FORT DODGE, Iowa (KCCI/KCRG) – The Iowa Department of Corrections says mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, has been detected at the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility. Mpox is an infectious viral disease that can spread between humans and animals. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it spreads primarily through skin-to-skin contact. The Iowa DOC’s chief of staff sent KCCI a statement, saying in part, “We are actively managing the situation with robust health measures … like enhanced sanitation and isolation protocols.” It has not been made public just how many inmates are infected.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – Two people accused of human trafficking of a teenager from Dubuque pleaded not guilty to charges, and are heading to trial. Jarod Anderson and Tana Torres both entered those pleas last week in court. Torres faces charges including human trafficking, sexual abuse, and prostitution. Anderson faces charges including human trafficking, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation of a minor, pimping, and prostitution. Torres waived her right to a speedy trial and has a trial set for Nov. 12. Anderson is demanding a speedy trial with his currently set for the same day. The arrests happened in July, after police said it was part of an ongoing investigation involving a juvenile girl who was reported missing out of Dubuque, but was found in Cedar Rapids. The Quality Inn Hotel on the Northeast side of Cedar Rapids was where a Dubuque teen said she was taken back in May by a man and a woman. She said she was given drugs, including meth, and sold for sex. Linn County Attorney Nick Maybanks said this marks the first Human Trafficking charge involving a minor in Linn County under Iowa’s new law passed in July 2023 that made the crime a class A felony. A class A felony in Iowa, if found guilty, is punishable by a sentence of life in prison, without the possibility of parole.
WINNESHIEK COUNTY, Iowa (KCRG) – The man charged with second degree murder in the 2017 cold case of the death and disappearance of a teenager has entered a plea. James Bachmurski was set to be arraigned in Winneshiek County Court on Tuesday. But court documents show he filed a written arraignment and plea of not guilty in the case on Friday. A criminal complaint showed the details in the case involving 15-year-old Jade Colvin. Someone reported her missing to the Des Moines Police Department in June of 2016. Investigators determined she was brought to Bachmurski’s home on Skyline View Drive in Decorah in March 2017. They also say the two had been messaging electronically for about 20 days before she went to his home. The complaint said statements made during interviews with Bachmurski, and other people they spoke to, implicated him in Colvin’s disappearance and death. The next court date for Bachmurski has not yet been set.
BUCHANAN COUNTY, Iowa (KCRG) – A 26-year-old man is dead after a crash early Sunday in Buchanan County. Sheriff’s Deputies responded to the area of Quasqueton Avenue and Linn-Buchanan Road at 5:17 a.m. That’s north of Walker. The Sheriff’s Office says Kyle Decker was driving a 2009 Chevrolet Silverado sound on Quasqueton Avenue when he lost control in curves in the road. The Sheriff’s Office says Decker’s truck went into the south ditch, hit a drive into a field and rolled onto its top. The Sheriff’s Office says Decker was not wearing a seatbelt and the crash threw him out. They say he died at the scene from his injuries.
