In the summer of 1996, a murder near Agency, Iowa, would become one of Wapello County’s most talked-about criminal cases. Nearly three decades later, the case would make headlines again—not because of a new investigation, but because of an unusual legal argument made by the man convicted of the crime.
On July 27, 1996, 39-year-old John Dale “Terry” Terry was beaten to death with a wooden ax handle. Court records state that Terry had been drinking with Benjamin Schreiber and Terry’s girlfriend, Evelyn Tangie, earlier that evening. The group later left together, but Schreiber and Tangie returned without Terry.
The next morning, Terry’s body was discovered in a field near an unoccupied trailer in rural Wapello County.
Investigators recovered a wooden pick handle near the roadside. Testing showed that the handle contained blood matching Terry’s. Prosecutors also presented statements attributed to Schreiber, including an admission that he had beaten Terry with an ax handle.
Schreiber was arrested on July 30, 1996. He was later convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Tangie was also charged in connection with Terry’s death and faced a separate trial. Her case became part of the legal history surrounding the murder.
But the story did not end with Schreiber’s conviction.
In March 2015, while serving his sentence, Schreiber suffered a serious medical emergency after developing complications from kidney stones. According to court records, he became unconscious and was taken to the hospital, where he was resuscitated five times.
Three years later, Schreiber filed a legal challenge arguing that he had technically died during the medical emergency—and that because he had been sentenced to life in prison, his sentence had already been completed.
The unusual argument attracted attention beyond Iowa.
In November 2019, the Iowa Court of Appeals rejected Schreiber’s claim and affirmed the dismissal of his postconviction-relief application. The court’s ruling addressed whether a temporary medical resuscitation could end a life sentence.
The decision did not change the original murder conviction. Schreiber remained subject to his sentence.
The John Terry case is remembered for the 1996 killing, the evidence presented during the prosecution, and the unusual legal proceedings that followed years later. It remains a case with both a tragic human story and a notable chapter in Iowa legal history.
