Trish Mehaffey

Megan Hoffman told Logan Kimpton he could have been the “hero of this story” if only he had told police his two friends planned to kidnap, assault and strangle her 22-year-old daughter in February 2024. Instead, he backed out of the plan to save himself.

The city of Manchester will have to pay a $4.2 million jury award in the wrongful death suit filed by Colesburg parents against the city and a police officer. The jury held the city and police responsible for a fatal December 2020 crash involving their son.

Bremer County man who sexually abused three children and then distributed images of child sexual abuse, was sentenced to more than 38 years in federal prison.

Iowa City robber, who taunted law enforcement with “Catch me if you can” note, has been sentenced again but this time in federal court.

A Cedar Rapids man who solicited minors to send him sexually explicit images was convicted and faces 15 and possibly up to 40 years in federal prison.

A Linn County jury convicted Luke Truesdell of three counts of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder.

The heartbroken father of Melody Hoffman, who was murdered in February 2024, told her killer, 19-year-old Dakota Van Patten, that he doesn’t deserve to be called human. He is a “monster,” who will be forgotten.

A Tama man was sentenced to more than 17 years in federal prison for distributing and possessing child pornography over several years. He must also pay over $15,000 in restitution to victims.

Lon Brown, father of Brent Brown, one of the four people bludgeoned with a metal pipe last year, testified that when Luke Truesdell entered his house after having been in the outbuilding on Brown’s property, where the bodies were found, he was “dazed and mumbling.”

Surveillance video showed the two couples bludgeoned with a metal pipe in June of 2024 were attacked separately. The video was played during day four of the trial for Luke Truesdell, who is charged with four counts of first-degree murder.

Andrew Shaw was sentenced to up to 50 years in prison for the Dec. 14, 2018 fatal stabbing of Chris Bagley. Shaw is the fourth man sentenced in Bagley’s killing.

Luke Truesdell, when asked what happened June 5, 2024 after four people were bludgeoned with a metal pipe, told a detective he “hit them” and where authorities could find the murder weapon — a metal pipe.

The brother of one of the four people who were bludgeoned with a metal pipe in June 2024 testified Thursday in the trial for a Marion man, charged with four counts of first-degree murder. Matt Brown said he found a horrific scene as he walked into an outbuilding, finding his brother, barely alive, and three others dead.

A prosecutor, during his opening statement, said a Marion man ambushed and bludgeoned four people with a 3-foot metal pipe on June 5, 2024. He said surveillance video and evidence found at the scene will point to one attacker: Luke Truesdell. The defense said there’s no evidence of an ambush or that Truesdell did it.

An Iowa City man, accused of fatally assaulting the mother of his toddler, will claim self-defense, diminished capacity and intoxication at his Jan. 27 murder trial.