A man serving a life sentence for a crime committed in north-central Iowa has died in prison.
Iowa prison officials say Robert James Carter died Sunday at a hospital in Fort Madison after suffering a medical emergency. An autopsy is planned. Carter was 73. He was sentenced to life in prison over 20 years ago for a first-degree sexual abuse conviction in Cerro Gordo County.
Carter was arrested for raping and stabbing a young woman and leaving her in a cornfield in August of 1996. Court records show the victim pretended to be dead until Carter left and she then made her way to a nearby house for help.
(Photo courtesy of KCRG-TV)