Park Predators - The Tent

Episode Date: July 18, 2023

When a family is slaughtered inside their tent at a popular Iowa park during the summer of 2022, news of the tragedy spreads far and wide. The killer spared one lone member of the Schmidt family, a young boy. The motive behind the crime surprised even those closest to the perpetrator.Sources for this episode cannot be listed here due to character limitations. For a full list of sources, please visit parkpredators.comPark Predators is an audiochuck production. Connect with us on social media:Instagram: @audiochuckTwitter: @audiochuckFacebook: /audiochuckllcTikTok: @audiochuck

Hi, park enthusiasts. I'm your host, Delia D'Ambra, and the case I'm going to tell you about today is a recent one. It's a crime that happened around this time last summer in Makoketa Cave State Park in Iowa. If you paid attention to the news or scrolled through a social media feed last July, you know that the murders of Tyler, Sarah, and Lula Schmidt dominated headlines across America and overseas. The brutal slaying of this young family inside their tent caused everyone to take pause and mourn. But the murders also made many people reconsider whether to ever go camping with their families again, and if staying among strangers in the woods was really safe. The horrific nature of what happened to the Schmitz also fueled the ongoing debate about

Second Amendment rights in America and what the future of carrying firearms would look like in the state of Iowa. The big thing you need to know about Maquoketa Cave State Park is that it's not some middle-of-nowhere destination. According to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, it's a very popular state park with tons of trails, picnic areas, and campgrounds that attract thousands of visitors every year. It's a go-to place for families who want to get a taste of the great outdoors, but who don't want to be completely off the grid. The park is about

an hour east of the city of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and is a short drive away from the banks of the Mississippi River. Most visitors go there to check out the vast number of caves dotted throughout the park's six-mile trail system. These unique geologic formations are truly amazing to look at and walk through, because you never know what views you'll see around the next corner. In the summer, shadows from the park's rock formations and trees create a natural canopy over the area, making it an ideal spot for families with youngsters to traverse and not get overheated. Which is exactly what the Schmidt family had plans to do before horror visited their tent in the middle of the night and took the lives of everyone inside, except one.

This is Park Predators. According to reporting by Tyler Jett for the Des Moines Register, around 6.15 in the morning on Friday, July 22nd, 35-year-old Felicia Ko woke up inside her pop-up camper at Makoketa Cave State Park Campground. She glanced around and saw her boyfriend's teenage son had already gotten dressed and left to go running, and his other 11-year-old son was also awake but comfortably nestled on the other side of the camper reading a book. She looked at her boyfriend, who was still sound asleep, and decided to give him a few

more minutes of rest before their family got going for the day. She grabbed her cell phone and clicked open the weather app to check the forecast to make sure rainstorms weren't going to be a problem for their plans. And thankfully, the update was good. All the bad weather that had previously been projected for Friday had already passed by then, and their plans to go hiking weren't going to be interrupted. As Felicia poured herself a cup of coffee, she suddenly stopped. Somewhere nearby, she heard a loud voice, then a bang. The sound was so noticeable, it roused her boyfriend from his sleep.

They discussed what the disturbance could have been, but neither could come up with a convincing answer. He settled on the idea that the noises were probably someone lighting up a firecracker, but Felicia had her doubts. Sure, people probably had bottle rockets or Roman candles left over from the previous 4th of July weekend, but in her mind, she thought it was way too early in the morning for someone to be setting off fireworks. So she decided to go outside and investigate a little more. When she opened her camper door,

she didn't see anything suspicious or out of the ordinary. No smoke from a smoldering firework, nothing. Just a familiar face standing at a campsite a few spots away. It was one of her co-workers, so she walked over to talk with them. But not long after she strode up, she noticed something unusual in the middle of the campground. There, slowly walking side by side, were two Makoketa Caves employees dressed head-to-toe in protective body armor, and they were carrying long rifles. Not the kind of attire she'd ever seen park employees wearing before. When the workers approached Felicia and her friend, they barked a command for them to get

