SHADOWS OVER HOMEPLACE: THE 1975 MARK FAMILY MURDERS

his chilling episode of Midwest Murder takes listeners back to 1975, a year of massive cultural change—and a year when a prosperous Iowa farm family was wiped out in one horrific night. Dawn Palumbo and Jonah Lantto dig deep into the brutal murders of Les and Jorjean Mark and their two young children, Julie and Jeffrey, unraveling the dark family tensions and explosive jealousy that tore the Mark legacy apart.
The story begins at the Mark family’s historic “homeplace” near Cedar Falls, Iowa, where three generations had built a thriving farming empire. As patriarch Wayne Mark battled cancer, the family prepared for a major transition: passing leadership to the youngest son, Les, a hardworking farmer who stayed home to carry on the land. But that decision enraged his older brother Jerry—a once-promising “hippie lawyer” whose life had drifted far from the family’s values.
When Les and his family were savagely murdered on Halloween night, investigators uncovered a crime so calculated it seemed impossible for an outsider to commit. The killer knew where the key was, cut the power, moved easily through the maze-like farmhouse, and left Marlboro cigarette butts with Type-O saliva—the same blood type as Jerry. Witnesses along Interstate 80 also reported seeing a mysterious lone motorcycle rider traveling from California toward Iowa and back again during the exact hours of the murders.
Evidence piled up: Jerry had recently bought .38 Long Colt ammunition, the same caliber used in the killings. His motorcycle odometer had been disabled. His girlfriend’s shed had been broken into, leaving an old revolver and an Iowa license plate missing. And phone records tied him to Nebraska only hours after the murders, right along the escape route.
In 1976, a jury convicted Jerry Mark of four counts of first-degree murder, giving him four life sentences. He maintains his innocence to this day. The appeals, retrials, and new theories—from flawed forensic testing to wild claims about cartel assassins—have stretched across decades, but every court has upheld the conviction.
This episode delivers a gripping, emotionally heavy look at a family destroyed, a community shaken, and a haunting question still lingering for some: was justice actually served? Dawn and Jonah bring listeners back into the tension, betrayal, and devastating heartbreak that still echo across the Cedar Valley and the long shadows of the homeplace.