Douglas "DJ" Shondel II Is a Case That Should've Been Easily Solved

It has been more than two decades since Douglas James Shondel II — known to those who loved him as “DJ” — died under circumstances that his family, and even first responders, found deeply troubling. He was 21 years old. His mother, Pam Scott, has spent every year since searching for answers that have never come.

On Sunday, March 11, 2001, DJ was found unresponsive in the bathtub of the apartment he shared with his pregnant girlfriend, at 100 N. 16th Street in Fairfield, Iowa, the shower still running. What followed next is at the heart of why this case has never left the minds of those who knew him.

Rather than step next door to use a neighbor’s phone and call 911, the girlfriend walked a block and a half to gather friends, who then returned with her to the apartment — where they allegedly cleaned the area before anyone ever contacted emergency medical services. When first responders did arrive, they reported that things seemed “strangely out-of-place” and that the scene did not line up with the accounts given by the girlfriend and those with her.

DJ was rushed to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. His cause of death was determined to be a broken neck and head trauma. Despite those findings, his case has languished for over two decades with no charges ever filed, officially classified as undetermined.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Okay, Pam. Um so we're talking about Douglas Shondle.

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Right.

SPEAKER_00 0:06

And I I just want in your own words, what happened and well, first of all, who what what type of person was he?

SPEAKER_01 0:14

Okay, well I don't know how to say this. He wasn't as far as I know, he really wasn't a part because he was a part eater. He drank and smoked a little weed, you know, weed that's what they did back then.

SPEAKER_00 0:28

Yeah, he was just a young person.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

Um, what exactly happened um in his case?

SPEAKER_01 0:36

Nothing happened in his case for twenty four years.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Yeah, how did how did he go about d dying, I I guess is what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Okay, um me and my kids were ice cream. We were in um Lincoln, Nebraska, and I had to come back and tried to take DJ back to Nebraska with me and he didn't want to come because his girlfriend Crystal was pregnant at the time. And so I left and I dropped my daughter off at the friend's house, and by the time I got back to Lincoln, I got in out of the shower and just put me in some dinner. My ex-hustman's girlfriend called me and told me that UJ was in the hospital and they were getting ready to air lifting to Iowa City that they thought he was brain dead. And I got back as fast as I could, but they couldn't airlift him because the liver was bad, so they had to take him by ambulance. Yeah, he died in Iowa City and um his dad wound up pulling a flood. He had channeled to the brain and his brain stem had exploded.

SPEAKER_00 1:57

And I I saw the person I saw an article on the person that was there with him and they said they w they went over to a block away instead of using their um Yeah, that was different branch.

SPEAKER_01 2:09

Yeah, she did. She she waited quite a while, I guess, before she called the EMT. Instead of going next door, she went a block or two away. Well, she had so many different stories that was unreal. One minute Crystal said, she put him in the shower and went to get cigarettes the next thing she put him in the shower and went to Burlington to pick up her brother. And and so nothing's ever been done. Nobody's never done anything.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

So the police haven't really followed up or contacted you as much as you'd like or anything?

SPEAKER_01 2:48

No, I contact them. And I don't like it when I do. And I also have another dead child that died here in Fairfield.

SPEAKER_00 2:58

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

And he was listed as a suicide. And he went to prison and Josh told me in prison that I had to quit waiting for GJ because I was gonna wind up death. And I said, Well, I'm in my sixties, so you know, I really don't care. And then after he got out of prison, he was found found hung in Chicago Park, and that didn't add up either. But I know we're trying to concentrate on DJ, but you know it's both the boys.

SPEAKER_00 3:30

Oh wow. I'm sorry for that. That sounds like it's horrible.

SPEAKER_01 3:34

And I've been fighting with the police about that, and my daughter said it was a suicide, so they listed it as a suicide, but all the paperwork I got says it wasn't.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

So Yeah, and Douglas, um do you think she was she was just worried about maybe drugs in the house, or do you think something more sinister happened where she went down a block?

SPEAKER_01 3:58

Well what what I really think happened because she's done it to her boyfriends in the future, because when my youngest son died, I went out and you're gonna think I'm crazy, I went out and tried to make friends with her.

SPEAKER_00 4:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:14

I'd show up at a house, I'd take her to the grocery store. As a matter of fact, we're getting ready to have a 25-year celebration dinner, and I went over and invited her to that. Because I figured the best way to try and find out what happened is to maybe get on a good site instead of a bad site. So that I think what she did because she's done it to other guys, is she called somebody and said, Oh, DJ beat me up, so they came over thinking they were helping Crystal because she just got beat up, and I think they beat him up too hard.

SPEAKER_00 4:52

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:54

That's what that's what I personally think happened. I don't know, I wasn't here, but that's from the experiences that I've seen, that's what I think happened.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

Yeah. All right. And you know this is all being recorded, right?

SPEAKER_01 5:09

Yeah, I know, and I'm okay with that.

SPEAKER_00 5:11

Okay, good. I just wanted to make sure. Um, well, we're gonna write this article about your son and it'll be out pretty soon. And I appreciate your your talking to me. And if you want to f if you want me to write an article about your other son, we'll do that in the next couple weeks or so.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

Yeah, I would I would love that because I would love if I could get Josh into cool case with you, Jay, if I could get him into cool case too, I would love that because I feel like both of my sons were murdered in this town. I feel like the cops helped covered it up. Like I said, they hate to see me coming because when I come, I usually come with either a letter I've found or somebody I've talked to or something I've checked out.

SPEAKER_00 5:57

Yeah. Yeah. Well, we're gonna keep following up on this case and I'll let you go for now.

SPEAKER_01 6:04

Okay, thank you, and I appreciate it. Bye. Bye bye.