They recruited two drug dealers Terry DeGeus and Greg Nicholson to sell their meth in northeast Iowa. The prosecution said he had every reason to kill the victims and presented 65 witnesses against him. While awaiting trial, she met Robert Gene McNeese, a career criminal and informant who was serving a life sentence. The victims were related to a drug trial against Honken. [7], Honken was released on bond and searched for Nicholson's whereabouts. The family of Terry DeGeus, one of two government witnesses Honken was convicted of killing, said attending Friday's execution was the "least they could do. [8], For his cooperation, Cutkomp was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison. The Archbishop of Newark, Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin, had written to President Donald Trump in early July 2020 asking him to commute Honken's sentence, claiming that he had witnessed Honken's "spiritual growth in faith and compassion". Terrys hobbies included playing pool, hanging out with his friends, and spending quality time with his children. FILE - In this Aug. 18, 2004 file photo, Dustin Honken is led by federal marshals to a waiting car after the second day of jury selection in federal court in Sioux City, Iowa. We are one of the worlds fastest growing He was due to be executed in January of 2020, however, that was delayed due to appeals based on the method of death and whether or not it caused unnecessary pain and suffering. Honken's execution was the last one in this weeklong spree. However, the plot was discovered and stopped by guards. NPR's Carrie Johnson contributed to this report. Attorney General William Barr relaunched executions this week for the first time since 2003. Keith Dwayne Nelson, who kidnapped and raped a 10-year-old girl, is scheduled to be executed Aug. 28. While Honken's execution is the last one in this weeklong spree, Keith Dwayne Nelson, who kidnapped and raped a 10-year-old girl, is scheduled to be executed Aug. 28. Susan Negersmith was a 20 year-old woman from Carmel, New York. Dustin Lee Honken is led Aug. 18, 2004, by federal marshals to a waiting car after the second day of jury selection in federal court in Sioux City. ga('ads.send', { Dustin Honken, a nerd turned drug kingpin, will become the only Iowan since 1963 to have the death sentence an Iowa jury imposed seen through on Friday, July 17, 2020. Johnson gave him written notes and a map revealing the locations of the victim's bodies. Some were shut in their cells and others were forced to spend the night in the gym, where they couldnt see the witnesses or the condemned man entering the death chamber. [8] On July 24, 1993, Johnson pretended to be a lost saleswoman to get into Nicholson's home, where she and Honken bound him and forced him to record a statement claiming that Honken was innocent. Angela lured him under the pretense of building their broken relationship, and the drug kingpin and her girlfriend fatally shot him dead too. eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), Purkey was put to death at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana, at 8:19 a.m. local time. Dustin switched to methamphetamine, enlisting the help of his best friend, Tim Cutkomp, and moved to Arizona to set up his drug empire. On the other hand, Greg and Lori were bound, gagged, and shot multiple times, including once in the head. They discovered him staying at the home of a friend, Lori Duncan, a single mother with two children, Amber, 6, and Kandi, 10. DeGeus body was found a few miles from the wooded area. 0. "[8] When Cutkomp asked Honken if killing people bothered him, he replied "Nope. Death-row inmate Dustin Lee Honken, who killed a family of four, including two children and another person, was executed on Friday, July 17, at 4 pm local time, marking the government's third federal execution in a month after 17 years. He can be rehabilitated. The federal death penalty against Dustin Lee Honken, now 51, is one of four executions put on hold late Wednesday by a judge who found that a proposal from U.S. Attorney General William Barr to . Termed Iowas Walter White due to the startling similarities with the popular TV character, he was arrested when his recruits and partner double-crossed him. The 52-year-old died by lethal injection at the Federal Correctional Institution in Terre Haute, Indiana, where he's been on death row since 2005. And there are some potentially larger expenses, like whatever might be included in the 28 pages of records officials admitted to withholding. But days after the still-undiscovered killings of Nicholson and the Duncans, he told the court he would stick to his not guilty plea. On top of that, the bureau spent $6,594 on bottled water, $6,480 on single-serving bags of potato chips and $12,998 on disposable trays and baggies to deliver it all. ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) -- The secret of Jodi Huisentruit's disappearance could die with the execution of a notorious Iowa drug kingpin. Honken also murdered Terry DeGeus, another possible witness against him, by beating him with a bat and shooting him. window.adsContainer = {"positionAfterTitle":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle5_Rel_Newrev","isOrganicUserAd":true,"max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position2":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_After_Title_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position3":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Below_Next_Rel_Newrev","max_width":300,"max_height":250},"position4":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle_Rel_Newrev","max_width":300,"max_height":250},"position5":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle1_Rel_Newrev","max_width":300,"max_height":250},"position6":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle2_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position7":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle3_Rel_Newrev","max_width":300,"max_height":250},"position8":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle4_Rel_Newrev","max_width":300,"max_height":250},"position9":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle5_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position10":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle6_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position11":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle7_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position12":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle8_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position13":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle9_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position14":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle10_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position15":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle11_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"position16":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_Middle12_Rel_Newrev","max_width":336,"max_height":280},"positionTop":{"code":"Article_Desktop_970x250_Header_Rel","isOrganicUserAd":false,"max_width":970,"max_height":250},"positionBottom":{"code":"Article_Desktop_Sidebar_Bottom_Rel_Newrev","isOrganicUserAd":true,"max_width":300,"max_height":600},"positionBottomRight":{"code":"Article_Desktop_300x250_After_Title_Rel_Newrev","isOrganicUserAd":true,"max_width":336,"max_height":280}} As a result, Honken and Johnson were federally charged with all five murders. Over the years he grew incredibly close to his family, becoming a true father, son, brother and friend. It will bring a sense of closure, but we will continue to live with their loss. Love, Lori.. Prisoner Keith Nelson's execution is set to take place on August 28.] He was formally sentenced to death on October 11, 2005. They drove the hostages to a wooded area outside the city and shot them execution-style. The two used a blowtorch to cut and melt the gun into multiple pieces, which they discarded in ditches along a country road. Investigators were sure Honken was involved with the earlier missing people;the coincidences were too great, but they were no closer to finding the bodies. eventAction: 'render' What they pay for on our side is the shipping of the body of our loved ones, the embalming, a suit for them to wear and the casket, said Lisa Brown, whose son Christopher Vialva was executed in September for killing two youth ministers. }); Three death row convicts, Daniel Lewis Lee, Wesley Ira Purkey, and Dustin Honken were put to death last week in a series of first federal executions in 17 years in the United States. Upon learning that she had been tricked, Johnson attempted to hang herself. Just go in and check him., Its not clear how much the agency paid for lethal drugs themselves, a few grams of pentobarbital, and its not clear whats buried in the redacted expenditures marked confidential.. Honken was involved in the manufacturing of methamphetamine, and one of his dealers was set to testify against him, so Honken and Johnson murdered him . [3] Johnson was also sentenced to death, the first woman sentenced to death by a United States federal jury since the 1950s, but the sentence was overturned in 2012,[5] and she was resentenced to life without parole in 2014. He wore a wire to a meeting and recorded Honken making a future $3,000 deal. Terry was lying face down in a shallow hole with a severely fragmented skull, having been shot one or more times. Dustin Lee Honken was born in Britt, Iowa, on March 22, 1968, and suffered from an abusive childhood. Dustin eventually released his sister. We believe that he was ready to take violent actions again. In 2004, Dustin Lee Honken was . Between 1986 and 1989, Honken was involved in a conversation which mentioned the possibility of killing his brother's business partner to collect a million dollar life insurance policy. Reach her at ccrowder@dmreg.com or 515-284-8360. According to court documents, Angela bought a gun on July 7, 1993, and she and Dustin began hunting Greg down, with him divorcing his ex-wife and moving in with Lori and her children. 3d 937", "From meth to murder: How a small-town Iowa boy became the state's first death row inmate in 50 years", "FindLaw's United States Eighth Circuit case and opinions", "Witnesses Testify about Honken's Drug Operation", "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA vs. ANGELA JOHNSON", "184 F3d 961 United States of America v. Dustin Lee Honken", "Fred Tokars, lawyer who set up murder of his wife, dies in prison", "OPINION: Maybe wife-killer Fred Tokars got a fate worse than death", "Iowa meth kingpin is 3rd executed by US government this week", "Johnson v. United States, 860 F. Supp. Upon hearing the sentence, Honken seemed visibly disappointed. While in jail, Honken confessed to fellow inmates that he'd killed witnesses from an earlier case. His time of death was marked at 3:36 p.m.Central Daylight Time. [29], In June 2005, a federal jury condemned Johnson to death on four counts. (The records list only $33.11 for Dustin Lee Honkens dinner from Pizza Hut, and $0 spent when Keith Dwayne Nelson refused a meal.) Honkens mother, brother and college-age daughter visited him in prison in recent days, she said. Other security measures included fitting Honken with a stun belt under his clothes to prevent him from trying to escape. TERRE HAUTE, Ind. Angela Johnson: Where is Dustin Lee Honkens Girlfriend Now. "[14], Honken was recorded calling Cobeen a "rat" and saying he would kill him no matter what. She was visiting Wildwood, New Jersey, on Memorial Day Weekend with friends in 1990. hitType: 'event', It was announced on Thursday that Iowa drug kingpin Dustin Lee Honken, who killed five people in the early 90s, has