Deases Brothers
From Rofflehaus
The Deases Brothers--when idiots commit murder.
Brothers Edward and Ruben (21 and 17, respectively) Deases murdered their brother (then a 22-year old pre-business student) Eustaquio's girlfriend, Jennifer Gardner, in their Sheldon apartment.
Gardner was a dancer at the Bittersweet Lounge.
The murder happened after a heated argument over the TV remote, after which, Ruben put her into a chokehold in the living room. When Gardner revived in the bathroom, they had to strangle her again to finish the job, this time with a belt. They attempted to put her corpse in a cardboard box; failing at that, they decapitated her so the body would fit. The brothers also had sex with the corpse (before beheading it). That night, they tried to dispose of the box in a pond but were caught by an off-duty policeman. The head they threw on a gravel road and tried to run it over with the car; it was discovered a few days later by a jogger.
As if the case wasn't open-and-shut enough, several witnesses testified that Ruben had composed rap songs about committing the murder. Edward's defense attorney tried to argue that his client had the intellect of a 5th grader and only broke Gardner's nose while Ruben did the actual killing.
The two murderers were sentenced to life without parole. Eustaquio turned himself in for cocaine possession. The youngest brother Johnny, 15, testified against his brothers since they committed the murder in front of him.
In prison, Edward was less than a model prisoner. He killed a fellow prisoner using a homemade weapon on November 3, 1992 and received another life sentence. In April 1994, he broke into an observation post, made weapons out of broken broom handles, and attacked a guard. He received another 10 years to his sentence.
Edward's case was used as an example in 1997 when Republican legislators tried to get the death penalty reinstated in Iowa.
[edit] Sources
- Associated Press, April 5, 1994, Deases Is Accused In Attack of Guard
- Omaha World-Herald, July 9, 1992, Edward Deases Accused in Death Of Fellow Inmate at Iowa Prison, by Joy Powell
- Omaha World-Herald, June 3, 1989, Ex-Omahan Strangled Coroner: Woman Died Before Decapitation, by Joe Brennan
