On October 17, 2008, 24-year-old Jessica Dawn Luedtke Deemer of Waukee, Iowa, was killed on Highway 14 near Marshalltown. Jessica, a mother to a six-year-old son and a compliance associate at Principal Financial, was traveling with a friend, 24-year-old Bryce Lee Mercer, when their car was forced off the road into a ditch by Jessica’s estranged husband, 27-year-old Kyle Gene Deemer. Witnesses called 911 after the initial crash; subsequent callers reported shots fired.

Both victims were found dead when authorities arrived around 5:30 p.m. Kyle Deemer fled but was later captured on foot in southern Hamilton County and charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

The trial moved to Humboldt County, and after testimony and eyewitness accounts the jury found him guilty on both counts; he received mandatory life sentences.