In loving memory of
Patricia Lange
August 23, 1993
Patricia Ann Lange, 36, had begun a hopeful new chapter — a recent move to West Des Moines for a promising job — remembered for her courage to start anew and the life she was building.
Remembering Patricia
A life held close in memory
Patricia Ann Lange was 36 when she left behind an established life in Denver to pursue a new professional opportunity in West Des Moines, Iowa. Colleagues and public records identify her as a database administrator who had accepted work with a mortgage company and arrived in the area in mid-August 1993. She began her new life staying temporarily at the University Park Holiday Inn while she looked for a permanent home.
The verified public record shows Patricia as someone making a decisive, hopeful transition — relocating for a job and the chance to build a fresh chapter. That choice reflects the kind of courage and practical independence many take when they pursue new work and a new community. While details about her private life, family, or past are limited in the publicly available sources, the documented facts make clear she was a working professional in her mid‑thirties who had taken concrete steps toward a new beginning.
Patricia’s life was cut tragically short on August 23, 1993. Her death and the later investigation are part of the public record; forensic work years after her death identified a suspect who was later convicted. Those legal details are recorded in court opinions and contemporary news reports, but they do not define Patricia. What remains most important for a memorial is the fact that she was a person who moved across states to pursue a career and a fresh start.
Though public information about her hobbies, family relationships, and personal memories is sparse, it is appropriate to honor the human intention behind her move — the resolve to begin again in a new place. This remembrance holds to that simple truth: Patricia sought opportunity and stability, and that desire to build a life in a new city stands as a humane and dignified aspect of who she was.
If family members or friends wish to add personal memories, photographs, or details about Patricia’s life and character, those contributions would help complete the portrait of a person whose life mattered beyond the brief public record.
Shared moments
From the gallery
Words from family and friends
Recent remembrances
Remembering Patricia with compassion and heartfelt sympathy. May every good memory bring some measure of comfort to the people whose lives were touched by this loss.