After identifying a zipper imprint—an unusual sign that an early inspection had missed—renowned forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden validated a grieving family’s suspicions and imprisoned a guilty man.
On February 26, 2023, Ilene Gowan, a mother from Iowa, was discovered frozen and dead in a roadside ditch.
Despite the fact that Gowan’s body had several abrasions and authorities suspected her intermittent boyfriend Ivan “Sam” Brammer of being the cause of her death, they were unable to charge him with murder.
Gowan, 60, was last seen on surveillance film leaving Sugar’s Lounge and Diner in Council Bluffs and entering Brammer’s Ford F-150 on February 12, and again on traffic camera feeds the next morning. Her body seemed to be unnaturally slumped within the vehicle.
The woman was dressed the exact way she appeared in the parking lot camera when her body was discovered, with the exception of one missing shoe. Her cellphone and purse were both vanished.
According to the affidavit, her personal safe, which contained approximately $1,200, was also missing.
On February 15, that year, the 61-year-old Brammer put $1,200 into his bank account. Ten days later, he took his truck to a salvage yard where it was wrecked.
Council Bluffs Police arrested Brammer in March on charges of theft and wrongful death.
Gowan sustained a number of injuries to her body, including many head contusions and abrasions, an L-shaped laceration on her skull that was not life-threatening, and a fractured tooth.
A toxicology report revealed that she only had caffeine, nicotine, and a prescription medicine in her system. Kelly Kruse, Assistant State Medical Examiner, described the cause of death as “unknown.”
“I was called by Ilene Gowan’s [son] … [who said] that his [mother] had been murdered and that the prosecutor was very helpful in trying to find out the cause of death and who done it,” Baden stated.
He began studying over photographs of Gowan’s body and the ditch where she was discovered.
“[With] my experience, I was able to see marks on [her] neck that were typical for zipper imprint, the teeth of a zipper, [that left] a certain unique imprint pattern just like a hammer might, or another solid object might leave an imprint on the skin,” Baden stated. “I had seen zipper imprints like this in the past.”
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Baden concluded that the woman was strangled to death in a chokehold. He indicated in court that anything caught under the assailant’s arm while choking a victim, such as jewelry or a zipper, might leave an imprint.
Due to Baden’s findings, a murder charge was added to Brammer’s indictment. He was sentenced to a maximum of 50 years in jail, with an additional 10 years for abusing a corpse and five years for stealing. The 65-year term was to be served consecutively.
NY Post: Iowa mom’s boyfriend nearly got away with murder — until a zipper changed everything
