Articles Tagged: Murder

The heartbroken father of Melody Hoffman, who was murdered in February 2024, told her killer, 19-year-old Dakota Van Patten, that he doesn’t deserve to be called human. He is a “monster,” who will be forgotten.

Lon Brown, father of Brent Brown, one of the four people bludgeoned with a metal pipe last year, testified that when Luke Truesdell entered his house after having been in the outbuilding on Brown’s property, where the bodies were found, he was “dazed and mumbling.”

Surveillance video showed the two couples bludgeoned with a metal pipe in June of 2024 were attacked separately. The video was played during day four of the trial for Luke Truesdell, who is charged with four counts of first-degree murder.

Andrew Shaw was sentenced to up to 50 years in prison for the Dec. 14, 2018 fatal stabbing of Chris Bagley. Shaw is the fourth man sentenced in Bagley’s killing.

Luke Truesdell, when asked what happened June 5, 2024 after four people were bludgeoned with a metal pipe, told a detective he “hit them” and where authorities could find the murder weapon — a metal pipe.

The brother of one of the four people who were bludgeoned with a metal pipe in June 2024 testified Thursday in the trial for a Marion man, charged with four counts of first-degree murder. Matt Brown said he found a horrific scene as he walked into an outbuilding, finding his brother, barely alive, and three others dead.

A prosecutor, during his opening statement, said a Marion man ambushed and bludgeoned four people with a 3-foot metal pipe on June 5, 2024. He said surveillance video and evidence found at the scene will point to one attacker: Luke Truesdell. The defense said there’s no evidence of an ambush or that Truesdell did it.

An Iowa City man, accused of fatally assaulting the mother of his toddler, will claim self-defense, diminished capacity and intoxication at his Jan. 27 murder trial.

Kierre Williams, of Sioux City, changed his plea to guilty on murder, burglary and weapons charges during a routine pretrial hearing.

A former Decorah man was sentenced Tuesday to 50 years in prison for killing his girlfriend’s 15-year-old daughter in 2017. He must serve a mandatory 35 years before being eligible for parole.

Baynon Berry, of Marion, is sentenced up to 50 years in prison for his role in the fatal shooting of 16-year-old Michael McCune in Cedar Rapids on Feb. 18, 2023. The Marion teen was the last of the four sentenced on Monday. The judge imposed no mandatory minimum to serve before being eligible for parole.

The grieving sister of Ryan Cooper told her brother’s killer to “go to hell.” She said he may have tried to steal her brother’s dream but he could never be Ryan.

A former Iowa City woman was extradited from Missouri to Iowa City and formally charged with first-degree murder in the 1992 death of an infant found at the city’s landfill.

Dakota Van Patten, 19, of Cedar Rapids, faces life in prison without the possibility of parole for the kidnapping and strangling of 20 year-old Melody Hoffman of Marion, on Feb. 18, 2024. The jury deliberated for about three hours.

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.