Lisa Ann Vander Esch, 19, died from a single gunshot wound to the head on September 14, 1982, while in the presence of her 16-month-old son in their backyard. The shooter? Her husband, who claimed the gun discharged accidentally. However, he was an experienced gunman and well-trained in gun safety by age 17, thanks in part to a relative. Police never charged Lisa’s husband with her death.
Who Was Lisa Vander Esch?
Lisa Ann Hamstra was born on June 23, 1963, in Cherokee, Iowa, to John and Gertrude Hamstra, one of four children that included her brother, Lyle, and two sisters, Lana and Lori. Her parents divorced, and her mother married Eugene Vander Hamm in 1972. They stayed together until he died in 2004. It’s unclear what happened to her father.
At 17, Lisa became pregnant and married the baby’s father, Darwin James Vander Esch, on November 1, 1980, in Ireton, Iowa. They subsequently moved into a home about five miles southwest of Ireton. Their son, Jason Vander Esch, was born in May 1981, three days before they both graduated from West Sioux High School. According to a 2016 interview with Lisa’s son, Jason, his father and mother were happy together and loved each other very much. (Rushing, 2016)
Lisa was a beautiful young woman with long brown hair and a radiant smile. Her favorite things were the color red, a Chevy Camaro, and watching the hit television show MASH. Lisa was on the cusp of adulthood and motherhood. But tragedy would strike, robbing her of both.
The Shooting of Lisa Vander Esch
Tuesday, September 14, 1982, was a beautiful late summer day with temperatures around 60 degrees and autumn right around the corner. Lisa took Jason outside to enjoy the beautiful weather and let her toddler play when suddenly she was shot and killed by her husband. Darwin reported the incident to local authorities. However, he gave a bogus story that his rifle accidentally discharged.
Sioux County Sheriff Jim R. Schwiesow, Sioux County Attorney Harold O. Postma, and the Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation (now the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation) investigated the shooting. According to Iowa Cold Cases, Darwin took and failed a polygraph test.
In October 1982, Postma lost the primary election to Mark Schouten and reentered the race as an Independent. Postma subpoenaed witnesses and assembled a seven-person county grand jury. (Ewing, 2014). But hopes for the grand jury to convene were squashed when suddenly and miraculously, the grand jury records vanished into thin air.
Unfortunately, as soon as Darwin shot Lisa, a cover-up was in the making. Authorities eventually ruled Lisa’s death an accidental death. Therefore, no law enforcement authority ever charged Darwin with Lisa’s death, despite some not believing he accidentally shot her.
Sheriff Jim Schwiesow and the Cover-Up of a MURDER
Sheriff Jim R. Schwiesow and his German wife, Ingrid, moved to Sioux City in 1958. He was first elected sheriff of Sioux County in June 1976 and held that position until 2005. Schwiesow was a crooked cop who used intimidation to enforce the law and get his subordinates to do whatever he wanted.
There’s little doubt that Schwiesow helped cover up Lisa’s death, likely because he knew the Vander Esch family, in particular Lawrence Vander Esch, co-founder of the restaurant chain Pizza Ranch and Darwin’s cousin. In the early 70s, Lawrence held several political positions in Sioux County and the city of Hawarden. In November 1972, he was appointed county treasurer and president of the Hawarden Kiwanis Club in 1973.
Lawrence was a pedophile who liked to fondle male teenage Pizza Ranch employees and then falsely persuade them to donate semen samples for a University of Iowa medical research project.
You can’t make this sh*t up.
Lawrence, then 54, was convicted of sexual abuse in 2001, but a judge later vacated his sentence, making him a free man again. Money talks in court cases. But there’s no question that he was a freak who still walks the streets. And there’s no way Lawrence stopped abusing boys. Just sayin’. It is clear Lawrence had power and influence in Sioux County, and it’s safe to say he probably had a good friend in Schwiesow.
According to his 2018 obituary, Schwiesow was an avid gun collector and member of the National Rifle Association, which could be another reason he covered-up Lisa’s murder. Maybe he had gone hunting with Darwin or another member of the Vander Esch family.
According to Iowa Cold Cases, Schwiesow first started sabotaging Lisa’s murder investigation by delaying the delivery of reports from law enforcement officials to Postma, particularly Lisa’s autopsy report. Then, Postma’s press releases remained unpublished, and in his last few months as the county attorney, he fought with Schwiesow to bring justice for Lisa. A former elected official told Iowa Cold Cases that whenever Lisa’s case was brought up, “turmoil” and “retaliation” followed. County officials repeatedly altered Postma’s driving records after he left the state, which landed him in court. (Ewing)
What reason would Schwiesow have to behave this way if he was not covering up a murder? And who was he covering up for? Hmm, I wonder.
Darwin Vander Esch
After Lisa’s death, Darwin married his second wife, Sandy, and the family moved out of Iowa but returned when Jason was five. Jason learned about his mother’s death about two years later.
