Man charged in 2011 fatal shooting in Cedar Rapids

CEDAR RAPIDS - A man who was imprisoned in California a year ago is now in Iowa, charged in a fatal shooting that killed a 22-year-old Cedar Rapids man almost 10 years ago.

Cedar Rapids police investigators say Mykel Allan Roberts, 29, confessed to the June 25, 2011, shooting that killed Dexter Meeks.

Roberts is charged with first-degree murder, attempt to commit murder and going armed with intent.

He made his initial appearance in Linn County District Court on Thursday morning, where his cash-only bond was set at $3 million.

Meeks, 22, was shot as he and his brother, Andrew, sat outside on the porch of his apartment at 211 15th St. SE. around 2 a.m.

According to court documents, Roberts told Cedar Rapids police investigators in April 2020 he had intended to kill Meeks' brother that morning instead of Dexter.

At the time of the slaying, Andrew Meeks was unable to identify his brother's shooter. He told police his brother Dexter had pushed him out of the line of fire that morning.

Though police pursued tips and lines of inquiry, investigators had run out of leads, and the case went cold by 2012.

In 2017, Andrew Meeks was killed July 2, when he and another man were shot inside a car at the west-side Walmart. A 28-year-old Cedar Rapids man was convicted in that slaying, though the conviction was overturned last summer by the Iowa Court of Appeals.

California call

Last year, the Stanislaus County Sheriff's Department in Modesto, Calif., called Cedar Rapids police cold case investigator Matt Denlinger, saying an inmate named Mykel Roberts had information about a 2011 murder in Cedar Rapids but was uncertain of the victim's name.

Court documents show Roberts was at Wasco State Prison in Wasco, Calif.

After more interviews with Roberts, Denlinger and his partner, Randy Jernigan, went to Modesto and interviewed Roberts on April 28, 2020, about the shooting death of Dexter Meeks.

Court records say Roberts provided investigators a complete, detailed confession that supported and corroborated many details of the shooting that killed Dexter Meeks.

A Linn County warrant for Roberts' arrest was issued May 12, 2020, and he was extradited to Linn County Jail, according to court records.

The Meeks' family declined to comment on the arrest, according to a victim/witness advocate with the Linn County Attorney's Office.

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