5 Dead in Iowa City Home

[Ashley]

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) -- A woman and her four children were found dead in their home Monday morning, and authorities were searching for the woman's husband, authorities said.

An ambulance and police car sit outside a house in Iowa City on Monday where five people were found dead.

Dispatchers got a call at 6:31 a.m. saying officers needed to get to 629 Barrington Rd immediately. The caller then hung up, a police department statement said.

Officers found the house unlocked and discovered the bodies inside.

"Lots of family needs to be contacted," Iowa City Police Sgt. Troy Kelsay told The Gazette of Cedar Rapids.

Officers said they were not able to find the woman's husband, Steven Sueppel. Court records show that a Steven Sueppel who lives at the address where the bodies were found was indicted last month on federal charges of stealing about $560,000 from the bank where he worked.

Police also said the family's van was missing. They said a single-vehicle, fatal crash on Interstate 80 about nine miles from the house may have involved the van. However, the vehicle was on fire so officers were having a difficult time identifying it and the occupant, according to the department news release.

While police initially said the victims had been shot, Kelsay said he was unsure how they were killed.


"I'm not certain that a firearm was ever involved," he said, adding that the victims suffered trauma. "Nobody reported hearing any shots."

Sueppel was charged last month with one count of embezzlement of bank funds and six counts of money laundering while serving as the vice president and controller of Hills Bank and Trust. Authorities said the alleged thefts occurred between July 26, 2000, and September 12, 2007.

Sueppel, 42, pleaded not guilty and was released on $250,000 bail. His trial was scheduled for April 21.

Sueppel's attorney in that case, Leon Spies, said he had heard about the deaths.


"I had great affection for Steve and his family. This is an unimaginable professional and personal tragedy for a lot of people," he said.

Based on the police alert of a gunman, students and faculty at the University of Iowa received text and telephone messages warning that there was an active shooter in the Iowa City area. That message said police were looking for a white man in his 40s, driving a minivan. KCRG-TV in Cedar Rapids said public schools were locked down as a precaution.

[Drifte]

wow thats rediculous. Thats like the 3rd lock down in iowa in a few weeks.

[JustinS]

I know people with that last name. I know it's not them, but I wonder if they are related. It's not too common of a name.

Fuck the killer, he'll be in the same place as Hitler soon enough.

[Talon92Fox]

I cant understand how someone can be as fucked up in the head to kill children, or anyone for that matter. I was watching Intervention on A&E (Great show IMO) today and a woman who is now an alcoholic, when she was 16 her sisters ex-boyfriend, who they had recently separated, came to the house, shot his ex girlfriends mom twice, and then shot and killed their two children, aged 5 and 7 years old. Stupid people, they'll all get what they deserve in prison.

[JustinS]

Fuck prison, Iowa needs the death penalty.

[DustinsDuster]

Fuck prison, Iowa needs the death penalty.

QFT

[sLoWnStEaDy]

Fuck the killer, he'll be in the same place as Hitler soon enough.

Hitler wasn't such a bad guy... Just misunderstood...

[JustinS]

Fuck the killer, he'll be in the same place as Hitler soon enough.

Hitler wasn't such a bad guy... Just misunderstood...
Don't give me that bullshit.

If he was just misunderstood he wouldn't have slaughtered millions of jews.

[Scott]

misunderstood????? WOW I dont know what to say to that one, maybe we should just over look the holocaust and try harder to understand him....Im sure its justified

[efforts]

that's nuts. RIP to the family.

[DustinsDuster]

ACHHH-HOOOO!

sorry, im allergic to sarcasm; even if its in bad taste...

[JustinS]

Well, it's official, the guy was the brother of a family friend of ours. I hate when this shit hits close to home.

BTW, he crashed his van and killed himself on I-80 this morning.

[StreetSweeper]

WTF is this world comming to? Who in there right mind would even think to do somthing like that. And especially to there family. Just because he was a money embezelen crack snortin cock, that dosnt give him the right to harm. Gods got the 4 kids and the lady under his arms now. As for him.. Good thing that bastard crashed and burned on I-80, because reguardless weather he killed his self or not, when the other inmates found out he was in prizon with them for killing his wife and four kids, they were going to kill him anyway! That SOB can rot in hell, and so can anyone else with any intent to harm in such a terrible way. :Hangman:

Prayers go out to there family's...

