Naman Shrestha
When the two cousins, Lyric Cook-Morrissey and Elizabeth Collins, were abducted and later found to be murdered in 2012, many suspects emerged, mostly criminals and sex offenders charged with other kidnappings and sexual assaults. One such suspect was Jeff Altmayer, who was linked to the abductions of other girls in 2016. HBO Max’s ‘Taken Together: Who Killed Lyric and Elizabeth?’ also explores the crimes of Jeff in detail, giving rise to more questions in the minds of the viewers about him.
Jeff Altmayer Was a Working Professional Before He Embarked on a Path of Crime
Born on December 21, 1959, Jeff Lee Altmayer completed his education at Baldwin High School in Baldwin, New York. Between 1977 and 1983, he served in the military and was honorably discharged from the National Guard. In June 1985, Jeff tied the knot with the love of his life, Ginger Altmayer, in an intimate wedding ceremony in Campbell, California, surrounded by loved ones. Over the course of their marriage, the couple became parents to two sons and relocated to Ankeny in 2000.
Before his run-ins with the law, he had years of experience working for security companies, including Per Mar Security Corp, Sentry Protective Alarms Inc., and Security Equipment Inc., as an Operations Manager and Branch General Manager. He also served as an Alarm Division Manager at Strauss Security Solutions before becoming an independent consultant and professional photographer. In 2014, he began working as a vehicle inspector for Alliance Inspection Management, allowing him to travel to different states. By then, he only had a few speeding tickets on his rap sheet.
Jeff Was Indicted For Sexually Abusing Children
Things began to change when the Iowa police received an alarming rate of child enticement and sexual abuse reports in 2016. Unfortunately, they were not able to find the individual responsible for the same. As per reports, Jeff Altmayer was allegedly responsible for enticing at least 19 children between May and November 2016. On August 17, 2016, he reportedly approached two 11-year-old girls in Colfax while they were walking home from their elementary school. After introducing himself as Jimmy, he offered them $100 to help him with some yard work at his Des Moines residence and invited them into his silver car. While one girl refused, the other agreed and sat beside him in his car.
Once she was seated in the passenger seat, Jeff began touching her inappropriately and forced her to touch him. Feeling uncomfortable, the girl repeatedly told him that she wanted to leave. When he finally stopped the car a block away from the Colfax library, she managed to escape. For another three months or so, the sex offender was roaming the streets of Iowa freely. On November 16, when he attempted to entice another child into his vehicle, a neighbor named Austin Kirkpatrick tailed his silver car, and upon confronting him while driving, Jeff claimed that he was an undercover police officer. Suspicious of the man, Austin informed the police about the incident.
When the authorities got their hands on him, they found Xanax and Viagra in his car. Finally, after several months of terrorizing parents, he was arrested and charged with three counts of enticing a minor and one count each of possession of a controlled substance, impersonating a public official, and possession of a prescription drug without a prescription. Soon after he was taken into custody, his longtime wife, Ginger Altmayer, filed for divorce in January 2017. She claimed that due to her husband’s crimes, she lost her job. It was later learned that he was on pre-trial release when he committed the Colfax crime.
Jeff Altmayer is Serving a Life Term in an Iowa Prison
Jeff Altmayer pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him, but when he stood on trial, the jury found the 58-year-old divorced man guilty of first-degree kidnapping, two counts of enticing a child, and second-degree sexual abuse on January 19, 2018. Less than a month later, the convict received a life imprisonment sentence in Jasper County District Court. Following the sentencing, the Colifax victim’s mother addressed the fugitive in court: “I’m sure you’ll have all the time in the world to sit and feel sorry for yourself. I’m sure you’ll be locked up for life.” At present, Jeff Altmayer is incarcerated at Iowa State Penitentiary at 2111 330th Avenue in Fort Madison.
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