By Seth Boyes,
News of a local murder investigation reached the public’s ears once prosecutors made headway filing additional charges following an arrest in 2024. A former Decorah man was extradited from Georgia, after federal investigators informed the local sheriff’s office the man may have been involved in the 2017 murder of a teenage girl.
James David Bachmurski is accused of killing 15-year-old Jade Colvin, who was reported missing to the Des Moines Police Department on June 10, 2016. Investigators believe Colvin was at Bachmurski’s rural home south of Decorah in March of 2017 — her last known contact with her family occurred on March 23, 2017, according to information from the U.S. Justice Department’s Missing and Unidentified Persons System.
Bachmurski was charged with second-degree murder in August of 2024, and had at one point been scheduled to go to trial on Dec. 4, 2024. However, the 65-year-old’s defense attorney filed a motion in November, seeking a subpoena for a report from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and other materials related to an alleged sighting of Colvin in August of 2021 — more than four years after the alleged murder — in the city of Harvey, Illinois. Colvin would have been 19-years-old at that time.
Bachmurski’s trial was since been rescheduled for mid-March of 2025.
The U.S. Marshal Service began investigating Colvin’s disappearance in May of 2022. It was one of more than two dozen cases taken up as part of an effort called Operation Homecoming. The joint operation was initially launched in October of 2020 with the goal of recovering what the marshal service called vulnerable and critically missing children across the state of Iowa — the operation had located 21 juveniles and directly recovered seven in its first five months.
By May of 2022, U.S. Marshals had identified a number of individuals to interview regarding Colvin’s disappearance. The investigation was turned over to the Winneshiek County Sheriff’s Office following the interviews, and the sheriff’s office then launched a local investigation with the aid of the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and the Winneshiek County Attorney’s Office.
The sheriff’s office said Colvin’s mother brought the teen to Iowa from Arizona to live with Bachmurski at his rural Decorah residence in the early spring of 2017. A criminal complaint filed against Bachmurski claimed he had “encouraged and participated in a one-on-one relationship with Jade Colvin via electronic messaging” without the mother’s knowledge for approximately a month before Colvin arrived in Decorah, and Bachmurski allegedly “used some of his own money to facilitate Jade Colvin being brought to his residence in March of 2017.”
The teen had made plans to contact friends upon arriving in Decorah, according to investigators, and Bachmurski claimed he allowed Colvin to use his phone when her’s had reception issues. A text Colvin sent from Bachmurski’s phone early on March 30 was the last known message from the teen prior to her disappearance, according to court documents.
Bachmurski’s family members told investigators Colvin’s suitcase and other property remained at the farmhouse months after she was last seen, and court documents said Bachmurski allegedly ““lied and told others that Jade Colvin had gone somewhere after her last text, while the investigation showed she was no longer alive.”
The now 65-year-old had considered contacting law enforcement while Colvin was at his home, according to a criminal complaint, but he felt “if he had alerted law enforcement that he had a runaway girl at his house, it would not have turned out good for him.”
Bachmurski was believed to have left the state in early 2019, a little more than a year after a sheriff’s deputy had discovered a loaded .223 caliber Stevens rifle in Bachmurski’s home during a welfare/probation check. Bachmurski had previously been charged with harassment, willful injury and assault against his own family in April of 2013. Court documents in that case claimed the then 54-year-old used ratchet straps to tie his son to a metal folding chair “and shocked him multiple times on the arm with an electric fence charger.” The filings went on to say Bachmurski also “repeatedly threatened to shoot his sons,” saying they were “not worth the price of the bullet it would take to kill them,” and that “he could shoot them and bury them in the backyard and no one would know.” Bachmurski eventually pleaded guilty in that case and was granted a suspended sentence — but possessing a firearm was a violation of his probation.
Bachmurski’s defense attorney in that case said in a motion filed Feb. 14, 2019, that his client seemed to have sold his Decorah home and had stopped responding to calls and text messages.
“It is possible that the defendant has moved out of state, and his intentions to return are unknown,” the defense wrote at that time.
Bachmurski was listed as residing in Swainsboro, Georgia, by February of 2021. Authorities there charged him with sexual battery that month, but that case was dismissed by a district attorney after the victim failed to appear for a grand jury — the alleged sighting of Colvin in Illinois occurred approximately five months later.
Authorities investigating Colvin’s disappearance were able to interview Bachmurski at some point in 2023, according to Iowa court records, and they asked Bachmurski if he recognized a picture of Colvin.
“I do,” Bachmurski was quoted as saying. “I’m not gonna lie. I do. As a matter of fact, I’ll guarantee you I’m getting myself in a lot of trouble. I want to tell the truth.”
Authorities served Bachmurski a warrant on June 20, 2024, for his possession of the Stevens rifle. The 65-year-old was transported from the Emanuel County Jail in Georgia to the Winneshiek County Jail and was later served a warrant in the murder case on Aug. 12 — more than seven years after Jade Colvin disappeared.
He remains in custody at the Winneshiek County Jail.
The Decorah Leader reviews the top ten news stories of 2024 in the January 2 Decorah Leader, read it here.
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