A North Liberty man, who was convicted in Black Hawk and Johnson counties for sexual assaults and robbery, pleaded Thursday to kidnapping and robbery charges in an attempt to sexual assault a woman in Linn County in 2023.
An Oxford, Iowa man has been charged with kidnapping after police say he threatened an Iowa City woman, who had a no contact order against him related to previous charges of assault and sexual abuse, with a knife and forced her to get in her car drive him toward Cedar Rapids on Thursday.
Dakota Van Patten repeatedly told police he had no knowledge and wasn’t involved in Melody Hoffman’s assault and strangulation in February 2024. He wouldn’t be able to “live with himself” if he killed someone, he told investigators.
A state medical examiner testified Tuesday 20-year-old Melody Hoffman was strangled from behind by her attacker and likely died within minutes on Feb. 18, 2024.
Dakota Van Patten took 200 selfies of himself wearing Melody Hoffman’s glasses after she was killed Feb. 18, 2024. An investigator found the photos on his cellphone during the investigation.
Marion police investigators testified Friday about how traffic cameras and cellphone data helped them piece together what happened to Melody Hoffman, who was kidnapped and killed in February 2024.
Megan Hoffman testified Thursday about tracking her daughter’s phone the night Melody Hoffman was kidnapped, strangled and killed in February 2014. The information helped police piece together the crime.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office Northern District had nearly twice as many trials in 2024 and is ranked second for cases filed among the other 25 federal districts of its size. The district includes Cedar Rapids, Dubuque, Fort Dodge and Sioux City.
A judge on Friday sentenced McKinley Louisma to life in prison without parole for the kidnapping, torture and strangulation of Melody Hoffman, 20, of Marion, on Feb. 17. Melody’s mother said her daughter would want her to forgive Louisma but she couldn’t.
A North Liberty man was arrested Tuesday in Linn County on charges that he assaulted a woman in Center Point and attempted to sexually abuse her. He was sentenced this week to 100 years in two other rapes, and faces trial in Johnson County for another rape.
Four members of a rural Iowa family are accused of abducting and abusing an 18-year-old relative who had been handcuffed to a bed and beaten so badly that he had brain bleeding and multiple broken ribs, and who was so malnourished that he weighed just 70 pounds when he showed up at a hospital earlier this year, court documents say.
Linn County prosecutor says investigation leading to three arrests in the kidnapping and fatal assault of 20-year-old Marion woman is the ‘swiftest’ during his tenure. He attributes it to the dedication and work ethic of the multiple law enforcement agencies investigating the slaying.
Family and friends gathered in Marion Thursday night for a candlelight vigil to commemorate the life of Melody Hoffman, a 20-year-old Marion woman who police say was kidnapped and murdered over the weekend.
Data from her iPhone and Apple Watch indicated she was at Morgan Creek Park Saturday night when her heartbeat intensified before it either stopped or the watch was deactivated.
A Storm Lake man, who kidnapped his wife by gunpoint and led police on a foot pursuit through an Iowa City parking ramp last year, pleaded to guilty Wednesday and faces 40 years in prison. His trial was set to start next Tuesday.
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