Man faces murder charge in grocery store parking lot stabbing

CEDAR RAPIDS - On Sunday, five days after police said Nicholas Luerkens stabbed and killed Lynnsey Donald in a grocery store parking lot and then tried to kill himself, he was released from the hospital and immediately taken to jail on a first-degree murder charge.

Luerkens, 32 of Cedar Rapids, is being held in the Linn County Jail on a $1 million bail, Marion police said. He will be formally charged at 9:30 a.m. Monday in Linn County District Court.

He is accused of ambushing and killing Donald, 29, in the parking lot of the Marion Hy-Vee, 3600 Highway 151, in front of witnesses last Tuesday afternoon. Family members said one of those witnesses was her 7-year-old son, Ashton.

Marion investigators say that Donald and Luerkens once lived together, but that she moved out months ago. Her relatives described him as a former boyfriend of hers.

After the attack, Luerkens stabbed himself in the abdomen, police said, and was transported to UnityPoint Health-St. Luke's Hospital, where he underwent surgery. Police stood by until he was released around noon Sunday and arrested him.

Marion police Chief Harry Daugherty said officers did not speak Sunday with Luerkens, and therefore have not yet gathered additional information on how he encountered Donald at Hy-Vee or what his mental state was at the time.

Daugherty also said that as of now, Luerkens has been charged with first-degree murder but additional charges could be added later.

On his Facebook page, which is mostly private, Luerkens wrote that he attended Xavier High School in Cedar Rapids. He later attended the University of Iowa, where he graduated in 2005 with a bachelor's of science degree in statistics.

A fundraising website was created by a relative to cover Donald's funeral expenses as well as future expenses for her son. The page on gofundme.com had raised more than $22,000 from about 720 people by Sunday afternoon.

Donald's killing is the fourth domestic homicide in Linn County within a year.

On Feb. 24, Mitchell Haferbecker, 45, killed his wife, Sherry Haferbecker, 44, and the family dog before taking his own life.

Shaun Hogan, 36, is charged with first-degree murder after police say he killed his girlfriend, Crystal Gaffney, 29. Gaffney was found dead on Linn-Buchanan Road on July 9, 2014. His trial is scheduled to begin in early May.

And on June 30, 39-year-old Chantele Crowley was found dead inside her mobile home at 1808 Easter Drive SW. Police arrested her husband, 43-year-old Shawn Crowley. He faces one count of first-degree murder and will is set for trial in August.

Reporter Trish Mehaffey contributed to this report.