After reportedly beating a 38-year-old pregnant woman to death, wrapping her body in a comforter, and disposing of it in a shopping cart, a 51-year-old man in Iowa is suspected of escaping to Las Vegas.
In the gruesome killing of Brittany Hopkins, Donnie White was arrested in late March and charged with one count of first-degree murder and one count of nonconsensual pregnancy termination.
Officers responded to a report of a deceased person outside an apartment complex in the 2100 block of Westdale Drive SW, approximately 115 miles east of Des Moines, at approximately 8:32 a.m. on February 28, according to a news release from the Cedar Rapids Police Department.
First responders reported that they found the body of an adult female, later identified as Hopkins, at the scene and secured it for investigators right away.
Police publicly requested that any potential witnesses get in touch with the department three days after confirming that they were looking into Hopkins’ murder as a homicide.
After identifying White as a suspect, detectives reached out to the Northern Iowa Fugitive Task Force on March 14 to beg for help in tracking him down and capturing him.
“Task Force officers began to follow up on leads throughout Cedar Rapids and developed information indicating White had fled the state following the murder. Officials began coordinating with the U.S. Marshals Nevada Violent Offender Task Force,” a news release from the U.S. Marshals Service stated. “Officers with the Nevada Violent Offender Task Force today narrowed their search to an area in the 2900 block of West Washington Avenue in Las Vegas. U.S. Marshals approached the suspect shortly after 3 p.m. and White eventually surrendered to the Nevada Violent Offender Task Force.”
White was arrested without incident and detained without bond while he awaited his return to Iowa for extradition.
The victim’s body was found inside the shopping cart wrapped in black electrical tape and covered with a white blanket, the newspaper reported.
In what appeared to be an effort to hide the body’s location, a number of bags of trash had also been piled on top of it.
Hopkins’ cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, and an autopsy revealed that his manner of death was a homicide.
Days before the body was found, someone called to report seeing White and Hopkins together after police made White’s name publicly available as a person of interest.
Soon after, on February 22, investigators were able to get surveillance footage outside a nearby retail center, which confirmed the tip. Investigators were informed by another tipster that White had physically abused Hopkins while he was with White and Hopkins on February 27.
Investigators got a search warrant after discovering that White had lived approximately one block from the location of Hopkins’ death. In the carpeted hallway leading from White’s apartment to the exit, they discovered what looked to be wheel marks from a shopping cart.
On February 27, White allegedly pushed the empty cart inside the building, left with a full cart in the direction where Hopkins’ body was discovered, and returned home approximately half an hour later, according to footage captured by a security camera in another building.
Investigators reported bleach on the rug and blood spatter on the walls inside the unit. Additionally, a hammer that had what looked like human hair and blood on it was found. Additionally, there was a bloody handprint that purportedly matched White’s.
White is being held at the Linn County Jail on a $2.5 million cash-only bond after being extradited back to Iowa on Sunday, according to documents.
This information has been sourced from lawandcrime.
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