{"id":225662,"date":"2026-03-18T19:06:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T19:06:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/225662\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T19:06:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T19:06:07","slug":"family-speaks-out-but-few-details-released-in-west-des-moines-cold-case-arrest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/225662\/","title":{"rendered":"Family speaks out, but few details released in West Des Moines cold case arrest"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A photo of Ashley Okland was shown at the WDM news conference. (RI photo)<\/p>\n

West Des Moines police says they don\u2019t expect any more arrests in the cold case death of Realtor Ashley Okland, but are releasing few other details.<\/p>\n

Police charged 53-year-old Kristin Ramsey Tuesday<\/a> with first-degree murder in Okland\u2019s death back on April 8th 2011. West Des Moines assistant police chief Jody Hayes says they can\u2019t answer any questions about the case as it is pending prosecution.<\/p>\n

Hayes did talk about the impact of the Okland\u2019s death. \u201cSince her death on April 8th, 2011, the search for answers has weighed heavily on family, friends, co-workers, and our central Iowa community,\u201d he says. \u201cIn addition, Ashley\u2019s story has haunted a very frightened community of professional realtors who have forever changed how they hold open houses and conduct businesses, business on a daily basis.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hayes says the investigation was a joint effort by local and state law enforcement, along with the Attorney General\u2019s Office and the cold case unit. He says they followed up on thousands of leads from the public and reviewed countless items of evidence and materials collected throughout the investigation. \u201cThe drive and unwavering commitment by investigators to solve this case is always and has been justice for Ashley and her family,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Okland\u2019s sister, Brittany Bruce was on hand and talked about what the arrest meant to her family. \u201cThat Friday afternoon when Ashley was taken from us seems so long ago. We had lost our hope in finding answers and having any justice for Ashley. It was really difficult to accept that the case had gone cold,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

She thanked investigators for continuing to work on the case. \u201cThe West Des Moines detectives who worked this case into their retirement during their retirement and never quitting on Ashley. The prosecutors and their teams for their commitment to this case and seeing it through,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Okland\u2019s brother Josh was also there and they both say they are confident that prosecutors will see the case through. Josh and Brittany did not take questions. \u201cWe ask for privacy for our families as we deal with the days to come and even the years to come. I\u2019d also ask for you to give the same privacy and respect to the suspect\u2019s family,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Kristin Ramsey is being held in the Dallas County jail awaiting further action in the case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A photo of Ashley Okland was shown at the WDM news conference. (RI photo) West Des Moines police…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":225663,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[102296,25599,143,145,144,100237,102805],"class_list":["post-225662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-oakland","tag-ashley-okland","tag-cold-case","tag-oakland","tag-oakland-headlines","tag-oakland-news","tag-realtor","tag-west-des-moines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}