Woman convicted of murder in Iowa rest stop slaying

Published 10:00 pm Friday, August 31, 2018

MARENGO, Iowa  — A woman has been found guilty of killing a truck driver at an Iowa rest stop along Interstate 80.

Iowa County District Court documents said 44-year-old Mariana Lesnic was convicted Thursday of first-degree murder.

Authorities said she shot 60-year-old Ernest Kummer four times in the head inside his truck cab on Sept. 6, 2017, at the westbound rest stop near Victor, about 40 miles west of Iowa City. Kummer, who lived in Monroe, was an employee of Fridley, Minnesota-based Copeland Trucking, where he had worked since 2010.

Email newsletter signup

A first-degree murder conviction carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.