Standlee charged in connection with two Cedar Rapids deaths

CEDAR RAPIDS - A man arrested this month in connection with one killing was released from jail within hours and killed again, according to information Wednesday from authorities.

Travis Standlee, 44, who lists no address, faces two first-degree murder charges. He was ordered held on $2 million cash bail - $1 million for each count, first of strangling a homeless man and then of strangling a homeless woman less than a week later.

Linn County Attorney Jerry Vander Sanden and Cedar Rapids Police Chief Wayne Jerman refused Wednesday to explain how a suspect in one death could spend only 14 hours in jail before committing the other killing he is accused of a short time later.

In an email statement to The Gazette, Vander Sanden said he 'cannot make further public comment about the charges against Travis Standlee. Our rules of professional responsibility concerning trial publicity place strict limits on what our office can state in a public forum outside of what is already contained in a public record.”

In an interview, Jerman said he stood by his department's initial arrest of Standlee after the first killing. 'I can't speculate as to why he was released and why the decision was made,” he said. 'My detectives presented a solid case.”

Jerman would not say whether any of his officers kept tabs on Standlee after he was released from jail.

Standlee was arrested Tuesday night at a homeless shelter in Des Moines in the deaths of 56-year-old Raymond Ursino, whose body was found Sept. 5 in a church parking lot, and Sharon Mead, 41, whose body was found Sept. 11 near a bus stop at Coe College.

Standlee was arrested Sept. 9 in Ursino's death. Police announced the arrest Sept. 10 and said he would face charges of involuntary manslaughter and willful injury causing serious injury.

However, also on Sept. 10, Vander Sanden refused to file charges against Standlee in Ursino's death, citing a lack of evidence from police.

'It's clear the investigation is not yet completed,” he said at the time. 'There is not sufficient legal evidence to file charges at this time.”

Vander Sanden said then that he had not been provided the preliminary report from the Iowa State Medical Examiner's Office on Ursino's death. He also said a video of the incident from a security camera was inconclusive.

Vander Sanden said at the time he had called the lead detective in the case with his concerns. But it remained unclear what came of that.

Standlee was released from the Linn County Jail on Sept. 10.

Mead's body was discovered early the following morning. Authorities say she died 'on or about” that same day.

Vander Sanden and Jerman declined to answer questions from The Gazette about handling of the case, including:

' How much communication took place between police and the county attorney's office leading up to Standlee's initial arrest?

' What type of communication occurred between authorities before Standlee was released?

' Were any efforts made to keep Standlee in custody longer?

According to a criminal complaint, investigators identified Standlee in Ursino's killing from surveillance videos. One showed the two fighting near where Ursino's body was found, the records showed,

Additionally, in Mead's killing, Standlee's fingerprints were found on a can found near her body. When investigators questioned Standlee, he said he was on a bench with her and that she 'fell off” and died.

However, police said the Iowa State Medical Examiner's Office found that both Ursino and Mead died of strangulation and had 'strikingly similar injuries.”

Cedar Rapids public safety spokesman Greg Buelow said investigators are still trying to determine the exact time and location of Mead's death, and if and how the three were acquainted.

Before his initial arrest Set. 9, Standlee was arrested three times this summer in three different Iowa counties, his only criminal record in Iowa. He was charged with public intoxication in Polk County on Sept. 1, pleaded guilty that same day and was fined $65. On July 1, he was arrested for public intoxication in Johnson County, pleaded guilty and was fined $100. On June 12, he was arrested in Linn County for consumption of alcohol in a public place. He pleaded guilty the following day and was fined $65.

Standlee referred to his apparent issues with alcohol in a Facebook post Sept. 8, the day before his initial arrest.

'Well, I just got out of the hospital for heat exhaustion (which was compounded by alcohol consumption,” he wrote, mentioning a friend who drank himself 'to death.”

'The definition of insanity is to do the same thing and expect different results. So, time to try different things,” he wrote.

If convicted of either count of first-degree murder, a Class A felony, he would face an automatic life sentence.