According to a 2016 interview with Jason for Nwestiowa.com, Darwin saw Lisa and Jason as he crossed a barbed wire fence carrying a loaded .22-caliber rifle. Jason, then 16 months old, reacted to seeing his father and tried to get his attention. (Rushing, 2016)
Jason said his actions caused his father “to lose focus on what he was doing, causing his pants’ leg to get caught up in the barb wire and it ended with the resulting consequence of him falling and hitting the ground while a firearm was in his hand, which would then provoke said firearm in his hand … to strike the ground with enough force to cause the round to detonated just from the abrupt impact of a firearm hitting the ground,” Jason said.
The gun contained rimfire ammunition, Jason further stated.
“You can set it on the ground and stomp on it with a cowboy boot — stomp on it with your heel — and it will detonate,” Jason said.
Here’s the thing. From the age of five, Darwin went hunting and trapping with relatives. By 17, Darwin was already an experienced gunman and well-trained in gun safety, so there’s no way he would have been that careless with his rifle. Also, why was he carrying a loaded rifle in such proximity to his wife and child?
Jason bought his father’s far-fetched story and believed his mother’s death was accidental, and he wants his father’s name cleared for that reason.
Darwin and Sandra also have children, including former NFL football player Leighton Vander Esch, 28, and the family relocated west to Alaska, Idaho, and Texas. Darwin turned his love for hunting animals into a business by taking customers on big game hunts in Alaska and Idaho. You can read more about his business endeavors and licensing violation on IowaColdCases.org. (see link in “Sources”)
Today, Darwin and Sandy reside in Idaho, living the good life, while someone else never had the chance because of a certain someone pictured below.
Aftermath
Tragedy followed Lisa’s death. Her sister, Lori Lynn Hamstra, 23, died on November 2, 1994, after a long illness. Lori was only 11 when she lost her older sister.
Lisa’s stepfather, Eugene Vander Hamm, died in 2004, followed by her mother in 2022. Her brother, Lyle, of Sioux City, and sister, Lana, of Omaha, Nebraska, are still alive. Lisa’s son Jason is now in his 40s and lives in Idaho.
TCD’s Thoughts
The following is strictly the opinion of this author, so if you don’t like it, don’t let the cyber door hit ya on the way out! 🫢
There is no way you could ever convince me that Darwin accidentally shot and killed his wife. By 17, he was well-trained with a gun. And if it had been an “accident,” the bullet could have easily hit Jason, but it didn’t – it HIT THE TARGET, Lisa.
What I want to know is WHY? Why did he kill his beautiful wife? If he wanted out of the marriage, there’s this thing called d-i-v-o-r-c-e. Was Sandy already in the picture? What did a teenager stand to gain by getting rid of his wife? That’s the question. He definitely had some motive for killing her. I would wager it was another woman or life insurance.
Darwin and Sandy have four children together — Shannon, Christon, Morgon, and Leighton — all born between December 1983 and February 1996. So, Darwin likely married Sandy sometime between Lisa’s death and December 1983. It’s possible that Darwin and Sandy were doing the dirty deed behind Lisa’s back and got rid of her so they could be together.
What’s interesting to me is that Jason said in the 2016 interview that he did not know about his mother’s death until he was several years old. Now, if her death had been accidental, the normal thing for Darwin and Sandy to have done would be to always remind Jason of who his mother was. He’d show Jason her picture and tell him stories of Lisa. But Jason had no idea about Lisa until two years after the cemetery incident. I think it’s very telling that Darwin and Sandy kept holding off on telling Jason once he first began asking questions. If Darwin had nothing to hide, why did he keep Jason from knowing about his REAL mother?
Jason happened to be with friends one day and the group went to the cemetery where Lisa was buried and stumbled upon his mother’s GRAVE. That prompted him to ask Darwin and Sandy questions. FINALLY, Darwin gave in and told him his bogus account of that day, as mentioned above.
And Jason believes it and defends his father; that’s what amazes me.
Did you kiss your father with that mouth? 🤔 😝
He knows his father’s love of guns and how well-trained Darwin is with a gun. So how can Jason believe his bullsh*t story? I don’t get it. He robbed Jason of his REAL MOTHER. Darwin NEVER willingly talked about Lisa to Jason, which is a HUGE red flag, yet Darwin claimed he loved her so much, blah blah blah. You loved her so much that you kept her name out of your mouth for YEARS. What did Darwin do with Lisa’s pictures? He probably burned them.
Sources
Ewing, Jody. “Lisa Ann Vander Esch.” IowaColdCases.org, November 20, 2014. https://iowacoldcases.org/case-summaries/lisa-vander-esch/
Hazlett, Judy. “Northwest Iowa Town in Shock Over Charges.” The Sioux City Journal, April 13, 2001.
Hytrek, Nick. “Judge Vacates Vander Esch Sex Abuse Conviction.” The Sioux City Journal, October 20, 2006.
Rushing, Ty. “‘Gone Cold’: Lisa Vander Esch.” Nwestiowa.com, November 24, 2016. https://www.nwestiowa.com/news/gone-cold-lisa-vander-esch/article_7fd4f23c-b1ec-11e6-b2a9-cf38e022ab7f.html
Images of Lisa: https://gunmemorial.org/1982/09/14/lisa-ann-vander-esch