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| Roy Wertz |
Roy Wertz’s murder seemed like an open and shut
case. He got into a heated argument with his wife and daughter and began
slapping them around. His wife wrestled the gun away from him. It went off,
sending two slugs into Wertz’s head, killing him.
Bang. He was dead. They weren’t.
A few days later, the coroner’s jury seemed to
agree with her. They determined Mimi Wertz shot her husband with a .32 caliber
pistol, adding they believed the “shots were fired in self-defense.”
Case closed. Except.
An hour before the coroner’s jury released its
verdict, the police arrested Roy Wertz’s son-in-law, Robert Leeper, 22, on a
charge of murder in the first degree.
What was the disconnect? Why did the police
suspect Robert Leeper killed his father-in-law? And why didn’t they wait for
the verdict of the coroner’s jury before arresting Leeper?
Here are the facts.
 |
| Robert Leeper |
Roy Wertz, 46, was shot in his Iowa City home at 335 South Dubuque Street at around 10:30 a.m. on December 27, 1922. He was taken to Mercy Hospital and died shortly thereafter.
Mimi and Roy Wertz and the Leepers had
Christmas dinner together at the Wertz home on December 25. The next day, Mimi
Wertz, Beryl, and Robert Leeper went to Cedar Rapids to visit Mrs. Wertz’s
sister. Roy spent the night at home, drinking and playing cards with friends
from the Elks Club.
When Mimi Wertz and the Leepers arrived home on
December 27, the house was a mess. Poker chips and cigarette butts were
scattered across the floor. Wine was spilled all over the furniture and
carpets, and broken dishes littered the floor.
Mrs. Wertz admitted, pulling the trigger, so
there was no question who fired the fatal shot, or why. Her husband attacked
her, then tried to choke her daughter.
Mimi went upstairs to check on her husband. She
opened the curtains and leaned over to kiss him, and he flew off the handle.
“What are you doing here?”
“I’ve come home,” she said.
“You dirty, low-down bitch,” he screamed. “I
want you to get out of here.”
When she refused, he hollered. “You dirty black
hound. I want you to get out right away. If you don’t, I’ll kill you.”
Mimi headed down to the kitchen, followed by
her husband. Roy grabbed her arm and shook her hard.
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| Beryl Leeper |
Beryl Leeper walked into the kitchen and saw him strike her mother across the face several times. She hollered for him to stop.
“Goddamn You,” he said. “I’ll get you, too.”
Then he grabbed Beryl around the shoulders and
started beating her. A minute later, he reached into a nearby basket and
grabbed a .32 caliber pistol, pointing it at her head.
Mimi grappled for the gun. Wrestled it away
from him. The next thing she knew, two shots rang out, and Roy was standing in
the corner with blood dripping from his face.
Robert Leeper was in the furnace room in the
basement, stoking the fire. When he heard the screaming, he started up the
stairs. Two shots rang out as he opened the door.
He saw a pistol on the kitchen table. Roy was
standing in the corner by the refrigerator, with blood dripping down his head.
Leeper said Roy dropped to the floor as he entered the room. He was unconscious and breathing heavily. He grabbed a
cloth and wiped the blood from Roy’s face. Then they called an
ambulance.
At Robert Leeper’s preliminary hearing in
January, William Barth, a partner in Rarey and Barth automotive, Robert
Leeper’s old business, testified that Leeper told him he married Beryl Wertz to
get her father’s money. If he got rid of Roy Wertz, it would put $20,000 in his
pocket.
Leeper explained he “would have to get
away with old man Wertz” before he could get his hands on his money, but that
wasn’t a problem. His wife and mother-in-law had agreed to stand by him, and if it came
down to it, Mimi Wertz would take the fall.
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| Mimi Wertz |
And then, he reminded Barth, “If you tell anybody and they give me 20 years, I’ll get you when I come back.”
Leeper was bound over to the grand jury and
held without bail.
