Layne Edward Schneider, 22, of Elgin, Iowa, was brutally beaten to death inside his rural Fayette County home sometime in the early morning hours on Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013. His bloodied, lifeless body was then taken from the home and placed inside a pickup truck owned by Steven Bilden of Elgin, who shared the rural home with Schneider.
Fayette County in Iowa
Elgin in Fayette County
Someone drove the pickup eastbound on 180th Street about four miles northwest of Wadena, and, just after passing the Echo Road intersection, one or more individuals moved the vehicle into the north ditch where it continued down the ditch embankment, crossed over a washout, and continued north until the vehicle rolled up against a tree.
One or more individuals then used an accelerant to set the vehicle afire — the deceased Schneider’s body still inside — about one and one-half miles from Schneider’s home.
A call about a burning vehicle came into the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office at 4:35 a.m.
Darrol Mohlis of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office, the first officer to respond, arrived at the scene at 4:45 a.m.
The local fire department and rescue workers weren’t aware of anyone being inside the pickup until firefighters extinguished the blaze, at which time local law enforcement officers retrieved the body from Bilden’s pickup.
Iowa Department of Transportation (IDOT) officials initially believed the vehicle had sat in the same area for a period of time before becoming “hot” and starting a grass fire beneath the truck.
Courtesy Oelwein Daily Register
In this Feb. 21, 2013, Oelwein Daily Register story, Fayette County Sheriff Marty Fisher confirms the investigation is ongoing but says it is being considered an accident at this time. Medical examiner reports later concluded the 22-year-old suffered a skull fracture, was struck in the back with a pipe-like blunt heavy object, and that the victim’s legs had been both beaten and broken.
Fayette County Sheriff Marty Fisher initially said the case was being considered an accident but that the investigation was ongoing.
Further tests conducted by the IDOT and the State Medical Examiner’s Office showed the fire had been set using an accelerant and also determined Schneider was “deceased prior to the vehicle running off the roadway.”
The 22-year-old suffered a skull fracture, was struck in the back with a pipe-like blunt heavy object, and both his legs beaten and broken before being dragged out to the pickup and driven down the road. Once the truck had been steered off-road and into a tree, it allegedly was set afire in efforts to cover up the crime and conceal the true extent of Schneider’s injuries.
The civil case can easily be misunderstood, for obvious reasons. There was never enough evidence to win a civil case, that was known by all parties from the beginning. The intent of the civil case was to bring attention to Layne’s MURDER.
Fayette County Sheriff’s department, for whatever reason, from day one… tried to say it was just a tragic accident. Why? I don’t know. There’s lots of speculation, rumors, and conspiracy theories.
It could be a police cover up. It could be the fact, Marty Fisher, the actual sheriff at the time and still the sheriff in 2025, is on record, a bit before Layne’s murder… proudly proclaiming no murders happened in his county. I’m not sure what he was getting at there and so proud of. Even if a perfect police department could exist… it doesn’t prevent other people from killing someone. A murder doesn’t reflect negativity on the police department… in 2016, he had to eat his words though. Look up Morgan Kaye, West Union, Iowa.
Maybe it wasn’t any of that… maybe it was just negligence… I don’t know. Marty Fisher knows… the rest of us just have theories.
Anyways… the civil case was meant to bring attention to Laynes murder and get it investigated properly, as it wasn’t before and still hasn’t been.
Many people still didn’t have the facts and many still thought it was a tragic accident… the civil case showed it wasn’t.
Whatever reason Fayette County fumble the investigation… they couldn’t be trusted to investigate it and didn’t care to. An outside authority should look into it. The civil case was meant to bring attention and get people to look into it…
Please don't post the exact same comment. It would seem that the longer the case went on, the more interest it would gain. While lawyer time is money, it makes no sense (to me) to not file some type of response, even if it is to reiterate the original filing. Actually, the bar is lower to win wrongful death suit than it is to win a murder conviction (much lower).
