Marion man says rights violated, confession should be excluded from trial

CEDAR RAPIDS — A Marion man accused of bludgeoning four people with a metal pipe last year wants his confession tossed out because police violated his rights.

Luke Wade Truesdell, 35, charged with four counts of first-degree murder, made some incriminating statements after law enforcement officers told him they just wanted to talk about what happened on June 5, 2024.

But authorities didn’t read Truesdell his Miranda rights until about 40 minutes into their questioning, according to the motion to suppress those statements.

Oral arguments on the motion are scheduled for Feb. 14.

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Patrick McMullen, Truesdell’s lawyer, said in the motion that the questioning started after law enforcement reviewed surveillance footage that “allegedly” showed Truesdell and his father, Larry Truesdell, walking near the outbuilding where three bodies were found.

Amanda Sue Parker, 33, of Vinton, her boyfriend, Romondus “Roe” Lamar Cooper, 44, of Cedar Rapids, and Keonna Victoria Ryan, 26, of Cedar Rapids, were found dead at the scene.

Another man, Brent Anthony Brown, 34, Ryan’s boyfriend, “still showed signs of life,” according to court documents. He was flown by air ambulance to a hospital but died three days later.

The property north of Marion where the killings happened is owned by Lon Brown, the father of Brent Brown.

According to the motion, law enforcement also told Truesdell he wasn’t allowed to leave the property and was told to sit down in front of a door. One deputy also told Larry Truesdell he would need his hands “swabbed” — for possible evidence — before washing them.

Law enforcement verified that Luke Truesdell acted alone and that his father was outside the outbuilding at the time of the murders, according to a search warrant affidavit.

Truesdell wasn’t arrested until 40 minutes later, according to the motion. He was then placed in a police vehicle and taken to the sheriff’s office and, during this time, he made further incriminating statements, McMullen argued in his motion.

The defendant didn’t volunteer to speak with law enforcement, the motion argues. He was told to stay on the property and stopped from going into the outbuilding. He heard officers over the radio announce they had started questioning him, the motion stated.

Those points, the motion argues, indicated Truesdell was in custody and that reading him his rights about self-incrimination was required before questioning.

Truesdell believed he was in a custodial interrogation and a possible suspect, according to the motion.

Based on these circumstances and facts, all Truesdell’s statements before he was read his rights should be excluded from trial, the motion stated.

Truesdell’s trial is set for April 8 in Linn County District Court. He remains in the Linn County Jail on a $4 million cash-only bail.

Prosecution argument

The prosecution, in its resistance to the defense motion, said officers initially were trying to figure out what had happened after finding the bodies and were gathering initial statements.

Authorities initially responded to a report of multiple people passed out in a garage at 3699 E. Otter Rd., possibly from carbon monoxide poisoning.

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Matt Brown, Brent Brown’s brother, had called 911 after getting a phone call from their father, Lon Brown, who told him he’d found people unconscious in the garage/outbuilding, First Assistant Linn County Attorney Monica Slaughter said in her motion.

Also, two witnesses who lived down the road told police they saw a couple of vehicles speeding away from the area about that same time, according to this motion.

When officers first encountered Truesdell, he was sitting inside the house and filled out a voluntary statement. Law enforcement then started watching a surveillance video of the property, which showed Truesdell walking back and forth between the house and outbuilding.

While one officer asked an older man and Truesdell what happened, Truesdell walked outside toward the outbuilding and a state trooper told him to sit down in front of the door.

When investigators arrived, they started taking photos and were trying to determine if the four people had been shot because the injuries appeared to be gunshots, Slaughter said. They also discussed if there might be a gun somewhere in the outbuilding and if this might be a murder/suicide.

Later, they found the four had been struck with a blunt force object — a metal pipe — found at the scene, and each had severe injuries to their head and neck.

New details

According to the prosecution’s resistance motion, investigators also initially discussed conducting a non-custodial interview with Truesdell and started off the conversation by asking him if he understood he wasn’t under arrest. They also asked him a second time, and both times he said he did.

Truesdell told investigators he brought his father to the property to work on a boat, according to the motion. His father is a “longtime” friend of Lon Brown.

The investigators asked Luke Truesdell to walk them through what had happened and what he remembered.

Only a few “pointed” questions were asked, including what door he opened, and Truesdell said he opened the door and saw “a body laying there and I turned around and walked out,” the motion stated.

An investigator asked him to tell them what had happened, and Truesdell said, “I hit ‘em each.”

Investigators didn’t “instigate the interaction” with Truesdell, Slaughter stated in her motion. He was present at the address where police were called. It’s reasonable for them to ask people found at a scene some questions after arriving and finding three bodies and one man with critical injuries.

The questions were “focused on determining what happened,” not getting Truesdell to confess, the motions stated, and that investigators remained calm and respectful.

Truesdell also wasn’t handcuffed during his initial questioning. He was only restricted from going toward an active crime scene, Slaughter argued. Preventing Truesdell from walking toward the crime scene didn’t reach the degree associated with a formal arrest and being in custody.

The investigators didn’t have a “duty” to read Truesdell his rights and his statements should be allowed at trial, Slaughter’s motion stated.

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