A man desperate to die

A man desperate to die

IOWA CITY Nobody will ever know what Steven Sueppel was thinking when he went over the top, killing his wife, trying more than once to kill the children everyone said he loved so dearly and, after two botched attempts, killing himself.

"Steve is the only one who knows why he did what he did and I don't know we're ever going to be able to determine the real reason why this happened," said Iowa City Police Lt. Jim Steffen at a Tuesday afternoon news conference.

But investigators think they do know what Steven Sueppel did, in large part because he documented his family's final hours in a lengthy note and voice-mail messages.

When police went into the Sueppel family's house Monday morning, they found Sheryl Sueppel and three of her and Steven's four children dead in their beds. A fourth child, 3-year-old Eleanor, was in the basement playroom, investigators said Tuesday.

At first, they thought they could feel Eleanor's pulse, Steffen said. They took her to paramedics outside with a waiting ambulance. But they were too late. She, too, was dead.

Investigators confirmed Tuesday that Steven Sueppel, 42, was killed in a fiery crash on Interstate 80 shortly after he called 911 and told dispatchers to "please" go "immediately" to 629 Barrington Rd. Sueppel's body, which was burned, was identified using dental records.

The investigation remains open while police wait for reports from autopsies that began Tuesday, but they said they are confident that Steven Sueppel killed Sheryl Sueppel, 42, and their four young children, Eleanor, 3, Seth, 8, Ethan, 10, and Mira — who would have turned 6 Tuesday — and then killed himself.

Seen Sunday night

The last person to see the Sueppels alive was a family friend who stopped by the house around 8 p.m. Sunday, talked to Steven and saw at least one of the children, Steffen said. That friend told police after the apparent murder and suicide that everything seemed fine.

But later, police believe, Sueppel killed Sheryl, then brought the children into the garage in an attempt to asphyxiate them and himself using carbon monoxide. When that didn't work, he brought the children back into the house and killed them.

Police said Sheryl and the children suffered blunt force trauma and that investigators found two baseball bats Sueppel might have used in the murders.

Police found no evidence that Sueppel ever harmed or threatened to harm his family before, said Iowa City Police Sgt. Troy Kelsay.

In voice-mail messages Sueppel left at his father and brother's law office at 11:30 p.m. Sunday, Sueppel said his wife and four children were in heaven, investigators said. They said Sueppel also called his former employer, Hills Bank, to apologize.

Sueppel, a former Hills Bank and Trust executive, was arraigned in U.S. District Court last month on charges of stealing nearly $560,000 from the bank. His trial was scheduled for April 21.

Sueppel told FBI investigators he used the money for drugs, but later recanted and said he was using it as an excuse for the amount of money he was accused of stealing, Steffen said. Investigators found no drugs or evidence of drug use when they searched the home Monday, he said.

Sueppel's note

After killing his family and before killing himself, Sueppel wrote a long note explaining what he'd done, police said.

The messages and the note contained "apologies for his actions and feelings of despair," Steffen said.

Steffen said Sueppel wrote that he loved his family and said he was sorry. He wrote that he was having a hard time dealing with the criminal charges, the publicity, the embarrassment, losing his job.

In the note, Police said Sueppel also wrote about killing Sheryl, about his first attempt at killing himself and the children and about how he succeeded in killing the children on his second attempt.

Then, police say, Steven Sueppel drove to Lower City Park, where he tried to drown himself. When that attempt, too, failed, he called home and left a voice-mail message, police said. He called the house first at 3:52 a.m. and again at 4:01 a.m.

"He indicated that he went into the river but was not able to sink," Steffen said.

Police don't know what happened in the more than two hours after Sueppel left that last voice mail and when he sped into a concrete sign base on I-80. Sueppel didn't leave any more messages. But minutes before the crash, he called 911 to lead police to his family.

State criminal investigators packed up their mobile crime lab late Tuesday afternoon but police continued to secure the scene where an impromptu memorial has grown since late Monday with flowers, stuffed animals and notes from other children.

Iowa City Police Chief Sam Hargadine expressed condolences Tuesday to the families of Steven and Sheryl Sueppel on behalf of all the agencies involved in the investigation.

A vigil service is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Friday at St. Mary's Catholic Church, 302 E. Jefferson St., Iowa City. Funeral Mass for the family has been scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday. Burial will be at St. Joseph's Cemetery.