A Henry County cold murder case was reopened this year, and has led to an arrest. The July 2000 disappearance of 22-year-old Elizabeth Forshee-Syperda was reopened by the Mount Pleasant Police Department and the Iowa Department of Public Safety’s (DPS) Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI). This resulted in reclassification as a homicide and it was the evidence and heard testimonies. On Wednesday, Nov. 29, the Grand Jury returned an indictment on 52-year-old Michael Lee Syperda for first-degree murder, a class A felony. The next day, Thursday, he was taken into custody near Glenwood Springs, Colo. and is currently awaiting extradition back to Iowa. If convicted, he would face a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Elizabeth was last seen at approximately 10:30 p.m. on Sunday, July 16, 2000 in her Mount Pleasant apartment. She was separated from her husband of two years, Michael, and was not at home when her roommate returned from work at approximately 4 a.m. the next morning. There was no sign of a struggle and the door was locked from the outside, but all of her belongings had been left behind. Michael Syperda was arrested for assaulting Elizabeth and her roommate just one month before her disappearance. He was charged and pled guilty to second-degree robbery and domestic abuse assault in that incident.
