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Six years after his death, Chris Bagley’s family seeks closure, meets with two men involved in his murder
Rare restorative justice meeting brings together Bagley family, two offenders
Aug. 31, 2025 5:30 am, Updated: Sep. 2, 2025 7:32 am
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CEDAR RAPIDS — Two of the men convicted in the fatal stabbing of Chris Bagley sat in a Linn County courtroom two weeks ago and spoke to Bagley’s heartbroken parents and siblings, who have been searching for answers about how — and why — their loved one was killed more than six years ago.
In the unusual meeting, Stewart and Christine Bagley, of Independence, met with Drew Wagner and Paul Hoff, hoping for some kind of closure. They don’t feel they left with the entire truth of what happened Dec. 14, 2018, when their 31-year-old son was attacked and killed in the space of 12 minutes.
Their son had left his home in Walker the night before, saying he would be home late but was still planning to go Christmas shopping with his wife, Courtney, the next day. He never returned. Two months later, on March 1, 2019, authorities exhumed his body from the frozen ground in southeast Cedar Rapids, where he had been buried in Wagner’s yard.
Bagley’s body was wrapped in a bedsheet and a plastic tarp. He had been stabbed multiple times in the torso and neck.
When Bagley’s parents met with Wagner, 38, and Hoff, 46, Christine told The Gazette she asked Wagner if he had buried her son. “He said he didn’t. He admitted if it came down to it, he would have, but not in his yard,” she said.
Christine said she doesn’t believe Wagner. His version of events, given during courtroom testimony, didn’t make sense, as he repeatedly sought to minimize his role in her son’s death.
Bagley’s parents said Wagner seemed remorseful. But they can’t forgive him.
Christine said she told Wagner he deserved to be in prison, and Wagner agreed.
Wagner asked to speak with the Bagleys after he testified for the prosecution in the murder trial of Andrew Shaw, which started earlier this month. The Bagleys then asked to talk to Hoff after he testified in the same trial.
A Linn County jury last week found Shaw, 37, guilty of second-degree murder. The jury acquitted him on charges of conspiracy to commit a forcible felony and solicitation to commit murder.
Shaw was the last of four convictions in Bagley’s slaying. He faces up to 50 years in prison at sentencing. Shaw was convicted in 2020 in federal court on drug and gun charges and sentenced to eight years in prison. He received a reduced sentence for cooperating in other federal cases and was released in 2024, only to be charged in Bagley’s murder.
One-on-one
It is rare for victims of major crimes to speak with offenders in this judicial district, First Assistant Linn County Attorney Monica Slaughter said last week. She and assistant prosecutor Jennifer Erger stayed with the family when they met with Wagner and Hoff. This type of “restorative justice” — dialogue between victims and offenders — happens in other places but not in Linn County, Slaughter said.
Restorative justice focuses on repairing the harm caused by a crime, which holds offenders accountable for their actions and provides a way for victims to receive healing, according to the National Center on Restorative Justice.
Slaughter said a victim or a victim’s family face many restrictions on what they can and cannot say in victim impact statements delivered at an offender’s sentencing. The victim has to address the court, instead of the defendant, and there’s never an open exchange to get “restoration.”
“Usually, a defendant is advised to not say anything because making omissions could affect their appeals,” Slaughter said.
She hoped the Bagley family can “find peace and heal after this long saga.”
Wagner was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and other charges in Bagley’s killing and was sentenced to 37 years in prison. Wagner held Bagley down while Johnny Blahnik Church — formerly known as Drew Blahnik, 37, of Marion — stabbed him multiple times in the torso and neck until he died, according to trial testimony.
Wagner said he and Blahnik Church attacked Bagley at the direction of Shaw, who purportedly paid them in drugs and money to “get rid” of Bagley because he was robbing Shaw of drugs and money.
Wagner meeting
Christine Bagley said Wagner “blathered” for the first 10 minutes of the meeting, similar to what he did during his testimony. He wanted to apologize to the Bagleys for testifying that “nobody cared” about Chris in the last few months of his life, provoking Chris’ brother, Jon Bagley, to react in court.
The judge ordered Jon Bagley out of the courtroom and banned him from attending the rest of the day.
Wagner said he meant “nobody in their group” cared about Chris, Christine said.
Wagner, who was denied parole in June, also apologized for his part in Chris’ death, Christine said. He said he should have done things differently. She initially thought Wagner seemed sincere, but she said he still wasn’t truthful to them and lied about his involvement in the burial of her son’s body.
Jon Bagley, who was with his parents during the meeting, told Wagner he knew he was involved in Chris’ death.
Stewart said Wagner continued to apologize for everything that happened and said he was sorry he got involved.
Wagner admitted he should have gone to Dan Kascel, his construction business partner, for help with Chris because Kascel was good friends with Chris, Christine said.
Tim Bagley, Chris’ younger brother, who also attended the meeting, told Wagner, “You took my best friend away,” Christine said.
Stewart Bagley said his sons — Chris, Jon and Tim — were best friends as adults. Chris also was close to his sister, Lori. Chris would stop by, unannounced, to see Lori, as he did with the rest of the family. One day, he stopped by her house while he was working on a concrete job nearby and noticed her sidewalk needed repair and took care of it with leftovers from his job.
“That’s how he was,” Stewart said. “He would just drop in. He would come in and say ‘Hey Pops.’ He also helped his friends and others.”
Christine said Chris’ drug use affected his relationship with Jon, but before that they had been close. They lived near each other in Walker.
Stewart said he told Wagner he was “damn lucky the cops got you before I did.” Jon told him the same thing.