out of the campground right away and not come back. Felicia had questions though. She wanted to know what was going on, and most importantly, was her family in danger? She let the employees know she couldn't leave without her boyfriend's 16-year-old son, who was out for a run. He was expecting to find his family waiting for him when he got back. But the park employees didn't respond to Felicia's questions. They just walked right past her and her friend and emphasized that they all needed to get their families together

and get out of the area as quickly as possible. Felicia didn't do as the employees said, though. Instead, she checked in with her boyfriend and his younger son at their camper, and then walked a few minutes away out to the main road. Tyler Jett reported that when she got there, she bumped into a police officer who was pulling up in his cruiser. that when she got there, she bumped into a police officer who was pulling up in his cruiser. She asked him if he'd seen a teenage boy jogging on the road, and he replied that he had, just a few minutes back near a local highway. That news was sweet relief to Felicia. She followed the

directions the cop gave her and quickly found her boyfriend's son just up the road standing next to two ambulances. He was safe and sound. But a young boy standing alone next to him, beside the emergency vehicles, did not seem okay. She looked the boy over and noticed he was wearing a matching pair of pajamas and one shoe. His messy blonde hair wasn't combed, and he looked lost. The fact that he was all alone stood out to Felicia. She wanted to know where were his parents, why was he in his nightclothes, and where was his other shoe? According to Tyler Jett's reporting, Felicia said the kid seemed non-reactive. He wasn't shaking with hysteria or fear. He wasn't crying or screaming. He was just there, all by himself. No family, no pet, no friends, no one. After retreating to her camper with her boyfriend's teenage son,

Felicia tried to shrug off all the odd things she'd seen that morning. But about a half hour later, while her family was eating breakfast, police showed up at their campsite. They asked them to pack up and leave as soon as possible. One officer indicated everyone in the entire campground was being evacuated, and there would be no time for Felicia and her family to break down their pop-up camper and connect it to their vehicle before leaving. That news sent Felicia's heart racing. Something was definitely wrong. When she asked her boyfriend's oldest son if he'd heard or seen anything strange while he'd been jogging, he told her that he'd seen an older couple walking around the campsite yelling for

a guy named Anthony. But other than that, nothing else had been noteworthy. Well, except the young kid in his pajamas standing by himself. He didn't know what that was all about. Things weren't fully clicking in Felicia's mind. She didn't have enough information. But unfortunately, she would soon learn in the worst way what the nexus of that bizarre morning really was. Felicia Coe didn't know it at the time, but at 6.23 a.m., minutes after she'd woken up and heard those loud noises outside her camper, the Jackson County Sheriff's Office and Iowa Division of Criminal Investigations had gotten a 911 call that there had been a shooting in the campground. Unfortunately, the information law enforcement had to work with was slim.

had to work with was slim. I'm not sure which campground they're actually in. She has gone, she's walked up to the entrance to the park, she says. I think they're actually going to be in that more primitive campground there where you first come out of the park. Okay, is there any more information? Not much. She's with this little boy who came up to her. She said that she thought she heard a shot as well. So we don't really know what's going on beyond that. According to Ryan Foley and Marjorie Beck's reporting for 3 News Now and the Omaha World Herald, the woman who'd called police was Cecilia Sherwin,

a registered customer at the campground who'd been camping with her husband and adult son. She told officers that her and her husband, Joseph, had woken up to the sounds of gunshots going off in the campground. And then a few minutes later, a young boy ran up to their campsite asking for help. Two articles specifically say Cecilia said she heard two gunshots, but all the other source material just says gunshots, plural, no specific number. material just says gunshots, plural, no specific number. But anyway, Cecilia told 911 operators that the boy who'd run up to her claimed a man who'd been wearing all black and carrying a small gun had killed his family inside their tent, not far from where the Sherwins were tenting. The Quad City Times reported that at one point during the 23-minute long 911 call,

the dispatcher actually spoke with the young boy who Cecilia had called on behalf of. When he got on the phone, the boy told the dispatcher a similar account of what Cecilia had said, which was that some unknown man in dark clothing wielding a small gun had come into his family's tent and hurt his mom, dad, and sister. gun had come into his family's tent and hurt his mom, dad, and sister. It only took a few minutes before the first park ranger and then eventually area deputies arrived, and right away they connected with Cecilia and began checking campsites and tents to try and account for everyone. According to the Sherwins, during all the chaos, they'd been unable to find their 23-year-old son, Anthony. And wouldn't you know it, as officers

