Guilty verdict overturned in rare 'no body' Iowa murder case

An Iowa man convicted in May of murdering his girlfriend, whose body has never been found, will receive a new trial, a judge ruled Monday.

Tait Otis Purk, 50, was previously found guilty of first-degree murder in connection with the disappearance of his girlfriend, Cora Ann Okonski of Tama. She was last seen about 17 years ago, when she was 23 years old.

The court ruling that overturned that verdict on Monday cited lack of evidence presented during the May trial as one reason for granting Purk a new trial.

Okonski's body has never been found, despite law enforcement's search of multiple locations, including using excavation equipment and cadaver-sniffing dogs to search for a body, court records show.

"There exists no direct physical evidence of Ms. Okonski's death, or the means by which it was allegedly accomplished," according to the ruling.

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Prosecutors' arguments against Purk largely relied on statements from two people who testified that he told them he had killed Okonski in 2000. One told law enforcement in 2005 that Purk had described "choke-slamming" Okonski and accidentally killing her.

Purk testified that the last time he saw Okonski was April 16, 2000. He said Okonski, upset because he wanted to postpone their wedding, left their Tama home and said she was going to buy cigarettes, court records show.

Purk was convicted of murdering Okonski by a jury in Iowa County in May. The trial had been moved out of Tama County at the request of defense attorneys.

Purk was previously scheduled for sentencing on that conviction later this month, but the sentencing has been canceled in light of Monday's ruling.

Instead, the court will separately schedule a status conference for the purpose of selecting a new trial date, the ruling shows.

Prosecuting a murder case without a body is almost unheard of in Iowa.

A database of 469 "no body" murder trials maintained by a former federal prosecutor lists only one previous Iowa case: the 1998 first-degree murder conviction of Terry Patrick Andersen. Authorities accused Andersen of dismembering the body of his victim before dumping it in the Missouri River near Council Bluffs.