Overview
- Robert Davis, found guilty by a Pottawattamie County jury Tuesday, was convicted of second-degree murder in the 1989 disappearance of his girlfriend, Barbara Lenz.
- Lenz’s body has never been found, and prosecutors relied on witness accounts and past records to argue the case beyond a reasonable doubt.
- Evidence highlighted at trial included a friend’s testimony that Davis slashed Lenz’s face with a boot spur the day she vanished and reports that he had threatened and assaulted her during their relationship.
- Defense attorneys said the state lacked direct proof and argued jurors only heard about a troubled relationship rather than evidence that Davis committed murder.
- The case became the first conviction for Iowa’s Cold Case Unit, which formed in 2024 and made its first arrest in this case in March 2025, and Davis is set for sentencing on May 22.