Two men with ties to northwest Iowa were convicted in Sioux City federal court last week (Nov. 25) in connection with the 2019 disappearance of 18-year-old Nebraska woman Sunny Sramek.
Forty-four-year-old Floyd “Cliff” Coates of St. Francis, Kansas, was found guilty of drug trafficking, firearm offenses, and concealing evidence. Prosecutors say Coates helped funnel meth into the small Sioux County town of Struble, Iowa and carried weapons to protect his operation. He faces a possible life sentence. Meanwhile, sixty-five-year-old Dennis Lawson of Whiting, located in Monona County along the Missouri River, was convicted of threatening a witness.
Investigators say Sramek vanished after traveling with Coates over Easter weekend 2019. Witnesses reported seeing her motionless in Blair, Nebraska, before Coates rerouted to Lawson’s home in Iowa, where her body was never seen again. Forensic evidence later found Sramek’s DNA and blood in Coates’s vehicle.
Both men remain in federal custody awaiting sentencing.
Full press release available here: fairchild-coates-lawson-trial-press-release
