Articles by Iowa Radio News

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Sunday, December 23, 2018

SHENANDOAH, IA (IRN) – A southwestern Iowa man died Friday in a head-on collision. According to an Iowa State Patrol crash report, 22-year-old Christian Carter of Shenandoah tried to pass a vehicle in a no-passing zone, and collided with an oncoming vehicle. Carter wasn’t wearing a seat belt. IOWA CITY, IA (IRN) – A man serving a life sentence in the murder of his infant daughter was pronounced dead due to apparent suicide Saturday. WHO-TV reports Ryan Trowbridge, 28, was convicted of first-degree murder and child endangerment resulting in death in 2012. His 4-month-old daughter Rylee died of abusive head trauma in February 2010, one-day after Trowbridge called 911 claiming his daughter’s head had become stuck facedown in between the mattress and the headboard. CORALVILLE, IA (IRN) – A minivan punched through the wall of a department store at a Coralville mall last night, according to KCRG-TV. Officers responded around 7:00 p.m. to the Dillard’s at Coral Ridge Mall to find the vehicle had penetrated an exterior wall of the store. The collision appeared to be accidental, as the driver suffered some kind of medical issue which led to the crash. Though the incident happened on one of the busiest shopping days of the year, no one was seriously hurt. IOWA CITY – Freshman Joe Wieskamp scored a career high 24 points as Iowa the Iowa men’s basketball team destroyed Savannah State 110-64. The Hawkeyes hit 19 threes as a team, a new school record.


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Saturday, December 22, 2018

KNOXVILLE AND RVR DON’T READ YOUR OWN STORIES PERRY, IA (IRN) – The adoptive father of 16-year-old Sabrina Ray, whose 2017 starvation death sparked statewide outrage, admitted in court Friday to imprisoning his three children in their Perry home. Raccoon Valley Radio reports Marc Ray, 43, pleaded guilty to four felony charges. He faces a minimum of 35 years in prison. KNOXVILLE, IA (IRN) – A man is dead as a result of an apparent knife wound in Knoxville, according to KNIA/KRLS Radio. No name has been released, and the DCI is assisting the investigation. HAMPTON, IA (IRN) – A Franklin County man is facing several felony charges. KIMT-TV reports security video from an apartment complex in Hampton shows Brady Joe Hunt, 38, leaving an apartment where $3,000 in cash was stolen. The video shows Hunt going into the laundry room on the third floor, where he reportedly dropped the money down the dryer vent to the 2nd floor. Hunt collected the cash from the 2nd floor, then returned a short time later to hide $1,310 in cash along with 10 grams of methamphetamine, less than an ounce of marijuana, syringes, one Viagra pill, and 69 Alprazolam pills. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – Des Moines police responded to an armed robbery Friday evening. WHO-TV reports officers were called to Cash Advance on Southeast 14th Street around 6 p.m. The suspect wore a facemask and robbed the business at gunpoint. No one was injured, and investigators are reviewing store security video. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – The latest unemployment figures for November show Iowa and Hawaii have the lowest jobless rates in the country at 2.4%. The latest Iowa Workforce Development figures released Friday indicate 1,900 more Iowans entered the workforce during the month bringing the total number of employed Iowans to 1.64 million, the most in state history.


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Friday, December 21, 2018

FORT DODGE, IA (IRN) – A man has been imprisoned for setting fire to a vehicle in the parking garage of Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge. The Messenger reports that 22-year-old Terrell Adams pleaded guilty to arson and criminal mischief. He was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years in prison. Adams admitted that he set fire to the vehicle of an acquaintance that was parked in the garage. That fire then spread, damaging at least 10 vehicles and causing structural damage to the garage. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A Des Moines man has been arrested and charged in the stabbing death of his cousin, according to WHO-TV. 30-year-old Sean Michael Foster was charged with first degree murder in the death of 50-year-old Albert Barron III. Barron’s employer asked police to check on him after he hadn’t shown up for work for a few days. When officers arrived, they found a bloody crime scene. They also found Foster, who was asleep. Barron had been dead for several days. NORTH LIBERTY, IA (IRN) – Police in North Liberty are investigating a stabbing that injured an employee at a Little Caesars Pizza. KCRG-TV reports the employee was stabbed by two men who fled the scene. Employees told investigators they did not believe this was a robbery attempt and the suspects intended to only harm the victim. INDIANOLA, IA (IRN) – City State Bank in Indianola was robbed by a man with a handgun Thursday afternoon, according to KNIA Radio. He fled with an undisclosed amount of cash, and is still at large. CHARLES CITY, IA (IRN) – A Mason City driver apparently lost control of a vehicle and ran into a house in Charles City Wednesday afternoon. KIMT-TV reports the 49-year-old driver suffered minor injuries, but will be OK. MACKSBURG, IA (IRN) – A man from the Madison County town of Macksburg who shot himself in the heart lived to tell his story. KCCI-TV reports Ronnie Butler accidentally shot himself during a hunting trip, and he said he’s grateful to be alive. Friends say he was lucky. Butler says, “that’s the word everybody uses: lucky. It wasn’t luck. I was blessed.”


