1993 Iowa murders

Honken grew up in Britt, Iowa.[3] His father, Jim Honken, was an alcoholic schemer who was allegedly neglectful. Honken reported in his pre-sentence investigation that his father struck him numerous times during his childhood, although he denied that his father was physically abusive and maintained that the emotional turmoil in his early life mostly stemmed from his father's alcoholism. Jim once convinced his son to steal and copy a key to a bank. Jim committed two bank robberies before getting caught and sent to federal prison. Honken's parents divorced when he was nine. Honken had a healthy relationship with his stepfather.[6]

Honken had a notably healthy relationship with his mother, who he described as perfect. 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.[6]

Honken, who was proficient in math, science, and writing, earned a scholarship to North Iowa Area Community College in 1991. He later said that he had initially planned to become a pharmaceutical lawyer.[7]

During Honken's capital murder trial, his mitigation expert, Lisa Rickert, wrote to his lawyers that not only had she struggled to find any possible mitigation, what she discovered only further cast Honken in a negative light.[8]

• Honken was racist.
• Honken had physically and verbally abused his sister, Alyssa. He once held a pillow over Alyssa's face after she told one of his girlfriends that he had other girlfriends. 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. On another occasion, Honken tried to drown Alyssa in a hotel pool. She could not breathe and swallowed water. Dustin eventually released his sister.
• In 1984, Honken plotted a bank robbery in which the person he would convince to commit the robbery for him would then be killed and thrown into a pond.
• In 1986, Honken schemed to kill one of his accomplices after stealing a car.
• 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.
• In 1990, Honken raped and threatened his girlfriend. 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 defense did not have Rickert take the stand out of the fear that she might conclude Honken was a sociopath or had narcissistic personality disorder.[9]

Johnson was born in Forest City, Iowa.[2] Honken and Johnson were in a relationship at the time of the murders, and Johnson, who had a child from a previous marriage, was pregnant by Honken.[10][11] Johnson was raised by extremely religious grandparents who would hold her down, wave Bibles over her head, and speak in tongues in an attempt to exorcise demons from her. Johnson's mother was an abusive and neglectful alcoholic.[7] During Johnson's trial, it was revealed that she had been molested as a child.[12]

On June 2, 1997, Honken pleaded guilty to attempting to distribute meth and conspiring to manufacture and distribute meth. He faced a minimum of 10 years in prison. Honken's lawyer, Alfredo Parrish, requesting a sentence of 10 to 15 years, attacked the government's handling of the evidence in the case. He also pointed to Honken's youth, saying, "The court needs to consider his age. He can be rehabilitated. This is an intelligent young man." 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. We believe the defendant was involved in this. We believe that he was ready to take violent actions again. [...] The maximum sentence sends a message to this defendant and other defendants who are thinking about taking things into their own hands ... that that conduct is unacceptable."[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. However, he declined to rule on whether Honken likely had a role in the 1993 disappearances. Consequently, Honken's offense level under the United States Federal Sentencing Guidelines was set at 38, which called for a sentence of 235 to 293 months in prison. Honken received the maximum sentence. He was also ordered to serve five years of supervised release and fined $1,100. Upon hearing the sentence, Honken seemed visibly disappointed. He'd apologized, saying "I wasn't expecting things to go this way. I let down my family, my children most of all. ... I wish there was some way to go back and start over, but obviously there isn't."[17][18]

In 1999, the prosecution appealed the sentencing deduction due to the severity of Honken's attempt to obstruct the investigation against him. An appellate court agreed, adding that "one can easily conclude from witnesses' testimony that appellee caused the disappearance of one or more persons, including prospective prosecution witnesses, in 1993."[19] Without the deduction, Honken faced 27 to 33.75 years in prison.[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. He claimed he had nothing to do with the 1993 disappearances. "For years now, the government has made these terrible accusations against me," he said.

I didn't kill anyone and even though that hasn't been proven, the accusations have repeatedly been used against me. I realize I am here because of my own actions. I am sorry for what I have done, but I haven't done these heinous crimes the government accuses me of. I have seen people get murdered here and being in a place like this makes the sentence I have now almost like a death sentence.[20]

Bennett resentenced Honken to 27 years in prison, saying the minimum sentence was sufficiently harsh. Referring to the 1993 disappearances, Bennett said that while the government had made a compelling case for Honken likely being responsible, his view was that if the government believed Honken was a murderer, they should charge him with murder.[21]

While in prison, Honken made plans to escape, and then murder witnesses, law enforcement officers, and the federal prosecutor. 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.[19]

Honken and Johnson were tried separately. Honken was tried first, with his trial starting in October 2004. His lawyers pointed to the lack of physical evidence linking him to the murders. The prosecution said he had every reason to kill the victims and presented 65 witnesses against him. Among them were many of the inmates to whom Honken had confessed, including Fred Tokars.[24] Tokars testified that Honken described strangling Lori Duncan and Greg Nicholson, and killed the children since "they could have been witnesses." In 2005, Tokars stopped an attempted escape by Honken, in which he plotted to escape with the help of white supremacists and murder witnesses.[25][26]

Ron McIntosh said Honken told him he killed the children since they "wouldn't be quiet, or wouldn't shut up." Dennis Putzier said Honken had bragged about murdering witnesses in 1993.[7] Another inmate said Honken killed "rats" and children "raised by rats".[7] Prosecutors played a tape in which Honken was recorded saying that he liked killing people and compared the feeling to getting high on drugs.[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. "They are people who have no future," referring to the inmates. He said Honken was "a young man infatuated with drug manufacturing, basically a nerd.”[7]

On October 14, 2004, Honken was convicted of all 17 counts against him, including five counts of murder in furtherance of a continuing criminal enterprise. During the sentencing phase, the prosecution said Honken, who they described as an "evil mastermind", deserved to die since he had committed mass murder, killed children, killed a second time months after committing the four initial murders, showed no remorse, and had continued to try to escape prison and commit even more murders while in maximum security prisons.[6][10] Honken's defense presented testimony from his family, and pointed to his age and lack of prior violent convictions as mitigating factors.

On October 27, 2004, jurors recommended life sentences for Honken for killing the adult victims and death sentences for killing the children. He was formally sentenced to death on October 11, 2005.[28]

In 2005, Johnson was found guilty of five counts of murder in furtherance of a continuing criminal enterprise. Prosecutors said she deserved to die since she willingly participated in the murder of children and lacked remorse. Johnson's defense team pointed to her dysfunctional upbringing and argued that she did not know Honken was going to kill the victims. Johnson admitted that she was involved in Honken's crimes, but blamed him for the murders and said he had manipulated her.[29]

In June 2005, a federal jury condemned Johnson to death on four counts. She was formally sentenced to death on December 19, 2005. During her sentencing hearing, Johnson continued to blame Honken, but said "I regret I wasn't strong enough."[30] She called him a "sociopath who will never admit to what he has done."[31]

The presiding judge stated, "I am troubled by the lack of certainty in the record concerning the precise involvement of Angela Johnson in these crimes". However, under federal law, he was bound to the jury's verdict. 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.[13][31]

In March 2012, federal judge Mark W. Bennett vacated Johnson's death sentence, citing a failure by her attorneys to introduce evidence about her mental state from an "alarmingly" dysfunctional defense team.[32] In December 2014, federal prosecutors later announced they would not pursue a second death sentence for Johnson. Her lawyer said she was extremely relieved and grateful upon hearing of the decision. Later that month, she was re-sentenced to life in prison without parole. As part of an agreement, she agreed to drop all of her appeals.[33] Johnson is currently serving her sentence at FCI Waseca.[34]