Twenty seven years ago, her grandfather was murdered.
And still, no one has been charged with his death.
Now Teresa Trueblood is hoping to find some new information.
"I just think people know, they just didn't want to talk and maybe with the time that's passed, they might want to talk," Trueblood said. "Maybe somebody will pop up with new information or somebody's heard somebody say something."
The murder
Dubbed the "Trick or Treat Murder," Marvin Brandland, 69, was shot in his home on Ninth Avenue South, on Oct. 30, 1982, by a young man wearing a pillow case over his head - under the pretext of being a trick or treater.
When the man came to the door, Brandland's wife, Ethel, playfully tried to lift the disguise. But the man abruptly pulled it back into place, according to Messenger file stories. When she turned to get the bowl of candy, the gunman followed her into the house. Marvin Brandland got up from his chair. The man pulled a gun and demanded money. Brandland reached for the gun.
When he grabbed the gun, it discharged, with the bullet piercing the lower part of his neck. He was taken to Trinity Regional Hospital, then airlifted to a hospital in Des Moines, where he died the next morning.
The man ran from the house, leaving behind the pillow case the couple assumed was a trick-or-treat bag.
From the short time she caught a glimpse of the shooter, Ethel Brandland told police that he had blondish hair and blue eyes. She estimated he was between 16 and 20 years old and was about 5 feet 8 inches tall, according to file stories.
The shooter fled into the darkness, blending with the other hooded and masked figures of the holiday and raising no suspicion in those who may have seen him.
Unanswered questions
Trueblood has her suspicions of the shooting being random.
"They thought maybe it was a robbery or something, but it just doesn't seem right," Trueblood said. "They never had any money around there. They were older people. I think there's more to it."
She said the shooter asked questions specific to their house.
"This person knew where certain things were in the house and they asked about those certain things," Trueblood said. "They knew what they were doing."
The investigation
Fort Dodge Police Department chief at the time was Don Hensley.
He said officers accumulated countless hours in tracking down leads and interviewed several possible suspects, according to Messenger file stories.
The department came under fire by Brandland's family for what they deemed a lack in progress of the case.
In October 1984, Jan Horton, the couple's daughter, publicly criticized Hensley at a Fort Dodge City Council meeting.
"I guess I wanted to get some attention on it and get it brought out in the open on why there has been nothing more done," said Horton, who is now the Webster County treasurer.
She said the Police Department had information that might solve the case, and that the department was given information on a possible suspect at the time of the murder.
In file stories, police officials say they followed every lead and interviewed every suspect they had.
There were also two composite drawings - purportedly of the shooter - that circulated in the Crossroads Shopping Center about a week after the murder.
The late Ivan Metzger - who later became police chief - was a detective on the case, said that neither of the drawings resembled the other and neither was a suspect, Messenger file stories say.
An officer made two sketches using descriptions offered by residents of particular young men who appeared too old to be out trick or treating.
However, one was carrying a paper sack and the other's pillow case and the shooter's pillow case that was recovered at the scene, did not match, according to file stories.
Metzger told The Messenger at the time that the drawings were made in hopes the pictures could be found and possibly provide more information, but they were not of specific suspects.
DCI comes in
Brandland's family wanted to know why the Division of Criminal Investigation was not brought in from the beginning.
Hensley's response was that his men are trained in investigative techniques and are capable of handling the case without outside assistance, according to file stories.
The DCI got involved with the investigation about a month after the murder.
A letter from then-DCI Chief Gerald Shanahan said that upon reviewing the police department's investigation, the DCI found that police used "acceptable investigative techniques."
The letter stated that the crime scene had been secured, photographs were taken and the crime lab was contacted.
However, Trueblood remembers the incident a little different.
She said when she and her grandmother went back to the house to get a list of Brandland's medicines, there were "all kinds of people in there."
She said there were people in the kitchen, living room and outside.
"You couldn't even walk through the kitchen," Trueblood recalled. "Aren't you supposed to preserve a crime scene?"
The letter from the DCI stated that "an extensive neighborhood canvass was conducted and logical leads were pursued."
The family provided names of people who fit the description of the killer as Ethel Brandland had given it. But the suspects all had alibis, police said in file stories.
Trueblood said she just wants to make sure nothing was missed in the investigation. And thinks with modern technology, something could be found.
"I want to see what was done, what was said and those different things," she said. "I just think something's been overlooked or they're not looking at it."
The family
The Brandlands were married for 46 years before he was murdered. Within nine months, Ethel Brandland died.
She died of a broken heart, according to Horton.
"Mom relived Beggars' Night 1982 over and over because she was there when it happened," Horton said. "She was living in fear. She tried to put her life back together, but she was just depressed."
To both Horton and Trueblood, this will never be a cold case.
"I think a lot of it is the not knowing or the what-ifs," Trueblood said. "Is somebody walking around free? Could something have been done different or it have been solved by now? Or have they done this to somebody else or hurt somebody else and it's just not tied in? You just don't know."
For the Brandland family, Beggars' Night will always have a deeper meaning.
Today
The Trick or Treat murder of Brandland has been identified by the DCI as a cold case.
However, a Cold Case Unit has been established to review the facts of about 150 unsolved homicides in Iowa dating between 1960 and 2000, according to the Department of Public Safety Public Information Officer Courtney Greene. The unit is investigating files that have the potential to be resolved with DNA and other evidence.
"Agents are going back and dedicating time and energy looking into cases that were never solved," Greene said.
Assistant Fort Dodge Police Chief Kevin Doty said they will always follow up on any new leads.
"If new information came in in reference to that case, officers would take that information and review the case files and work those leads," Doty said.
But as far as old leads in the case, Doty said every lead the department has had on the case is probably exhausted.
Contact Angela Burch at (515) 573-2141 or aburch@messengernews.net