The Iowa Department of Public Safety’s (DPS) Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI), along with the Union County Sheriff’s Office, Tuesday, arrested 43-year old Jennifer Jean Hartley, of Thayer,  on a charge of Murder in the First Degree, a class A Felony, in the death investigation of Loretta Dillinger.

On December 2nd, 2015, a hunter located a decomposed body in a pond at 1024 Redwood Avenue near the Union County and Madison County line. The Iowa Office of the State Medical Examiner in Ankeny performed an autopsy and determined the body to be that of 37-year old Loretta Dillinger.

Jennifer Jean Hartley

Through the investigation, DCI Agents determined that Jennifer Hartley acted with Jerry Dillinger to kill Loretta Dillinger. Hartley was part of a plan to have Loretta set fire to two residences, one in Greenfield and one in Thayer. Hartley provided her pistol to Jerry Dillinger to kill Loretta so she wouldn’t disclose any information about the fires. After the fires and death of Dillinger, Hartley knowingly helped conceal Loretta’s death.

Jennifer Hartley is being held in the Ringgold County Jail on $1 million cash-only bond. Jerry Dillinger plead two counts of first degree murder back in January. He was found dead in his jail cell last month, in what officials at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Oakdale said, was an apparent suicide.

Officials with the Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce have announced a new program helps to better the community and bring fun for the whole family. The Chamber is unveil two new campaigns for the year. The Explore, Discover, Share
campaign to raise community awareness, and, the Passport to the Atlantic Area, a shopping incentive program to encourage shopping local.

The goal of the Explore, Discover, Share campaign is to build community awareness and pride by exploring the community and then sharing those experiences. The campaign will kick off in June and continue through November and include multi-media marketing and an Explorer Challenge to engage community members.

Community members will be encouraged to visit participating locations, take a photo and learn something new to share. Participants will upload their photos and experiences to a dedicated website by clicking on the business they visited. Community members will use the same website and vote on their favorite photos. Prizes will be given throughout the campaign to participants with the most photos and votes with a grand prize winner at the end of the campaign.

Chamber businesses and tourist attractions that purchase sponsorships will be a part of the campaign, each receiving an Explore, Discover, Share sign or decal to designate them as a participant. The success of the campaign will be determined by the amount of overall support and excitement within the Chamber membership and community.

The Atlantic Area Chamber of Commerce partnered with several retail based businesses to create a Shop Local campaign for the entire year including the Passport to the Atlantic Area. The year-long campaign will educate the community on why it is important to shop local. Shopping local keeps dollars in our community; supports families, employees and business owners; provides you with great customer service and selection; benefits local schools and community projects; and encourages Atlantic’s unique character.

The Passport to the Atlantic Area gives shoppers an additional incentive to keep their dollars in the community. The Passport to the Atlantic Area is a shopping reward program to entice community members to shop at the participating businesses. The more you shop at the participating business the better your chance is to win Passport Dollars to spend.

The Passport program will kick off in late May or early June. Passports will be available for pick at all the participating businesses. Participants will receive stamps in the amount of purchases made at the local businesses. Once a participant’s passport is complete, they have the option to return the passport to the Chamber or participating businesses to be entered into a monthly drawing to win Passport Dollars, only redeemable at participating businesses. At the end of the year, all the completed passports will be eligible for a Grand Prize drawing.

Details regarding participating businesses and attractions for the campaigns will be released at a later date.