Murder of Paula Jean Oberbroeckling

On Feb 25, 1952 Paula Jean Oberbroekling was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Her parents hoped for a long and happy life for their daughter. In 1970 she graduated from Washington Highschool, and began to help teach developmentally disabled children at Yonkers.

On July 11, 1970 Paula had went out on a date with her boyfriend Lonnie Bell. He brought her back to her Cedar Rapids home in the early morning. The two had an argument soon after. Lonnie ended up leaving.

At this time Paula was believed to have been 1 to 2 months pregnant. She believed that Lonnie was trying to ditch her. Soon After Paula asked her room mate Debbie Kellog if she could borrow her car. Paula said she needed go and would be right back. But Paula never came back home.

The last time she was seen a friend had seen her with a man in "the loop" area. The friend believed that the man was helping Paula get her car going. It was around 1 a.m.

The following day Debbie's car was found in a no parking zone near a grocery store 2 miles away from their home. Paula was no where in sight though. Her Grandmother went door to door knocking and asking if anyone had seen Paula. The police conducted searches and asked help of media.

Police were told of Paula's past relationship with a black boy named Robert Williams, but the two had broken up some time before by her mother. Lonnie also stated that Paula had been sending letters to a black boy named John Strayhorn who lived in the Hawthorne Hills apartments. The police were told by the manager there was no tenant with that name.

For four months there was no sign of the teen. Her body was found November 29, 1970. She had likely died the day she disappeared. A man and his two sons were hiking on Otis Road when they came across the remains of someone in a light blue dress.  He body had gotten stuck on a steel pin that was probably a power pole guy wire. It would had been likely if the body hadn't gotten stuck it would had washed up on the road and been found sooner.

Her hands and feet had been tied behind her back with clothes line and another . Her cause of death is unknown, but she could had died from a soft tissue injury, poisoning, asphyxiation or a combination of these. If she had died in the position she was found she may have died from respiratory embarrassment, or exposure or the combination of the two.There were no fetal remains found.

SOURCES:
https://defrostingcoldcases.com/case-month-paula-oberbroeckling/
https://iowacoldcases.org/case-summaries/paula-oberbroeckling/
http://www.whathappenedtopaula.com/
https://www.thedarksideofamerica.com/unsolved-paula-oberbroeckling.html