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Jury convicts Hiawatha man in torturing, strangling death of Marion woman
Linn County jurors reach verdict in less than 2 hours
Nov. 14, 2024 3:40 pm, Updated: Nov. 15, 2024 8:21 am
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CEDAR RAPIDS — Family members of Melody Hoffman, who was kidnapped, tortured and strangled in February, broke down and cried, while others softly said “Yes, and thank you” when a judge read the three guilty verdicts Thursday.
One of Hoffman’s grandmothers couldn’t stop crying as 6th Judicial District Judge Chad Kepros polled the jurors, who confirmed their guilty verdicts for McKinley Louisma, 23, of Hiawatha, were unanimous.
The tears were joy and relief following nearly two weeks of tense, difficult testimony about their 20-year-old loved one who was brutally beaten and ultimately killed by Louisma, her first and only boyfriend, on Feb. 17.
The Linn County jury, deliberating less than two hours Thursday, convicted Louisma of first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping and conspiracy to commit a forcible felony.
He faces life in prison without parole on the murder conviction. His sentencing is set for Dec. 6, in Linn County District Court.
‘Delivered justice’
After the verdict was read, the family was hugging and thanking the investigators with the Marion Police Department and Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation. They declined to talk to the media.
“We want to extend our deepest gratitude to the members of the jury for their patience and attention over the last two weeks,” Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks, who prosecuted the case, said later. “Today, these 12 people delivered justice for Melody Hoffman’s family and for the community who still mourns her shocking death.”
Maybanks also acknowledged the team who investigated this case — First Assistant Linn County Attorney Monica Slaughter, Marion Police Detective Tom Peterson and DCI Special Agents Ryan Kedley and Marissa Mussman.
“Melody Hoffman’s family will continue to mourn her, as will we, but at least now we can say that justice has been written into her life story,” Maybanks said. “Our hearts are with all of them today.”
Closing arguments
Earlier on Thursday, Maybanks, during his closing argument, said Louisma’s actions were “depraved, dehumanizing and defy” all reason when he strangled, tortured and “mutilated” Hoffman on Feb. 17.
A “carefree” night turned into a “fatal depraved act” as they tortured and killed Hoffman at Morgan Creek Park west of Cedar Rapids and left her body by the Lily Pond in Amana, where her body was discovered after 10 a.m. Feb. 18.
There was no explanation for why this happened.
“It’s unbelievable, unreasonable and unsupported,” he said.
That isn’t a case where Louisma randomly had his friend, Dakota Van Patten, 18, of Cedar Rapids, also charged in the slaying, tie up his girlfriend — binding her hands and feet with duct tape — because Van Patten thought she might have some money or because of an argument over music, as Louisma told investigators.
“There’s no conceivable way this could have happened without the consent and support of each other,” Maybanks said.
Louisma “wasn’t an unwilling participant — quite the opposite.” The evidence showed he was the “instigator of the brutality inflicted upon Melody Hoffman,” who had a mild intellectual disability.
She was more like a 14-year-old girl, craving friends and love, he noted. Louisma was only person with motive and “passion” to kidnap and kill her.
Louisma may have needed Van Patten’s help, but Louisma was the “key driver.” Van Patten also is guilty, but none of this would have happened without Louisma, he said.
The evidence showed the two worked together from the time they walked into Walmart to buy machetes and heavy-duty rubber gloves to their trip to Kwik Star after the killing to get “celebratory cigars.”
Breaking up
Louisma and Hoffman started dating in October 2023 after he broke up with Nakia Svoboda, who he had been with for four years, Maybanks said. They had struggled over Louisma’s jealously and keeping jobs.
Louisma got back together in December with Svoboda, who was pregnant with a child he thought was his, Maybanks said. He broke up with Hoffman in January after Svoboda gave him an ultimatum.
Louisma, however, admitted to investigators he would still “hang out” with Hoffman and they would have sex, which would explain the autopsy evidence that Hoffman may have been pregnant when she was killed or had miscarried shortly before.
“That secret led to a boiling point,” Maybanks added.
Instead of letting Hoffman go, he launched a fatal plan and the conspiracy with Van Patten and Logan Kimpton, 18, of Hiawatha, also charged in the case but not involved in the kidnapping and killing of Hoffman.
Timeline
Maybanks, during his closing, went through the timeline of evidence investigators created from data and locator information from cell towers, the cellphones of Louisma and Hoffman, including health data from each, and traffic cameras that pieced together their activities on Feb. 17 and 18.
The health data helped investigators estimate the time of Hoffman’s killing because her Apple watch, synced to her phone, showed her heart rate jumped around midnight Feb. 17 and then stopped.
Maybanks said there is evidence she was killed in Morgan Creek Park, but the prosecution believes she wasn’t killed until she, Louisma and Van Patten went to the Lily Pond.
Ultimately, he said, it doesn’t matter if the jurors agree on where Hoffman died, but only that Louisma committed the crimes. There’s evidence that Louisma did some actions and that Van Patten did others.
Defense closing
Defense lawyer Matthew Moore, in his closing, went through the timeline of Louisma’s relationship with Svoboda and Hoffman, calling it a love triangle and saying Louisma’s breakup with Hoffman was typical of the way young people behave.
On Jan. 26, there is messaging between the three of them, and Hoffman says she is done with Louisma and he says the same thing. Svoboda tells Hoffman to go away and leave them alone.
Most of the physical evidence in the case comes back to Van Patten, Moore said. The paracord used to strangle Hoffman matches the paracord found in Van Patten’s basement, and a Van Patten selfie photo shows him wearing Hoffman’s glasses after she was killed.
Moore questioned the locator information provided by the prosecution, arguing its accuracy. He noted it could only show Louisma’s phone within the range of Morgan Creek and showed a radius of within 7 miles of Lily Pond.
Hoffman’s pregnancy, he argued, was only important because the prosecution wanted it for a motive. But the HCG — a hormone produced when an embryo is fertilized — present in Hoffman’s blood was so low that it wouldn’t show up on a urine pregnancy test.
There’s no proof she was pregnant or that Louisma knew, Moore said.
Rebuttal
On rebuttal, Maybanks said he agreed with the defense on one point — in a love triangle people get hurt. That cuts to the “heart of this case.” But typical people don’t act like Louisma and Van Patten he said.
Van Patten had the paracord, but it ended up in the trunk of Louisma’s vehicle. It was in a green bag that had the duct tape, bloody knife and Hoffman’s shoes.
It seems strange there’s no DNA from Louisma on anything, he said. Van Patten and Louisma had rubber gloves, and Louisma, in his interview with police, admitted he had touched everything. There was DNA from three individuals, including Hoffman, but it was insufficient for a profile.
Maybanks told the jurors if they reviewed Louisma’s interview with police, they will realize that he just displaced what he did with Van Patten’s name.
Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com
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