Traffic cameras, cell towers used to track Hiawatha man accused of killing Marion woman

CEDAR RAPIDS — Marion police investigators testified Wednesday about traffic camera video and cell tower locations that tracked the movements of McKinley Louisma and his accused coconspirator, charged with kidnapping and killing a 20-year-old Melody Hoffman on or about Feb. 17.

Marion investigator Michael Pope told jurors about camera footage authorities found that followed Louisma, a 23 year old from Hiawatha who is on trial this week for first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping and conspiracy to commit a forcible felony, and Dakota Van Patten, of Cedar Rapids, also charged in Hoffman’s slaying.

The video showed Louisma and Van Patten headed to Marion to pick up Hoffman after 11:20 p.m. Feb. 17, which Megan Hoffman — Melody’s mother — testified Tuesday was about the time she received an alert from a location app she used to keep tabs on her daughter’s location for safety reasons.

Several different traffic cameras tracked Louisma’s blue Honda Accord to Morgan Creek, where investigators believed she was tortured and killed, possibly around midnight Feb. 17. The car then was seen traveling north on Edgewood Road and toward Marion, near Hoffman’s residence.

Louisma then drove toward Walford and then toward Lily Pond in Amana, where he and Van Patten stripped Hoffman to stage an attack, and left her body by the lake, according to the footage Pope identified.

Louisma and Van Patten then traveled to a Kwik Star at 1001 Blairs Ferry Road NE in Cedar Rapids. Pope noted that a surveillance camera showed a mint green bag in the backseat of Louisma’s car. The bag, according to previous testimony, contained a paracord used to strangle Hoffman and other items used in the crime.

Pope also testified about a search of Van Patten’s residence, where a paracord similar to the one found in the green bag in Louisma’s car was found, along with Hoffman’s glasses near Van Patten’s bed in the basement.

Also living in the home at the time was Logan Kimpton, who faces a charge of conspiracy to commit a forcible felony. Authorities said he was with Louisma and Van Patten when they planned the crime.

Investigators also found a white-handled knife with a serrated edge in a deep freezer in the basement. Pope said Van Patten’s clothing, which he was seen wearing that night in a Kwik Star surveillance video, also was found in the basement.

Van Patten’s brother also lived in the house, and investigators found a machete under his bed, a locked container with a pistol, holster and ammunition in the his bedroom and a footlocker with knives. Investigators were interested in the knives found because Hoffman also was stabbed and slashed in the fatal attack, Pope said.

Marion Police Sgt. Adam Paulsen testified the surveillance cameras inside the Kwik Star store showed Louisma and Van Patten buying cigarettes and a cigar and also using the bathroom about 3:20 a.m. Feb. 18, according to a receipt and surveillance cameras.

  Buy Photo

First Assistant Linn County Attorney Monica Slaughter asked Paulsen if Louisma seemed to be leading the two of them around the store and he said yes. Louisma also paid for the cigarettes and cigar.

When the two return to the car, a video showed Louisma taking the green bag out of the backseat and putting it in the trunk.

Slaughter asked if the men seemed to fear each other or if Louisma tried to get help in the store. Paulsen said no.

Paulsen also testified about Hoffman’s health data from her Apple watch, which showed her heart rate was elevated — “an extreme upward change” — around midnight Feb. 17. But then it was shut off. He said it was either disconnected from her body, or that her heartbeat stopped because she died.

Paulsen made notes of this in his report, but was unable to get a forensic download of the information. Hoffman’s iPhone was damaged after it was left on the roadway on Highway 100, where it may have been run over by a car.

Sgt. Thomas Peterson, also a Marion police investigator, testified about the cell tower location analysis of phones belonging to Hoffman, Louisma, Van Patten and Kimpton, which also showed their movements on Feb. 17 and into Feb. 18.

  Buy Photo

Kimpton’s cell locations didn’t show him traveling with Louisma and Van Patten, he said. It mostly showed he was in the area of his girlfriend’s residence instead.

Peterson said he the paracord found in Louisma’s car had Hoffman’s DNA, according to tests conducted by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation. He also determined the paracord that Louisma had and one found in Van Patten’s residence were from one cord that was purchased from Menards. The receipt was found in Louisma’s car.

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