Passengers told Iowa City police to search Isaiah Sweet's car, warrants indicate

During a search of the Chevrolet Avalanche that double-murder suspect Isaiah Sweet was driving early May 13 when police stopped him in Iowa City, detectives found drugs and paraphernalia, including medication prescribed to his grandmother, who he's accused of killing.

Isaiah Sweet, 17, of Manchester, is accused of shooting and killing both his grandparents – Janet Sweet, 62, and Richard Sweet, 55 – before leaving town toward the Iowa City area, where he was stopped and held for driving with a suspended license.

Family members and authorities discovered the couple's bodies later on May 13, after their grandson had been released from the Iowa City Police Department. He was arrested in connection with the killings after a short manhunt May 14, and he's been charged as an adult with two counts of first-degree murder.

According to search warrant documents made public Tuesday, investigators who searched the vehicle found a medication bottle prescribed to Janet Sweet containing 23 tablets of acetaminophen-hydrocodone, a narcotic prescribed for pain, in a duffel bag.

They also found a half dozen other pills and drug paraphernalia, including a “one-hitter pipe” with marijuana residue, according to the warrant.

The warrant states that officers contacted Sweet in the early morning hours of May 13 while investigating an alarm at Fast Break, 2580 Naples Ave., in Iowa City.

Sweet, who had two passengers, initially said they were not involved in the alarm, but officers eventually determined they did trigger the system, according to the warrant. According to the documents, Sweet told officers that his passengers “were at the door trying to open the business.”

Sweet failed to show proper vehicle insurance and a valid license, officers reported, and they took him into custody after discovering that his license was suspended and that he had falsified information to officers several times.

Officers asked to search Sweet's vehicle at the scene on a tip from Sweet's two passengers, Kelli Fisher and Tina Rice, according to the warrant. Fisher and Rice told officers there were “drugs in the back seat in the duffel bag,” according to the warrant.

Sweet denied them permission to search the vehicle, officers reported, but he later admitted to having prescription pills and marijuana paraphernalia in the vehicle.

The vehicle was towed, and Sweet was eventually released to an adult authorized by his mother. That adult dropped him off hours later in Cedar Rapids, where he was eventually arrested.

Fisher has told The Gazette that

she met Sweet for the first time that weekend when he took her and her friends to a party in Iowa City. Fisher told The Gazette that Sweet also had a hunting knife in the vehicle, although officers didn't identify any weapons on its list of items seized during the vehicle search.