Hiawatha man accused of kidnapping woman found dead in Amana

A Hiawatha man has been charged with kidnapping a woman who was found dead in Amana on Sunday.

McKinley Louisma, 23, is charged in Linn County with first-degree kidnapping and conspiracy to commit a forcible felony. According to criminal complaints, Louisma admitted to law enforcement that he and another person kidnapped Melody Hoffman, 20, from Morgan Creek Park in Linn County on Saturday evening. Louisma had been in an intimate relationship with Hoffman, but was also in a relationship with another woman, he told the police.

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Louisma and the other person bound Hoffman, of Marion, with duct tape around her wrists, placed her in the trunk of Louisma’s car and drove to several different locations before taking off her clothes and leaving her at a pond at 220th Trail and 38th Avenue in Amana, according to the complaint.

Hoffman’s body was discovered Sunday morning at the pond. A preliminary investigation by the Iowa State Medical Examiner’s Office indicates her cause of death was by strangulation, though she also had numerous stab and slash wounds in her body. Data from her iPhone and Apple Watch indicated she was at Morgan Creek Park Saturday night when her heartbeat intensified before it either stopped or the watch was deactivated.

Investigators searched Louisma’s car with a warrant and found Hoffman’s phone case, a white Apple Watch band with blood on it, a bungee cord, a towing rope, gloves and clothing matching the clothing Hoffman had been wearing at Morgan Creek Park.

Louisma admitted details of the kidnapping to a Special Agent from the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, but didn’t say whether he had caused Hoffman’s death. He stated Hoffman “was subject to being physically beaten while she was with him and the other person and was begging to be let go,” and that “if investigators were to ask the other individual what happened, the other individual would probably put the blame on him,” the complaint states.

The other individual involved in the kidnapping has not yet been arrested.

The investigation into the case is being conducted by the Marion Police Department, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, The Linn County Sheriff’s Office and the Iowa County Sheriff’s Office. Louisma was arrested Tuesday and is being held in the Linn County Jail. A judge set his bail at $50,000 cash only.

Louisma is accused of kidnapping Hoffman while he was out on bail for an assault charge. In January, he was charged with willful injury resulting in bodily injury after police say he punched, kicked and kneed a man, causing bruising and swelling to the man’s face and a cut on his lower back. Louisma was released from jail on a $5,000 bond.

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