While investigators were dealing with a devastating plane crash near the Iowa-Missouri Border, they had no idea that a man named Gayno Smith was about to commit one of the most horrific crimes in Iowa history only an hour away.
Sources
45 Die in Iowa Jetliner Disaster. The Courier, 5/23/1962
Massive Hunt for Killer. The Des Moines Register, 5/28/1962
Search Brushlands in South Iowa for Killer. The Gazette, 5/28/1962
Iowa Spurs Manhunt After Five Murders. The Daily Times, 5/28/1962
Slayer of 5 Apparently Gets Away. The Des Moines Register, 5/29/1962
Seized as Slayer of 5. The Des Moines Register, 5/30/1962
FBI Enters Slayer Hunt. The Des Moines Register, 5/30/1962
Denies Killing 5 in Family. The Des Moines Register, 5/31/1962
‘Not Guilty’ Plea in Five Iowa Killings. The Daily Times, 6/2/1962
Killed 5, Says Gayno Smith. The Des Moines Register, 6/6/1962
Report Gayno Smith’s Step-Mother Missing. The Muscatine Journal, 6/7/1962
Gayno Smith Stepmother is Sought. The Courier, 6/7/1962
Hold McBeth Sale; $7,000 for Patsy Lou. The Des Moines Register, 6/10/1962
Find Body at Gayno Home. The Des Moine Tribune, 6/12/1962
Think Smith Stepmom’s Body Found. The Courier, 6/12/1962
Spiegel, Robert H. Gayno: Forged, Cashed Checks. The Des Moines Register, 6/13/1962
How Gayno’s Kin Met Death. The Des Moines Register, 6/13/1962
Says Gayno Didn’t Know He Killed ‘Until Afterwards.’ The Courier, 6/15/1962
Gayno Indicted in 6 Murders. The Gazette, 7/25/1962
Gayno Smith in Court Today. The Des Moines Register, 9/12/1962
Gayno Changes Pleas, Admits Five Murders. The Courier, 9/12/1962
‘Don’t Know Why I Killed…’ The Des Moines Register, 9/14/1962
Gayno Sentenced to 6 Lifetimes in Prison. The Courier, 9/13/1962
Psychiatrists Say Killer Sane at Time of Crimes. The Courier, 9/13/1962
Kilen, Mike. A Bloody Night in 1962. The Des Moines Register, 6/12/2005
DePuy, Charles B. The untold story of Continental Flight 11. The Daily Iowegian, 5/22/2012
Bender, Jonathan. Fifty years ago this week, Continental Flight 11 fell out of the sky over Unionville. The Pitch, 5/23/2012.
Clough, Eliot. Serial Killer with No Motive: How Gayno Smith Terrorized SE Iowa. http://www.khak.com, 2/25/2022
Gayno Gilbert Smith. Sioux City Journal, 12/10/2020
Kruckeberg, C.T. Notorious killer dies in custody. Southeast Iowa Union, 9/30/2018