Three Men Charged In Kidnapping And Murder Of Woman Dumped Near Lake

Three Iowa men were arrested in connection to the kidnapping and killing of a 20-year-old woman whose body was found dumped near a lake,police announced.

McKinley Louisma, 23, and Dakota Lyle Van Patten, 18, were arrested and charged on Wednesday with kidnapping and murder in connection to the death of Louisma’s girlfriend, Melody Hoffman, according to criminal complaints shared by Marion police on Thursday. Van Patten also face an additional charge of conspiracy to commit forcible felony.

According to the documents, Iowa County Sheriff deputies responded to a report of a deceased person near Amana Lily Lake in Iowa County, Iowa on Feb.18 to discover Hoffman with “numerous stab and slash wounds to her body.”

Preliminary opinions by state medical examiners determined that Hoffman’s cause of death was from strangulation, the complaints read.

According to the complaints, investigators were able to track Hoffman’s activity through her iPhone and Apple Watch to determine that she was picked up by Louisma and Van Patten the night before her body was discovered.

Investigators said Hoffman was at Morgan Creek Park when her Apple Watch recorded her “heartbeat intensify before it either stopped or the device deactivated,” according to the complaints.

Law enforcement soon located and searched Louisma’s vehicle and found the victim’s phone case, her Apple Watch band with blood on it, a towing rope and clothing that matched the clothes Hoffman was wearing.

According to the complaints, Louisma allegedly confessed that he was with Van Patten and Hoffman the night of the incident and that they duct taped the victim’s wrist, then forced her into the trunk. Louisma allegedly drove Hoffman from the park to several different locations