Linn County jury convicts Luke Truesdell of bludgeoning 4 people with metal pipe

CEDAR RAPIDS — Family members and friends of the four people bludgeoned with a metal pipe last year shed tears and quietly said “thank you” as the judge announced the guilty verdicts for Luke Truesdell on Monday.

The Linn County jury convicted Truesdell, 35, of Marion, on three counts of first-degree murder in the fatal assaults of Brent Brown, 34, and his girlfriend, Keonna Ryan, 26, of Cedar Rapids, and Amanda Parker, 33, of Vinton, and found him guilty of the lesser charge of second-degree murder in the death of Parker’s boyfriend, Romondus Cooper, 44, of Cedar Rapids.

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The jury deliberated half a day last Thursday, all day Friday and more than two hours Monday following the six-day trial.

The four victims were found June 5, 2024 in an outbuilding at 3699 Otter Rd., north of Marion. The property is owned by Brent Brown’s father, Lon Brown. Both couples were living on the property at the time.

A state medical examiner, during the trial, said Brent Brown, Ryan, Cooper and Parker all died as a result of blunt force injuries to the head. Each of them had “high velocity” injuries.

Dr. Rory Deol, associate state medical examiner, said each victim received at least two or more “blows,” which caused death. He couldn’t be certain on those because one impact or blow could have caused multiple injuries.

According to the toxicology reports, Parker tested positive for methamphetamine and amphetamines; Cooper tested positive for meth; Brent tested positive for meth; and Ryan tested positive for meth and amphetamines. However, Deol said the drugs did not contribute to their deaths.

Deol also said some of the injuries were embedded with a “black material,” which could have been the black coating on a 42-inch metal pipe investigators said was the murder weapon.

A sentencing date has not yet been set. Truesdell faces three life sentences and up to 50 years on the second-degree murder conviction. The judge could run the sentences consecutively or concurrently to each other.

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Nerve wracking wait for verdict

Following the verdict, First Assistant Linn County Attorney Monica Slaughter said she and assistant attorney Jordan Schier speculate that when the jurors considered the evidence, they didn’t think there was enough to determine premeditation in the killing of Cooper, who may have been the first one killed.

The jurors could have believed the others were killed because they could have identified the killer.

According to Iowa law, second-degree murder doesn’t require premeditation, only a specific intent to kill.

Slaughter admitted it is always “nerve wracking” waiting for a verdict but neither she nor Schier expected deliberations to last this long because of all the evidence in this case. There was more evidence in this case than in many other murder cases.

“Typically, you have an eyewitness, video, DNA or a confession, rarely do you have all of those together,” Slaughter said. ”That was another pill that was becoming harder to swallow (as we waited on verdict) of what more could they ask from us — everything corroborated every other piece of evidence we had.“

Slaughter said their hope was that the jury was “thoughtfully” evaluating the evidence with a purpose, which is what they want from jurors.

They know they can’t bring back those four individuals, but they can bring justice and closure for the families to move forward because the person responsible has been convicted, Schier added.

Closings last week

Slaughter, during her closing argument Thursday, called what happened on June 5, 2024 a “mass murder in Marion,” when Cooper, Parker, Ryan and Brent Brown were “executed” and died from blunt force injuries, aberrated lacerations and skull fractures, which are “high velocity” injuries, the kind someone suffers in a vehicle crash.

“But there was no vehicle. There was only Luke Truesdell and a metal pipe,” Slaughter said.

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Slaughter took the jury through portions of surveillance video taken from the property, which showed what happened before the deadly attack.

Brent Brown and Ryan were out in the yard planting flowers and Cooper and Parker arrived later on a motorcycle. Cooper had picked up Parker from work, Slaughter said.

The video showed Cooper and Parker going toward the outbuilding and Luke following, as his father, Larry Truesdell, went to remove a motor from an old boat that Lon Brown told his friend, Larry, he could take.

Slaughter pointed out that it was a windy day, but the audio in the surveillance video picked up Parker’s scream, which Brent and Ryan heard. They stopped what they were doing and went toward the building to check it out. As they got to the building, Luke was coming out, but then Luke did an “about face” and followed them inside. The four never exited the building.

Lon Brown testified last Wednesday that later, inside the house, Larry was in Luke’s face telling him something, but Lon couldn’t hear. Lon said Luke was “dazed and mumbling” to himself, so Slaughter said Larry was doing “damage control” because he knew what his son had done.

Luke told law enforcement he went in the outbuilding and saw a body lying on the floor and walked out, but then admitted he “hit them,” confirming each of them when asked.

Slaughter said Luke also told law enforcement he used a metal “bar” and then told investigators where to find it in the large outbuilding that was packed with items and equipment.

The DNA found on the metal pipe belonged to Cooper, Ryan and a mixture of two, but no profile could be determined. The other profile was Luke Truesdell, Slaughter said.

Ryan’s hair also was found on the bloody side of the pipe and Luke’s DNA was found on the non-bloody end, where someone would hold the pipe to “swing” it.

Defense

Patrick McMullen, lawyer for Luke Truesdell, in his closing, painted a different picture — one of reasonable doubt based on the evidence and investigation. He continued to suggest Luke’s father — Larry Truesdell — could be the real killer, as the defense did throughout the trial.

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The prosecution said Luke was in a daze, but could he have been “dumbfounded — absolutely in shock seeing dead bodies?” McMullen asked. Larry seemed worried about his own actions, he said.

McMullen, more than once, asked the jurors to hold the prosecution to its burden and not jump to the same conclusions they did or what law enforcement — specifically, Linn County Sheriff Lt. Todd Egli — did.

McMullen also argued that the DNA on the pipe could have been left on it a few weeks earlier, the last time Luke was at the property.

The defense attorney also asked why there was so little blood on Luke even though there was blood spatter all over the outbuilding. How could Luke not have blood on him, McMullen asked.

Slaughter, on rebuttal, asked the jurors to use their reason and common sense. The prosecution’s case isn’t based on one piece of evidence, she said. Look at all the evidence taken together. The surveillance videos are only part of the evidence to give “perspective and positions.”

Luke never said his dad killed them, Slaughter said. He said he “hit them” with a metal pipe and told them where to find it.

Trish Mehaffey covers state and federal courts for The Gazette

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