Hunter
05/29/25
The Linn County Sheriff’s Department announced an arrest in a cold case murder that occurred 41-years ago.
24-year-old Ron Novak’s body was found beaten, shot, and frozen in an unheated storeroom of his rural Walker home on Christmas Eve, 1983. No one was charged in connection with the death until investigators alleged then 23-year-old Michael Schappert broke into Novak’s home and murdered him with the help of at least one other person.
The Gazette reports Novak was found by his brother that afternoon in 1983. He was face down in an unheated storeroom of his house. His hands were tied behind his back, and he appeared to have been beaten in the head and body with hammers and a golf club, which were found in the room. He also had been shot once in the chest. An autopsy performed at the time identified the cause of death as a combination between those injuries and hypothermia and shock because of the cold temperature in the room.
The Linn County Sheriff’s Office had been keeping tabs on Novak because they believed him to be one of the biggest marijuana dealers in the county. At the time of his death, police found a suitcase containing $32,000 in cash and a duffel back with $7650 worth of marijuana in his bedroom. Investigators believe whoever committed the murder didn’t take anything because of Novak’s two dogs, who had run of the house but not the storeroom.
Schappert, who is now 64, was arrested in Oregon and will be extradited to Iowa to face a charge of first degree murder.