been scheduled to be executed 15 years after receiving his [] On February 7, 1996, officers executed a search warrant on Honken's house and discovered his meth lab, chemicals, equipment, books, and notes, including ones on manufacturing drugs and how to bind and gag people. He faced a minimum of 10 years in prison. Johnson's defense team pointed to her dysfunctional upbringing and argued that she did not know Honken was going to kill the victims. He also pointed to Honken's youth, saying, "The court needs to consider his age. On behalf of the prosecution, Assistant U.S. Attorney Pat Reinert argued for a life sentence, spending hours making a case for sentencing enhancements on the grounds that Honken had something to do with the disappearances of Nicholson, Lori, Kandace, Amber, and DeGeus: "It appears that these people are dead. Your subscription makes work like this possible. [27], During cross-examination, a defense attorney questioned why someone like Honken would confide in "a couple of crackheads who steal hogs" for a living. The two eventually located Nicholson. "They are people who have no future," referring to the inmates. "[17][18], U.S. District Judge Mark W. Bennett imposed sentencing enhancements on Honken for attempting to obstruct justice and having a major role in the conspiracy, and granted a deduction for Honken accepting responsibility. Alyssa was unable to breathe and was scared that her brother would kill her, but he stopped, apologized, and started crying when he realized what he had done. When Cutkomp expressed concern over the murders, Honken said Cobeen forced his hand: "They made me choose between my family and them. He then came back for the children and shot them, too. To prepare for his escape, Honken and fellow inmates practiced retrieving an officer's weapon, learning how to remove handcuffs with minimal tools, and training in martial arts scenarios centering around encounters with an armed escort. After finishing a year of community college chemistry classes with an A-minus, Honken, decided to become both a drug manufacturer and a dealer using what he had learned. Read More:Angela Johnson: Where is Dustin Lee Honkens Girlfriend Now? }); Honken, 52, was sentenced to die in October 2005 after being convicted of numerous offenses, including five counts of murder among them two small children during the course of a continuing criminal enterprise. (AP) The U.S. government on Friday put to death an Iowa chemistry student-turned-meth kingpin convicted of killing five people, capping a week in which the Trump administration restored federal executions after a 17-year hiatus. [7] Another inmate said Honken killed "rats" and children "raised by rats". Johnson discussed the murders in detail, which McNeese secretly recorded. Honken told Cutkomp that he was worried about DeGeus turning on him. let gads_event; Terry also drove a truck for Bud Ranken and Bud Schrotter. [8], In the fall of 1995, Honken recruited a man named Dan Cobeen to help him manufacture meth. ga('ads.send', { I had just returned to my cell from a hospital stay when I first learned that Lee, and three othersWesley Purkey, Dustin Honken and Keith Nelson had been given execution dates. window.googletag.cmd.push(function() { When the time of death was announced, Honken, 52, became the first Iowan in more than 50 years to be put to death in an Iowa case. He worked for Holland Construction in Forest City and later drove a semi for Schmidt Trucking of Britt. Like, you need that? She was utterly devoted to her two daughters Kandace D. Duncan and Amber J. Duncan her family and hometown. A judge later reduced her sentence to life behind bars. [19], A judge initially barred McNeese from testifying against Johnson during her trial on the grounds that he was acting as a federal agent. pg.acq.push(function() { While out on bond in his drugs case in July 1993, Honken and his girlfriend Angela Johnson kidnapped Lori Duncan and her two daughters from their Mason City, Iowa, home, then killed and buried them in a wooded area nearby. I am deeply sorry. Moreover, Terry informed his mother that he was meeting his former girlfriend, Angela Johnson. Honken had earlier informed the judge in his drug case that he would plead guilty at the end of July. [1], In April 2020, a divided panel of the D.C. Honkens lawyer, Shawn Nolan, said his client was redeemed and had repented for his crimes. He suspected that Honken had killed Nicholson and was afraid of being wrongfully accused of murder. eventCategory: event.slot.getSlotElementId(), Never think about it. Honken was sentenced to death and executed by the federal government on July 17, 2020,[4] the first defendant from Iowa to be executed since 1963. At his sentencing in 2005, Honken denied killing anybody, but Donoghue said she never heard him say he was innocent. His biological father, Jim Honken, allegedly beat him, was an alcoholic, and served time in federal prison after committing multiple bank robberies. Lori Duncan didnt know Nicholson was an informant and she wasnt involved in drugs. Johnson and Honken drove the four to a wooded area north of Mason City where Honken first took Duncan and Nicholson to an already dug grave and shot them execution-style. }); Honken received the maximum sentence. Soon, he would meet Angela Johnson, a woman who shared his ruthless worldview. May he rest in peace.". In Lewis Lees case, his victims family had requested his sentencebe reduced to life in prison; in Purkeys, his lawyers asserted that dementia and schizophrenia meant he was not competent to be executed. Their attraction was mutual, and she would shortly dump her current boyfriend, Honkens dealer,DeGeus, for the boss. He'd apologized, saying "I wasn't expecting things to go this way. He later threatened to lock her in the basement and wondered how long it would take for her to be found, and how deep someone would need to be buried for them not to be plowed up by farm machinery. The good-hearted Lori allowed a new friend, Greg Nicholson, to move into her home, knowing he had dealt drugs before but believing he was in rehab and willing to give him a chance in 1993. ", "During his time in prison, he cared for everyone he came into contact with: guards, counselors, medical staff, his fellow inmates and his legal team. [7], On July 30, 1993, Honken gave his attorney the recording and said he was changing his plea. [3] A few months later, the fifth victim, also a former dealer, was murdered.