[Ricky]

WTF is this world comming to? Who in there right mind would even think to do somthing like that. And especially to there family. Just because he was a money embezelen crack snortin cock, that dosnt give him the right to harm. Gods got the 4 kids and the lady under his arms now. As for him.. Good thing that bastard crashed and burned on I-80, because reguardless weather he killed his self or not, when the other inmates found out he was in prizon with them for killing his wife and four kids, they were going to kill him anyway! That SOB can rot in hell, and so can anyone else with any intent to harm in such a terrible way. :Hangman:

Prayers go out to there family's...


i think that is the most grown up thing you have said all year.


Sucks that this happens. I feel bad for the family having to deal with this. I know i would be overwhelmed

[StreetSweeper]

WTF is this world comming to? Who in there right mind would even think to do somthing like that. And especially to there family. Just because he was a money embezelen crack snortin cock, that dosnt give him the right to harm. Gods got the 4 kids and the lady under his arms now. As for him.. Good thing that bastard crashed and burned on I-80, because reguardless weather he killed his self or not, when the other inmates found out he was in prizon with them for killing his wife and four kids, they were going to kill him anyway! That SOB can rot in hell, and so can anyone else with any intent to harm in such a terrible way. :Hangman:

Prayers go out to there family's...


i think that is the most grown up thing you have said all year.





Sucks that this happens. I feel bad for the family having to deal with this. I know i would be overwhelmed

Haha.. No this whole story really sucks.. if you stop and think about it ever since columbine there has been so much crap like this happening. It's really getting old and i wish it would stop. Jezuz christ if people feel the need take it out on there selfs.. Dont harm others.

I have a mature sensative side two there ricky, It's just that I eat,sleap, and shit cars, racing, smak shakin, and this happens to be a auto forum where that shit goes down! Everyone who knows me or has met me knows im not that bad of a guy! Even you know that!

[Ashley]

it's an awful thing for their remaining family to have to go through.

i also feel awful for the first officers who arrived. something like that would be horrible to witness.

[TbTalon94]

Honestly if they wouldn't have nationally televised things like the columbine or that recent university shooting I really don't think things like this would happen so often. The problem is you have suicidal maniacs anyways, and they see shit like the shootings and think "well I could go out like that to". Well no, what ever happened to suicidal people just commiting suicide with a lovely note left on a desk somewhere.

I think if they wouldn't televise all this shit then people wouldn't try to copy them or "go out" with a bang. It's retarded.

[RandomHero]

crack snortin
??? you cant snort crack, its in rock form. it will get lodged. :butthead:

[slobalt]

I heard about the van. The best way to go for a guy like that, in flames.

Of course I haven't been reading all of what was going on but, was it really him or some homeless guy he decided to burn up and stage his death so he can escape to mexico?

I gotta quit watchin' crime shows............

[Ashley]

they're pretty sure it was really him, but they werent able to positively identify him yesterday because of the fire. they're doing an autopsy today to make sure it's him, plus an autopsy on the wife and 4 kids today as well.

[amoander]

I don’t mean to be insensitive or anything, but I can completely understand why someone would do this. This might be a long post and nobody will respond, but anyways. People that commit this type of horrible act are not mentally stable and most likely are suffering from a major clinically significant disorder, or had a personality disorder that predisposes them to being ill equipped to handle extreme situations. This does not mean the individual doesn’t know the difference between what is right and wrong. But the person doesn’t have the emotional capability to fully fathom the damage/consequences of their action. Let’s take an example an overly simplified example. The character James Bond, many think of him as the ideal of a man. Well actually he would be classified and having antisocial personality disorder. This would be based off the fact he never maintains a stable relationship with a partner nor has any remorse or problem/issues with killing people. These are all opposite of how the majority of the population live their lives or are ability to cope. Eventually harming other people (ie. War) will have a significant impact on a person. One might argue that he only kills “bad guys”, but the term bad is very subjective and relative to situations.

