DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Supreme Court has upheld a man’s murder conviction in the 1979 killing of an 18-year-old Cedar Rapids woman. The court on Friday denied the appeal of Jerry Lee Burns, who was convicted in 2020 of first-degree murder in the stabbing death of Michelle Martinko. Burns argued in his appeal that investigators had violated his privacy rights by not getting a warrant in 2018 before obtaining his DNA from a straw that he had thrown away. The DNA matched blood found on Martinko’s dress. But the court ruled Burns could not have had a reasonable expectation of privacy when he discarded the straw.
CLAYTON COUNTY, Iowa (KCRG) – A 5-year-old girl was found soon after it was reported she was missing on Saturday night, according to law enforcement officials. During the evening of Saturday, April 1, the Clayton County Sheriff’s Office took a report of a girl who had wandered from her home at around 7:30 p.m. A search of the immediate area by deputies did not result in finding the girl. Deputies then asked for additional agencies’ help. The girl was found at around 11:20 p.m. a half mile from the home. She was taken to MercyOne Dubuque hospital as a precaution and then reunited with her family. Multiple county and state agencies assisted with the search effort, along with local citizens.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – A preliminary damage assessment of a tornado that tracked across multiple counties on Friday afternoon showed a very high-end tornado occurred. The National Weather Service in the Quad Cities gave the tornado that tracked from Wapello County into parts of Johnson County a preliminary rating of EF-4 on the Enhanced Fujita scale. That scale goes from EF-0 at its weakest to EF-5 at its strongest. Officials said they believe the maximum estimated winds for the tornado were 170 mph, with a maximum width of around 600 yards. The tornado caused EF-4 damage to a farmstead to the north or northeast of Keota in Keokuk County, where surveyors saw a home that was swept off of its foundation. Specific details about the tornado’s path and the length it was on the ground were not yet made available. Officials said that at least three people were hurt in association with this tornado.
DES MOINES, Iowa (KCRG) – Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a disaster emergency proclamation on Saturday, opening up a dozen counties to disaster relief aid and easing restrictions on transporting materials that are needed for repairs and response following Friday’s storms. Reynolds cited 12 counties that received damage from Friday’s storms, including Cedar, Clinton, Delaware, Des Moines, Dubuque, Grundy, Johnson, Keokuk, Linn, Mahaska, Wapello, and Washington counties. It opens up certain state resources for disaster recovery, as well as relief grants of up to $5,000 for households earning up to 200% of the poverty level. Victims of the storms have 45 days to apply. The proclamation also suspends the regulatory provisions of the Iowa Code that concern the transportation of materials needed for disaster repairs. It also suspended regulatory provisions concerning work hours for drivers and crews transporting the goods necessary to respond to areas cleaning up after the storms. The proclamation lasts through May 1.
