Marion man charged with killing 4 asks for competency evaluation

CEDAR RAPIDS — Lawyers for a Marion man charged with killing four people in June is asking the court to further delay his Sept. 10 trial pending a competency evaluation.

Patrick McMullen, lawyer for Luke Wade Truesdell, 34, charged with four counts of first-degree murder, filed a motion Sunday saying Truesdell may be suffering from a mental disorder that prevents him understanding the charges and assisting in his defense.

McMullen asked the court to temporarily delay proceedings until Truesdell can undergo a competency evaluation. Sixth Judicial District Judge Liz Dupuich has set a hearing for Wednesday in Linn County District Court.

If the judge agrees to the evaluation, proceedings in the case could be delayed for months. The prosecution also may decide to have it own evaluation conducted, and then a judge would review the evaluations. The evaluations could show whether Truesdell is competent to continue to trial or, if not, be sent to the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Coralville for restoration of competency.

Truesdell’s trial earlier this month was delayed by two weeks to Sept. 10 because of a scheduling conflict for prosecutors. At that time, there was no mention about a competency issue. Truesdell has demanded a speedy trial, but the short delay didn’t violate his rights.

June killings

Amanda Sue Parker, 33, of Vinton, and her boyfriend, Romondus “Roe” Lamar Cooper, 44, of Cedar Rapids, and Brent Anthony Brown, 34, and his girlfriend, Keonna Victoria Ryan, 26, of Cedar Rapids, were found June 5 with blunt force injuries to the head and neck in an outbuilding at 3699 East Otter Rd., near Marion. The property is owned by Lon Brown, father of Brent Brown.

Brent Brown was the only victim still alive when Linn County sheriff’s deputies responded just before 4 p.m. to a call from a witness who found the deadly scene. Brent Brown died from his injuries three days later on June 7. Lon Brown told The Gazette on June 6 that test results showed his son had no brain activity.

The Gazette attempted to contact other family members, but they did not respond or declined to comment.

A criminal complaint stated Truesdell told deputies he bludgeoned the four with a metal pipe. Video surveillance captured images of him in the area of the outbuilding, the complaint states.

There have been no details about how Truesdell was able to attack the four victims and whether all the victims were in the outbuilding with Truesdell at the same time.

Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks, in the complaint, said Truesdell provided “several motives,” including that he thought a movie would be made about the killings. The other motives were not included in the complaint.

Authorities haven’t released further information regarding the investigation.

Amber Sangalli, a friend and co-worker of Parker, told The Gazette that Parker and Cooper had been evicted from their home last summer and started living in the outbuilding two months later. Sangalli said she didn’t know Truesdell and didn’t know of any connection between him and Parker or the others.

Truesdell remains in jail on a $4 million cash-only bail.

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