LINN COUNTY, Iowa (KCRG) – Witnesses say the man accused of killing a Marion woman asked them to lie and say he was with them when she died.

After the body of 20-year-old Melody Hoffman was found near a lake in Amana, McKinley Louisma is accused of kidnapping and murdering her.

Hoffman, Louisma’s ex-girlfriend, was with her the night she disappeared.

Prosecutors allege he killed her because he was having an affair with another pregnant woman.

However, the defense says it was not McKinley who killed Hoffman, but the other man she was with.

And according to eyewitness testimony in the state, McKinley tried to hide his whereabouts the night he died.

“It was standing right in the landing area of ​​my house. Then he said: ‘If anyone approaches you with a question, tell them I was in here playing video games all night.’ And that kind of raised questions in my mind,” said Trevor Weis, one of McKinley’s acquaintances and a state witness.

The jury also reviewed surveillance video that showed Louisma, along with two other men linked to Hoffman’s death, purchased two machetes and two pairs of gloves just hours before Hoffman died.

The trial is ongoing and eyewitness testimony is expected to continue Tuesday morning.

Louisma faces an automatic sentence of life in prison behind bars if convicted of first-degree kidnapping or murder.

Copyright 2024 KCRG. All rights reserved.