Mykel Roberts. (Linn County Jail photo)
Cedar Rapids Police have made an arrest in a murder case that had gone unsolved since 2011.
Police spokesman, Greg Buelow, says the case involved the murder of 22-year-old Dexter Lashun Meeks, who was shot outside his home in the early morning of June 26th. The shooter was never found.
Buelow says the case was cold by 2012 after all the leads were exhausted and no suspect was identified. That all changed in April of last year when the Sheriff’s Office in Modesto, California called and said they had an inmate that was confessed to the Iowa murder.
Cedar Rapids officers researched the case again and so they could check the inmate’s story. He says they interviewed the inmate and he confessed. Buelow says the inmate named Mykel Roberts knew information on the murder that had never been released to the public.
Roberts was charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder, and going armed with intent. Buelow says the arrest was good news for Meeks’ mother.
“She was very appreciative that the police department continued to work on this case and then followed up when there was a tip that there might be somebody that was responsible for it in custody California,” Buelow says.
Roberts is now back in Iowa. Buelow says it took some time to extradite Roberts back to Iowa because he faced charges in California and there were also COVID-19 issues they had to deal with.