Ben EllingsonShanda Ellingson

UPDATE: Ellingsons found in Muscatine using false names, arrested on child sex abuse charges

By Brandon Hurley

Managing Editor

***UPDATED*** AS OF Nov. 15

A Jefferson couple on the run since June - accused of committing child sex abuse in addition to a slew of other serious charges - has been apprehended after being found using fake names and living in Muscatine.

The discovery was made despite sources believing the couple may have been dead.

Benjamin and Shanda Ellingson were located in eastern Iowa Wednesday, Nov. 9, under the fabricated names of Jeffery and Samantha Miller. The arrests were a culmination of a nationwide, federal search.
The Ellingsons were wanted out of Greene County for a litany of sexual abuse charges and other violent crimes as well as drug violations originally handed down over the summer.
The couple fled Greene County sometime around June 5, two days after Ben, 37, was released from jail following his arrest for domestic assault and harassment for allegedly assaulting and threatening to kill his wife, Shanda. Ben was also accused of making sexually explicit threats aimed at his wife’s teenage daughter as well.

Shanda, 39, was the person who initially accused Ben of domestic assault and harassment, reporting her husband for abusing her on a regular basis for more than six months.  
The couple, in a note left in their Jefferson home along Chestnut Street, said they were “headed off the grid toward Canada” in June, according to court records.
Officers believe the Ellingsons had been living together in Muscatine for two months, leaving Shanda’s children back in Jefferson without proper adult supervision, residing at 298 E. 2nd Street Apt. 2. Muscatine law enforcement was tipped off to the Ellingson’s whereabouts and arrived to arrest the couple at 11 a.m. last Wednesday. Ben refused to reveal his real name when officers first approached their residence, instead saying he was Jeffery Clark Miller born Dec. 1, 1983, though he couldn’t provide an identification card. He also said his wife, Shanda, was now going by the name Samantha Miller, born Jan. 1, 1983.

Ben was eventually identified from photos provided by dispatchers in addition to his identifiable tattoos. The couple was transported and booked into the Greene County jail around 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10.
The Ellingsons’ case has taken many twists and turns since it was first brought to local officer’s attention in June. A summer search of the Ellingson’s Jefferson home - where they resided with Shanda’s two, teenage children - revealed child pornography, inciting criminal charges for both parties of continuous sexual abuse of a child, third degree sexual abuse of a child victim coerced by a person in authority as well as enticing a minor under 16 for sexual purposes. Ben has also been charged with prostitution, sex offender registration violation, possession of drug paraphernalia, and domestic abuse assault. Shanda, in addition to her sex abuse charges, has been charged with willful injury causing serious injury, domestic abuse assault via display or use of a weapon and possession of a controlled substance.

Ben arrested for violent crimes

Ben Ellingson posted bail of $8,300 on June 3 in Greene County, court documents say, the same day he was arrested for domestic assault and harassment for allegedly assaulting and threatening his wife, Shanda. The Ellingsons disappeared on June 5, two days after Ben was released from jail. Ben was also charged with possession of marijuana with intent to sell after officers located more than seven ounces of cannabis in their Jefferson home.
A Jefferson resident who is an acquaintance of Shanda, tipped off law enforcement of the couple’s possible disappearance by reporting her missing on June 6. A police report filed at 4:50 p.m. that day indicated a “female’s husband had been arrested recently for domestic abuse assault” and that she could not be located.

The reporting resident was the same person who joined Ellingson’s wife to speak with police on June 2, accusing Ben of the aforementioned domestic abuse crimes.
The Ellingsons married in 2020, court documents show, despite Ben’s violent past. He was convicted and sentenced to prison for kidnapping, third degree sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of a minor in 2004. Ben committed the crimes in Decorah and was sentenced to 10-15 years in prison. A newspaper account at the time said he lured his ex-girlfriend into his car, then drove to his apartment without her consent, handcuffed her and continued to sexually assault her. The charges were filed out of Winneshiek County, where he was convicted in 2005.

Local law enforcement executed a search warrant on the Ellingson’s Jefferson home following Ben’s arrest and the couple’s disappearance, which uncovered several other serious crimes.

Sex abuse charges handed out

Ben allegedly forced his 15-year old step-child to have sex with him twice, while also forcing the victim to perform oral sex on him. Police evidence suggests Ben allegedly paid the victim between $50-$75 each time he had sex with the victim, and he also allegedly promised to buy a pet for the victim, court documents say, leading to a charge of prostitution against Ben.  
He’s been charged with third degree sexual abuse of a child in the same household, his second offense, which is a Class A felony in addition to enticing a minor under the age of 16 with a sexual purpose, a Class D felony as well as lascivious acts with a child, a Class D felony.