were making their way through the 24 campsites, they didn't find Anthony. Shortly after getting on scene, deputies unzipped a canopy about 75 yards away from where Cecilia and her family had been staying. And inside, they found the lifeless bodies of a man, woman, and a little girl. It was immediately clear they were all dead. rquadcities.com and the Associated Press reported that each of the victims had visible gunshot wounds and were covered in blood. Around that same time, Jackson County deputies, Iowa State Police troopers, and other first responders who'd fanned out around the campground to create a perimeter stumbled upon the body of a man who

looked to be in his early 20s. WHO 13 News reported that sitting on the ground next to him was a small pistol. He appeared to have a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The source material isn't super clear on how authorities identified this young man, but not long after finding him, they realized he was 23-year-old Anthony Orlando Sherwin, Cecilia, the 911 caller's adult son. That's when reality set in for investigators. Anthony Sherwin was connected

to what had happened to the massacred family in the tent at the campground. For the next few hours, detectives from the Iowa DCI and Jackson County Sheriff's Office worked to piece together the evidence and clues they had in front of them. They closed the park and sent people like Felicia and her boyfriend home. A youth camp named Camp Shalom that operated inside the park, not far from where the campground was located, contacted all its campers' families to let them know they had to come get their kids. By 7.30 Friday night, the Iowa DCI released a statement identifying the man, woman, and girl from the tent.

They were 42-year-old Tyler Schmidt,. They were 42-year-old Tyler Schmidt, his wife, 42-year-old Sarah Schmidt, and their six-year-old daughter, Lula. Their son, nine-year-old Arlo, had survived and been unharmed by running out of the family's tent at the start of the attack. The source material doesn't explain how authorities were able to identify the Schmidts,

but reading between the lines, I must imagine it probably came from police finding their personal belongings in their tent or checking the campground's reservation records. Either way, the department announced that the Schmitz autopsies, as well as Anthony Sherwin's, would be conducted sometime over that weekend to determine more information. conducted sometime over that weekend to determine more information. The Courier reported that Tyler and Sarah had been staying at the campground with their kids for less than 24 hours before they were murdered. They'd gotten there and checked in on Thursday afternoon, July 21st, and less than a day later were found dead. Anthony and his parents had checked in and set up their tents around 7 o'clock Thursday night.

When news of what happened got out, it spread fast and caught the attention of national media outlets almost right away. Iowa's Governor Kim Reynolds tweeted about the tragedy, and the mayor of the town of Cedar Falls, where the Schmidt family was from, also took to social media to express his horror and sadness. Mayor Rob Green's post about the tragedy was shared over a thousand times. His connection to the victims was closer than most people, and to him, their deaths felt personal. He happened to be neighbors with Tyler and Sarah and their kids in Cedar Falls.

The Green family and the Schmidt family were close. Just days before the murders, Rob and Sarah had been working on a project together at the Cedar Falls Library, where she was a library assistant. The murders impacted people who lived next to or volunteered in the park as well. Residents were shocked that something so violent could happen in a place they cherished as being so peaceful and quiet. One woman who lived a few miles away from the campground told the Des Moines Register that in her opinion, the murders had marred the idyllic and safe reputation of the park, and she didn't think things would ever be

the same again. She told the newspaper, quote, you stop and think, this is a small community, nobody's going to do that. Then it dawns on you, the caves themselves are their own community, and people come from all over. You just don't know. End quote. Within 24 hours of the murders and so much media coverage pushing out updates about the case, thousands of donations poured in for nine-year-old Arlo, the sole survivor of the brutal attack. People from all over the world sent money to a GoFundMe page that some of his extended family members had set up. The site's description indicated the donations would be used to set up a trust fund and pay for his schooling as he got older. As of this recording, the page has raised almost $300,000.

