Secrets in the cornfield: Iowa's Unsolved · True crime podcast

The murder of Alicia Hummel

·23 min·1 clip

Alicia posted “First day of AK. I’m going fishing” before her last Snapchat at Myron Grove.

Megan says this case mattered to her personally because Alicia was a family member of a close friend and also a school acquaintance. That connection is part of why she wanted to cover the case years ago, even though it was hard to get through. She then takes the listener back to June 2015, when Alicia left for a solo fishing trip about an hour from home to a spot in South Dakota along the Missouri River. Several hours later, a body was found in the river near a boat dock, and the episode moves into the painful chain of events that followed. Police quickly turned to Alicia's then-husband, Tony. He cooperated and gave what the episode describes as a rock-solid alibi, placing him in Pierre, South Dakota, about 200 miles away when Alicia was killed. That ruled him out, but it also sent the investigation back to the beginning. The episode lingers on the scene because the details are strange in a way that matters. Alicia's car keys were sitting in the passenger seat of her unlocked car. Her purse and cell phone were missing. A Myron Grove employee reported seeing a dark-colored sedan with tinted windows and a loud exhaust leave the area, but could not give police a fuller description. Investigators also found a pair of men's shoes near the scene, described as the kind a restaurant worker might wear. The episode notes that police have not released more about those shoes, though they still appear relevant. The person who found Alicia was interviewed early and thoroughly and was not considered involved. Because Alicia was active on social media, police also looked into whether she could have been stalked or followed to the river. That led them to review CCTV from the Walmart parking lot in Vermillion, where Alicia bought her fishing license. The footage showed Alicia and her car leaving, but nothing suspicious and nobody clearly trailing her. From there, the episode keeps circling the same frustrating truth: the timeline is clear enough to follow, but the motive and the missing pieces are not. Megan returns to the idea that even a small tip from someone who was at Myron Grove that day could matter. The episode ends by asking anyone with information to contact the Clay County Sheriff's Office and help move the case out of silence.

As heard by us

A steady unsolved-case walkthrough that keeps the missing clues front and center.

Alicia Hummel's case is handled as a measured account of the known facts: a riverbank scene, a husband who was ruled out, missing personal items, and a few details that still do not line up cleanly.

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Why you'd press play

A Missouri River case, a ruled-out husband, and a few stubborn missing clues.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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