Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, March 27, 2008

The arrest of a trio of people charged with burglarizing as many as 80 churches and small businesses in central and southern Iowa and northern Missouri has solved at least one church break-in in Ringgold county.

Fred STILL, 37, and his wife Lindsey STILL, 26, both of Murray, and Brenda STILL, 35 of Ames, have been charged with the First Christian Church burglary on January 3.

Two of the individuals are being held in Clarke county and one in Warren county on a series of charges.

According to Clarke county officials, the STILLS have admitted to approximately 65 burlaries in Iowa as well as 15 in Missouri and the investigation is ongoing.

Counties in Iowa involved in the investigation besides Ringgold County include Clarke, Carroll, Boone, Story, Polk, Dallas, Adair, Warren, Decatur, Page, Wayne, Guthrie, Madison, Montgonery and Lucas counties.

Charges in Clarke county included vandalism and a felony in possession of firearms for Fred STILL and Vandalism for Lindsay STILL as well as burglary charges.

According to officers in Decatur county, STILL would send a subject into a church, ask the church for some money and would learn the location of the money so the group could come back later and steal funds.

In Decatur county, the Garden Grove Community Center and water shed had been broken into. Some items stolen there were recovered along a country road and tracked back to STILL. A church in Lamoni was also broken into and burglarized.

At the same time, authorities in Story county noticed a vehicle parked outside of a fire station that had already been burlarized. The plates were run and came back as being owned by STILL.

Clarke county law enforcement ended up arresting the Murray residents and placing them in jail in Osceola.

Officers from all over the areas that have been burglarized have interviewed STILL since the arest andhe has admitted to many of the crimes, law enforcement officials said.

Iowa Digest
September 10, 2008

AMES [AP] - A Murray man and his sister have pleaded guilty to charges related to a multistate burglary ring that involved 75 burglaries in 54 towns in Iowa and Missouri.

Fred STILL, of Murray, and Brenda Still, of Davenport, pleaded guilty in Story County on District Court Monday to ongoing criminal conduct.

Fred STILL'S wife, Lindsay, also was charged but did not enter a plea during the hearing. Her trial is now set for mid-October.

The Stills were arrested in March.

Transcriptions by Sharon R. Becker, July of 2012