After Chris disappeared, Christine said she worried about her husband and Jon searching for him. They were going to drug houses and they went to Hoff’s mobile home because they knew Chris was last seen there. They always wore their T-shirts with Chris’ image and told people and police they weren’t trying to cause trouble, only needed to find answers.
Stewart said during those early days of searching for Chris, some of his friends went to Wagner’s home, demanding to search it the first weekend of January 2019. Police were called.
“The body was already buried there but, of course, nobody had any idea,” Stewart said. “Police were right there. That close. That close.”
Hoff meeting
After meeting with Wagner, the Bagleys asked to talk to Hoff, who the family felt was more credible during testimony.
Hoff, who was convicted of obstructing prosecution and sentenced to two years in prison, witnessed the fatal stabbing in his trailer and helped move the body, but he didn’t tell authorities who killed Chris until he was arrested on federal drug and firearm charges.
Hoff testified that he was a different man today than he was in 2018. Since his federal convictions, he has been taking advantage of programming in prison to better himself and he hasn’t been using drugs, which he said are readily available inside prison walls.
In 2018, he was a daily heavy user of methamphetamine and also sold the drug. He said that’s how he met Bagley.
Chris Bagley was selling marijuana for Shaw and then started using meth in 2018, becoming addicted to it, according to testimony.
Hoff said he wasn’t involved in burying Bagley’s body, as Wagner testified. Hoff told the Bagley family he wished he would have done things differently.
Stewart said he thanked Hoff for “sticking up for my son and doing what you did here.” Stewart told him he was the only one in this “whole mess to not change your story.”
Hoff said everything he’d said to investigators and in court “was the truth and nothing but the truth from the time this started,” Stewart said.
“Anything Wagner said that we could corroborate with Hoff, we believed,” Stewart said.
Both Tim and Jon Bagley advised Hoff not to come back to Cedar Rapids when he’s released from prison because he would get in trouble again — with same old crowd. Jon even offered to help Hoff when he is released.
Tim suggested Hoff stay with his family, who live out of state, but Hoff said he doesn’t have that kind of support, Christine said.
Christine, a correctional officer in Buchanan County, said Hoff likely will be sent to a halfway house when he gets out of prison and he can get a job, meet new people and find healthy connections. Hoff works several jobs in prison now.
Stewart said Tim Bagley, who’d had his own issues with drugs in the past, started crying during the family’s meeting with Hoff, and Hoff also started crying and said he was grateful the family talked to him.
“He was moved by it and placed his hand up to his heart, thumping it as he was taken out (of courtroom),” Stewart said.
The Bagleys said they forgive Hoff.
What happened to their son
Stewart said they don’t fully understand what happened to Chris that last year of his life.
They didn’t find out about his meth use until after he and his wife had separated, and she kicked him out of the house. He still came to family dinners and holidays most of the time. He finally told his family he had robbed Shaw and that Shaw had a “hit” out on him. He did seem paranoid, a symptom of meth use, but they believed his fear was warranted.
At that point, in late October or early November 2018, Chris was moving back in with his wife and decided to go to rehab.
“We didn’t condone what he was doing, and he knew we didn’t,” Stewart said. “But he was always honest with us. When he was arrested in Marion (for drugs), he called me. Christine didn’t know.”
Stewart offered to get Chris a lawyer but said his son wouldn’t let him. It was his fault, and he needed to take care of it himself, he told his dad.
Stewart said he will never understand Chris’ drug use because Chris was an alcoholic but had been sober since 2010.
Christine said when her son was drinking, he had trouble, including drunken driving arrests. When he wasn’t drinking, she said, he was a different person — joking and pulling pranks on people. He also was a hard worker who would help anyone. She said she heard a lot of stories from his friends after his death about Chris helping them in tough times.
Stewart said Chris helped one woman he didn’t know out of domestic abuse situation. The woman sent a message to Stewart through social media, saying Chris “saved her life.”
Stewart believes Chris got involved in selling drugs because he needed money to start his own concrete countertop business that Shaw had promised to help him with. Shaw’s legitimate business was flipping houses, but didn’t have that much work for Chris, so Chris couldn’t pay rent on the shop he had leased from Shaw.
That’s when Shaw started having Chris distribute drugs on the side, and the dealing snowballed from there, Stewart said.
Not ‘whole’ family
Christine said things changed after Chris’ death. The Bagleys have always been a close family and often had big family dinners. She got a table for 12 just for that purpose.
“I don’t have family dinner anymore because I don’t feel like I have my whole family,” Christine said.
“When everybody is over, that’s when I notice it more,” Stewart said. “We’re always one short.”
Stewart said their son’s killing and the years of multiple trials and hearings haven’t been easy for them or their marriage. The not knowing what happened to Chris, and going out with the “boys” to search for Chris in dangerous situations or encountering dangerous people was difficult. And then, after finding his body, they still didn’t fully know what had happened or who had killed him.
At one point, Stewart said he had to quit working because of anxiety and other issues. He’s had a difficult time sleeping, especially during trials.
“I will be so relieved when this (Shaw trial) is over,” Stewart said two weeks ago.
On Tuesday, the day after Shaw was convicted, Stewart said he had the “best night’s sleep I’ve had for years.”
Christine said she still talks to her son. She had just spent 45 minutes at his gravesite two weeks ago. Chris would always tell her everything, even when he was in trouble.
“He would say ‘Remember mom, we love unconditionally.’”
And she did.
Trish Mehaffey covers state and federal courts for The Gazette
Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com
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