(Logan, Iowa) – Additional information is being released in connection with a Harrison County homicide investigation. According to an arrest affidavit, the victim of the murder was identified as 53-year-old Douglas Manley, who was found dead inside his rural Harrison County home. The Iowa Office of the State Medical Examiner has ruled Manley’s death as a homicide caused by blunt force trauma.

Court documents say Manly and 22-year-old Sebastin Reece O’Brien, were moving furniture Sunday when they got into a fight. Investigators said O’Brien told them he punched, kicked and hit Manley with dresser drawers.

As we previously reported, Deputies in Harrison County found O’Brien Sunday afternoon south of Modale, after he crashed a pickup that belonged to Manley. When deputies went to Manley’s house, they found blood smeared on the front door and said the door appeared to be forced open.  They found Manley dead at the top of the stairs. Investigators said he had face and head injuries. Deputies said O’Brien was intoxicated and combative when they interviewed him.

O’Brien is charged with first-degree murder, a Class-A felony. He’s being held without bond, and scheduled to be in court for a preliminary hearing May 1st.

(Radio Iowa) One of the world’s most deadly forms of cancer is the focus of an event in central Iowa this weekend that will gather survivors from across the state, as well as advocates and loved ones of those who’ve died from it. The Purple Stride Iowa walk will be held Saturday at Raccoon River Park in West Des Moines. Ryan Dwars, of Iowa City, is a three-year pancreatic cancer survivor and he’ll be giving a speech during the event’s opening ceremony.

“The Purple Stride event is to help those that are impacted by pancreatic cancer,” Dwars says. “It’s a way to give tribute to family members that may have been lost due to pancreatic cancer, but it’s really to raise public awareness and funds to hopefully have some better treatment options, resources and scientific research.” Symptoms of pancreatic cancer are often vague and can include abdominal or mid-back pain, unexplained weight loss, jaundice, loss of appetite, indigestion, changes in stool and new-onset diabetes. After some minor back pain grew and gradually spread into his chest, Dwars went to the E-R and was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at age 36.

“Luckily, I was able to catch it soon enough which — a lot of people aren’t quite that lucky,” Dwars says. “My uncle was battling pancreatic cancer at the time as well, too. He has since passed. I was able to have surgery, but then I’ve still been battling it because it’s come back a couple other times, so I’m on my third chemo regimen.” The five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is just 13-percent. It’s estimated more than 66-thousand Americans will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer this year, and nearly 52-thousand will die from the disease this year, making it the third-leading cause of cancer death in the U-S. Dwars, a special education teacher at Iowa City West High School, says he’s faced a variety of challenges since being diagnosed.

“The chemo drug that I was on at the time, there was a shortage of that and I wasn’t going to be able to get it,” Dwars says. “We helped advocate and find the drug to be able to bring that to our local hospital, and not just to help myself but also to help about 50 other patients that were going to miss their chemo treatment because of a drug shortage.”

Saturday’s annual Purple Stride event is the only one in Iowa, and it’s among about 60 nationwide. The Iowa goal is to raise 145-thousand dollars toward a national goal of 19-million, in order to help change the lives of people facing pancreatic cancer and advance progress against the disease.

(Red Oak, Iowa) – Red Oak Police report a local man faces charges in connection with a drug investigation. 28-year-old Nikolus Brenton Schooling, of Red Oak, was arrested late Tuesday afternoon on felony charges that include Drug trafficking methamphetamine–a Class B felony, Intent to manufacture or deliver a schedule 1 narcotic–a Class C felony, Controlled substance violation–a Class D felony, and Class-D felony Drug tax stamp violations.

Schooling was being held in the Montgomery County Jail on a $45,000 cash-only bond.

Separately, Red Oak Police Tuesday arrested 37-year-old Tyce Samual Watts, of Red Oak, for OWI/ 1^st Offense. Bond for Watts was set at $1,000.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources is investigating a fertilizer spill Monday in the City of Burlington in Des Moines County. The D-N-R says a 700 gallon plastic tank containing fertilizer fell off a truck and an unknown amount of the fertilizer spilled onto the street and continued into a nearby storm sewer which discharges into Hawkeye Creek. D-N-R staff later observed fertilizer contamination at Hawkeye Creek, which flows through the City of Burlington to the Mississippi River. No dead fish have been found and the the D-N-R is working with the City of Burlington to address the fertilizer impact before entering the Mississippi River.