[3]. The District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., denied a stay request Thursday as well. More: Iowa outlawed the death penalty 55 years ago. ga('ads.send', { media-tech companies with hubs around the world. ET Friday. Honken, the 35, was later convicted in the . Maurice Chammah The governments approach still stung months later: We feel that they go out of their way to not accommodate us.. Dustin Honken, 52, who prosecutors said killed key witnesses to stop them from testifying in his drugs case, received a lethal injection at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana. I'm sorry, but that ain't no choice. Lori Ann Milbrath Duncan was born to Marge Milbrath in Mason City in Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, on November 22, 1961. However this is a steptoward healing of broken hearts and shattered lives.". "Honken has not demonstrated a likelihood of success on his claim that the 2019 Protocol is arbitrary and capricious based on its failure to consider the risk of flash pulmonary edema," the court of appeals wrote, citing language used in similar decisions. On another occasion, Honken tried to drown Alyssa in a hotel pool. In 1963, Victor Feguer, who kidnapped and killed a Dubuque doctor, was executed by hanging at the Iowa State Penitentiary. Later, after learning DeGeus also agreed to cooperate with authorities, Johnson tricked him into taking her to a vacant farm where Honken beat and killed him. Even if I'm in prison for [] 15 years, whatever. However, under federal law, he was bound to the jury's verdict. Federal court appeals later described their relationship while dismissing claims that there was substantial mitigation in his upbringing: The movant's mother provided a stable, nurturing and loving environment, never abandoned him, did not fail to provide any sort of safe space or comfort to him, never neglected him, never failed to calm him or tell him that things were going to be okay, acted as a loving caretaker and facilitated the movant's attachment to her by making herself available to him. Dustin Honken, 52, who prosecutors said killed key witnesses to stop them from testifying in his case, received a lethal injection at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana.. In July 2007, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit upheld the conviction, finding sufficient evidence to conclude that Johnson had participated in the murders. Honken was pronounced dead after 30 minutes longer than the other two executions. As the investigation into Honken continued, he killed another drug dealer working with him, Terry DeGeus, beating him with a bat and shooting him. [7], Honken enlisted his best friend, Tim Cutkomp, moved to Arizona, and borrowed $5,000 from his brother to buy chemicals and equipment. At the time of his death, Honken had served more than 22 years in an Indiana prison. But as Honken'soperation grew, so too did his dependence on meth and his singular focus on success no matter the cost. This sanitized murder really does not serve no purpose whatsoever.". reporters on a platform technologically tailored to meet the needs of the modern reader. The Bureau of Prisons refused to comment on the payment records or to answer questions about the operations outlined in the documents. eventAction: 'click_image_ads' Dustin Honken, 52, would become the first defendant in an Iowa case to be put to death since 1963 if he is executed as scheduled on Friday. But he soon startedselling marijuana and cocaine anddecided to become both a drug manufacturer and a dealer with his knowledge of chemistry. [20][21], During his resentencing hearing in January 2000, Honken, asked for leniency, saying he had successfully participated in a drug rehabilitation program and taken educational programs. Iowa abolished the death penalty in 1965, but federal. Nearly three decades after Dustin Honkens crime spree gripped Iowa, the small-town boy turned murderous meth kingpin was executed Friday at the Federal Correctional Complex. These are the stories that you need to know about capital punishment's past, as well as its uncertain future. Honken had recently learned Nicholson, a former drug-dealing associate, was cooperating with investigators and would likely testify against Honken at trial. Knowing that youre behind us means so much. A federal judge who ordered two last-minute injunctions before other death row inmates were set to be killed this month declined to do so for Honken. And there are some potentially larger expenses, like whatever might be included in the 28 pages of records officials admitted to withholding. The execution of Dustin Lee Honken proceeded without any last-minute delays, unlike those of the two other federal inmates who had been put to death in previous days. Like the other inmates put to death this week, Honken had appealed his sentence up until the last moments before his scheduled execution at 3 p.m.Central Daylight TimeFriday. Born into a life of uncertainty, Honken grew up in Britt, a small town west of Mason City in north central Iowa. He killed five people, including two young girls, in 1993. Around seven years later, the police found the Duncan family and Gregs bodies buried in a single hole, which was located in a wooded area outside Mason City in 2000.

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