October 16, 2026

Arrest in 1995 killing of Angela "Angie" Buck — 31-year cold case cracked in Iowa

By The Night Desk

Booking photos: Cedar Valley Now

Arrest in 1995 killing of Angela "Angie" Buck — 31-year cold case cracked in Iowa

WATERLOO, Iowa — On August 11, 1995, two turtle hunters found a woman's body lying along the bank of a creek in the 900 block of Pilot Grove Road, east of Waterloo. She was 37-year-old Angela "Angie" Renee Buck of Waterloo. The Iowa State Medical Examiner's Office determined she had been shot, and her death was ruled a homicide.

The case went cold for 31 years.

The arrest

On October 15, 2026, deputies with the Black Hawk County Sheriff's Office and agents with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation arrested Kelly Grant, 59, of Bertha, Minnesota, and charged him with first-degree murder in Buck's death. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and the Todd County Sheriff's Office assisted in the arrest, and the Iowa Attorney General's Office Cold Case Unit assisted in the later stages of the investigation.

"After 31 years, Angie Buck's family is getting answers," said Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird. "Because of the dedication of Black Hawk County Sheriff Neff, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, Black Hawk County Attorney Brian Williams, and with assistance from our Cold Case Unit, there will be justice for Angie Buck. No one should get away with murder."

What investigators say the evidence showed

According to the criminal complaint, investigators determined Buck did not own or have access to a car and was living in Waterloo at the time of her death. In the late evening hours of August 10, 1995, through the early morning hours of August 11, Buck was at a home in the 300 block of Cottage Street in Waterloo. Multiple people were at the home, including Buck, Grant, and "another identified male," the complaint states.

A witness told investigators they saw a person who looked like Grant, along with another man, forcibly remove Buck from the residence and force her into a vehicle before driving away. Her body was later found by the turtle hunters about eight miles east of the Cottage Street home.

In January 1996, an associate of Grant spoke to law enforcement and said Grant had insinuated that he and the other man had killed Buck because they believed she had stolen from them — adding that Grant said Buck "wouldn't be doing this to anyone else again," according to the complaint.

Investigators interviewed Grant over the years, and the complaint says his story kept shifting:

• He initially denied knowing the other man, then admitted they had hung out together in the summer of 1995.
• He initially said he did not know Buck, then admitted they had been coworkers at IBP when shown a photo of her.
• In July 2001, he said he had been living in Florida and was not in town when Buck was killed; he later changed his story to say he had been living in Waterloo in the weeks before August 10, 1995, while continuing to deny involvement.
• In a March 2025 interview, Grant said he remembered stopping by a home in the Sumner/Cottage Street neighborhood where the other man, a couple of other men, and a woman who appeared under duress were waiting — a woman he said resembled Buck, whom he referred to as Buck throughout the interview. He said the group got into his car, he drove them to another location in Waterloo, and one of the men gave him a bag of marijuana for the ride.

Law enforcement said they also learned of another motive in 2025: the false belief that Buck had been providing information to law enforcement about drug activity in the Sumner/Cottage Street area.

What's next

The investigation remains ongoing. A criminal charge is merely an accusation, and Grant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Source: Iowa Attorney General's Office / FOX 9 — read the original report