The point about Columbine and how many don’t understand or can’t believe what the world is coming to needs to realize why the shootings happen at these locations more then why the individuals do them because there are so many causative factors and hind sight is 20/20. Society will never be able to monitor and prediagnose or treat every person before this happens because most of the individual’s personal right would be violated in simply monitoring every person. That includes everyone including you and me. Let’s say I am mentally ill and want to kill people (now remember if someone is mentally ill it doesn’t necessarily mean they are not rational about most decision), which of course is horrible is many ways. If I wanted to kill a large number of people I would seek out an area where a large number of people frequently and predictably congregate. This area would be schools and churches. Hence school and church shootings. One would be guaranteed that many people would be there. So it makes sense why shootings happen in schools and churches. The idea that crime is occurring more often and worse than it ever has been is true, but total gross number of crimes isn’t fair to compare to the past because the population is far larger. So one must compared percentage of crime in relation to the total populations. Then in all reality crime is lower than ever compared to how large the population is. Crime will never stop, it will decrease, and only increase is brutality. What also makes the amount of crimes and severity seem far greater is due to how well publicized and documented it is. In the 1950’s much of this information would only be spread by word of mouth in that area and never be fully publicly released.

Now Hitler was a POS, but with his horrible actions the world learned many great things that we would suffered without. One is how easily a mass society can be fooled into doing things. Second the great advancement of medical knowledge related to genetics and human development and growth (Joseph Mengale). It is very hard many times to do such experiments because the individuals studied are usually harmed but the information gained is infinitely valuable. I would never be able to perform many of the experiments nor tolerate them being done while I knew about it, but none the less it was done scientifically with a great deal of knowledge gained. Lastly many don’t realize our right to bear arms has had some support from what the Nazi regime did before the war. They banned all weapons proclaiming it would decrease violence and increase the safety of society. What it effectively did was disarm the public and their ability to defend themselves from the government. Of course the US government would never do anything that would be against our better interests (lol). I could go on but I will shut my big fn mouth because I know people are probably getting annoyed with me. If anyone wants cited info.on what I have stated just PM me and I will send ii in a few days.

[SaNdMaNsSi]

That bastard blocked I-80 with his flaming ass while I was trying to get to Davenport. He could've at least done this on a Tuesday or something. We have lots of law enforcement contacts at work and word from the IA State Patrol is that this homo lit himself on fire and then crashed on 80. Took me 45 minutes to get past the accident. Bastard.

[69gt4speed]

Believe this one or not that guy from hills bank tried to embezzle some of our money about 2 to 3 yrs ago. We worked with the bank, it was about $700. Considering that and have seen firsthand what coke, crack (dopamine alteration) can do to a person esp with some inherent issue with their brain functions, hard to say what that person might do esp being deprived of a substance that makes them feel so good.

The problem w this guy has been solved, real sorry about his wife and kids but I've seen what the crack/rock coke does. It hardly ever turns out good. Who wants to give up a good feeling. Hardest to admit to urself u have a problem till too late.

Btw Hitler had his drs w him all along. Who do you think invented steroids, meth, u235 usage. etc. The germans. Course we jumped onboard w our own experiments made bombs bigger, gave chemicals to our troops and ppl, like kids in a candy jar. The thing that worries me is some leader doing the same as this guy did on a much larger scale. Last time we had no nukes available to a strung out leader, just a older guy from indep. mo. had the bomb. And we did stupid sh-t...
Btw Adam I'm not annoyed, all that study u do has done some good imo.

[NewSpeedSteed]

That bastard blocked I-80 with his flaming ass while I was trying to get to Davenport. He could've at least done this on a Tuesday or something. We have lots of law enforcement contacts at work and word from the IA State Patrol is that this homo lit himself on fire and then crashed on 80. Took me 45 minutes to get past the accident. Bastard.


I know its a horrible thing that happened and honestly with the right measures it could have been avoided and this wouldn't have happened. I heard about it at work on the radio - that there was a guy going down I-80 like no tomorrow... and then later that night I read this post and saw it on the news. But wow, I honestly LOL'd hard when I read your post bravo for bringing humor in an otherwise sad story.

[amoander]

There is one personal belief/idea I hold about horrible situations like we have been talking about. Despite how terrible something or sombody was or is, always try to learn something from the situation and add meaning to what happened to better your life and or others lives. If one doesn't do this I feel it simply is only a terrible event that occured or another person that we write into our memories and we become jaded in our feelings and judments in the world and as well as bitter towards reality.