My apologies. That’s a crappy thing to do and I know that. I was just low on time, if I responded to one person, maybe the other wouldn’t see it. I’m just trying my best to get what little info I have out there and get people to care about Layne.
I knew I shouldn’t have copy and pasted, at the least, I could have said I did it.
I just didn’t have the time to type the same response, that said the same thing, with different words at that time but I really wanted to make sure the few people who commented, and showed interest in Layne, got that info.
Yeah, I’m not exactly sure the reasons response wasn’t filed. I don’t have all the details and I’m not a lawyer. It seems a response could have at least continued it for a bit.
I know the bar is much lower for a civil case. Different rules, too. But like I said… while the bar is much lower… the only evidence is hearsay and a few texts… so… could Wade have been found guilty in civil court, on that alone, possibly? But there’s just not much there besides that.
The civil case can easily be misunderstood, for obvious reasons. There was never enough evidence to win a civil case, that was known by all parties from the beginning. The intent of the civil case was to bring attention to Layne’s MURDER.
Fayette County Sheriff’s department, for whatever reason, from day one… tried to say it was just a tragic accident. Why? I don’t know. There’s lots of speculation, rumors, and conspiracy theories.
It could be a police cover up. It could be the fact, Marty Fisher, the actual sheriff at the time and still the sheriff in 2025, is on record, a bit before Layne’s murder… proudly proclaiming no murders happened in his county. I’m not sure what he was getting at there and so proud of. Even if a perfect police department could exist… it doesn’t prevent other people from killing someone. A murder doesn’t reflect negativity on the police department… in 2016, he had to eat his words though. Look up Morgan Kaye, West Union, Iowa.
Maybe it wasn’t any of that… maybe it was just negligence… I don’t know. Marty Fisher knows… the rest of us just have theories.
Anyways… the civil case was meant to bring attention to Laynes murder and get it investigated properly, as it wasn’t before and still hasn’t been.
Many people still didn’t have the facts and many still thought it was a tragic accident… the civil case showed it wasn’t.
Whatever reason Fayette County fumble the investigation… they couldn’t be trusted to investigate it and didn’t care to. An outside authority should look into it. The civil case was meant to bring attention and get people to look into it…
I can understand how, with the little information out there, you could think the roommate is the most obvious suspect but with more info, you’ll see he’s not. I’ll try to give you a bit of an idea.
I’m from the area, I know who everyone thinks is the perpetrator. It’s not Steven Biden, Laynes roommate.
Steven wasn’t at the house that night, for one. I’m a bit of a skeptic, I don’t think his alibi is what I would personally consider ‘rock solid.’ I’ll say, at first there was a lot of hearsay, rumors, theories, and small town gossip floating around.
As time went on, some of that talk was proven to be fact…
I can’t remember, right this second, if Steven’s whereabouts have been proven… I can look into it more because my memory is terrible lately but honestly, it doesn’t matter to me, personally.
I mean, you never TRULY know anybody, but I just can’t see him having anything to do with it for a lot of reasons… I haven’t ever, for a single second, even considered he had a part in it… but… lots of people say that and are wrong. I’m aware
BUT… think about this…
Layne had his own vehicle… if you murdered someone… and I think it’s safe to assume… the staged accident and fire was an attempt to cover up a murder, right? Why else would you do that? Why would you stage an accident unless you wanted it to look like an accident?
So… why would Steven murder Layne… put Layne into his own truck (meaning Steven’s truck) instead of Laynes own vehicle??
You’d have to be a real extra special kind of stupid to do that, yeah?
And sure, there’s a lot of real stupid people out there but Steven isn’t one of them.
Whoever tried to stage that accident WAS clearly stupid. They didn’t realize an autopsy, would more than likely show it wasn’t an accident, as it did.
But… if you put your murder victim, in your own truck… even if you think people will believe it’s an accident… or maybe you knew people who you thought could cover it up for you… putting them in your own truck… at the very least, is going to have some people asking some questions… you’d be putting unnecessary attention on yourself when you could just put Layne into his own vehicle, that was operational that night.
