Arrest Made in 2011 Killing of Iowa Realtor Ashley Okland- Motive Remains Unknown
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A 53-year-old woman has been arrested in connection with a realtor murdered in 2011.
On April 8, 2011, 27-year-old realtor Ashley Okland was found shot dead in a model townhouse in West Des Moines, Iowa.
Okland, who was hosting an open house alone that day at 558 Stone Creek Court, near 84th Street & E.P. True Parkway, had arrived at the residence that morning.
She spent the afternoon meeting with potential buyers and showing the model home, which was part of the Stone Creek Villas subdivision, a townhome community developed by Rottlund Homes.
The area was suburban, middle-class, and low in crime. It was considered a safe community for potential buyers.
Everything about the day was normal for Okland, but at approximately 2:00 p.m., an employee of Rottlund Homes heard what sounded like gunshots ringing out through the neighborhood. When the employee went to investigate, they found Okland on the floor with gunshot wounds.
Medics and officers from the Des Moines Police Department arrived at the scene, and Okland was transported to the nearby Iowa Methodist Medical Center, where she subsequently died as a result of her injuries.
For the safety of their agents, local real estate companies cancelled all showings of properties in the area.
No murder weapon was ever recovered, and there were no witnesses to the crime. Because it was an open house event, there was also no forced entry. Police believed the murder could have occurred while the victim was showing the suspect around the model home; however, this is not confirmed. They believed whoever was responsible had access to the property or pretended to be an interested potential buyer.
Police believed the suspect was likely known to the victim and that it was an isolated incident. Despite hundreds of leads, no suspects were identified in the case.
Ashley Okland’s mother, Deb Cochran, later said on KCCI News that she thought her daughter knew the person responsible. Ashley's brother, Josh Okland, said that she "trusted everybody," and "was always positive."
Ashley Okland was born in Ames, Iowa, and raised in Kelley. She loved sports, dance, and music. She aspired to be a physical therapist and earned a degree in exercise science from Iowa State University in 2006.
She then entered the world of real estate. She enjoyed her job with Iowa Realty and lived with her boyfriend Eric and her dog, Indi. She was a positive, happy person who loved spending time with her friends and family. In her free time, she did charity work, was a member of several groups, and always kept herself busy.
The victim's father, Tim Okland, said she had no enemies; “We just don’t know what happened; it’s hard for us to imagine,” he said.
On June 25, 2011, the Des Moines Register published an article titled Police probe link to agent who killed himself. The article detailed the case of Joseph Kruse, 52, of Maxwell, who died as the result of a self-inflicted shotgun wound to the head on June 8. Kruse was also a realtor. His body was found in his vehicle near a Van Meter residence.
Kruse was an agent of Coldwell Banker, a real estate company in West Des Moines. According to the newspaper, he had allegedly been a suspect; however, his sister said he had taken his own life due to financial difficulties and had been cleared of suspicion. Police declined to officially comment at the time.
A witness had claimed to have seen a "scruffy-looking young male" in a black SUV, similar to a Cadillac Escalade, near the scene at the time of Ashley's murder. The description of the SUV did not match the vehicle Kruse was found in.
Despite the best efforts of investigators, Okland’s case went cold.
In 2024, media outlets reported that a new cold case investigative unit was being established by Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird. The unit planned to investigate unsolved homicide cases in Iowa without active leads, cases of missing people under suspicious circumstances, and unidentified bodies. Ashley Okland's murder was added to the list of cases they would investigate.
Earlier this month, on March 17, 2026, 53-year-old Kristin Ramsey was arrested in connection with Okland's murder. Ramsey, who worked for Rottlund Homes at the time of the murder as a sales manager and administrative assistant, has been charged with first-degree murder and is being held on a $2 million cash-only bond.
At the time of writing, Ramsey is currently employed at Midland Title and Escrow, a company with ties to Rottlund Homes. No motive has been released.
She is being held at the Dallas County jail and has been indicted by the Dallas County grand jury for the offense of murder in the first degree.
To protect the integrity of the case, police will not be releasing any investigative information pertaining to the case, which is headed to criminal prosecution.
West Des Moines Assistant Police Chief Jody Hayes said of the case: “Ashley’s story has kept many of us awake at night, revisiting the details over and over in our minds… searching for that missing piece that would tie everything together and lead us down the right path to identifying a person that was responsible for this act.”