MT. PLEASANT, IA (IRN) – A verdict has been given in the cold case murder trial of 22-year-old Elizabeth Syperda. KCII-radio reports 53-year-old Michael Lee Syperda has been found guilty of murder in the first degree in the death of his estranged wife. Elizabeth’s July 2000 disappearance in Mt. Pleasant was classified as a homicide after the investigation into her disappearance was reopened in March 2017.

OSCEOLA, IA (IRN) – An Osceola couple facing child endangerment charges kept two adopted children locked in a room subdivided by wood and kept plastic buckets for the children to use as a toilet. KCCI-TV reports the children were also malnourished. An investigation that began in January resulted in the arrests of 42-year-old Kenneth Fry and 40-year-old Kelly Fry. The couple have seven children, and the two of them who were abused had been adopted from Ghana, one age 8 and one age 9.

DRAKESVILLE, IA (IRN) – A hit and run crash has killed a nine-year-old and seriously injured his sibling in southeast Iowa. The Iowa State Patrol reports a vehicle hit the two at about 10 last night in Davis County near Drakesville. Troopers say they were walking against traffic when a vehicle came up from behind, hit them and then drove off.

DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Police arrested one man early Sunday morning after they heard gunshots near Klub Elite in the East Village of Des Moines. WHO-TV reports police found a woman with a gunshot wound to her arm. A man was seen running from a vehicle that was leaving at a high rate of speed, which then hit a parked car. Police caught Leonardo Castellanos and found a handgun and evidence of narcotics distribution in his possession.

CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (IRN) – A documentary film made in eastern Iowa by eight Cedar Rapids teenagers won a top prize at a Toronto film festival. KCRG-TV reports “Somewhere Only We Know” explains the life of a Shueyville couple who choose to live simply, and without modern conveniences on an 83-acre property called “Wildwood Farm.” The purpose of the film was to answer the question, “What is worth more than money?” The students say they learned there is more to life than material things, like caring about others.