Southeast Iowa man charged with 1995 murder

A southeast Iowa man is in custody, charged with a 20-year-old murder.The Johnson County Sheriff's Office says Steven J. Klein, 54, of Mt. Pleasant was arrested Friday morning for the 1995 murder of Susan Kersten, 38, of Iowa City, Iowa.Just before midnight on September 24, 1995, emergency dispatchers received a call reporting a car on fire in a field not too far south of the mobile home park where Kersten lived.After the Hills Fire Department put out the fire, Kersten's body was discovered inside the vehicle.An autopsy at the time determined that Kersten had been killed by blunt force trauma prior to the car fire.Investigators believe Kersten's car was staged to make the death appear to be the result of a car crash and fire.Klein was taken into custody late Friday morning at his work place in Muscatine.He remains in the Johnson County Jail on $1 million cash-only bond.

Fri, 17 Jul 2015 20:14:12 GMT — undefined