Trial may be Delayed Again in Decades-Old Slaying

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By Bree'Ann Hildreth

Story Created: Jul 5, 2008 at 4:39 AM CST

Story Updated: Jul 5, 2008 at 4:39 AM CST

NEWTON (AP) - The trial of a man accused of killing a woman more than 20 years ago faces another delay.

Gottlieb Baumann is charged with first-degree murder in the 1986 slaying of Karen Weber of Colfax. Her body was found on a gravel road near Prairie City.

Baumann's trial in Jasper County was initially scheduled for February, then was postponed to June and rescheduled again for August.

Prosecutors have submitted a motion requesting that the trial be pushed back again to Dec. 3. They cite the unavailability of a witness and a slate full of first-degree murder trials.

Another man charged in the case, Martin Duffy of Des Moines, was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison last year.

The investigation into Weber's death was reopened after a DNA sample that Duffy gave after a drunken driving conviction in 2005 matched a DNA sample at the crime scene.

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