Emmetsburg, Iowa — An Emmetsburg man has been charged with 1st Degree Murder in connection with a 2020 Palo Alto County homicide case.
According to the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, Monday evening (February 28, 2022), members of the Palo Alto County Sheriff’s Office, along with agents of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, arrested 22-year-old Brice Patrick Colling of Emmetsburg without incident. Colling has been charged with Murder in the First Degree in connection with the July 2020 murder of Rollin Bontrager in rural Palo Alto County.
On July 22, 2020, Palo Alto County authorities received a report of a possible body in Virgin Lake, south of Ruthven. Upon arrival deputies discovered a body about 25 feet from shore. According to the Palo Alto County Sheriff’s Office, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation was called and the body, later identified as 27-year-old Rollin J. Bontrager of Washington, Iowa, was removed from the lake and transported to the Iowa Medical Examiner’s Office in Ankeny.
Allan Michael Schwidder, formerly of Emmetsburg, was previously arrested, charged and plead to 2nd degree murder in March of last year, for his role in Bontrager’s death.
The case has, and continues to be, investigated by the Palo Alto County Sheriff’s Office, Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Emmet County Sheriff’s Office, Emmetsburg Police Department, and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.
