1983 Cold Case update: Iowa woman, Terri Supino arrested for Steven Fisher and Melisa Gregory murder
The Jasper County Sheriff’s Office says the estranged wife of one of the victims of the 1983 Copper Dollar Ranch murders has been arrested and charged in the case.
Steven Fisher Melisa Gregory 1983 murder case
Theresa “Terri” Supino, now age 53, was married to 20-year-old Steven Fisher though they were separated.
Fisher and his girlfriend, 17-year-old Melisa Gregory were found dead on March 3rd, 1983 at the ranch were Fisher worked in Jasper County.
At a news conference Monday afternoon, Jasper County Sheriff John Halferty announced that Supino had been arrested in her home, some 31 years after the brutal murder.
Halferty would not say what new evidence had broken open the cold case, he said the investigation would continue.
“For the last 31 years, the deaths of Steven and Melisa have weighed heavy on the Fisher and Gregory families, this sheriff’s office and many in Jasper County,” he said. “The arrest of Ms. Supino does not end this investigation.”
Halferty thanked the Newton Police Department, Jasper County Attorney’s Office, the Iowa State Medical Examiner’s Office and Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation for their assistance in the investigation.
In a 2011 interview, then-Jasper County Sheriff Mike Balmer, told Channel 13’s Aaron Brilbeck officials originally thought the two had been shot in the head because there was so much blood.
“I think that’s the original reason it came out as a gunshot case ‘til we go there and actually looked at the scene and realized…these people had been bludgeoned to death.”
Supino is charged with two counts of first degree murder.
