SIOUX CITY, IA (Northwestiowanow) – Multiple law enforcement agencies, including the O’Brien County Sheriff’s Office, assisted in an investigation that led to the convictions and sentencing of two men connected to the death and disappearance of a Nebraska woman.
On July 20, 48-year-old Floyd Clifford Coates Jr. of St. Francis, Kansas, and Struble, Iowa, was sentenced to 35 years in federal prison after being convicted of drug trafficking, firearms, and obstruction of justice charges. Sixty-year-old Dennis Lawson of Whiting, Iowa, was sentenced to 10 years in prison after being convicted of threatening a witness.
The convictions stem from the 2019 death and disappearance of 18-year-old Sunny Sramek of Nebraska.
Evidence presented at trial showed Coates was involved in a methamphetamine trafficking operation and was the last known person to see Sramek alive during Easter weekend 2019. Witnesses testified that Coates later transported Sramek’s body to Lawson’s property near Whiting, Iowa, where it was disposed of. Sramek’s body has never been recovered.
Federal authorities credited numerous agencies with assisting in the investigation, including the FBI, Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, Nebraska State Patrol, Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office, and the O’Brien County Sheriff’s Office.
