1993 Iowa murders
Dustin Lee Honken and Angela Jane Johnson are American mass murderers and serial killers convicted of the 1993 murders of five people in Cerro Gordo County, Iowa.
The victims were related to a drug trial against Honken. Honken was involved in the manufacturing of methamphetamine, and one of his dealers was set to testify against him, so he and Johnson, who was his girlfriend, murdered him along with his girlfriend and her two young daughters, on July 25. A few months later, the fifth victim, also a former dealer, was murdered on November 4. The killings all occurred in unincorporated woodland outside of Mason City.
Although Iowa abolished capital punishment in 1965, the crime was a federal case since it involved a continuing criminal enterprise. Honken was sentenced to death and executed by the federal government on July 17, 2020, the first defendant from Iowa to be executed since 1963. 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, and she was resentenced to life without parole in 2014.
Background
Dustin Honken
Honken grew up in Britt, Iowa. 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.Honken had a healthy relationship with his mother, whom 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.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.
During Honken's murder trial, his mitigation expert, Lisa Rickert, wrote to his lawyers that she had struggled to find virtually anything sympathetic about Honken. To the contrary, what she had discovered only cast him in a far more negative light. The defense did not have Rickert take the stand out of the fear that Honken would be deemed a sociopath or be diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder.
Rickert had discovered that Honken was a white supremacist who had physically and verbally abused his sister, Alyssa. He'd once held a pillow over her 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, however, Honken had tried to drown Alyssa in a hotel pool. She could not breathe and swallowed water before Honken released her. As a result of Honken's abuse, Alyssa was scared of him and was always trying to please him.
In 1984, Honken had plotted a bank robbery in which the person whom 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, he 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.
Angela Johnson
Johnson was born in Forest City, Iowa. 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. 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. During Johnson's trial, it was revealed that she had been molested as a child.Drug dealing
In the early 1990s, Honken started selling marijuana and cocaine. 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. He also decided to switch to meth.In 1992, Honken enlisted his best friend, Tim Cutkomp, moved to Arizona, and borrowed $5,000 from his brother to buy chemicals and equipment. Within a year, Honken and Cutkomp managed to produce several pounds of nearly pure meth, which they sold in northeast Iowa, primarily through two dealers: Terry DeGeus and Greg Nicholson. The two made hundreds of thousands of dollars from several drug runs. On one of his drug runs, Honken met Angela Johnson, who was then dating DeGeus. Johnson told Honken that DeGeus was personally using too much meth which was supposed to be sold, and that they should deal with each other instead. The two started a romantic relationship and Johnson soon became pregnant with Honken's child.
Honken, seeking to expand his drug dealing business, studied chemistry textbooks at the library, read science journals, kept extremely thorough records, made plans to expand his business to the Internet, and considered writing his own book about how to make and sell meth in the United States.
In March 1993, Honken and Cutkomp were arrested on federal drug trafficking charges. While preparing for his trial, Honken discovered through legal documents that Nicholson had turned witness. He wore a wire to a meeting and recorded Honken making a future $3,000 deal. Authorities had found almost 150 grams of pure meth in Nicholson's house, and he'd agreed to become an informant in exchange for leniency.
Over the next few weeks, Nicholson became extremely paranoid. His then-wife, Leslie Olson, said he prevented her from going outside or staying near windows for very long. The two ended their relationship shortly after Nicholson's arrest. Honken had threatened Nicholson in the past, saying he could order a hit on him or anyone else if he wanted.
Honken said he planned to plead guilty, and a hearing was scheduled for July 30, 1993.
Murders and court proceedings
Honken was released on bond and searched for Nicholson's whereabouts. Johnson bought a pistol on July 7, 1993. The two eventually located Nicholson. 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. The two then bound and gagged Nicholson and his new girlfriend, 37-year-old Lori Ann Duncan. Johnson took Duncan's daughters, 10-year-old Kandace Duncan and 6-year-old Amber Duncan, telling them that they were going on a surprise trip.Honken and Johnson forced the family into a car at gunpoint and drove to a wooded area outside of the city. Honken took the adults out of the car, walked them into the woods, and executed them in front of a pre-dug shallow grave. He then did the same to the children.
On July 30, 1993, Honken gave his attorney the recording and said he was changing his plea. Upon learning that Nicholson had disappeared, the government turned to Honken's former dealer, DeGeus. Honken told Cutkomp that he was worried about DeGeus turning on him.
On November 5, 1993, DeGeus also disappeared. The night before his disappearance, he dropped his 10-year-old daughter off at his mother's house and said he was going to meet Johnson. Johnson lured DeGeus to a country club under the guise of wanting to rekindle their relationship, then drove to an abandoned house where Honken was waiting. Honken beat, shot, and buried DeGeus. Without any witnesses, the government was forced to drop its case against Honken.
In the winter of 1993 or 1994, Honken went to Cutkomp and said he needed to destroy a pistol. The two used a blowtorch to cut and melt the gun into multiple pieces, which they discarded in ditches along a country road.
In the fall of 1995, Honken recruited a man named Dan Cobeen to help him manufacture meth. However, Cobeen became a police informant. 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. Honken and Cutkomp were indicted on federal drug trafficking charges and they were captured in Mason City on April 29, 1996. While awaiting trial, Honken was released on bond. During this time, he plotted to murder Cobeen, police officers, and chemists, and to destroy evidence against him.
Cutkomp decided to become an informant. He suspected that Honken had killed Nicholson and was afraid of being wrongfully accused of murder. Cutkomp wore a wire while he was around Honken during their time on pretrial release. Cutkomp recorded Honken talking about his plans to kill witnesses and implicitly referenced killing witnesses in 1993. He compared the feeling of killing someone to a football game, saying, "Once you go a certain distance, there ain't no turning back." When Cutkomp asked Honken if killing people bothered him, he replied "Nope. Never think about it. Never. Never dream about it. Never nothing. Thought I'd have nightmares."
Honken was recorded calling Cobeen a "rat" and saying he would kill him no matter what. "I've climbed far bigger hills than that little hill. Even if I'm in prison for 15 years, whatever. When I get out, he's still dead." When Cutkomp expressed concern over the murders, Honken said Cobeen had forced his hand: "They made me choose between my family and them. I'm sorry, but that ain't no choice."
After Cutkomp gave the recordings to federal investigators, Honken's bond was revoked. While in jail, Honken confessed to fellow inmates that he'd killed witnesses from an earlier case. He plotted to murder Cutkomp and gave a fellow inmate directions to Cutkomp's house. Honken conspired with another inmate to escape from jail by breaking a hole in the wall of his cell and having Johnson deliver a hacksaw and a rope. However, the plot was discovered and stopped by guards.
For his cooperation, Cutkomp was sentenced to 4.5 years in prison.