Fourth victim in Marion killings has died, suspect charged again with first-degree murder

A fourth person who was injured in a brutal beating in Linn County last week has died.

Brent Anthony Brown, 34, of Marion, died Friday, according to a news release from the Linn County Sheriff's Office. He had been flown to a hospital with life-threatening injuries on Wednesday after Luke Truesdell, 34, of Marion, allegedly struck him and three other victims in the head with a metal pipe.

Truesdell now faces a fourth first-degree murder charge, the news release said. He already was being held on a $4 million bond.

Linn County Sheriff’s Office deputies were dispatched to 3699 E. Otter Road in rural Marion north of Cedar Rapids around 4 p.m. to find victims with severe injuries in an outbuilding. Three of the victims died at the scene: Romondus Lamar Cooper, 44, of Cedar Rapids; Keonna Victoria Ryan, 26, of Cedar Rapids; and Amanda Sue Parker, 33, of Vinton.

All four bodies are with the state medical examiner for autopsies.

Sheriff Brian Gardner has said one of the alleged motives was that Truesdell wanted the crime to be made into a movie.

"It is my understanding that he was assuming that a movie would be made of the crime," Gardner said in an interview last week. "As to my knowledge he did not record the crime."

Deputies found the bodies of the victims in different locations of an outbuilding on the rural property, according to a criminal complaint. Truesdell was on the scene and allegedly told detectives he hit the four victims with a metal pipe.

A pipe that had blood and hair on it was found at the scene, according to the criminal complaint.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Marion man gets fourth first-degree murder charge; injured victim dies