Woman killed in Marion Hy-Vee parking lot

MARION -- A woman leaving a Hy-Vee grocery store Tuesday afternoon was attacked and killed in the parking lot by a man who wounded himself, Marion Police Chief Harry Daugherty said.

The stabbing occurred in front of onlookers as shoppers came and went.

'This is a terrible tragedy, and our hearts go out to the families involved in this,' the chief said at a news conference held nearby. 'This is something that is going to affect a lot of people because there were witnesses to this, and I'm sure this will affect them for a long time.'

The victim was identified as Lynnsey Donald, 29, of Marion. Her assailant was identified as Nicholas Luerkens, 32, of Cedar Rapids. They knew each other, Daugherty said, but investigators were not yet sure of their exact relationship.

Daugherty said the attack does not pose a broader danger to the community. 'There's no harm, no worries, to the citizens of Marion,' he said.

Authorities recovered the weapon.

The fatal attack happened outside the 24-hour Hy-Vee near the intersection of 35th Street and Highway 151.

Police officers and Linn County Sheriff's Office deputies taped off a large section of the parking lot outside of the store and were restricting access.

Daugherty said the store remained open while authorities were on the scene.

Marion resident Gary Barrows said he was at the Hy-Vee shortly after the attack.

'I went to Hy-Vee to Starbucks to get my wife a drink, and I came out and there was all kinds of people behind my vehicle and I get up to my vehicle and there was a lady right behind it on the ground bleeding,' Barrows said.

About an hour after the attack, Haki Alyassiri, 21, said he stopped by the Hy-Vee to pick up a prescription and some peanut butter and encountered the crime tape.

'I was confused, I thought it was a fender-bender or something,' he said. 'It makes me upset to hear about it. It makes you realize there are people like that out there. Even in a small, quiet town like Marion, it's unfortunate. People don't wake up and realize something like that could happen here.'

Luerkens was taken to St. Luke's Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries that police say appear to be self-inflicted. No charges have been filed while the investigation continues.

Iowa court records show Luerkens had a drunken driving violation in 2004 and was divorced in 2013 after a marriage to a different woman.

He posted a photograph on his Facebook page that appears to show him posing with Donald at a December 2013 holiday party.

Tuesday's attack is the city's first confirmed homicide since 2008, when Daniel Meade, 50, of Hiawatha, was killed in a Marion home. A Marion man, Kim Polley, was sent to prison in the death.

Last year, Marion police investigated the disappearance of James 'Jim Bob' Booher as a homicide, but his body had not been found.

Jill Kasparie of KCRG-TV9 contributed to this report.