Articles Tagged: 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.

A North Liberty woman arrested last year in Minnesota after crashing a car with the dead body of her ex-girlfriend inside has been convicted of murder by a Hennepin County jury.

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.