Sorry I was distracted. He was murdered but it was initially ruled an accident. There’s proof out there NOW he was murdered but it’s not being investigated.
He was killed at a house, rolled in a rug, placed in a truck that wasn’t his, the truck was pushed into a ditch, and lit on fire.
The sheriff department initially said it was an accident. His Dan and his good friends new it wasn’t. It was covered up by the Fayette County Sherrif’s department for some reason. There’s plenty of speculation on why it was initially wrongly ruled an accident but who knows the actual reason. Plenty of small town gossip.
It’s finally been proven it wasn’t an accident but no one with authority seems to care like they should. His family, friends, and locals care.
Why is no one trying to solve his murder? Why was it initially covered up? Who did it? There’s definitely theories and beliefs on who did it… but why isn’t it being investigated now that it’s known it wasn’t an accident and it was foul play?!
His life mattered. His dad has done absolutely EVERYTHING to get Laynes death acknowledged as a murder and get justice. He used to be brushed off by many as “the crazy dad in denial who can’t accept it was just a tragic accident.”
Turns out… he was right all along. There’s proof. He’s done everything and more and has gotten absolutely NO WHERE!
This case could be solved but sadly, I don’t think it will unless it gets major attention. Hands need to be forced to take it seriously and look into it! If it gets attention, if the true crime community and sleuths took notice of this case… it could crate the kind of pressure that can’t be ignored!
All the true crime junkies would love this case if they took notice. Sad and sick to say that. It shouldn’t need to be fascinating and filled with police cover ups, injustice, and mystery to be taken serious. Every life is important. Every murder should get attention. It shouldn’t need to be entertaining to for a mass of people to care, but sadly, that’s mostly reality.
I just want the right person to take notice of Layne’s case! I don’t know how to get the word out there. Many have tried but it hasn’t caught on really. That’s why I shared the video. I was excited a new one was made and I hope people take notice!
I'm from Europe so no idea of local climate re police/authorities' skill/experience level, or their potential affiliations/agendas. But would there be any mileage in a public petition locally? Like, if the general public were given the info from the civil case (essentially proving murder), could enough pressure be applied to those who have the authority to reopen it as a murder investigation? I'm sure you've thought of this kind of thing, but the whole case beggars belief and if people don't know the circumstances they won't feel affronted like we do.
Yeah, it’s sad. It seems like nobody actually cares about the very obvious murder of Layne.
I don’t mean his family, friends, and community. I mean the police, the state, the media. A young man was murdered, even if you’re not somehow convinced it was murder, it’s definitely suspicious. It’s worth looking into more and it’d make interesting news. Which is sick to say, that shouldn’t matter, Layne’s short, beautiful life, and his tragic death should be what matters.
It just seems at this point, the only way it’ll get enough pressure to be solved, or even fully investigated, is if it catches on, if other people outside our community find it interesting and see there’s definitely suspicion there.
It shouldn’t have to be like that, but we’ve been screaming into the void for justice, or at least someone who cares enough to investigate his death, for SO long and it’s not happening. I think Layne’s case needs to get some major attention for anything to be done about it, sadly. We’ve been trying and getting nowhere. Even now, it’s slowly getting a bit more attention, it seems, but not enough. Nothing happens.
Layne Edward Schneider, 22, of Elgin, Iowa, was brutally beaten to death inside his rural Fayette County home sometime in the early morning hours on Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013. His bloodied, lifeless body was then taken from the home and placed inside a pickup truck owned by Steven Bilden of Elgin, who shared the rural home with Schneider.
Fayette County in Iowa
Elgin in Fayette County
Someone drove the pickup eastbound on 180th Street about four miles northwest of Wadena, and, just after passing the Echo Road intersection, one or more individuals moved the vehicle into the north ditch where it continued down the ditch embankment, crossed over a washout, and continued north until the vehicle rolled up against a tree.
One or more individuals then used an accelerant to set the vehicle afire — the deceased Schneider’s body still inside — about one and one-half miles from Schneider’s home.
A call about a burning vehicle came into the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office at 4:35 a.m.
