Trish Mehaffey

Crime scene investigators testified Friday about oven mitts soaked in blood and the murder weapon found in Cedar Rapisd apartment of Dennis First, who was fatally stabbed in 2007. The ex-girlfriend of Curtis Padgett, on trial in the killing, also testified Friday that he denied being the killer but had a suicidal incident and held a knife to his neck in 2010.

Testimony started Thursday in a 2007 cold case of a Cedar Rapids man severely beaten and stabbed to death at his Hawthorne Hills apartment. His former neighbor is on trial for the crime.

The wife of an Anamosa correctional officer who was killed by two inmates in 2021 filed a lawsuit against prison officials and employees Tuesday in Jones County. The lawsuit asserts staffing shortages, equipment failures and lack of safety protocols and procedures led to the death of her husband and Lorena Schulte, a registered nurse.

Cedar Rapids man, previously convicted for sexual assault in 2021, was sentenced to another 10 years for a 2017 sex assault in Iowa City. He faces two more sex assault trials in June and July.

A Linn County jury convicted Shane Teslik of fatally stabbing Devonna Walker. He faces 10 years in prison. He will be sentenced June 7.

Shane Teslik, under cross exam, said he didn’t think it was important to tell police he called Devonna Walker a racial slur before she attacked and assaulted him. He also said he thought calling Walker, a Black woman, the slur would “neutralize” the heated argument between his girlfriend and Walker.

Participants for an upcoming Inside Out reentry simulation will learn what challenges formerly incarcerated individuals face as the reenter community. There could be obstacles obtaining a driver’s license, a Social Security card, not to mention a job, treatment and health insurance. The event is April 19. Participants must RSVP.

Shane Teslik testified Tuesday he grabbed knife and had it ready inside his apartment doorway as an argument escalated with Devonna Walker on Jan. 2, 2023. He admitted to stabbing her once after she punched him. He didn’t know where the knife struck her or the extent of injury. He just wanted to protect his family.

A woman who considered Devonna Walker her “goddaughter” said it “tore me apart” when she went outside and saw Walker lying on the ground, bleeding, and then saw her “eyes rolled back in her head.”

A former Clear Creek Amana middle school track assistant coach was sentenced to 17 years in federal prison for child porn. He also posed as a teen and encouraged a 15-year-old victim to produce sexually explicit photos for him to share with others online.

A state medical examiner testified Friday that the stab wound to Devonna Walker, 29, penetrated her aorta, which caused her to bleed to death. He said the stab wound was one of the “deeper” ones he has seen.

A jury ordered the city of Manchester to pay $4.25 million to parents in wrongful death of their son, whose motorcycle was struck by a police officer during a high speed chase.

Shane Teslik’s girlfriend testified Thursday he threatened to kill Devonna Walker and called her a racial slur before she assaulted him and then he stabbed her in January 2023.

Testimony for Shane Teslik, charged with voluntary manslaughter and disorderly conduct in the fatal stabbing of Devonna Walker, started Wednesday in Linn County.

Jes Lang, community violence prevention coordinator for Johnson County program aimed at reducing gun violence, says job is ‘made for her.’ She feels her ‘passion and purpose collided’ when she found this job.