Ruthann Veal

Murder of Catherine Haynes

In 1993, 14-year-old Ruthann Veal was a runaway from a detention center when she committed an unthinkable crime.

According to Fox13, she entered the Waterloo, Iowa, home of retired University of Northern Iowa librarian 66-year-old Catherine Haynes on June 15th, 1993, and attacked her with a knife. Veal fled the home with her car and credit cards, then went to do a little shopping.

Haynes died, and two days later, Veal was arrested for first-degree murder. According to Findlaw, her case was waived from juvenile court into adult court, meaning she would face a much harsher penalty if convicted.

Due to her age and gender, the shocking crime garnered a ton of publicity in Black Hawk County. Veal’s attorneys didn’t think she could get a fair trial and filed a motion for a change of venue. The court overruled the motion, and she was forced to go to trial in the county where the crime had happened.

Trial

The trial lasted three weeks, and in May 1994, Veal was convicted of first-degree murder. Her legal team continued fight for her, asking for a new trial and once again saying that the publicity impeded with her chances for a fair trial. That motion was pending when her legal team learned that the judge was hanging out with members of the county attorney’s staff.

This shocking development led to another motion, this time to have the judge recused. He stepped down, and a new judge presided over the remainder of the proceedings.

He rejected her motion for a new trial and sentenced her to life in prison without the possibility of parole on November 13, 1995.

Appeals And Sentence Reduction

As the years passed, Veal fought for her release through various appeals. Findlaw claims that she argued that the evidence was insufficient to convict her of first-degree murder. She also claimed that forcing her to go to trial in Black Hawk County violated her constitutional right to a fair trial. She felt her constitutional rights were also violated when three prospective black jurors were struck, and the court didn’t push back on the prosecutor’s reasons for striking them.

She also claimed that the trial court wouldn’t let her legal team cross-examine three witness about their juvenile records. She made many other claims, but like most appeals, they went nowhere.

She finally started to see success when the Iowa Supreme Court ruled in February 2010 that she could challenge her life without parole sentence, saying the sentence was illegal, RadioIowa reported. The case was sent to Black Hawk County District Court for them to decide whether a life without parole sentence can be legally imposed on someone under 18.

More hope to escape her life sentence and be free one day was on June 25th, 2012, when, according to the Innocence Project the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 vote in the case of Miller v. Alabama, ruled that teens cannot be sentenced to mandatory life without the possibility of parole. The court ruled that it violates the 8th amendment, which forbids cruel and unusual punishment.

According to the Innocence Project, Justice Elena Kagan explained that “Juveniles are immature and are less deserving of the harshest punishments” and “a judge or jury must have the opportunity to consider mitigating circumstances before imposing the harshest possible penalty.” This ruling meant that more than 2,000 inmates could seek new sentences or parole hearings, and Veal was one of them

The Equal Justice Initiative filed a petition to challenge Veal’s life sentence as unconstitutional and cruel and unusual punishment. They reported that on December 9th, 2013, Veal was re-sentenced to life with the possibility of parole. At 35, she finally had hope of going home one day.

Aftermath

Veal was not released right away, as she may have thought she would. Instead, she was denied parole a few times over the next several years, as the board did not feel she was prepared for life outside prison.

In April 2017, the Des Moines Register reported that a three-member panel of the Iowa Board of Parole voted to allow her to work outside the prison. She was required to wear an ankle monitor and had to return to prison after work.

KCCI reported that she was paroled in 2020 at the age of 42. She had an ankle monitor and a 9 pm curfew. In December 2022, she was arrested for violating her parole. She was accused of going to bars and casinos, places her release conditions forbid her from going. On top of that, she was accused of being out past curfew.

As of October 2026, her social media accounts show her enjoying her freedom and living her best life.

DOB:

July 20, 1978

Conviction(s):

First-degree murder

Date of crime:

June 15th, 1993

Location(s):

Waterloo, IA

Date of arrest:

June 17th, 1993

Details:

When she was 14, she stabbed a woman to death.

Confirmed Victim(s):

Catherine Haynes (66)

Method:

Stabbing

Motive(s):

Robbery

Sentence:

Life without parole; Later resentence to life with parole

Current whereabouts:

Paroled in 2020

Sources:

N/A

Last Updated on 10/11/2026

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Murder of Catherine Haynes

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Appeals And Sentence Reduction

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Murder of Catherine Haynes

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