Environmental Criminology and the Paula Oberbroeckling Case

Abstract

Paula Jean Oberbroeckling, age 18, left her Cedar Rapids apartment on July 11, 1970, and never returned. She supposedly left to run an errand but did not come back. Her body was found along the banks of the Cedar River in late November 1970. Five decades later, Paula’s family still does not know what happened to her between the time she left her apartment and the time when her body was found. The case remains an open, unsolved homicide. This paper employs environmental criminology as a tool to identify individuals linked to the case that may be able to supply authorities with more information.