Convicted murderer back in jail after Cedar Rapids stabbing

Richard J. Kearney is back behind bars, more than 20 years after he was convicted of murdering a Cedar Rapids man.

Police arrested the 47-year-old Kearney, of 243 Mayden Ave. SW, on Wednesday for allegedly stabbing another man at an apartment last month. He had been a free man for almost 11 months, after serving 22 years for second-degree murder.

Kearney is accused of stabbing Cory Bailey, 22, at Bailey's residence, 75 Aossey Ln. SW, on Dec. 12. Bailey suffered wounds to his abdomen and his left wrist and was taken to a hospital, police said.

Sgt. Cristy Hamblin said Bailey's mother, Salina Brown, had gotten into a physical altercation with another female at the apartment and yelled to Bailey for help. When Bailey tried to intervene, Kearney, who was with the female that was scuffling with Brown, stabbed Bailey, police said.

After the stabbing, Kearney and the female left the area, but investigators caught up with Kearney this week when they stopped his vehicle in the 600 block of Center Point Road NE. He has been charged with willful injury.

Kearney pleaded guilty to the beating death of Lloyd McIlvain, 41, of Cedar Rapids, on July 4, 1985. McIlvain's body was found the next morning in a wooded area near Ellis Park.

The Iowa Parole Board decided in 2007 to release Kearney to a Cedar Rapids halfway house, according to Gazette archives. He was paroled in October of that year, but was sent back to jail for nine more months after his parole was revoked in 2009, police said.