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Thursday, December 20, 2018

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IRN) – Iowa Senator Joni Ernst is signing on to bipartisan legislation expressing concern over President Trump’s sudden withdrawal of troops from Syria. Senate Resolution 738 was introduced by Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina Wednesday night. The non-binding resolution expresses the sense of the Senate that the U.S. should continue limited military activities in Syria and ending those activities would embolden ISIS, Syrian President Bahsar Al-Assad, Iran and Russia while putting our Kurdish allies in jeopardy. CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (IRN) – Nearly four decades after Michelle Marie Martinko was killed and left in her family’s car in a Cedar Rapids mall parking lot, police arrested and charged a Manchester man with first-degree murder. The Des Register reports DNA evidence led police to arrest Jerry Lynn Burns, 64, on Wednesday. In 1979 the Kennedy High School senior had driven to the mall after a school choir banquet to shop for a new winter coat. Evidence showed she had fought her killer, but had been stabbed at least eight times. PELLA, IA (IRN) – One person has been killed in a collision between a car and a semi on Highway 163 in Pella. KRLS-radio reports 65-year-old Esther Hockett from Bowman, North Dakota apparently drove onto the wrong entry ramp and collided with a semi truck hauling cattle at full speed. First responders and local farmers searched for cattle for several hours. The driver of the semi was uninjured. DAVENPORT, IA (IRN) – A 21-year-old man was shot after a dispute at a Davenport Dollar General store. WQAD-TV reports police found the suspect, a 17-year-old male, at West High School. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A woman is recovering after a stabbing at a homeless camp in Des Moines Wednesday morning. WHO-TV reports the woman was stabbed in the leg with a large folding knife after an argument with her boyfriend near the camp. No arrest has been made. CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (IRN) – Students at Cedar Rapids Jefferson High School fed over one thousand people for free Wednesday night. KWWL-TV reports it’s the seventh straight year the student council has held the holiday dinner. Student Jack Mossbarger says, “the holiday dinner is an attempt to…bring everyone together and help underprivileged families that can’t have a holiday meal of their own…”


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Wednesday, December 19, 2018

OSKALOOSA, IA (IRN) – A judge has ordered a new trial for a woman found guilty more than four years ago of killing her daughter in Oskaloosa. Court records say Judge Daniel Wilson set aside the first-degree murder conviction of 25-year-old Alicia Ritenour, agreeing with her arguments that her trial attorney had been ineffective. Authorities went to Ritenour’s Oskaloosa apartment in January 2014 following a 911 call. Officers found 17-month-old Ava Ritenour dead. An autopsy showed she died of head trauma. DES MOINES, IA (IRN) – A habitual violent attacker could be a free man on Wednesday, according to WHO-TV. In 2012, 38-year-old Scott Parks was sentenced to 15 years prison for assaulting and brutally beating a Des Moines woman. The victim says, “he took me hostage in my home. He beat me for four and a half hours using his hands, knees and feet; he hit me with a rod iron cross.” Other women he had been previously convicted of assaulting are also asking he not be released early. BURLINGTON, IA (IRN) – A jury didn’t convict a 58-year-old Burlington man of vehicular homicide in the incident that killed his wife, but he has been found guilty of OWI. The Des Moines Register reports Bradley Wischmeier acknowledged driving “crazily” around a corn field until the vehicle overheated and caught fire. He was found lying about 20 yards from the blazing vehicle and his wife Lisa was dead nearby. It’s his third OWI. CEDAR RAPIDS, IA (IRN) – A shooting in Cedar Rapids early this morning hospitalized at least two people, according to KCRG-TV. Police are investigating. WAUKEE, IA (IRN) – Former Waukee Schools’ Chief Operating Officer Eric Rose now faces a fourth charge in connection with his alleged financial misconduct in office. KCCI-TV reports the newest charge is solicitation of a restricted donor. Prosecutors say Rose solicited donations from companies that did business with the Waukee School District for his son’s hockey team. Rose pleaded not guilty to all four charges.