What is funny Rob, is I have learned alot in my "studies" but one thing that I have had a great deal of trouble dealing with is that as I learn more about the world I also realize how much I do not know and never will know as well as how much more intelligent many of the people in my classes are then me. (started with over 3200 and now have 238-one of the top students is only 14 years old) It is almost scary and beats the hell out of my selfesteem somedays lol.

I have heard from a few people at work who knew the family very well that the family as a whole (maybe excluding the father) was a very nice and good family which adds more of an impact to what happened.

[SaNdMaNsSi]

Everything about him murdering his family is sad, that part I make no joke about. But don't feel sorry for some homo who kills his family and burns like a redhead in the summer. That guy got what he deserved and just inconvenienced the rest of the world with his existence. When I got to work I just said, "Sorry I'm late- Got held up by the human barbeque."

[Ashley]

so the iowa city police released the autopsy results and what they think happened.. they think that he killed his wife, then took his kids into the garage with him and tried to kill himself and the kids by carbon monoxide poisoning. it didn't work, and so he killed them individually. they said they couldn't tell what was used to kill the kids, but it looked like two baseball bats. then, he tried to drown himself in the iowa river. apparently he couldn't do it, so he got in his car and made the 911 call. a few minutes later, he crashed his van. they can't tell if he used an accelerant in the explosion. also, they said that there was no sign that drugs played a part in it, so he was completely sober.

[SaNdMaNsSi]

Trust me, after the firemen put that thing out either there was enough accelarent in that thing to bring oil prices down 10 bucks a barrel or God forced GM to build vans out of driftwood.

[amoander]

Good points SaNdMaNsSi, thanks for the update Ashley. I have heard from a pretty reliable source that the father had a very aggresive cocaine/drug habit-was also informed a few deputies/officers were required to take a short term private leave from work due to how bad the scene was. Just because you don't have a substance present or its metabolite in your system doesn't mean your brain hasn't already been seriously affected by it. Substance Abuse+Mental Illness= one messed up brain. I am not making excuses for the SOB(God damn it pisses me off when people can so deliberatly, brutally, and with mutiple attempts kill people but not themselves-this statement is just a personal one with not scientific backing. Im sorry but if i was ever able to kill people especially my own progeny and beloved wife, i feel killing myself would be the easy part-but Im sure he had some serious mental issues).

[ZEE]

Dude...............you said progeny.........

[69gt4speed]

Bottom line stay away from dopamine enhancing type drugs it can screw up a decent person as seen here. It bothers me they prescribe meth to certain kids. Who knows when a good kid might have a reaction, like no one made his cereal some morning. It didn't work for the military, otherwise they would give it out freely. Btw guess who first synthesized cocaine? The cocaine alkaloid was first isolated by the German chemist Friedrich Gaedcke in 1855, they are smart busy lil beavers... maybe someday we will have less crude means, till then stay away imo. The results might be fatal.

Easy to say that guy did that, but really formula is that drug + that guy = bad results. Could be u... maybe u have a lil anger/depression/bipolar issue, etc. Hard to say what might happen.

[amoander]

Rob just to pick on ya, you are over generalizing greatly. All drugs in one form or the other affect the dopaminergic reward system (mainly ventral tegmental area, and nucleus accumbens in the brain) directly or indirectly. This reward system is necessary for day to day functions. If you didn’t stimulate this system to be rewarded by “good feelings” everyone would not be able to function and humans wouldn’t have evolved. This reward system is the basis for human survival, drives, and desire. It is mandatory system in our body. So in the end and in a primitive way everyone is seeking in some form to stimulate dopamine release in their brains with or without drugs. This is a very over simplified introduction to human brain and behavior. If anyone would like to borrow my grad book it is really really good. This system is also the basis for drug addiction. The individuals have a “breakdown” in their ability to be rewarded or overly seek to stimulate the system (many different theories, but is it known fact that the dopaminergic reward system is responsible in some form for drug addiction). One of the backing reasons behind the rewards system is the fact that many people abuse drugs that actually have no affect on the system other then pleasing the person in an alternative means with that stimulating their own awards system. An example is hallucinogens; very few to most don’t affect dopamine. They only affect serotonin=hallucinations. Always a good rule of thumb to assess the “addictiveness” of a drug is to know if it is lipid soluble (crosses blood brain barrier easily), route how fast it can get to its site, and how fast the drug binds to site as well as with what affinity to that site. Faster the drugs binds and binds aggressively equals a harder “HIT” or intense high.

