Trish Mehaffey

An Iowa City man who plied a 13 -year-old girl with alcohol and then sexually assaulted her in a car was found guilty last week following a July bench trial in Johnson County District Court.

Nebraska man pleaded to causing a Detroit bound flight to be diverted to Cedar Rapids when he tried to open a SkyWest plane’s exit door and then became combative with the flight crew and passengers.

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.

An Iowa State University student is accused of cyberstalking and soliciting others online to “rape and stalk” UI students, other women and teens. He faces three federal charges and will remain in jail pending trial.

The former West High School paraeducator had a sexual relationship with a student in 2023.

The 81-year-old man who sexually abused two children, ages 5 and 6, pleaded to lesser charges.

A Cedar County man was sentenced to nearly 12 years for distributing at least 1.5 kilograms of meth. He was caught after law enforcement conducted three controlled buys from him.

All three brothers charged with involuntary manslaughter in the 2024 death of another brother, who was tied to a mattress for days and died of “starvation and dehydration,” will be tried together in February 2026.

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.

A Cedar Rapids woman faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute meth in 2024. She traveled to Arizona to pick up drugs and was nabbed in Oklahoma on the way back to Iowa.

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 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.

Marion police investigators testified Friday about how traffic cameras and cellphone data helped them piece together what happened to Melody Hoffman, who was kidnapped and killed in February 2024.