In the late hours of April 5, 2003, a fire tore through a small home at the end of a quiet dead-end street on H Avenue Northeast in Cedar Rapids. By the time the flames were extinguished, a father and his young daughter were fighting for their lives. Both would be dead within days.
Jay Ernest Grahlman, 38, and his six-year-old daughter, Jaymie Chantelle Grahlman, suffered severe injuries in the blaze. Jaymie was removed from life support the following night, April 6. Jay died three days later from complications related to extensive burns.
Several others were inside the home when the fire started, including Grahlman’s girlfriend, Vickie Reed, her two daughters, and Grahlman’s three-year-old daughter. All survived without serious injury.
Reed told investigators and the media she awoke to smoke filling the house and made multiple trips back inside to rescue the children and Grahlman. She said she was unable to find Jaymie. Once Grahlman realized his daughter was still inside, he ran back into the burning home. He suffered second- and third-degree burns over more than a third of his body while searching for her.
Firefighters later found Jaymie alive but unconscious in a bathtub, lying face up. She was airlifted to University Hospitals in Iowa City but never regained consciousness.
Investigators initially struggled to determine where the fire began. Early reports pointed to a kitchen wastebasket, while later conclusions suggested the fire started in a utility or laundry room. Conflicting findings would follow the case for years.
Two months after the fire, attention turned to a neighbor and family friend, Brian Zirtzman. Zirtzman, who was developmentally disabled and had a juvenile history of arson from the late 1970s, gave a detailed confession to investigators, claiming he started the fire in an attempt to rescue the family and be seen as a hero.
Fire officials recommended arson charges, but prosecutors escalated the case to two counts of first-degree murder and one count of first-degree arson. Zirtzman faced life in prison.
At trial, the defense argued that Zirtzman’s confession was unreliable. Expert testimony showed his IQ was 67, placing him in the bottom one percent of adults, and that he lacked the comprehension skills to understand his Miranda rights or articulate the complex statements attributed to him. A psychologist testified that the language used in the confession exceeded Zirtzman’s cognitive abilities.
Jurors also heard conflicting testimony about the fire’s origin, inconsistencies in witness statements, and troubling questions surrounding Jaymie’s location and condition when she was found. Medical examiners ruled her death a homicide, citing complications from smoke inhalation and thermal injuries. However, her injuries and the position in which she was discovered raised unresolved forensic questions.
After six days of testimony, a Linn County jury acquitted Zirtzman of all charges in July 2004.
No other suspects were charged.
Autopsy findings later revealed Jaymie suffered from multiple untreated medical conditions, including pneumonia, chronic inflammation, and bacterial infection, adding another layer of concern to the case. Her burns were largely confined to the front of her body, and there was little soot on her skin — details that continue to trouble investigators and advocates.
Despite the extensive investigation and high-profile trial, the deaths of Jay and Jaymie Grahlman remain officially unsolved. There is no statute of limitations on murder in Iowa, and authorities say the case could be reopened if new evidence emerges.
More than twenty years later, the unanswered questions still linger — about the fire’s true origin, the events inside the home, and how a six-year-old girl ended up alone in a bathtub as her home burned around her.
Anyone with information related to the case is encouraged to contact the Cedar Rapids Police Department, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the State Fire Marshal’s Office, or Linn County Crime Stoppers. Anonymous tips are accepted, and rewards may be available.
