Fourth victim of fatal attack near Marion dies

A man who authorities said was beaten with a metal pipe near Marion has become the fourth victim of a fatal attack last Wednesday, and the suspect is now charged with four counts of first-degree murder.

Brent Anthony Brown, 34, was severely injured in the bludgeoning and hospitalized. His father, Lon Brown, who earlier told The Gazette he owns the property where the attack occurred, said last week that tests had shown his son had no brain activity.

On Sunday, Linn County Sheriff Brian Gardner said in a news release that Brent Brown was declared dead Friday by the Johnson County Medical Examiner.

His body will be taken to the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Ankeny, along with those of the other three victims — Keonna Victoria Ryan, 26, and Romondus Lamar Cooper, 44, both of Cedar Rapids; and Amanda Sue Parker, 33, of Vinton. All suffered blunt force injuries to the head and other injuries to the body.

The suspect, Luke Wade Truesdell, 34, of Marion, was ordered held on a $4 million bail after being charged with three counts of first-degree murder and the attempted murder of Brown.

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Truesdell now faces four counts of first-degree murder and is set to have his first appearance in court Monday on the upgraded charge. Authorities said in a criminal complaint that Truesdell gave several motives for the attack, including that the murders could be made into a movie.

Linn County sheriff’s deputies responded just before 4 p.m. Wednesday to 3699 East Otter Road near Marion after a witness discovered four individuals with bleeding head wounds in an outbuilding on the property, according to a criminal complaint.

Truesdell was found at the scene of the killings and admitted to deputies he hit the four with a metal pipe, the complaint shows. The pipe, with blood and hair on it, was collected by investigators.

Relatives of the first three victims either couldn’t be reached or declined to comment last week. The relationships between them and with the accused attacker have not been disclosed.

One of the victims, Parker, held down two jobs, one at a Subway restaurant and one at the Olde Brick House Pub at the Lindale Mall in Cedar Rapids, according to Shay Colwell, the general manager at Olde Brick House. She said she had known Parker since the pub opened last September.

“She was a very bubbly, happy person,” Colwell said. “She was a wonderful worker, a good co-worker. We call each other family, so she became family here.”

Parker often talked about her family, especially her nieces and nephews, and she spent most of her breaks playing Monopoly on her phone. She didn’t have a car, but usually got rides to work from her co-workers, according to Colwell.

Parker hadn’t worked at Olde Brick House the day of the murders.

“I had just left the restaurant to go home for the day. By the time I got home, I had a whole bunch of text messages on my phone, probably about 5 o’clock. Everybody was saying that her house was on the news. That’s when it started going around. Later on we found out that one of them was actually her,” Colwell said.

Investigators identified Parker as being from Vinton. Her connection to the property where the attack occurred has not been described by authorities.

A gofundme.com online fundraiser on her behalf had raised more than $9,000 as of Sunday afternoon. The page’s organizer said funds raised there would go to Parker’s family.

Emily Andersen and John McGlothlen of The Gazette contributed.