Ivan Samuel Brammer, and Ilene Gowan. (Images: Council Bluffs Police Department)
An Iowa man was sentenced to 65 years in prison on Thursday for killing his ex-girlfriend and abandoning her body in a roadside ditch, according to Omaha NBC affiliate WOWT.
Jurors convicted Ivan Brammer, 62, of second-degree murder, abuse of a corpse, and second-degree theft.
“I don’t think you truly understand all the pain that you have not only cost my mother that you beat maliciously, but also me, my children, my family, and your own family,” Nicole Schipper, the daughter of victim Ilene Gowan, 60, reportedly said.
Authorities said Gowan was with Brammere in a vehicle on Feb. 13. At first, she seemed okay, but later appeared slumped and unmoving.
“From 8:30 a.m. to 9:28 a.m. Gowan is walking, acting normal in all respects and uninjured sitting upright on the passenger side of Brammer’s truck while traveling,” police wrote. “When Brammer’s truck is seen on camera return to Council Bluffs at 10:28 a.m., it appears something is different with the way Gowan is sitting or positioned in his truck. At multiple locations with different angles and views, it appears Gowan is awkwardly slumped in the passenger seat. Passing the Frank and Kanesville intersection at 10:56 a.m., she appears to have not moved or changed position.”
Gowan’s daughter reported her missing on Feb. 15, authorities said. Her body was found on Feb. 26 in a roadside ditch in the area of 152nd Street and Old Mormon Bridge Road, near Crescent, Iowa.
Citing the slain woman’s family and friends, police discovered that Brammer and Gowan had and a rocky on-and-off relationship in which Brammer treated her with a lack of respect. According to investigators, Gowan had said that Brammer choked her during a loud argument.
