CLARINDA – An Iowa man who murdered his 2-year-old son died in Thursday in prison.
Thomas Earl Seehan, age 69, was pronounced dead at 11:17 AM Thursday, October 17 in his cell at the Clarinda Correctional Facility. It is believed he died of natural causes, but his body has been sent to the State Medical Examiner’s Office to confirm the cause of death.
Seehan had been serving a life sentence for the crime of Murder 1st Degree from Story County. His incarceration began on June 14, 1976.
According to documents: In 1976, Thomas Seehan was convicted of first-degree murder for killing his two-year-old son Tommy Seehan. At trial, it was undisputed that Seehan had caused his two-year-old son’s death by smothering him with a pillow. Uncontradicted testimony established that to kill a child in this fashion would take anywhere from four to fifteen minutes. The state presented a strong case, apparently found convincing by the jury, that Seehan, acting with premeditation, killed his son to spite the child’s mother, who was seeking a divorce from Seehan and who had informed him she wanted custody of the boy.
Seehan was sentenced to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole.