Darrol Mohlis of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office, the first officer to respond, arrived at the scene at 4:45 a.m.
The local fire department and rescue workers weren’t aware of anyone being inside the pickup until firefighters extinguished the blaze, at which time local law enforcement officers retrieved the body from Bilden’s pickup.
The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation assisted the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office in the death investigation.
Iowa Department of Transportation (IDOT) officials initially believed the vehicle had sat in the same area for a period of time before becoming “hot” and starting a grass fire beneath the truck.
Courtesy Oelwein Daily Register
In this Feb. 21, 2013, Oelwein Daily Register story, Fayette County Sheriff Marty Fisher confirms the investigation is ongoing but says it is being considered an accident at this time. Medical examiner reports later concluded the 22-year-old suffered a skull fracture, was struck in the back with a pipe-like blunt heavy object, and that the victim’s legs had been both beaten and broken.
Fayette County Sheriff Marty Fisher initially said the case was being considered an accident but that the investigation was ongoing.
Further tests conducted by the IDOT and the State Medical Examiner’s Office showed the fire had been set using an accelerant and also determined Schneider was “deceased prior to the vehicle running off the roadway.”
The 22-year-old suffered a skull fracture, was struck in the back with a pipe-like blunt heavy object, and both his legs beaten and broken before being dragged out to the pickup and driven down the road. Once the truck had been steered off-road and into a tree, it allegedly was set afire in efforts to cover up the crime and conceal the true extent of Schneider’s injuries.
Layne Edward Schneider | Iowa Cold Cases
ESTATE OF LAYNE SCHNEIDER, Plaintiff-Appellant, vs. WADE A. LENTH, Defendant-Appellee. :: 2017 :: Iowa Court of Appeals Decisions :: Iowa Case Law :: Iowa Law :: U.S. Law :: Justia - wrongful death lawsuit dismissed
(1) Iowa Cold Cases - Eight years have now passed since 22-year-old... | Facebook
"The Administrators did not file a response to the motion for summary judgment". I wonder why not?
I suspect bad lawyering.
The civil case can easily be misunderstood, for obvious reasons. There was never enough evidence to win a civil case, that was known by all parties from the beginning. The intent of the civil case was to bring attention to Layne’s MURDER.
Fayette County Sheriff’s department, for whatever reason, from day one… tried to say it was just a tragic accident. Why? I don’t know. There’s lots of speculation, rumors, and conspiracy theories.
It could be a police cover up. It could be the fact, Marty Fisher, the actual sheriff at the time and still the sheriff in 2025, is on record, a bit before Layne’s murder… proudly proclaiming no murders happened in his county. I’m not sure what he was getting at there and so proud of. Even if a perfect police department could exist… it doesn’t prevent other people from killing someone. A murder doesn’t reflect negativity on the police department… in 2016, he had to eat his words though. Look up Morgan Kaye, West Union, Iowa.
Maybe it wasn’t any of that… maybe it was just negligence… I don’t know. Marty Fisher knows… the rest of us just have theories.
Anyways… the civil case was meant to bring attention to Laynes murder and get it investigated properly, as it wasn’t before and still hasn’t been.
Many people still didn’t have the facts and many still thought it was a tragic accident… the civil case showed it wasn’t.
Whatever reason Fayette County fumble the investigation… they couldn’t be trusted to investigate it and didn’t care to. An outside authority should look into it. The civil case was meant to bring attention and get people to look into it…
Please don't post the exact same comment. It would seem that the longer the case went on, the more interest it would gain. While lawyer time is money, it makes no sense (to me) to not file some type of response, even if it is to reiterate the original filing. Actually, the bar is lower to win wrongful death suit than it is to win a murder conviction (much lower).
My apologies. That’s a crappy thing to do and I know that. I was just low on time, if I responded to one person, maybe the other wouldn’t see it. I’m just trying my best to get what little info I have out there and get people to care about Layne.
I knew I shouldn’t have copy and pasted, at the least, I could have said I did it.