Officers believe Shanda was aware of Ben having sex with her child, and they allege she also participated in the oral sex act. Officers say she allegedly aided and abetted the victim to perform the sexual act on her husband, which led to her various sexual abuse charges of third degree sex abuse - child victim coerced by person in authority, a Class C felony.
Officers also found naked photographs of his step-children on Ben’s computer. They believe he allegedly forced them to send him the photos.
Shanda was initially the one who brought forth accusations against Ben, initiating the strenuous investigation, which later led to the man-hunt and several serious charges.

Wife reports physical assault

Shanda, in June, provided Jefferson law enforcement with a number of audio recordings of her alleged abuser, Ben. She told officers he had been physically and verbally abusing her for at least six months and most recently, he had allegedly spit on her and struck her in the face with an open hand on June 2. The audio recordings feature a voice believed to be Ben’s threatening to kill his wife on several occasions, including one such instance in which he said he would “strangle (her), I wouldn’t shoot you because I like things up close and personal.”

A number of other recordings indicate Ben was allegedly physically harming his wife, she can be heard telling him to not burn her and that she was in pain before a child enters the room and asks Ellingson to stop. The person believed to be Ben tells the child to go to their room.

Another alarming recording of a person believed to be Ben’s had him making sexually explicit and detailed remarks about his underage stepdaughter to his wife, Shanda, the mother of the child. Shanda, court records said, admitted to being afraid for her life if and when she came forward to police, the original criminal report suggested and admitted Ben had been voicing the alleged threats along with the alleged domestic violence for awhile.
The accusations of harassment and domestic abuse initiated a search of the Ellingson’s home in the 700 block of Chestnut Street in Jefferson, leading to additional drug charges. Law enforcement located significant amounts of marijuana, including seven mason jars of marijuana totaling approximately 196 grams of cannabis (or roughly 6.9 ounces) as well as 18 containers of THC, court documents said. Criminal reports also indicate officers found baggies and scales, which are believed to be associated with illegal distribution.

A history of physical confrontations

Police also handed out charges, via interviews with her children, for Shanda allegedly chasing Ben up a flight of stairs carrying a knife with her children present. The children said Shanda allegedly stabbed Ben in his left ear with a pair of scissors. Shanda is also seen in a video obtained by law enforcement punching her husband three times in the face. In another video, Ben is seen bleeding “profusely” from his head. Shanda was charged with domestic abuse assault via the use or display of a deadly weapon.

More questions than answers

Jefferson police officers, according to the June 6 police report, believed Shanda originally left town with Ben, forcing law enforcement to execute another search warrant. Shanda allegedly commissioned an array of messages, court documents say, explaining to her two teenage children why she left.

An investigation led to the discovery of a video message Ben’s wife sent an acquaintance, according to court documents. Shanda could be seen saying in the video that “if anything were to happen” to her, she wanted (the acquaintance) “to care for her daughters,” while also saying she’d like her sister to be involved with decision-making related to her children.
A note was also addressed to the same acquaintance, which officers believe was written by Ben’s wife. It said the same thing as the video, for her acquaintance to care for her daughters if something were to happen to her. Shanda’s two children, in an interview with law enforcement, said they were not aware why their mother left, though they were able to briefly contact her via cell phone, court documents say. Shanda allegedly told the girls she was “with a friend and would be coming home that night.” She had also allegedly asked one of her children to join them, court documents said. Shanda left a note specifically addressed to her two children, saying she “can’t live with Ben being locked up” and that she won’t be able to call her children while she was gone.

She also apologized to her children, saying she was “so sorry that most of your life has been sh**** and I haven’t been a very good mom. I love you with all my heart and soul and I want you to have a better life than I can give you. I hope you can forgive me for leaving with Ben.”

Her children, according to court documents, said Shanda is “bi-polar” and she hadn’t been taking her medication prior to the couple’s disappearance.
Initially, Jefferson police officers believed that if Shanda wasn’t located quickly after the couple’s disappearances, her life would be in danger. Officers charged Shanda with child endangerment because she left her kids at home without an adult to supervise.

Officers discovered the couple first left Jefferson in a Kia Sportage then transferred vehicles to a Nissan Frontier. Shanda’s cell phone was last pinged to a location in Boone while Ben’s phone was last located in Jefferson. Officers were initially unsure whether Shanda actually left under her own power or if she was forced, which lead law enforcement to enter her as a missing and endangered person via the National Crime Information Center database, prior to the more serious, sexually explicit charges that later were handed out for both parties.
Initially, Jefferson police captain Jason Kroeger said the department both felt Shanda could have been kidnapped by her husband or she was in fact on the run with Ben, deciding to err on the side of caution.
“We have about equal evidence to support both theories (that the pair left together on their own). It’s not a kidnapping case right now,” Kroeger said after their disappearance. “Kidnapping is a very specific term and we don’t have a strong case that she was kidnapped.”

The case went national, with warrants being posted in the NCIC database, Kroeger said, and because the duo indicated that they may cross state lines in their travels, the local police department also reached out to the FBI.

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