. She broke off the relationship and returned to Iowa. The couple reunited in Des Moines, but Theresa soon broke it off for good. Friends and family say the lives of Theresa, 42, and Anthony, 40, changed the previous summer when they met at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. “When I talked to him last, he was really a different person,” said Anthony’s mother. “I guess they were really turning things around together. They seemed very happy.”
Theresa Dille, 14, was up late studying for school, when the shooting began. Shot after shot, and a bloody massacre unfolded on the street below. Dille told jurors about the violence she saw that night. Theresa and Anthony dead of multiple gunshots. From her window, Dille saw a heavyset man in a white shirt firing a gun into a car on the street. She said she could see the sparks in the dark. She heard ten shots, she said, then the gunman paused, appeared to reload, leaned into the car, and began firing again.
On the same day he was convicted of murder, Dennis was injured in a minor car accident. Dennis was riding in a Polk County Jail van when it hit a car stopped ahead of it on the MacVicar Freeway. Police said the van was in the left lane of the freeway going east at Second Avenue. The car ahead of them stopped because of an accident farther east on the freeway. The van, which was going to the Iowa Medical & Classification Center, hit the car. No one was seriously injured.
Source: Des Moines Register