Articles Tagged: Murder

Also, man who killed Algona police officer sentenced to life in prison

A Marion man who was arrested in June on charges that he bludgeoned four people to death with a metal pipe has been cleared to stand trial after being evaluated by a psychologist.

A Winneshiek County complaint, made public Tuesday, sheds a little more light on a 2017 homicide of a teen in Decorah, but doesn’t explain how a Georgia man killed her or if authorities have recovered a body. The suspect, who lived near Decorah in 2017, was charged with second-degree murder.

A Georgia man was charged Monday in a homicide of a 15-year-old girl who went missing from his rural Winneshiek farm in 2017.

A judge lowered bail from $500,000 to $100,000 for a Cedar Rapids woman charged with fatally stabbing the father of two of her children in January. If released, she must wear an ankle monitor and be under the supervision of 6th Judicial Department of Correctional Services pending trial set for Dec. 10.

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 judge finds there is probable cause that Luke Truesdell, who is accused of blugeoning 4 people to death with a metal pipe, is not competent to stand trial. She ordered him to undergo a mental evaluation at state forensic psychiatric hospital in Coralville.

Luke Truesdell, accused of bludgeoning 4 people with a mental pipe, may have a mental disorder and lawyers are asking the court for mental evaluation. If granted, proceedings in the case would be temporarily delayed until the evaluation is completed and any restoration is needed.

Tramontez Lockett, 18, had messaged and arranged for Michael McCune, 16, to meet Feb. 18, 2023, at the Tan Tara Apartments in Cedar Rapids. McCune didn’t know Lockett had planned with three others to fatally shoot him that night because of past conflicts.

Judge delays trial by two weeks for Marion who beat four people to death with metal pipe. Trial reset to Sept. 10. Prosecutors had scheduling conflict.

A prosecutor said the prosecution was unable to provide a confession made by Curtis Padgett, who killed his friend, Dennis First, in 2007, to a witness because the witness died three months before trial. Padgett was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison without parole.

A mother, in her victim impact statement, said losing her son to gun violence is a “‘pain no parent should have to endure.” Cameron Barnes was fatally shot on St. Patrick’s Day last year by Duval Walker Jr. in a Marion bar.

The trials for two of the three people accused of murdering a Cedar Rapids man in Missouri have been scheduled for next year, and the third trial has yet to be scheduled.

A North Liberty woman has been charged with second-degree murder after law enforcement found her ex-partner’s body in a crashed car in Minnesota over the weekend.

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.