Alleged prison gang leader Martin Dalke
Four inmates at a prison facility in southwest Iowa have been charged with second-degree murder for the death of another inmate on June 14. Martin Dahlke, 29, Richard Martin Jr., 34, Jeremy McIntosh, 27, and Rolland Jacobsen, 31, are accused of killing Alfred Myre, 44, in the yard outside the Clarinda Correctional Facility.
Iowa Department of Public Safety spokesperson Jessica Lown isn’t sure why Myre was targeted, but DCI agents are calling the incident “gang-related.” Lown says it’s believed one of the gang leaders, Dahlke, ordered the other three men to assault Myre in the prison yard. The men are alleged to be members of an organized prison gang called “The Peckerwoods.”
According to an affidavit filed by the DCI, Martin, McIntosh and Jacobsen punched Myre in the back and sides several times for about 30 seconds. “The punches were so severe that it caused internal injuries and a ruptured spleen which were fatal,” Lown said.
After the assault, Dahlke was seen escorting Myre to a picnic table. Guards responded to Myre’s aid when they saw him fall backwards and unconscious to the ground. Lown did not provide many other details. “What we can say is the Division of Criminal Investigation…when they learned there was likely an assault that resulted in a murder, they did go into the correctional facility to talk to inmates and guards to find out what they could about this incident,” Lown said.
A spokesperson for the Iowa Department of Corrections, Fred Scaletta, told Radio Iowa the assault took place when a guard patrolling the grounds was at the opposite end of the area of the yard where Myre was attacked.
Myre was serving a 50-year-sentence for a 1991 second-degree murder conviction in Pottawattamie County. He was moved to the Clarinda facility in May, about one month before his death. The four men charged in the case remain at the Clarinda prison. All four entered prison within the last two years and were serving sentences ranging from 5 to 10 years for burglary, drug and theft convictions.