I just didn’t have the time to type the same response, that said the same thing, with different words at that time but I really wanted to make sure the few people who commented, and showed interest in Layne, got that info.
Yeah, I’m not exactly sure the reasons response wasn’t filed. I don’t have all the details and I’m not a lawyer. It seems a response could have at least continued it for a bit.
I know the bar is much lower for a civil case. Different rules, too. But like I said… while the bar is much lower… the only evidence is hearsay and a few texts… so… could Wade have been found guilty in civil court, on that alone, possibly? But there’s just not much there besides that.
The civil case can easily be misunderstood, for obvious reasons. There was never enough evidence to win a civil case, that was known by all parties from the beginning. The intent of the civil case was to bring attention to Layne’s MURDER.
Fayette County Sheriff’s department, for whatever reason, from day one… tried to say it was just a tragic accident. Why? I don’t know. There’s lots of speculation, rumors, and conspiracy theories.
It could be a police cover up. It could be the fact, Marty Fisher, the actual sheriff at the time and still the sheriff in 2025, is on record, a bit before Layne’s murder… proudly proclaiming no murders happened in his county. I’m not sure what he was getting at there and so proud of. Even if a perfect police department could exist… it doesn’t prevent other people from killing someone. A murder doesn’t reflect negativity on the police department… in 2016, he had to eat his words though. Look up Morgan Kaye, West Union, Iowa.
Maybe it wasn’t any of that… maybe it was just negligence… I don’t know. Marty Fisher knows… the rest of us just have theories.
Anyways… the civil case was meant to bring attention to Laynes murder and get it investigated properly, as it wasn’t before and still hasn’t been.
Many people still didn’t have the facts and many still thought it was a tragic accident… the civil case showed it wasn’t.
Whatever reason Fayette County fumble the investigation… they couldn’t be trusted to investigate it and didn’t care to. An outside authority should look into it. The civil case was meant to bring attention and get people to look into it…
I have so many questions.
First, the most obvious suspect is the guy he was living with. What was their relationship? Family, friends, romantic?
What was Layne's lifestyle?
I can understand how, with the little information out there, you could think the roommate is the most obvious suspect but with more info, you’ll see he’s not. I’ll try to give you a bit of an idea.
I’m from the area, I know who everyone thinks is the perpetrator. It’s not Steven Biden, Laynes roommate.
Steven wasn’t at the house that night, for one. I’m a bit of a skeptic, I don’t think his alibi is what I would personally consider ‘rock solid.’ I’ll say, at first there was a lot of hearsay, rumors, theories, and small town gossip floating around.
As time went on, some of that talk was proven to be fact…
I can’t remember, right this second, if Steven’s whereabouts have been proven… I can look into it more because my memory is terrible lately but honestly, it doesn’t matter to me, personally.
I mean, you never TRULY know anybody, but I just can’t see him having anything to do with it for a lot of reasons… I haven’t ever, for a single second, even considered he had a part in it… but… lots of people say that and are wrong. I’m aware
BUT… think about this…
Layne had his own vehicle… if you murdered someone… and I think it’s safe to assume… the staged accident and fire was an attempt to cover up a murder, right? Why else would you do that? Why would you stage an accident unless you wanted it to look like an accident?
So… why would Steven murder Layne… put Layne into his own truck (meaning Steven’s truck) instead of Laynes own vehicle??
You’d have to be a real extra special kind of stupid to do that, yeah?
And sure, there’s a lot of real stupid people out there but Steven isn’t one of them.
Whoever tried to stage that accident WAS clearly stupid. They didn’t realize an autopsy, would more than likely show it wasn’t an accident, as it did.
But… if you put your murder victim, in your own truck… even if you think people will believe it’s an accident… or maybe you knew people who you thought could cover it up for you… putting them in your own truck… at the very least, is going to have some people asking some questions… you’d be putting unnecessary attention on yourself when you could just put Layne into his own vehicle, that was operational that night.
Huh
Sorry I was distracted. He was murdered but it was initially ruled an accident. There’s proof out there NOW he was murdered but it’s not being investigated.
