Two week trial delay for Marion man accused of killing four people last month

CEDAR RAPIDS — The trial for a Marion man accused of bludgeoning four people to death with a metal pipe last month has been reset to Sept. 10, as requested Friday by prosecutors because of a scheduling conflict.

Sixth Judicial District Judge Liz Dupuich, during a pretrial hearing Friday, granted the trial delay for Luke Wade Truesdell, 34. The delay wasn’t resisted by the defense, and will not violate Truesdell’s speedy trial demand.

Truesdell pleaded not guilty last month to four counts of first-degree murder. He has demanded a speedy trial — meaning his trial must begin within 90 days of trial information filed June 18.

Amanda Sue Parker, 33, of Vinton, and her boyfriend, Romondus “Roe” Lamar Cooper, 44, of Cedar Rapids, and Brent Anthony Brown, 34, and his girlfriend, Keonna Victoria Ryan, 26, of Cedar Rapids, were found with blunt force injuries to the head and neck on June 5 in an outbuilding at 3699 East Otter Rd., near Marion. The outbuilding and property is owned by Lon Brown, father of Brent Brown.

Brent Brown was the only victim still alive when Linn County sheriff’s deputies responded just before 4 p.m. to a call from a witness who found the deadly scene. Brent Brown died from his injuries three days later on June 7. Lon Brown told The Gazette on June 6 that test results showed his son had no brain activity.

The Gazette attempted to contact other family members, but they did not respond or declined to comment.

Amber Sangalli, a friend and co-worker of Parker, told The Gazette that Parker and her boyfriend, Cooper, had been evicted from their home last summer and started living in the outbuilding two months later.

Sangalli said she didn’t know Truesdell and didn’t know of any connection between him and Parker or the others.

A criminal complaint stated Truesdell told deputies he bludgeoned the four with a metal pipe. Video surveillance captured images of him in the area of the outbuilding, the complaint states.

There have been no details about how Truesdell was able to attack the four victims and whether all the victims were in the outbuilding with Truesdell at the same time.

Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks, in the complaint, said Truesdell provided “several motives,” including that he thought a movie would be made about the killings. The other motives were not included in the complaint.

Authorities haven’t released further information regarding the investigation.

Only one motion has been filed for subpoenas to gain access to bank records with little detail to explain why prosecutors want those.

The defense hasn’t filed any pretrial motions at this time.

Truesdell remains in jail on a $4 million cash-only bail.

Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com