Pressure on investigators mounted to try and figure out why these killings happened and if there was any connection between the victims and their suspected shooter. But no matter how hard authorities looked,

they couldn't find a shred of evidence that Anthony Sherwin and the Schmidt family had ever interacted with one another. A day after the crime, a spokesman for the Iowa Department of Public Safety told the Associated Press, quote, Sarah's brother, a man named Adam Morehouse,

told multiple news outlets that his sister and brother-in-law had zero connection to the Sherwin family. He told Courier reporter Donald Promnitz, quote, conducted this act. We don't know who it was. We've never met that person, and this was 100% random, end quote. According to Adam, Tyler and Sarah moved from Kansas to Cedar Falls, Iowa in 2018. They were big outdoors people and often took Lula and Arlo for hikes and camping trips. He described them as the quintessential Midwestern family. They had community they loved and who loved them in return. Sarah's family lived all over the U.S. in different cities, but

Tyler's parents were close by in Cedar Falls. That had been one of the reasons why the couple had made the move from Kansas to Iowa, so their kids could be closer to a set of grandparents. to Iowa so their kids could be closer to a set of grandparents. Sarah enjoyed her job at the city library, a position she took in late 2021, and Tyler made a living working remotely as a software engineer for an IT firm based in Kansas City. Nothing about their life was out of the ordinary or in any way would have made them targets for murder. People who'd worked with Sarah and Tyler mourned in subtle but poignant ways. Staff at the Cedar Falls Library closed the facility the day after the murders in honor of Sarah,

and they allowed people to leave notes and mementos at the front door. The library's director told reporter Donald Promnitz that the tragedy was incomprehensible and difficult to process. Her boss explained how Sarah had built a reputation as being attentive to library patrons' needs and had a way of making everyone who came through the doors feel like they were important. Adam Morehouse, Sarah's brother,

told the newspaper that losing the family was nearly unbearable. He said, quote, they were extremely loving and compassionate to each other and everyone they met. They were always doing the right thing at the right time. And they were always that sound mind that you could have called when something like this would have happened, end quote. So needless to say, no one could wrap their head around what the motive for this crime was. There seemed to be none. Sarah's sister, Jana, wrote on social media that the murders had broken her.

She typed, quote, She went on to write, Her husband and their six-year-old daughter were victims of a random act of violence while camping as a family in Iowa. She went on to write, I cannot fathom that she will no longer be on the other side of the phone. I cannot fathom that I don't get to see Lula grow up. Please pray for my family. Pray for the first responders. Pray for our culture and society. End quote. responders. Pray for our culture and society, end quote. Sarah's brother Adam told reporters he couldn't understand why Anthony Sherwin had chosen to target his sister and brother-in-law. He told the Associated Press, quote, they gave everybody everything they possibly could.

They loved family. They enjoyed the outdoors, enjoyed hiking. And this is just a question mark of why that campground and that campsite on that night, end quote. And what was even more puzzling than a motive was what Press did some digging into Anthony's life and learned that he was from the town of La Vista, Nebraska, where he lived in the same apartment complex as his parents. The police chief in his hometown told reporters for the Register and the Associated Press that Anthony didn't have any prior arrests or criminal record with the department. The only thing that was noteworthy was that his family owned a firearm. Des Moines Register reporter Francesca Block interviewed Anthony's dad, Joseph, via email after the crime,

and Joseph vehemently proclaimed that he didn't think his son was the person who'd committed the crime. He told the newspaper that when Arlo had run up to him and his wife on that Friday morning, yelling for help, the boy described the person who'd killed his family as wearing all black. But Joseph told the publication and law enforcement that Anthony had been dressed in green on the morning of the crime. His wife, Cecilia, told news outlets the same thing. She expressed at one point that Anthony had mentioned

he was looking forward to going home after their trip to the park. So to her, it didn't make any sense why he would commit such a violent crime and, quote, throw everything away, end quote. She went on to explain that her family had been fully cooperating with police since Friday morning and was extremely devastated by the whole incident. In a statement to the newspaper, she wrote, quote, I didn't think we had any tears left, but we still find ourselves breaking down

