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.
First responders were called to a Marion address at 6 a.m. Tuesday for a report of an unresponsive child.
The heartbroken mother of Kavon Johnson on Friday asked a judge to sentence her son’s killer to 50 years in prison and run the sentence consecutively to his other 50 year sentence for killing another man the day before on Jan. 27, 2022.
The murder trial for a Cedar Rapids man accused of fatally shooting a DoorDash driver last October has been reset to Dec. 10 in Linn County District Court. The shooter’s brother also was shot during the incident.
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.
The Iowa Supreme Court denied appeal for one Fairfield teen who killed their Spanish teacher in 2021 and asked the court to toss out the 35-year mandatory minimum of his life sentence.
The Chicago Police Department said in a news release that Chicago officers, along with U.S. Marshals, arrested the teenager Monday in Cedar Rapids on a murder warrant.
A Marion man who is charged with killing four people with a metal pipe in June told law enforcement that “he felt better after this and the pain in his head was no longer there,” according to an unsealed search warrant. Detectives found him sitting on a sidewalk near the crime scene when they arrived.
Trial for Andrew Shaw, accused of hiring two men to kill Chris Bagley in 2018, has been bumped to Feb. 4. The trial was previously set for Nov. 5. Defense said it needed more time to prepare for trial.
The unsolved murder of Willie Brocks, who was fatally shot in November 1999 has come full circle for a Cedar Rapids investigator who responded to the crime scene as a rookie and now has been actively following up on the case. He has a person of interest who may be able to identify the shooter.
One of the Fairfield teens convicted of killing their Spanish teacher is asking the Iowa Supreme Court to resentence him without a mandatory minimum of his life sentence. He argues its cruel and unusual punishment.
A grieving mother told a woman who helped plan the robbery of her son and then helped his shooter after the crime was someone the family had trusted and had considered a friend .
A Marshalltown man was arrested over the weekend on charges that he intentionally hit and killed a Tama man with his car.
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