So it isn’t entirely fair or correct to say stay away from dopamine enhancing drugs because they will cause horrible damage. Almost all “abused” drugs and many not frequently abused drugs in one way or another affectively increase the amount of available dopamine (either by decreased neurotransmitter breakdown, release, reuptake, transport blocking, etc-many mechanisms). Examples of some of these drugs are caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine. What I think you are meaning and what I believe is to stay away from drugs that directly affect the release, transport, degradation, and synthesis of dopamine (like MDMA, Cocaine, Heroin etc.). It can completely deplete your brain of dopamine and take months to years for your brain to be able to appropriately produce, metabolize, and use the neurotransmitter=lots of messed up emotions, thoughts, coping strategies and so on. While most drugs related to what we are talking about simply increase available neurotransmitter by decreasing their break down (blocking MAO and COMPT-and other breakdown molecules) and reuptake which increases the available amount of the neurotransmitter to bind to its stimulating receptor. Some slightly increase their production. A study that I love was on monkeys which were given moderate doses of MDMA (ecstasy) for I think 2 weeks round the clock. Multiple PET and Functional MRI’s were done and found a 40-50% drop in brain dopamine use/ and binding receptors as well as brain stimulation (you don’t use receptors they die-overgeneration and pruning hypothesis-you don’t use it you lose it idea). Five years later they followed up with same tests and were still at a 10-20% loss-THAT’S ONLY 2 WEEKS OF FULL ON DRUG USE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Scares the shit out of me. I won’t start of my ideas of stimulant use for ADD ADHD treatment, but honestly if their wasn’t backing research the governments or scientists would allow it to get this far.

[Ashley]

.. what did you go to school for? we're talking about that stuff in my psych class, and it makes me a little nauseous that you seem to enjoy that type of stuff, whereas i'm about to kill myself because of this class. lol.

[69gt4speed]

Adams right, everybody wants to feel good. I have seen personally seen what meth (desoxyn) boiled w water and shot up did to my ex friends. I have seen my coworkers doing sh-t for the crack. I saw good ppl go bad, saw the side effects, those side effects didn't go away. Why I learned more what it does. To understand a bit why good ppl do crazy sh-t. Why I don't condone it. I don't think anything is wrong w coffee, beating on ur car, etc. Adam yea I generalized, sorry. In any case another tragic tale of bad results.

[foxsgurl]

I just dont understand how do you try to commit suicide twice that it doesnt work! I may be sounding like a bad person saying this but was this guy dumber then he looks. Something blocking the exhaust completely is gonna kill u if you sit in the car long enough. you cant just stand in the damn garage with the doors and windows closed and expect it to work, any idiot should know that there is always a crack or some kind of ventelation there. And as to drowning....duh tie a rock to ur ankle and go out as far as you can. I cant believe he would resort to driving like that and with the explosions. He felt that bad about killing his family..what if he killed someone else or a happy family that didnt do anything but be on the road at the wrong time. Stupid ass people. And its the ppl that you would least expect for this shit to happen. RIP to his family...hopefully he gets what is coming to him.

[amoander]

Ashley, I finished BS in Psych from the U of I with biology minor as well as a nursing degree. I work orthopedics at Mercy Psychiatric Unit at my home town 1-2 days a month per diem all while tying to get into Nurse Practitioner school. Work 20-32 hours a week and go to school full time. Many people aren't familiar with that area of medicine. If you need help or FYI on your class (what is the class exactly) I most likely can give you help. Espcially if it is with medications, metabolisms, neurotranmitters and the CNS and PNS. Finshing post undergrade stuff now. Their turning Nurse Practitioner Degrees (Masters) into PhD's so i have to do more prep stuff now.

