Three Iowans are in jail in connection with a bank robbery last week in Burlington Junction, Missouri, and the stolen money was recovered from inside a tree in southern Iowa.
Nodaway County Missouri Sheriff Darren White says perseverance paid off for investigators who finally recovered the stolen cash on Monday morning. “Originally, when the three guys were arrested, one of them did talk when he was interviewed, but really didn’t give up any information,” Sheriff White says. “We’ve re-interviewed him several times and one of my deputies has been working with him and he’s finally just this morning led them to the location where they had actually hidden the money.”
White says the money was actually in a tree at a location he described as the “middle of nowhere.” The exact amount of the cash has not been disclosed, but authorities have indicated that between $10,000 and $12,000 was taken in the heist. The three suspects, all from Iowa were captured in a wooded area in northwest Missouri just a few yards south of Taylor County, Iowa.
In custody are 26-year-old Joseph O’Neill, 26-year-old Donald Kestner both of Mt. Pleasant and 27-year-old Travis Davis of Fort Dodge. They are being held in the Nodaway County jail on $100,000 cash only bond.
(Reporting by Chuck Morris, KMA, Shenandoah)