A former Decorah man has been found guilty of murder in the 2017 disappearance of a teenage girl with ties to Ames.
The Tuesday, Sept. 2, verdict against James Bachmurski leaves him facing up to 50 years in prison when he is sentenced Oct. 21.
The case focused on Bachmurski ‘s role in the disappearance of Jade Colvin, then 15, who went missing just days after moving to his farm in Winneshiek County in March 2017. Colvin had been living in Arizona after previously being reported as a runaway from Ames in 2016.
The case has followed a convoluted journey. Although Colvin was reported missing to Des Moines police in March 2017, Bachmurski, now 66, was not arrested and charged until 2024, following a tip from the U.S. Marshal’s Service in 2022 that sparked a new investigation in Winneshiek County. Colvin’s remains were never recovered and Bachmurski’s defense argued at trial she might still be alive.
According to the complaint, in which Bachmurski was charged with second-degree murder, Bachmurski had developed an online relationship with Colvin without her mother’s knowledge and had paid to help her move to his farm.
During his trial, according to reports by the Decorah Leader and KCRG-TV, investigators described a teen with an unstable home life who had run away from multiple previous foster care and shelter placements. Colvin’s mother, who had some prior relationship with Bachmurski, had reportedly won a legal fight to regain custody over her, but left her for a time with Bachmurski. Her mother died in 2019, according to a timeline presented to the jury.
At Bachmurski’s farm, Colvin reportedly did not get service on her cell phone and relied on Bachmurski’s phone to communicate. The last confirmed message anyone received from her came on March 30, 2017, a week after she arrived at the farm.
Bachmurski, who moved to Georgia in 2018, did not testify, but jurors heard from several interviews with investigators in which he made comments that “I’m getting myself in a lot of trouble” and that he “figured I’d go to the grave before I tell the truth.”
His account, investigators testified, was that he’d last seen Colvin at his house when leaving to run an errand, and that she was gone when he returned. He told police he didn’t report her disappearance at the time because he believed harboring a runaway could have gotten him in trouble.
During the trial, defense attorneys pointed to Colvin’s repeated record of running away from home and argued she had been making plans for years to cut ties with her former life. They also pointed to an alleged sighting of Colvin in 2021 in Illinois, which was reported to a missing persons hotline.
Bachmurski’s trial began Aug. 25.
William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at wrmorris2@registermedia.com or 715-573-8166.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Former Decorah man convicted of murder in Ames teen’s 2017 disappearance
Reporting by William Morris, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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