Posted on 03/25/2008 3:45:27 PM PDT by JennysCool
Sheryl Sueppel and her four children suffered blunt-force trauma, and husband and father Steven Sueppel is probably their killer, officials said Tuesday at a press conference.
Iowa City Police Chief Sam Hargadine said authorities' investigation "suggests Steven Sueppel was the perpetrator of the homicide." He was identified as the person who called to report the family's deaths around 6:30 a.m. March 24.
Officials also said two baseball bats may have been involved.
Still, authorities do not have a cause of death for any of the Sueppels, pending autopsies being performed Tuesday.
Steven Sueppel tried to kill himself at least twice before authorities found the bodies of his family at their residence, 629 Barrington Road at 6:45 a.m. March 24 - once in a vehicle in the family's garage where the children were present and another time in the Iowa River in Lower City Park, police also said Tuesday.
He eventually intentionally crashed the family's minivan on I-80 near West Branch, killing himself, Hargadine said.
There is more detailed coverage on the Des Moines Register's website, which is on the FR "don't post" list.
“Government Schooling Dad Kills Kids” ?
If the kids were too young to attend government school, maybe some government school defender will propose taking kids from mother's arms at birth. This way they could be raised by NEA teachers in government orphanages. Gee! Why not? Some parents kill their kids!
In a news conference Tuesday, investigators said they believe Steven Sueppel, 42, killed his wife, then tried to kill himself and his children in their garage by carbon monoxide poisoning. When that failed, he killed the children individually.
Lt. Jim Steffen said investigators couldn’t be sure how the children died, but they think it was by “blunt force trauma.” Steffen said two baseball bats were being examined and might have been used.
After the children died, Sueppel tried to drown himself in the Iowa River without success. He then made the 911 call and a few minutes later crashed into the freeway abutment.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,341530,00.html
I guess he figured that they can only hang him once. ATFTRAF - After the first, the rest are free.
Well,,,we definitely know they weren't homeschoolers. If they were that fact would have been in the headline.
But,,,Gee!,,,I though institutionalizing kids for their education was supposed to prevent killings like this?
Sueppel reportedly tried to commit suicide twice early Monday morning. Police say he first tried to use carbon monoxide poisoning by running a car with himself and the children inside in the family’s garage. He then took the children to a park in Iowa City where he tried to drown them and himself. After both attempts failed, Steve Sueppel took the children back to the home. The autopsies are still being completed, but at this point the deaths appear to be from blunt force trauma. Police did recover two baseball bats from inside the Sueppel home.
Sueppel’s wife was killed hours before Sueppel killed his children. Police say she died sometime before 3:45am Monday morning. After she died, Sueppel made three phone calls. The first call was to his former employer, Hills Bank and Trust. The second two calls were from his cell phone to his home. Sueppel left a voicemail at each location. Police did not say what Sueppel said on the messages.
It’s not known if Sueppel made the 911 call. Transcripts released today show a brief conversation:
Dispatcher: “This is 911 what’s the location of your emergency?”
Caller: “Hello, am I talking to Iowa City?”
The dispatcher again asks the location.
Caller: “Iowa City, Iowa.”
The dispatcher asked for an address.
Caller: “629 Barrington Road. Please go there immediately.”
The dispatcher asks what’s going on there and the caller hung up.
Sueppel left a long note in the family’s kitchen addressed to no one in particular. He also left voice mail messages at the family’s home, at the bank where he once worked and at the law office of his father and brother.
One of the messages indicated Sueppel believed his family was in heaven, Steffen said.
Their bodies were found throughout the home. Two were in upstairs bedrooms, one in a basement bedroom and another in a basement toy room. Sheryl Sueppel’s body was found in the master bedroom.
Just terrible. This guy had to have just completely cracked.
I’m in Iowa City. This has just shaken people up so much. Comments on the various local websites are pretty much in agreement - why didn’t the guy take himself out and leave the wife and kids alone?
What a tragedy.
Thank you ! Exactly my thoughts.
I think where we all run into a problem is we try and apply rational analysis to a person who is (was) crazy and by definition, won’t have been rational. I probably seemed completely reasonable to him to bash the skulls of his kids & wife in before killing himself. It’s horrifying. I wonder if his wife saw any signs of his mental breakdown or if it was immediate (and what factor did heavy coke use play in this).
I wonder what impact this is going to have on normal people trying to adopt.
He was awaiting trial on charges of embezzling multiple hundreds of thousands of dollars from the company he worked for, supposedly to support a cocaine habit.
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