Luke Truesdell, inset, murdered four people with a metal pipe in Linn County, Iowa, authorities said. He allegedly claimed he wanted a movie made about the killings. (Truesdell: Linn County Jail; Screenshot: KGAN/YouTube)
A man is behind bars after he allegedly beat four people to death with a metal pipe in rural Iowa.
Deputies from the Linn County Sheriff’s Office on June 5 responded to the 3600 block of East Otter Road in Marion for several people bleeding from the head in an outbuilding in the area. When they arrived, 26-year-old Keonna Victoria Ryan was inside with “blood pooling underneath her head and multiple blunt force injuries to her head,” a criminal complaint said.
They then found Romondus Lamar Cooper, 44, suffering from a “large blunt force wound” to his head. Another victim, 33-year-old Amanda Sue Parker, was located in the back corner of the building suffering from head injuries. Finally, paramedics discovered Brent Anthony Brown, 34, unconscious. Paramedics pronounced Cooper, Parker and Ryan dead at the scene while they flew Brown to the hospital via helicopter. Brown died on Friday.
Cops arrested 34-year-old Luke Truesdell on the scene. He’s now charged with four counts of first-degree murder. He allegedly admitted to beating the four victims and pointed out the metal pipe he used. Detectives noted the pipe had blood and hair on it. Surveillance video also placed him at the scene.
“The defendant reportedly admitted to several motives including that a movie would be made about the killings,” the complaint said.
For several months, Parker and her boyfriend Cooper had been living in the outbuilding where they were murdered after being evicted last summer, a friend told the Cedar Rapids Gazette. Brown’s father owned the property where Cooper and Parker were living. Ryan was dating Brown. Cops haven’t said how Truesdell knew the victims.
Amber Sangalli told the Gazette that she and Parker worked at a local Subway. Parker had just gotten off work less than two hours before the murders.
Sangalli described her friend as “kindhearted, generous and hardworking.”
Parker and Sangalli also worked at the Old Brick House Pub at the Lindale Mall in Cedar Rapids.
“I don’t know how someone could do something like that to such a kind person,” Sangalli told local CBS affiliate KGAN.
Said co-worker Cheyanne Geiger: “We weren’t just co-workers, we were family. We still are. Even though she’s not here we’ll be thinking about her everyday.
Sangalli started a GoFundMe to help Parker’s family with funeral costs.
Information has been scant about the other three victims.
A judge arraigned Truesdell on the fourth murder charge on Monday. He remains at the Linn County Jail on a $4 million cash bond.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
