POTTAWATTAMIE COUNTY, Iowa (KMTV) — The Pottawattamie County Sheriff's Office announced that a Nebraska man was sentenced after pleading guilty to the 1983 killing of a UNO student found dead north of Council Bluffs.
See the full press release below:
"On April 6, 2023, a Nebraska man was sentenced to an indeterminate term of incarceration not to exceed 50 years, in accordance with Iowa law at the time, after he pleaded guilty to 2nd-degree murder in the 1983 killing of Firozeh Dehghanpour.
Dehghanpour, a 27-year-old University of Nebraska at Omaha student, disappeared and was found dead in Pottawattamie County in August 1983. In 2021, DNA testing of evidence recovered at the scene identified Bud Leroy Christensen, a registered sex offender, as a possible suspect. He was subsequently arrested in May 2021 in Omaha, Nebraska.
Sergeant James Doty led the renewed investigation after receiving a tip in late 2020. Sheriff’s Office investigators followed up on leads, and Crime Scene Technician Hadley Kava examined evidence collected nearly four decades earlier. After the 2021 arrest, Kava said, “Let Firozeh’s case be an example that it’s never too late to seek justice.”
The Sheriff’s Office would like to thank the Pottawattamie County Attorney’s Office, the Omaha Police Department homicide unit, the U.S. Marshals Service, and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation crime lab for their work and assistance in bringing a killer to justice and helping to seek closure for Firozeh Dehghanpour’s loved ones.
Members of the public with information that could provide answers for victims, especially in cases such as these, are asked to contact our Investigations Division at 712-890-2222. For more information on unsolved cases, visit our website at https://pottcountysheriff.com."
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