Death investigation underway in West Des Moines after body found in vehicle
WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — Police in West Des Moines are investigating a death after a body was discovered in the parking lot of the Barnes & Noble store Friday morning.
Sgt. Dan Wade of the West Des Moines Police Department said officers responded to 4550 University Avenue around 9:00 a.m. after receiving a call about a body in a vehicle. When officers arrived, they found an adult woman deceased in a car.
Warren County barn fire claims life of 81-year-old man
The cause of death is being investigated. The woman's name has not been released.
Sgt. Wade said there's no indication of any threat to the public related to this incident. He also said it doesn't appear there is any indication of criminal activity linked to the death.
Death investigation underway in West Des Moines after body found in vehicle
Former Ankeny teacher sentenced to prison for sexually exploiting student
Iowa-based ice cream sandwich now available at Costco locations across Midwest
CIWW enacts ban on lawn watering as nitrate levels climb
Brad Edwards joining WHO 13 as a contributor on July 1st
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hamilton Spectator
5 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
What is the Lawrence Bishnoi gang? And why do Canadian politicians want them labelled terrorists?
An India-based criminal organization is drawing increasing political scrutiny in Canada, with some saying it needs to be declared a terrorist organization. This week, Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown called on Ottawa to declare the Lawrence Bishnoi gang a terrorist organization, joining a chorus of other voices. 'We must take transnational crime seriously and that means giving law enforcement the investigative tools to combat these sophisticated criminal networks,' Brown said on X. Brown was joined by deputy mayor Harkirat Singh and regional councillors Gurpartap Singh Toor and Navjit Kaur Brar in the request to have the Lawrence Bishnoi gang declared a criminal organization by Ottawa. 'The Bishnoi gang, a transnational criminal network, led from India, has been linked to a growing wave of violence, extortion and intimidation targeting South Asian communities in Brampton and across the Region of Peel,' Brown said in a prepared statement. The statement did not give examples of specific violent incidents. The Lawrence Bishnoi group was also named in the murder of Brampton-based rapper Sidhu Moose Wala, when Wala was in India in 2022. Bishnoi, who is in his early 30s, is the son of a police officer and was educated in a convent school. Now in custody in India on more than two dozen charges, including murder and extortion, he awaits trial. He has been accused of using intimidation tactics to extort business owners in Punjabi diaspora communities in North America, Europe and the Gulf states. The gang is reportedly run by Bishnoi through encrypted cell messages, even though he is behind bars in India. Brown's comments follow similar ones earlier this week, when B.C. Premier David Eby urged the federal government to label the gang a terrorist organization because of extortion and other crimes against the South Asian community on the West Coast. Eby said Tuesday that he was going to write to Prime Minister Mark Carney, asking that the Lawrence Bishnoi group be labelled a terrorist group 'to enable police to be able to use the necessary tools to investigate.' Last fall, the RCMP stated the gang was targeting members of the pro-Khalistan movement who were on Canadian soil, allegedly acting for the Indian government. On the West Coast, the Lawrence Bishnoi group was accused this week of firing bullets into the home of a Punjabi music producer. Last year, shots were reportedly fired at the home of Punjabi music star A.P. Dhillon on Vancouver Island and in 2023, shots were fired outside the West Vancouver home of Bollywood singer and actor Gippy Grewal. Indian media said the Lawrence Bishnoi group claimed responsibility for both attacks. Moves to label the Lawrence Bishnoi gang a terrorist group throw complications into Carney's attempts to rebuild the Canada-India relationship. Eby's announcement on Tuesday was praised by the World Sikh Organization of Canada. 'Canadian law enforcement and intelligence agencies have linked the Bishnoi gang to assassinations, extortions, and intimidation carried out at the direction of Indian government agents including the 2023 murder of Canadian Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar and other violent crimes,' the organization said. With files from The Canadian Press
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Yahoo
Nude Iowa woman arrested after stealing American flags, burning them: Police
