In February 1905, the death of a teenage boy along railroad tracks near Carroll left investigators searching for answers that never came.
Seventeen-year-old Addis E. Lyman was found beside the Chicago and Northwestern Railway tracks on the morning of February 23, 1905. At first, authorities believed the teen may have fallen from a train while attempting to hitch a ride. But an autopsy soon revealed a far more troubling discovery.
Doctors examining the body found Lyman had been shot once behind the right ear with a .32 caliber bullet. The wound led a coroner’s jury to rule the death a homicide caused by foul play. No firearm was recovered at the scene.
Investigators questioned railroad employees connected to the train Lyman had reportedly been riding, but no clear suspect or motive ever emerged. Authorities believed the teen had been traveling alone at the time of the shooting.
The unsolved killing shocked residents in Carroll County and added another mystery to Iowa’s long history of unresolved crimes. More than a century later, the case remains unsolved.
Addis E. Lyman was born in November 1888 in Harrison, Iowa, to Thomas A.E. and Lucy Lyman. He had two sisters, Clarice and Marian. At the time of his death, the family was living in Carroll.
Source: Nancy Bowers, Iowa Unsolved Murders: Historic Cases.”
