The FBI have reportedly joined a police investigation after a woman claimed her dad had killed 'up to 70' women and made her hide the bodies.
Lucy Studey posthumously accused her father Donald Dean Studey last week of slaying the young women over three decades in their hometown of Thurman in Iowa.
Speaking to US news magazine Newsweek, she said Donald had forced her to help move dozens of human remains before they were buried in land surrounding the family home.
Lucy said: "He would just tell us we had to go to the well, and I knew what that meant.
"Every time I went to the well or into the hills, I didn’t think I was coming down. I thought he would kill me because I wouldn’t keep my mouth shut."
Donald Studey, who died in March 2013 at the age of 75, is reported to have had four children, including three daughters and a son.
Local sheriff's office and police department have stepped in to probe Lucy's claims of buried bodies since the interview, with reports emerging that human remains detection K9s had turned up positives at locations suggested by her.
While no announcement of any discovery has been made, Fremont County Sheriff Sgt. Andrew Wake earlier confirmed a search operation and said: "She’s made these claims to the office and we’re looking into it.
"We’re trying to gather information to establish credibility and see if we can get evidence if there are bodies buried there or not."
At least one agent from the Federal Bureau of Investigation is also said to be assisting authorities in their inquiries, though the agency has refused to pass any comment.
Fremont County Sheriff Kevin Aistrope meanwhile told Newsweek that he "100 percent" believed Lucy's assertions that "there’s bodies in there", though admitted in a separate conversation with local newspaper Des Moines Register that the only evidence so far was two cadaver dog alerts.
Susan Studey, Donald's other daughter, has denied her sister’s claims of murder by her father and says she was never made to move any human remains.
She told Newsweek: "I think I would know if my father murdered. I would know if my dad was a serial killer. He was not, and I want my father’s name restored."
