1993 Iowa murders
Dustin Lee Honken (March 22, 1968 – July 17, 2020) and Angela Jane Johnson (born January 17, 1964) are American mass murderers convicted of the 1993 murders of five people in Iowa.
Dustin Honken | |
|---|---|
Honken leaving a federal courthouse after being sentenced in 2005 | |
| Born | Dustin Lee Honken March 22, 1968 Britt, Iowa, U.S. |
| Died | July 17, 2020 (aged 52) USP Terre Haute, Indiana, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Execution by lethal injection |
| Motive | Witness elimination |
| Conviction(s) | Murder in furtherance of a continuing criminal enterprise (5 counts) Conspiracy to commit murder in furtherance of a continuing criminal enterprise (5 counts) Soliciting the murder of a witness Conspiracy to tamper with witnesses and to solicit the murder of witnesses Witness tampering resulting in death (5 counts) Attempting to manufacture methamphetamine Conspiracy to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine |
| Criminal penalty | Death (October 11, 2005) |
| Details | |
| Victims | 5 |
Span of crimes | July 24 – November 5, 1993 |
| Country | United States |
| State(s) | Iowa |
Date apprehended | 2001 (for the murders) |
Angela Johnson | |
|---|---|
Mugshot from U.S. Attorney's office | |
| Born | Angela Jane Johnson January 17, 1964 Forest City, Iowa, U.S. |
| Criminal status | Incarcerated |
| Motive | Witness elimination |
| Conviction(s) | Murder in furtherance of a continuing criminal enterprise (5 counts) |
| Criminal penalty | Death; commuted to life imprisonment (December 17, 2014) |
| Details | |
| Victims | 5 (as an accomplice) |
Span of crimes | July 24 – November 5, 1993 |
| Country | United States |
| State(s) | Iowa |
Date apprehended | 2000 |
| Imprisoned at | Federal Correctional Institution, Waseca |
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 Honken and Johnson murdered him along with his girlfriend and her two young daughters. A few months later, the fifth victim, also a former dealer, was murdered.
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.