Authorities are not releasing many details about a murder investigation in the northeast Iowa town of Nashua. During a welfare check last Thursday afternoon, 70-year-old Carl “Ken” Gallmeyer was found dead in his home. Over the weekend, the State Medical Examiner’s office ruled his death a homicide.
Janet Pratt is one of Gallmeyer’s closest neighbors, although she and her husband live about a half mile down the road. Pratt says Chickasaw County Sheriff’s deputies came to her home looking for clues.
“They wanted to know if we had seen or heard anything,” Pratt said. “They didn’t really say much to us other than there had been an incident over on the hill. We couldn’t really tell them anything, because we didn’t know anything.”
Pratt said Gallmeyer had few visitors to his home, but was friendly. Prior to his retirement, Gallmeyer ran Ken’s Grocery in Clarksville.
“He never bothered anybody, and to my knowledge, no one ever really bothered him,” Pratt said. Investigators have not said how Gallmeyer died.
By Jillian Petrus, KCRG-TV, Cedar Rapids