Unsolved Mysteries

Killed on the Job

A real estate agent is murdered while showing a house; her killer never caught.

The Victim

Born on December 30, 1983, in Ames, Iowa Ashley Okland grew up in Kelly where she got into sports, dance, 4-H, and piano. She attended Ballard High School, where she graduated in the top three percent of the 2002 class.

She then went to the University of Northern Iowa for two years before transferring to Iowa State University with the intent to become a physical therapist. In 2006, she graduated with a degree in exercise science.

Following her graduation, she became interested in and pursued real estate. In 2007, she began working for the real estate company JDR Group. Besides, she worked at Century 21 before joining Iowa Reality in 2010.

The Incident

On April 8, 2011, 27-year-old Ashley Okland was a real estate agent working for Iowa Reality when she unexpectedly met her death while on the job. To this day, her murder remains unsolved, and the identity of her killer remains unknown as well.

On that fateful day, Ashley was working inside a West Des Moines model townhouse at 555 Stone Creek Court, a part of the Stone Creek Villas subdivision near 84th St. and E.P. True Parkway in Des Moines developed by Rottlund Homes, when just before 2 P.M., a Rottlund home's employee heard a commotion coming from the new townhouse…