Elizabeth Syperda, 22 years old, was last seen on July 16, 2000, at her apartment in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. Almost immediately, her estranged husband, Michael Syperda, was suspected of having harmed her. The relationship between Elizabeth and Michael was extremely abusive, with Elizabeth having left him just a month before her disappearance.
With no sign of Elizabeth, the case went cold. However, seventeen years after her disappearance, Michael Syperda was charged with first-degree murder, despite Elizabeth's remains never being located.
In this episode, we discuss Elizabeth and Michael's relationship, his unrelenting abuse, and his eventual murder trial.
If you have any information on the whereabouts of Elizabeth Syperda, please contact Iowa’s newly established Cold Case Unit at 800-242-5100, or email coldcase@ag.iowa.gov.
If you are in an abusive relationship, there is help. Check out https://www.thehotline.org for resources.
The Danger Assessment Tool also can aid in identifying risk factors showing an abusive relationship potentially turning homicidal.
https://www.dangerassessment.org/DA.aspx
SOURCES:
- State of Iowa vs Michael Lee Syperda, No. 18-1471, December 18, 2019
- Family offers reward for missing woman, September 24, 2000, Globe Gazette
- Vigil for missing woman marks sad day, May 15, 2001, Globe Gazette
- Mount Pleasant woman missing more than year: estranged husband won’t cooperate with police, July 17, 2001, Globe Gazette
- Jeff Reinitz, Man charged with murder in case of missing Decorah teen, August 22, 2024, Globe Gazette
- Luke Nozicka, Man guilty of killing wife, whose body was never found, June 27, 2018, Iowa City Press Citizen
- Court places man on ‘intense supervision’, November 11, 2000, Quad City Times
- Colorado man charged with killing wife in Iowa in 2000, December 2, 2017, Quad City Times
- Man gets probation in wife-attack case, November 12, 2000, Des Moines Register
- Annual vigil held for missing woman, July 19, 2004, Des Moines Register
- Angela Ufheil, Man faces murder charge, December 2, 2017, Des Moines Register
- Iowa trial begins for woman’s disappearance 17 years ago, May 3, 2018, Des Moines Register
- Sentence, September 10, 2020, Des Moines Register
- Friends, family gather to recall missing woman, July 19, 2004, The Gazette
- Andy Hoffman, Colorado man arrested in cold-case killing, March 3, 2018, The Gazette
- https://www.amestrib.com/story/news/2020/09/08/convicted-murderer-michael-syperda-gets-reduced-sentence-after-appeal/5745914002/
- https://charleyproject.org/case/elizabeth-nicole-forshee-syperda
- Elizabeth Klinge, Eric Hanson, Cold Case Arrest, KCCI 8 News
- Michael Syperda Murder Trial Clips from The Hawk Eye YouTube
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