(Radio Iowa) – A man is in custody, charged with murder following a stabbing early this (Friday) morning in Sioux City. Sioux City Police Chief Rex Mueller says at about 1 a.m. officers responded to a reported assault at home. “Upon arrival, officers found a 37-year-old male and 43-year-old female who had sustained multiple stab wounds,” the chief says. “Both were transported to Mercy Medical Center by ambulance.” The man died. The chief says the woman suffered serious injuries.

Police arrested 54-year-old Michael Anthony Landrum of Sioux City as he was walking three blocks away from the home where the victims had been found an hour before. Sioux City Detective Ryan Denny says Landrum and the victims knew one another. “It’s not random,” he says. “…Drugs and alcohol were a factor.” Landrum is charged with willful injury and first degree murder.

It’s the second murder in Sioux City this year.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — State officials have granted Iowa City schools a two-week extension to teach all of its classes online as the district seeks to avoid the spread of the coronavirus among students and staff. The state granted the request on Wednesday — the same day it received the request from the Iowa City Community Schools District, one of the largest in the state.

School districts must request a waiver from the state in order to pursue two weeks of online-only classes and must show the positivity rate in their county is at least 15%. Iowa City schools officials said Wednesday that Johnson County’s 14-day positivity rate had reached 20.4% as of Wednesday.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — An eastern Iowa police officer has resigned after being charged with distribution, receipt, and accessing of child pornography. Television station KCRG reports that 34-year-old Jared Daily resigned Friday from the Belle Plaine Police Department. His federal indictment was unsealed on Sept. 3. It alleges that Daily knowingly distributed, received and accessed child pornography on a cell phone between January and June of this year. If convicted, Daily faces a mandatory 5-year prison sentence and up to 60 years. He could also be ordered to pay nearly $1 million in fines and special assessments. Daily’s trial is set for Nov. 2.

INDIANOLA, Iowa (AP) — A south-central Iowa woman who pleaded guilty last year to killing her boyfriend’s 7-month-old son has been released from prison on parole. Television station KCCI reports that 23-year-old Tori Bittner, of Indianola, was released Wednesday from prison on parole. She pleaded guilty last September to child endangerment resulting in serious injury and sentenced to up to 10 years in prison, with credit for time served.

As part of her plea, Bittner admitted to fatally shaking 7-month-old Cody Seals in 2016. Indianola police found the baby unresponsive in an apartment, and the infant died the next day. Bittner was the girlfriend of the baby’s father at the time.

Sheriff’s officials in Union County report 23-year old Brandon Joseph Lee Tull, of Creston, was arrested Thursday night on Union County warrants for Possession of burglars tools, and two violations of no contact/protective order-contempt.  He was taken into custody at the Jasper County Jail and transported to Union County, where bond was set at $2,300.

The search for a missing missing from southwest Iowa has tragically ended with his body being found following a motor vehicle accident in Oklahoma. 80-year old Donald Eugene “Gene” Ripley was found in his van, which was located in a grove of trees, about 100-to 150-feet down a steep embankment off Interstate 35 north of Springer, Oklahoma, between mile markers 46-and-47. The van struck one of the trees. The accident remains under investigation by the Oklahoma State Troopers.

Gene Ripley

Ripley had been missing since the early morning hours of Sept. 3rd, when he left his son’s residence in Uvalde, Texas. His license plate was last recorded in Denton County, Texas, approximately 28 hours after he left Uvalde. Texas authorities issued a silver alert following the initial report of his disappearance. The Page County Sheriff’s Office says they were notified about the accident by authorities in Oklahoma, Thursday afternoon. The Oklahoma Trooper then verified that there was one elderly male deceased in the vehicle. The Trooper identified the deceased male as Donald Eugene Ripley. The Trooper said that notification of the family could be made. Death notification was made with the family given time to notify other family members prior to any release of information to the press from the Page County Sheriff’s Office.

During the missing person search the Page County Sheriff’s Office and PAGECOMM dispatch center worked closely with several agencies following up on leads that came into Law Enforcement agencies as well as agencies along the possible route that Gene would have traveled from his son’s residence in TX to his residence in Page County. The agencies and information sites include:  were the Texas Rangers, Texas Silver Alert Program, Texas Fusion Center, Denton County Texas Sheriff’s Office, Texas Highway patrol, Como County Texas Sheriff’s Office, Spring Branch Texas Police Department, Bulverde Texas Police Department, Uvalde County Sheriff’s Office, Oklahoma State Patrol, Oklahoma Fusion Center, Oklahoma Turnpike Authority, Kansas State Patrol, Kansas Fusion Center, Kansas Turnpike Authority, Clinton County Missouri Sheriff’s Office, United States Border Patrol, National Missing & Unidentified Persons system (NamUs), and the Missing Persons Cases Network.