FORT MADISON – A convicted Iowa murderer who strangled a woman with an extension cord died in a prison hospice after reaching 96 years old.
Garland Charles Shaffer was pronounced dead due to natural causes at 1:00 a.m. on Saturday, May 7, 2022 while in hospice at the Iowa State Penitentiary. Shaffer was 96 years old at the time of his death.
Shaffer had been serving a life sentence for the crime of first-degree murder from Polk county. His sentence began on November 29, 1994.
According to a clipping from the Des Moines Register, Shaffer had a role in at least two murders in 1994. He strangled Clara Baker by strangling her with an extension cord in a garage.
