Cold Case: Arrest Made In 2000 Mount Pleasant Murder

HENRY COUNTY, IA — Eight months after reopening a 17-year-old homicide, authorities in Henry County have announced an arrest in the disappearance of 22-year-old Elizabeth Syperda. On Thursday her estranged husband, Michael Lee Syperda, was arrested in connection with her death.

Officials with the Mount Pleasant Police Department and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation relaunched the investigation in March and classified it as a homicide based on a case review and interviews.

Upon reviewing the updated report, the Iowa Attorney General’s Office and the Henry County Attorney’s Office convened a grand jury to review evidence and testimony. On Wednesday that grand jury returned with an indictment for first-degree murder against Michael Lee Syperda, 52. He was taken into custody in the area of Glenwood Springs, Colo., on Thursday on a warrant in connection with the case.

Elizabeth Syperda disappeared in July 2000. She was last seen in her Mount Pleasant apartment by her roommate, according to information on the website Iowa Cold Cases, a database for Iowa's unsolved murders. A month before she vanished, police had arrested her estranged husband for assault against her and her roommate, the website says. A protective order was issued against Michael Lee Syperda at that time.

Case information from that time indicates that Michael Lee Syperda was uncooperative with investigators and refused to take a polygraph test. He later moved to Colorado.

Michael Lee Syperda will be extradited back to Iowa for trial.

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