He was killed at a house, rolled in a rug, placed in a truck that wasn’t his, the truck was pushed into a ditch, and lit on fire.
The sheriff department initially said it was an accident. His Dan and his good friends new it wasn’t. It was covered up by the Fayette County Sherrif’s department for some reason. There’s plenty of speculation on why it was initially wrongly ruled an accident but who knows the actual reason. Plenty of small town gossip.
It’s finally been proven it wasn’t an accident but no one with authority seems to care like they should. His family, friends, and locals care.
Why is no one trying to solve his murder? Why was it initially covered up? Who did it? There’s definitely theories and beliefs on who did it… but why isn’t it being investigated now that it’s known it wasn’t an accident and it was foul play?!
His life mattered. His dad has done absolutely EVERYTHING to get Laynes death acknowledged as a murder and get justice. He used to be brushed off by many as “the crazy dad in denial who can’t accept it was just a tragic accident.”
Turns out… he was right all along. There’s proof. He’s done everything and more and has gotten absolutely NO WHERE!
This case could be solved but sadly, I don’t think it will unless it gets major attention. Hands need to be forced to take it seriously and look into it! If it gets attention, if the true crime community and sleuths took notice of this case… it could crate the kind of pressure that can’t be ignored!
All the true crime junkies would love this case if they took notice. Sad and sick to say that. It shouldn’t need to be fascinating and filled with police cover ups, injustice, and mystery to be taken serious. Every life is important. Every murder should get attention. It shouldn’t need to be entertaining to for a mass of people to care, but sadly, that’s mostly reality.
I just want the right person to take notice of Layne’s case! I don’t know how to get the word out there. Many have tried but it hasn’t caught on really. That’s why I shared the video. I was excited a new one was made and I hope people take notice!
I'm from Europe so no idea of local climate re police/authorities' skill/experience level, or their potential affiliations/agendas. But would there be any mileage in a public petition locally? Like, if the general public were given the info from the civil case (essentially proving murder), could enough pressure be applied to those who have the authority to reopen it as a murder investigation? I'm sure you've thought of this kind of thing, but the whole case beggars belief and if people don't know the circumstances they won't feel affronted like we do.
I don't see a single traditional media article on this case.
https://www.google.com/search?q=Layne+Schneider+murder&sca_esv=940aa337a8577638&sxsrf=AE3TifMIy6hoMn2Pgp2-FL0yJVDQlvleaQ:1764701864609&ei=qDYvafv4JKjFp84P9qGpuAo&start=0&sa=N&sstk=Af77f_dLCvQ0I3Ao3h6v88LonUNJCVAKjyqYFrQrV7EQ5wfxWPxN7m9kHYtCvlCV9zYo-qwrChxYNYx19gGx6GkVKJ7q6w5d5KUsf0KaNjozdm39Xnsa6cMn3frquDiPr3bHWYf164ajpICNZUlw-9llfshkR3l45sY&ved=2ahUKEwj77Jjeyp-RAxWo4skDHfZQCqc4FBDy0wN6BAgLEAc&biw=1280&bih=593&dpr=1.5
Yeah, it’s sad. It seems like nobody actually cares about the very obvious murder of Layne.
I don’t mean his family, friends, and community. I mean the police, the state, the media. A young man was murdered, even if you’re not somehow convinced it was murder, it’s definitely suspicious. It’s worth looking into more and it’d make interesting news. Which is sick to say, that shouldn’t matter, Layne’s short, beautiful life, and his tragic death should be what matters.
It just seems at this point, the only way it’ll get enough pressure to be solved, or even fully investigated, is if it catches on, if other people outside our community find it interesting and see there’s definitely suspicion there.
It shouldn’t have to be like that, but we’ve been screaming into the void for justice, or at least someone who cares enough to investigate his death, for SO long and it’s not happening. I think Layne’s case needs to get some major attention for anything to be done about it, sadly. We’ve been trying and getting nowhere. Even now, it’s slowly getting a bit more attention, it seems, but not enough. Nothing happens.