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Marion woman’s beating, torture killing in 2024 was ‘real-life horror story,’ prosecutor says
Witness testifies Dakota Van Patten confessed to killing Melody Hoffman
Sep. 17, 2025 6:59 pm
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CEDAR RAPIDS — The beating, strangling and killing of a 20-year-old Marion woman in February 2024 was one of “premeditation, execution and celebration” by two friends/accomplices who couldn’t have done it without the other, a prosecutor said Wednesday.
Dakota Van Patten, 19, of Cedar Rapids, on trial this week for first-degree murder and other charges, and McKinley Louisma, 24, of Hiawatha, already convicted in the crime, were partners in the “depraved and heinous events that snuffed out the life of Melody Hoffman,” Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks said during his opening statement in Linn County District Court in Cedar Rapids.
He said the two had a plan Feb. 17, 2024, when they coaxed Hoffman to come out with them, but she had no idea she would never return home.
She was too trusting and easily manipulated, Maybanks said. Hoffman had an intellectual disability and her mind was more like a 14-year-old girl’s in the body of a 20-year-old woman.
Hoffman didn’t always make the best decisions and craved affection, especially from young men, Maybanks said. Louisma started dating her in October 2023. After breaking up in January 2024, he continued to “string her along,” Maybanks said.
The night of the killing, Louisma got Hoffman to sneak out of the home where she lived with her mother and go out with him and Van Patten. They eventually took her to Morgan Creek Park in Cedar Rapids, where they bound her wrists and ankles, strangled and stabbed her and then took her to the Lily Pond in Amana, where they mutilated her lifeless body.
“This was a real-life horror story,” Maybanks said.
Besides first-degree murder, Van Patten also is charged with first-degree kidnapping and conspiracy to commit a forcible felony in the slaying of Hoffman. If convicted of first-degree murder, he faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The trial is expected to continue into next week.
Louisma was convicted in November 2024 and is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Logan Kimpton, 19, of Cedar Rapids, also is charged with conspiracy to commit a forcible felony. He didn’t participate in the killing, but authorities say he had knowledge and helped in the plan.
Maybanks told jurors they would hear about DNA evidence leading back to Van Patten and see electronic evidence of their movements that night because Hoffman had her phone and was wearing her Apple watch, along with apps her mother set up so she could track her daughter on a daily basis.
Raya Dimitrova, Van Patten’s lawyer, said during her opening statement that “presence is not participation.” She asked the jury to hold the prosecution to its burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt in proving every element of the offenses charged.
She asked the jurors to pay attention to the relationship between Louisma and Hoffman and what was happening in Louisma’s life that day. Other questions they should consider, she said, are whether Louisma or Van Patten had any reason to harm Hoffman.
Dimitrova said many of those questions won’t be answered by the end of the trial, which amounts to reasonable doubt.
Witnesses testify about finding body
Amy Robasse testified about finding Hoffman’s body at the Lily Pond. She was parked in the lot by the pavilion area, listening to an audiobook on Feb. 18, when an older couple approached her car. They looked “distressed” and told her they had seen an animal or “something” on the shore.
Robasse started walking over to the pavilion and saw what appeared to be a young woman’s body.
The woman, later identified as Hoffman, was covered in “slash marks,” lying face down in the grass, Robasse said. She immediately knew the woman was dead because she wasn’t breathing and her hands were “curled up” in an odd way.
She recalled the woman’s “beautiful lovely” curls and pale skin. Robasse said she was unclothed, wearing only a bra and underwear.
She called 911, and the recording was played for jurors.
Iowa County Sheriff’s Deputy Mark Tiedt testified that when he arrived, first responders had already checked for a pulse and heartbeat, and there were “no signs of life.”
Tiedt said he noticed two stab wounds to her back, along with the slash marks. After the medical examiner rolled over the body, he saw that Hoffman’s bra was pulled up, exposing her breasts, and her underwear had been pulled down. He also saw bruising and ligature marks on her wrists, ankles and neck, as if she had been bound.
During his testimony, he identified photos that showed slash marks on her upper, mid and low back, two stab wounds closer to her shoulders and a stab wound near her side, closer to her hip area.
Tiedt said Hoffman also had defensive injuries to her fingers on her right hand and her thumb on her left hand.
Hoffman was wearing her high school class ring from 2022, which had her name on it. Officers also found her necklace and a small piece of pink cloth near her body.
Linn County Sheriff Sgt. Corey Grote testified about surveillance video investigators obtained from Walmart in southwest Cedar Rapids. The video showed Van Patten, Louisma and Kimpton purchasing two 18-inch machetes and two pairs of rubber gloves.
In the video, Van Patten is carrying the machetes through the store and Louisma pays for the items at a self-check register.
Confession by Van Patten: ‘It had to be done’
Taya Meyer, 20, Marion, said Van Patten called her Feb. 17, but she didn’t know what time. She had already gone to bed. He asked to come over and talk to her about something important. Meyer said she had known him for only a few months and they weren’t close.
Meyer said Van Patten was calm when he got there and seemed normal, but his “vibe” was confusing, like he had something on his mind. He said he had been with Louisma, whom she knew through Kimpton.
Van Patten said “I killed somebody,” and Meyer said she didn’t know what to say. Her mind “went blank.” She was confused and asked who he killed and why.
Meyer said Van Patten told her, “That Melody girl. It had to be done.”
He then went silent and his demeanor changed, she said. Van Patten said he was “with” Louisma during this.
She told him he had to leave.
Meyer said she didn’t see any weapons on him but saw him earlier in the week with a machete.
On cross-examination, Meyer said she didn’t call police because she feared Van Patten would come after her. She also admitted that she didn’t initially tell police the truth but said she was nervous.
Meyer said she had no reason to lie about this, and she wished he wouldn’t have involved her.
Trevor Weis testified that Louisma gave him a ride home from work in Robins to his home in Hiawatha on Feb. 17. He thought it was about 11 p.m.
Weis said Van Patten and Kimpton, who is Weis’ cousin, were with Louisma that night.
The next morning, Louisma showed up at Weis’ mobile home and was knocking on his doors and windows about 8 a.m., trying to wake him up. Louisma asked him to tell “anyone who asked” that he was playing video games with Louisma all night.
Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com
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