KDSN RADIO News
Woodbine Cold Case: Man Pleads Not Guilty in 1989 Disappearance of Girlfriend
A man charged in connection with a decades-old cold case in western Iowa has entered a plea of not guilty.
61-year-old Robert Allen Davis was arrested in March for the first-degree murder of Barbara Lenz, his girlfriend at the time of her 1989 disappearance. Lenz, who was 31 and living in Woodbine, has never been found. Investigators believe Davis, then 25, was the last person to see her alive.
Court filings from Monday morning in Harrison County confirm Davis submitted a written plea of not guilty. According to court records, Lenz confided in others that she feared Davis might kill her if she ever left him. A criminal complaint outlines repeated abuse during their two-year relationship, including multiple incidents of strangulation.
Records also show that back in 1989, Davis acknowledged he had assaulted Lenz and admitted to having a violent temper.
