(Harrison Co.) Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird announced today that Robert Davis of Council Bluffs has been convicted of second-degree murder for the killing of Barbara Lenz. Barbara disappeared from Harrison County in 1989. Davis was arrested on March 10, 2025, and was the first arrest made in a case that the Iowa Cold Case Unit helped investigate.
Barbara Lenz was last seen on Saturday, May 6,1989. Her boyfriend at the time, Robert Davis, reported dropping her off at her Woodbine, Iowa, apartment earlier that day.
Her disappearance was reported to the Woodbine Police Department on May 17, 1989, by family. Over the years, investigations pursued numerous leads and searches, but Barbara was never found. Working with our partners at with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation the Iowa Cold Case Unit brought additional resources to dig through information, meet with witnesses, and loosen up leads in Barbara’s case.
Davis’s trial began March 24, 2026, at the Pottawattamie County Courthouse. The jury returned the verdict in less than four hours. The case was prosecuted by the Iowa Attorney General’s Cold Case prosecutor Scott Brown and Harrison County Attorney Sarah Delanty.
“No one should get away with murder. Barbara Lenz’s family has been waiting nearly 37 years for justice,” said Attorney General Bird. “Today, after long last, they have it. Robert Davis will spend the rest of his life in prison. I am deeply grateful to Cold Case Prosecutor Scott Brown and Harrison County Attorney Sarah Delanty and her office for their hard work in securing this conviction. And thank you again to the investigators in our Iowa Cold Case Unit, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, Iowa State Patrol, the Harrison County Sheriff’s Office, and the Woodbine Police Department who worked hard and never gave up on Barbara’s case.”
Sentencing is scheduled for May 22, 2026.
