Iowa City Sueppel murders

The Iowa City Sueppel murders was a family annihilation perpetrated by Steven Sueppel, a 42-year-old former banker, at his residence in Iowa City, Iowa, USA on Easter Sunday night, March 23, 2008. On Monday morning at 6:31 a.m., Sueppel called 9-1-1 from his mobile phone, requested that police visit his house immediately, and hung up without identifying himself. When police arrived at his house, they found Sueppel's wife Sheryl and their four adopted children—Ethan, Seth, Mira and Eleanor dead of multiple blunt force trauma injuries to their upper torsos and heads. Police recovered the presumed murder weapons—two baseball bats—at the scene of the crime. At 6:36 a.m., five minutes after his 9-1-1 call, Steven Sueppel committed suicide by driving the family minivan into a concrete abutment on Interstate 80 at high speed, causing his vehicle to burst into flames. Details: In February 2008 (one month before the murders), Steven Sueppel was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of embezzlement and money laundering in connection with $559,040 stolen from his former employer, the Hills Bank and Trust Company of Hills, Iowa, where he had served as a vice president and controller. Sueppel had pleaded not guilty, but had indicated to investigators that he had in fact diverted the funds to a personal. At the time of the murders, Sueppel was out on bond and awaiting an April 2008 trial. Starting at about 11:30 p.m. on the evening of the murders, Sueppel left a series of apologetic voicemail messages for former co-workers and relatives. He also left a handwritten note in his own kitchen; in it, he wrote that he had killed his wife and children. On March 29, 2008, St. Mary's Church in Iowa City, where the Sueppel family had attended services the day before the familicide, held a Catholic funeral mass for all six members of the Sueppel family. The church's decision to grant Steven Sueppel, a presumed multiple murderer, a Catholic funeral generated controversy among Iowa City-area Catholics and Catholic scholars. Suspect: Sueppel was born on August 13, 1965, the son of William and Patricia Tierney Sueppel. He graduated from Regina High School and the University of Northern Iowa. The Sueppel family were members of St. Mary's Catholic Church, and Steven married Sheryl Kesterson there on June 13, 1990. During their marriage, the couple adopted four South Korean children: Ethan, Seth, Mira, and Eleanor. The family attended services at St. Mary's every week, and had been present at the church's Easter mass on Sunday, March 23, 2008. Aftermath: In the days after, there was some controversy over the inclusion of Sueppel in the Catholic funeral for his wife and children. Factoring in were differing accounts of possible mental illness both independent of and related to Sueppel committing familicide. In August 2008, Hills Bank and Trust filed court documents demanding payment from Sueppel's estate for the allegedly embezzled funds and for $32,673 in outstanding loans.