and care deeply for the little boy and the loss of his family. She also said regarding her son, Anthony was not capable of this sort of violence, end quote. Joseph told the Des Moines Register that during his family's camping trip, they kept two guns in a locked box under the backseat of their car. And he said the only thing that made sense to him was if Anthony heard gunshots around the time they did, and then he'd gotten the idea to retrieve their firearms for protection. It's important to note, though, that law enforcement later confirmed Joseph and Cecilia were staying in a separate tent next to Anthony while they were all at the campground. So it's not like they had eyes on their son the entire time they were there,

and it's unlikely they would have noticed if he left his tent early. In the end, the Sherwins wrote in their emailed statements to the Des Moines Register, quote, We refuse to believe the news. We are deeply saddened as he had so much to live for But police investigators rejected that notion and told the press that they'd uncovered information and evidence that proved Anthony Sherwin, and Anthony Sherwin alone, was the perpetrator. Officials didn't provide details, though, as to what specifically had led them to that conclusion. While the investigation continued, people from Cedar Falls held a celebration of life service for the Schmitz

on Tuesday, August 2nd, about a week after the crime. The service drew many people from the community who knew and loved the family. Around that same time, something the news media was quick to ask law enforcement was whether the Sherwins had permits for the firearms they said were kept in their car, and whether it was one of those guns that was used in the murders. Reporters were eager to know if the family's firearm was the same gun police had found next to Anthony's body. And at first, investigators wouldn't confirm anything. But then later, the Courier reported

that law enforcement had ruled out the Sherwin's registered firearms as the murder weapon. Neither had been used to kill the Schmidt family. KHQA News reported that law enforcement eventually released some information about the weapon recovered next to Anthony's body, and they confirmed it was a 9mm pistol that officials referred to as a ghost gun, essentially a handgun that was made up of various parts from different manufacturers, which police presumed Anthony bought online and pieced together himself. Ghost guns are definitely a real thing. There are entire websites dedicated to tutorials and videos on how to make them. The fact that they exist is personally kind of concerning,

but that depends on which side of the gun debate you find yourself on. Ghost guns don't have serial numbers, which means they're untraceable, and in a crime like this, you can see why it being involved drew so much attention. But more information about the killings and the type of weapon used was officially confirmed when the autopsy reports for Tyler, Sarah, Lula, and Anthony were released by the medical examiner's office on August 4th. and Anthony were released by the medical examiner's office on August 4th. According to a press release by the Iowa DCI, each of the Schmidt family members had been shot at least once, and both Sarah and Tyler had suffered sharp force injuries, aka been stabbed. Six-year-old Lula had been shot and strangled. Anthony's cause of death was ruled suicide,

and police once again confirmed his injuries were consistent with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police have never revealed what kind of weapon they believe he used to inflict the sharp force injuries to his victims. And detectives have never said why they think he killed Tyler, Sarah, and Lula and spared Arlo or let him get away. The only thing authorities have said to date is that their investigation has found, quote, indications as to what the motive was, end quote. But beyond that, we're all left to wonder.

In November 2022, voters in Iowa approved a constitutional amendment that enhanced protections for Second Amendment rights. This new addition to the state's constitution was geared to make it harder to pass gun restriction laws or reform existing ones. U.S. News reported that this will make it more challenging for courts to account for things like how many guns a person can own and how they can use that firearm. It's also projected to make it more difficult for courts to keep up with more thorough background checks or even outlaw certain types of guns. Groups who were in opposition to this change claim the amendment would make citizens less safe and likely result in an uptick in gun violence and gun-related crimes

in Iowa. Who is right or who is wrong in that debate is something we as a society have to choose for ourselves. As I'm recording this episode, things are continuing to evolve in this case. Law enforcement in Iowa is still working through the details, and I'm sure more information about what Anthony's motives were and what little Arlo witnessed that terrible morning in his family's tent will be released as time goes on. But what I want to leave you with to bring your attention back to what I think matters most in this story, which are the victims, are the words of Sarah's sister, Jana. are the victims are the words of Sarah's sister, Jana. She made several posts on social media shortly after the crime and ended one particularly beautiful message with a statement that I think we should all let sink in and serve as a reminder of how we ought to live our lives. Jana wrote, quote, please don't take any time for granted. Go outside today. Breathe. Sarah would have wanted that.

End quote. Park Predators is an AudioChuck original show. So, what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve?