Iowa man arrested after skipping verdict in first-degree murder trial

Des Moines Register
·2 min read
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An Iowa man who failed to show up at his first-degree murder trial on Friday has been found.

Gregory Showalter Sr. of Ottumwa was accused of killing his wife. Police said he missed the reading of the verdict, in which the jury found him guilty.

The Iowa Department of Public Safety said Saturday morning that Showalter had been taken into custody. A news release from the agency did not say when or how Showalter was apprehended, but said more details would be released later.

Defendant Gregory Showalter Sr. returns to his seat after testifying during his first-degree murder trial at the Wapello County Courthouse in Ottumwa, Iowa, Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023. Police were searching for the southeast Iowa man who failed to show up at his first-degree murder trial on Friday, Sept. 22, the day a jury found him guilty of killing his wife. A judge issued an arrest warrant for Showalter after he missed the reading of the jury verdict, according to the Ottumwa Courier.

Showalter, 63, had been out on bail since August 2021, when a judge allowed him to post 10% of his $250,000 bond as long as he attended court hearings and wore a GPS monitor. He had been charged with first-degree murder and other offenses in the strangulation death of his wife, 60-year-old Helen Showalter.

Prosecutors argued that Showalter killed his wife on July 31, 2021, and then dumped her body along the Des Moines River near Ottumwa. Her body was found floating in the river the next morning.

Jurors reached a verdict just after 1 p.m. Friday and Showalter's lawyer said he called his client and told him to come to the Wapello County Courthouse. When Showalter didn't arrive, his attorney contacted the judge as well as officers, who checked his home.

While police searched for Showalter, the judge ordered that the verdict be read, citing Iowa court rules in cases where a person on trial is voluntarily absent. The jury found Showalter guilty of first-degree murder, abuse of a corpse, willful injury causing serious injury, and domestic abuse assault by strangulation or impeding blood circulation.

Ottumwa Police later determined that Showalter had cut off his GPS monitor and turned off his cellphone.

Showalter will be sentenced on Oct. 16. In Iowa, first-degree murder carries a mandatory term of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Gregory Showalter caught after skipping verdict in Ottumwa murder case