'Always A Smile, Always A Hello' - Friends and Family Mourn Deceased Clinton Business Owner

A Clinton, Iowa, business owner found dead on Friday has been identified by close friends as Shelly Leab, who is being remembered as a kind and selfless lady with a smile for everyone.

Officers of the Clinton Police Department were dispatched to a home in the 900 block of Pershing Boulevard around 12:30 p.m. on Friday, April 17, for a welfare check and found two people deceased inside the home.

Authorities are yet to formally identify the deceased, but social media users named Shelly Leab and Brian Witherspoon as the couple involved. Leab was a Clinton realtor with the Gateway Realty Group and owner of the Poopy’s Biker bar and Grill and Legend Draft Haus & Golf Simulators, according to her Facebook. Leab, who was remembered as a kind soul and friend to everyone, lost a son from a previous marriage, Keaton Olsen, in February 2024 due to drugs. A GoFundMe at the time described Olsen as a “bright, outgoing, and determined young man who had so much life left to live.” He was only 19 at the time of his death.

Leab, who was dating Witherspoon at the time, praised him following her son’s death for standing by her side. After a ‘ride for Recovery’ event held in her son’s honor in May, Witherspoon proposed to Leab.

“Brian Witherspoon turned it into an even more memorable day with a proposal 💍 just another reason you give me to love you more and more with each passing day ❤️ you are amazing 💋” she wrote at the time.

Brian Witherspoon worked as a Senior Environmental, Health and Safety Manager at the Timken Company in Clinton.

Friends and family mourned Leab, remembering her as a pleasant soul. “She has always been a pleasant soul and rarely a bad thing to say about anybody. Always a smile. Always a hello,” former brother-in-law, Phillip Peterson, shared on Facebook.

It’s currently unclear what led to the deaths of the duo. More details about the tragedy are expected in the coming days.