A Marion man, who pleaded to lesser charges, was sentenced to five years in prison for sexually abusing an 11-year-old child in 2022. The girl, now 14, said she still has panic attacks and depression and doesn’t trust anyone, especially men.
The autopsy of Melody Hoffman, 20, of Marion, showed blunt force injuries all over her body, along with five stab wounds and numerous cutting marks on her back. A medical examiner also said Hoffman may have been pregnant at the time of her strangulation or recently had a miscarriage, which could be a possible motive for the Hiawatha man on trial for kidnapping and murder.
Marion police investigators testify about traffic camers and cell tower locations used to track Hiawath man and his co-conspirator accused of kidnapping and killing Marion woman on in February.
The mother of a 20-year-old Marion woman who was kidnapped and killed on Feb. 17 testified Tuesday she always tracked her daughter’s phone and other electronics because Melody Hoffman had an intellectual disability that made it more difficult for her to understand social situations because she was trusting of everybody.
The murder trial for McKinley Louisma, accused of kidnapping and killing Melody Hoffman, 20, of Marion, started Monday in Linn County. The prosecutor told the jury her slaying was “depraved and dehumanizing.”
A Marion father strangled to death his 5 year-old son after staying up most of the night contemplating how he would kill him. One way was using knives, which police found during a search of the home.
The mother of Cordal Lewis, who was robbed and fatally shot in 2022, told a woman involved in the plan to rob him that ended in murder, that she wanted her to “suffer” and feel “heartbreak and emptiness” as she and her family have endured.
A Marion woman who was kidnapped, stabbed and strangled to death in February was pregnant or had been recently pregnant before her death, according to information revealed during a Friday pretrial hearing in Linn County District Court. The lawyer for one of the men accused in that slaying asked a judge to keep that information out of trial.
A 14-year-old boy who admitted to firing a handgun at a police officer in May pleaded to three felonies and six misdemeanors. He was prosecuted as a youthful offender and will be sent to the Boys State Training School in Eldora until he turns 18.
A Cedar Rapids man who attempted to solicit sex from a 14-year-old boy, who was actually an undercover police officer targeting child predators online, pleaded guilty Thursday. He faces up to 14 years in prison. He was one of seven arrested in the police sting.
Prosecutors plan to propose a law for assault by groping because in current law it can only be charged as a simple assault - the same as if you pushed or shoved a victim. Many times these groping incidents are “traumatic” for the victims but don’t rise to the level of sexual abuse, as defined by Iowa law.
Iowa offenders who cause a death must pay $150,000 in restitution, according to a law enacted in 1997, but some Eastern Iowa victims say it’s not a priority to help them. They realize the offenders are spending life in prison, in most cases, and doubt they will receive much of it.
A Cedar Rapids man who fatally shot another man during drug deal pleaded to lesser charges and faces up to 25 years. The two men were in an argument over the drugs when Paris Diamond shot twice at Mohamed Twafik in his car.
Jury convicts Cedar Rapids man of attempting to kill his ex-girlfriend in 2022. Victim didn’t testify but her deposition was allowed at trial, where she described how he slashed her throat and stabbed her in the back.
Luke Truesdell, accused of beating to death four people with a metal pipe, will stand trial Sept. 3 in Linn County. An online fundraiser has also been started for one of the male victims.
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