Mimi Wertz refused to answer when asked what
her daughter said to her just before her husband was shot, saying it might
incriminate her.
Beryl Leeper refused to answer when the grand
jury asked where her mother was located when her father was shot. Like her
mother, she said, answering the question might incriminate her. Besides, she
couldn’t really say what happened. She had covered her face with her hands, so
she didn’t see the actual shooting.
After hearing all the testimony and the refusal
of the two women to talk, the grand jury indicted Robert Leeper, Beryl Leeper,
and Mimi Wertz for the murder of Roy Wertz. The state acted on the assumption that
Robert Leeper fired the fatal shots and that the two women were covering for
him.
Mimi Wertz was freed after posting $25,000 bail
on March 5. Beryl Leeper was freed on a $15,000 bond on March 19. Robert Leeper
was freed on a $35,000 bond on April 19.
At Robert’s trial, the defense painted a picture
of Roy Wertz as a dysfunctional monster, terrorizing the lives of friends and
loved ones. When he was 15 or 16, Roy tried to kill someone with a pitchfork.
Two or three years back, he tried to kill a man at the Elks Lodge. When he
returned home, he told his wife, “I would have killed the son-of-a-bitch if
they hadn’t pulled me off.”
Attorneys on both sides explored a complicated family dynamic.
The defense attorney showed a pattern of
cruelty, with Roy refusing to support his wife and child. After years of
frustration and abuse, Mimi divorced him in 1909, then married him again ten
years later after his second wife died. Roy swore he’d give up booze and
control his temper and promised that he wouldn’t hurt her anymore. But those
were just words.
Roy had threatened his wife and daughter often
over the past few years. A neighbor overheard him tell Beryl, “You dirty whore.
One day I’ll get you.” Another person overheard Roy saying, “You bitch. I’ll
get you someday.”
And then there were the times he beat them,
usually when he was drunk. Roy didn’t like Beryl’s husband, and blamed him for
violating his daughter.
Robert Leeper returned the hatred for his
father-in-law. Roy had him picked up for public intoxication on July 3. Night
patrolman Charles Bocek recalled a drunken Leeper saying, “I’ll get even with
that dirty bastard.” Night patrolman Gus Mahnke heard him utter the same words
later that night.
Leeper’s police record was another strike
against him. He was charged with stealing a car in Leon and had been picked up
in a gambling raid the previous spring.
But the biggest strike against him was William
Barth’s testimony that he married Berly Leeper to get his hands on her father’s
money.
On the witness stand, Leeper said he didn’t
know William Barth and had never spoken to him about Wertz. The only thing he
knew about him was that Barth had partnered with Rarey after he left the
business.
Prosecuting Attorney Henry Walker wrapped up
his case, saying. Mrs. Wertz didn’t love her husband. “She wished him dead but
didn’t have the ability to execute the crime. She couldn’t have done it. Robert
Leeper did.”
As for Beryl covering her eyes and not
witnessing the shooting, all he could say was, “How convenient.”
Her father manhandled her so badly that he tore her clothing and brassiere, but
when asked about bruises, she said she never looked. That didn’t seem likely.
As for Robert, his attitude throughout the
trial had been, “You haven’t anything on me. You can’t prove anything.”
Robert Leeper was found guilty and sentenced to
life in the Fort Madison prison at hard labor.
Mimi Wertz pleaded self-defense and was tried
in December and found not guilty of killing her husband. The Jury deliberated
for 8 hours before returning a verdict, but they didn’t say whether the
decision was because she killed him in self-defense or because Robert Leeper
killed him. The case
against Mrs. Leeper was dismissed after the state failed to convict Mimi Wertz.
In November 1924, the Iowa Supreme Court
granted Robert Leeper a new trial, saying Judge Otto erred in his instructions
to the jury.
Leeper was acquitted of the murder charge on
November 3, 1925, but was returned to the Fort Madison prison to finish serving
a five-year sentence for the theft of an automobile. He was released on July
23, 1926.
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