Inset: Donnie White (Linn County Jail). Background: U.S. Marshals taking White into custody (Grand Rapids Police Dept.).
A 51-year-old man in Iowa is accused of killing a 38-year-old pregnant woman, allegedly beating her to death, wrapping her body in a comforter, and dumping her body in a shopping cart before apparently fleeing to Las Vegas.
Donnie White was taken into custody in late March and charged with one count of first-degree murder and one count of nonconsensual termination of a pregnancy in the brutal slaying of Brittany Hopkins, records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
According to a news release from the Cedar Rapids Police Department, officers at about 8:32 a.m. on Feb. 28 responded to a report of a deceased individual outside of an apartment complex in the 2100 block of Westdale Drive SW, which is about 115 miles east of Des Moines. Upon arriving at the scene, first responders said they located the body of an adult female — later identified as Hopkins — and immediately secured the scene for investigators.
Three days later, police confirmed that they were investigating Hopkins’ death as a homicide and publicly asked for any possible witnesses to contact the department.
Detectives homed in on White as a suspect and on March 14 contacted the Northern Iowa Fugitive Task Force to request assistance in locating and apprehending him.
“Task Force officers began to follow up on leads throughout Cedar Rapids and developed information indicating White had fled the state following the murder. Officials began coordinating with the U.S. Marshals Nevada Violent Offender Task Force,” a news release from the U.S. Marshals Service states. “Officers with the Nevada Violent Offender Task Force today narrowed their search to an area in the 2900 block of West Washington Avenue in Las Vegas. U.S. Marshals approached the suspect shortly after 3 p.m. and White eventually surrendered to the Nevada Violent Offender Task Force.”
White was taken into custody without incident and was held without bond as he awaited extradition back to Iowa.
A copy of the criminal complaint obtained by The Gazette provided additional details about the investigation into Hopkins’ murder.
According to the newspaper, the victim’s body was discovered inside of the shopping cart covered with a white blanket and wrapped in black electrical tape. Several bags of trash had also been placed on top of the body in an apparent attempt to conceal its whereabouts. An autopsy determined that Hopkins’ manner of death was a homicide and the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head.
After police publicly released White’s name as a person of interest, an individual called to report seeing him and Hopkins together just days before the body was discovered. Investigators soon obtained surveillance footage from outside of a local shopping mall on Feb. 22 that corroborated the tip. Another tipster told investigators he was with White and Hopkins on Feb. 27 and that White had physically assaulted Hopkins.
After learning that White had been living about a block from where Hopkins’ body was found, investigators obtained a search warrant and found what appeared to be wheel marks from a shopping cart in the carpeted hallway that led from White’s apartment to the exit.
Footage from another building’s surveillance camera allegedly showed White pushing the empty cart into the building on Feb. 27, leaving with a full cart in the direction where Hopkins’ body was found, and returning home about 30 minutes later.
Inside the apartment, investigators said there was blood spatter on the walls and bleach on the rug. A hammer was also recovered with what appeared to be blood and human hair on it. There was also a bloody handprint that allegedly came up as a match for White.
White was extradited back to Iowa on Sunday and is currently being held in the Linn County Jail on a $2.5 million cash-only bond, records show.
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