A southeast Iowa woman was arrested after allegedly stealing Native American artifacts from a dead person’s residence in Knoxville.
49-year-old Misty Bowman of Bloomfield was charged with second-degree theft, a Class D felony.
On April 4th, the Knoxville Police Department received a report of stolen goods from a local residence. Police say the male resident passed away and his daughter inherited his property. Court records say the daughter reported that a case of her father’s Native American artifact collection was missing. The reporting officer mentioned noticing the missing artifacts because it was captured on a body camera during the resident’s death investigation, with Bowman holding the collection up for the officer.
Court records say Bowman was interviewed on April 5th and she confirmed living in the residence for a few days after the gentleman passed. However, Bowman denied taking the artifacts and had since moved in with her daughter in Ottumwa.
Authorities say an officer saw an image of the missing artifacts on Bowman’s daughter’s Facebook account. A search warrant was attainted for the Ottumwa address.
When law enforcement arrived to execute the search warrant, a male answered the door and advised officers that Bowman allegedly brought the items to the residence for safe-keeping. The male witness turned over the case and the missing artifacts to officers, according to the criminal complaint.
Authorities say the stolen artifacts were appraised by an expert and the value was estimated to be $1,850.
A warrant for Bowman’s arrest was issued on April 25th and she was taken into custody on August 5th.
Bowman was transported to the Marion County Jail and later freed after posting a $5,000 bond.