A southern Iowa woman is facing charges after authorities say she took her clothes off, stole American flags and set them on fire this month. Brianna Laird, 21, is facing charges after a caller said she burned stolen American flags on June 16, per court documents obtained by USA TODAY. While burning American flags is protected under the First Amendment, Laird was charged with third-degree arson, assault on an officer, indecent exposure, interference with official acts, fifth-degree criminal mischief, possession of drug paraphernalia and fifth-degree theft, per online court records. A lawyer for Laird did not immediately respond to requests for comment on June 20. On June 16, someone called dispatchers about a woman in Bussey, Iowa, about 60 miles southeast of Des Moines. The caller said a nude woman was 'lighting American flags on fire,' according to court documents obtained by USA TODAY. When Marion County deputies arrived, they allegedly found Laird, who had an American Flag tied around her head and was not wearing pants or underwear. Authorities said Laird had taken the flags, which belong to the city of Bussey, and damaged them. She gave police a fake name and when deputies tried to arrest her, she hit one of them in the face, the documents said. Deputies eventually got her into the back seat of a patrol vehicle, but before one deputy could shut the door, she kicked them. When she arrived at the jail, authorities searched Laird's bag and found drug paraphernalia inside, the court documents say. Flag desecration and burning have long been a point of discussion among U.S. lawmakers. The issue has been hotly contested in past cases, such as a June 1966 incident in which a Brooklyn veteran burned an American flag on a street corner after he learned that civil rights activist James Meredith was shot, according to the Freedom Forum. When the veteran was arrested for violating a New York flag desecration law, he said, 'Yes, that is my flag; I burned it. If they let that happen to Meredith, we don't need an American flag.' The New York Court of Appeals argued that flag burning was an attempt to incite violence, posing a danger to public peace. While the Supreme Court did not rule on the flag desecration law he was accused of breaking, it did rule that he could not be punished for "verbally disrespecting the flag," per the Freedom Forum. The Supreme Court reversed and remanded the case because lawmakers could not come to an agreement about whether he was convicted for burning the flag or the words he said at the time. While there are some state flag desecration laws, if enforced, they are likely to be overruled. According to the Freedom Forum, freedom of speech applies to more than spoken words. That means expressions such as burning the flag, books, newspaper articles, online posts, theater and dance and even video games are considered "symbolic speech." There are some instances in which citizens could be charged for desecrating the flag even if the act of burning the flag itself is protected, the Freedom Forum said. Those who burn the flag in places with high fire risks could face charges for the act of burning something, the Freedom Forum said. And like the most recent case out of Iowa, stealing someone else's flag to burn could also be criminal, the organization said. "Burning the flag to deliberately provoke a violent response from someone else or in order to incite others to imminent lawless violence is not protected either," the Freedom Forum said. Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY's NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia – the 757. Email her at sdmartin@ This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Nude woman in Iowa charged after stealing American flags, burning them
New York Post
12 hours ago
- New York Post
Police sound alarm on dangerous ‘jugging' robbery trend sweeping across America
As surveillance footage of an increasingly popular violent street crime has surfaced from South Carolina, police are warning Americans of the disturbing trend. The crime is known as 'jugging,' a type of robbery in which criminals surveil banks and ATMs, watching for victims who withdraw large sums of money. When those victims finish their transactions, the 'juggers' will usually follow them to a secondary location, where they will rob the victims, often inside their vehicles. 'Jugging rhymes with mugging, it's spread from Texas to South Carolina,' Fox News Senior Correspondent Steve Harrigan said on 'America Reports' on Friday. 'Some police there weren't even sure what the word meant until the crime started happening in their own districts. Law enforcement warns that it could be over in a flash.' In the footage, captured on April 26, a man can be seen struggling inside the front passenger area of a red truck, before jumping out of that vehicle and into a silver SUV. 3 Jugging is a type of robbery where perpetrators watch for victims who take out large amounts of money at banks and ATMs. FOX News The SUV then speeds off, and it is captured from different surveillance angles fleeing the parking lot. Cpl. Cecilio Reyes of the Mauldin, South Carolina, Police Department explained how the crime typically plays out. 'They are scoping, and they will watch you as you're either coming in or going out of the bank, or watch you do ATM withdrawals, seeing how much you're getting cash wise,' Reyes said. 3 When the victims finish the transactions, the criminals typically follow them to a second location where they will rob them. FOX News 3 The type of crime originated in Texas. FOX News Harrigan described a wave of jugging arrests in Texas, before the practice began spreading to North and South Carolina. 'In one place in South Carolina, a landscaping business owner went in a bank unaware that he was being observed, took out his weekly payroll, stopped at a gas station for a soda, and two juggers – they usually work in teams – pulled up alongside his Chevy, broke through the window and made off with what his entire payroll was, $6,000.' Harrigan also reported that the Texas legislature is working to make jugging a specific felony, with harsher penalties than simple robbery.
