Overview

• Ilene Gowan vanished on February 14, 2023, and a father and son found her body 12 days later in a snow-covered ditch near Council Bluffs, Iowa.
• Investigators determined that Ivan Brammer strangled Gowan with a jacket zipper and deposited $900 missing from her safe into his bank account.
• In January 2024, a court convicted Brammer of second-degree homicide, manipulation of a corpse, and robbery, imposing concurrent sentences of 50, 10, and 5 years.
• Nicole Brammer later married Justin, Brammer’s son, after a relationship that began during their parents’ cohabitation.
• Nicole says police initially showed little urgency in the missing-person search and describes Ivan as controlling and jealous, while emphasizing that Justin condemns the crime.