[ZEE]

All that reading hurt my brain. :Hangman: I'm going over to the dummies thread. I understand stuff there. :suspect:

[amoander]

ZEE, some of you play stupid on here but are more educated then you lead on. My dad is a good example of someone with no formal education, but self taught about engineering and started his own buisiness and knows about as much regarding science as i believe a person could without the formal side. So don't let anyone with BS, PhD, SOB or whatever be an a$$ to someone and then hide behind the statement "I have a Degree". Ya well go F yourself your still a prick. Ny Dad needed to take classes though on how to be a good father (I have daddie issues lol-austin powers), but he did more for me then many fathers so i respect him for that.

[Ashley]

sad update from KCRG:

It's expected hundreds will attend the funeral services for the Suepple Family, and it's likely there will be an outside presence there--for an entirely different reason.

Westboro Baptist church--a controversial group based out of Topeka Kansas-- travels state to state protesting at high-profile funerals for their own cause. Now comes word the group plans to be outside the Sueppel services, when emotions will no doubt be running high. The religious group, led by Reverend Fred Phelps-- plans to be outside The Sueppel family'funeral, simply because it's expected to be a large gathering.

"They're not dummies. They're not un-intelligent. They do this across the country," says Sgt. Troy Kelsay of the Iowa City Police Department.

These protestors have shown up at events in Iowa before, spreading their message. And police say they're well within their right to do so. The 1st Ammendment says they can-as long as they stay within the laws.

"They cannot block passage on the sidewalk. They cannot block passage to a building," Kelsay says. "They are allowed to be on any public right of way."

But what has law enforcement on standby--the fact that they're planning to spread their message while the community grieves the loss of an entire family.

"You've got somebody who's having a very difficult time keeping control. Then you have someone who is intentionally prodding them and pushing buttons," says Kelsay.

The church put out an inflammatory message, blaming the death of this family on "iowa's sins".

Iowa recently enacted a law after many of the group's protests, and now they're required to stay at least 500 feet away.

St. Mary's Church which is handling the funeral tells KCRG TV-9 they hope people simply come to grieve, be with the family, and act as if the protestors aren't even there.

The Iowa City Police Department tells us they will have a visible presence at the funeral, not just for the family, but also because this group has asked for law enforcement to be there. The ICPD's goal is to intervene *before anything should get out of hand.

[DustinsDuster]

i really want to go now and ask them all the "what should happen to women who have illegal abortions?" question...im down for a fight with these buck-toothed rednecks...

[amoander]

Well I think i have had enough time not to freakout and post my "Insane" feelings regarding Westro Baptist religious extrimist and family imbreeding program. One thing I can't stand that peopel do with religion is hide behind it and call everything that happens is because of something related to it. The statemnt the Suepple situation occured is due to "iowa's Sin" is BS (most peopel would agree), but what makes it difficult to deal with is disproving it because it is something that is untestable or completely insane to try to test. Soo the point is believed to be valid because it can't be disproven, but that is the opposite of reality. I don't want to freak out but isn't using funerals as a religious advertising compaign pretty sick? YES!!!!!!!!!!!!

[DustinsDuster]

I don't want to freak out but isn't using funerals as a religious advertising compaign pretty sick? YES!!!!!!!!!!!!

i was just at a funeral a couple weeks ago where a pastor who was speaking about my friend invited anyone who wanted to become closer to God to come talk to him afterwards. after he said it, i thought to myself, "did he just use my friend's death to plug his church?"

[Ashley]

they do that at almost any funeral. basically they're hoping people will be at the funeral and be scared about their own death, and want to turn to god to make sure they're going to heaven, so the pastor will give you some information and offer to baptize you (sometimes) or communion or whatever.

[Drifte]

i just connected 2 stories. thought i would share.
My dads a volunteer firefighter, he was on his way ot work or something and found a burning van with the driver inside. he couldnt get the driver out he said the van literally exploded. He ran around making sure no one had been ejected from the van but their was only the driver, and he called 911. Aparently calling 911 hadnt even crossed anyone else who was their minds.

the driver was the father of that family.

[DustinsDuster]

perhaps everyone else somehow subconsciously knew what he had done in the time prior...

[69gt4speed]

What I hate is westboro baptist says "baptist" and is not affiliated w any baptist church, period. It's members consist of family members and a perm disbarred attorney that blows his own horn as he sees fit. Just another cult w legal understanding imo.

[tylers88]

It might be a dick head comement, but I'm not sorry about it either. I hope that he survived the collision and that son of a bitch burnt to death.