Sueppel's turmoil grew before slayings

By ERIN JORDAN

REGISTER IOWA CITY BUREAU

Iowa City, Ia. - Steven Sueppel's suicide note indicates the former banker's desperation had been building for months, leading up to Easter night when he took the lives of his wife and four children.

The handwritten note, found at the Sueppel house on the morning of March 24, does not say Sueppel had been plotting his family's deaths, Iowa City Police Sgt. Troy Kelsay said.

But Kelsay added: "When people say he snapped that night, I don't think that's the case. This had been building inside him for some time."

Kelsay said, however, "There was nothing in there to say he was planning to take out his family at Easter."

It could be another six weeks before investigators know whether Sueppel was under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of his death. He took his own life shortly after he had killed his wife and children.

Sueppel had been under investigation by state and federal law officers since last fall, when officials at Hills Bank & Trust determined that money was missing from the bank.

Sueppel was fired from his job as the bank's vice president.

In February, one month before the killings, he was indicted on federal charges of embezzlement and money laundering.

Sueppel was accused of taking $560,000 over seven years.

Sueppel, 42, killed his wife, Sheryl, 42, and their children, Ethan, 10; Seth, 8; Mira, 5, and Eleanor, 3, on the night of March 23 or early on the morning of March 24 in their Iowa City house.

Two bats were among the items police seized from the house.

Sueppel killed himself by crashing the family van into a concrete abutment on Interstate Highway 80.

Sueppel initially told bank officials that he used the stolen money to buy cocaine. But he later recanted the statement to investigators, and police said no illegal drugs were found at the Sueppel house after the deaths.

Kelsay said investigators will not close the case until the results of the toxicology tests are completed as part of Steven Sueppel's autopsy.

The tests will be performed by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

Those tests have an eight-week turnaround, Kelsay said. Police will not ask the lab to expedite the results because Sueppel, who confessed to the crimes in his suicide note, is dead, Kelsay said.

"We all know where this will end up, but it's still stamped as an open investigation until it comes in," Kelsay said.

Reporter Erin Jordan can be reached at (319) 351-6527 or ejordan@dmreg.com

Charges dropped

WHAT: Embezzlement charges against Steven Sueppel have been dismissed, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

DETAILS: Sueppel, 42, was indicted by a federal grand jury in February on charges that he stole nearly $560,000 between 2000 and 2007 from Hills Bank & Trust, where he worked. His trial had been set for April 21.

REASON: U.S. Attorney Matthew Whitaker said the charges were dropped because of Sueppel's death.