Subpoena for bank records on 3 accounts filed in quadruple homicide

CEDAR RAPIDS — Prosecutors have filed an application for a subpoena in the investigation into last week’s quadruple homicide in rural Linn County, requesting bank information for three accounts and any video evidence of people who deposited funds and where withdrawals were made.

The application, filed earlier this week by Assistant Linn County Attorney Jordan Schier, also seeks the dates when the accounts were opened. The application states the subpoena is needed to interview “certain witnesses who possess information relative” to the murder investigation. It doesn’t say who owns the accounts.

Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks, who was attending this week’s Iowa County Attorneys Association conference in Okoboji, told The Gazette he couldn’t provide any context for the subpoena because it’s part of an ongoing investigation.

Linn County Sheriff Brian Gardner and Maybanks have declined to answer questions regarding the investigation of the four individuals who were bludgeoned to death with a metal pipe. Luke Wade Truesdell, 34, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder.

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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 with blunt force injuries to the head and neck on June 5 in an outbuilding at 3699 East Otter Road, near Marion.

Amber Sangalli, a friend and co-worker of Parker, told The Gazette this week that Parker and Cooper had been evicted from their home last summer and started living in the outbuilding two months later.

She said Parker, who was “kindhearted and generous,” and Cooper were having a tough time making a living and had been living in a tent inside the outbuilding for almost a year.

Sangalli said she didn’t know Truesdell and didn’t know of any connection between him and Parker or the others.

The outbuilding and property are owned by Lon Brown, the father of Brent Brown, who was alive when sheriff’s deputies arrived just before 4 p.m. June 5 but died from his injuries June 7. Lon Brown told The Gazette tests results showed his son had no brain activity.

The Gazette attempted to contact other family members but they haven’t responded or declined to comment.

In an obituary for Brown, his family said he attended Alburnett High School and Kirkwood Community College and the University of Northern Iowa for welding. Brown was a drywaller.

He enjoyed being outdoors, gardening, fishing, hunting, mushroom hunting, collecting coins and astronomy, the obituary states. “His greatest joy was spending time with his family” and had two children, it states.

The Brown family said they “deeply appreciate the bond he shared with Keonna Ryan. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the other three victims and our hearts are deeply saddened by their loss.”

Ryan’s obituary described her as “a deeply loving and caring person.”

“She helped take care of anyone that needed help, and would always be there for you if you needed her. She became a caretaker to many, and quite motherly to quite a few. She could also be very stubborn and bullheaded, but was also strong, and resilient. Her best attribute was that she was forgiving, not only of others, but of herself” it said. “We should all try to be more like Keonna.”

According to an obituary for Parker, she was born in Waukegan, Ill., and after moving to Iowa, she attended Vinton High School, graduating in 2009. She “loved being a caregiver for the elderly.”

Parker also worked as a server at the Olde Brick House in Cedar Rapids. In her leisure time, she enjoyed taking care of others, spending time with her dog, Little Man, adult coloring and being a member of the Cedar Rapids Roller Girls.

“Amanda was the sunshine of her dad’s life, and no matter where she went, she illuminated the room with her smile,” her obituary states.

Cooper’s obituary said he is the father of two sons, of Cedar Rapids, and became a truck driver after receiving his commercial driver’s license in 2013.

“Romondus loved spending time with his boys and flying drones,” his obituary states. “He was a collector of things and enjoyed taking old things and making them new and shiny.”

According to a criminal complaint, 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 stated.

The complaint stated Truesdell provided “several motives,” including he thought a movie would be made about the killings. The other motives were not included in the complaint.

Sangalli started a gofundme.com online fundraiser for the Parker family to help with memorial expenses. Donors have contributed $10,345 as of Friday morning.

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

Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com