On July 25, 2019, Attorney General William P. Barr directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons to resume capital punishment by changing the drugs used in the federal death by injection protocol to pentobarbital.
One of the first five inmates scheduled to be executed in 2020 as the federal government resumes capital punishment is former Britt resident Dustin Lee Honken who, along with his then-girlfriend Angela Johnson of Clear Lake, shot Kandace and Amber Duncan, ages 10 and 6, their mother, Lori Duncan, 31, and Greg Nicholson, 34, and Terry DeGeus, 32, because he thought they could be potential witnesses to his multi-state drug ring.
What follows is a timeline of events in the decades-long case which begins with Honken's arrest on drug charges related to methamphetamine trafficking.
Timeline
March 21, 1993 — Britt native Dustin Honken and Timothy Cutkomp, formerly of Mason City, are arrested in Mason City on drug charges.
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March 26, 1993 — Honken is indicted in federal court for alleged methamphetamine trafficking in Iowa from his residence, then in Tempe, Ariz.
April 20, 1993 — Greg Nicholson testifies against Honken before a federal grand jury.
July 3, 1993 — Angela Johnson of Klemme files an application for and obtains a permit to buy a handgun. Four days later, she purchases a Tech-9 9 mm handgun at a pawn shop in Waterloo.
July 26, 1993 — Nicholson and Nicholson’s girlfriend, Lori Ann Duncan, 31, and her two daughters, 10-year-old Amber and 6-year-old Kandace, are reported missing.
Nov. 5, 1993 — Terry DeGeus, 32, of rural Britt, another potential witness in the investigation against Honken, is reported missing.
March 21, 1995 — The original charges against Honken are dismissed because witnesses could not be located.
Feb. 7, 1996 — Local, state and federal law enforcement officers execute a search warrant at Honken’s Mason City home and discover a meth lab.
April 29, 1996 — Honken and Cutkomp are arrested in Mason City for conspiring to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine from 1993 to 1996.
June 11, 1996 — Chemicals used to manufacture methamphetamine are seized from a storage shed at Johnson’s home.
June 2, 1997 — Honken pleads guilty to one count of conspiracy to manufacture and distribute methamphetamine and one count of attempting to manufacture the drug.
March 1994 — Cutkomp is sentenced to four years and six months on drug charges. The sentence was handed down after Cutkomp implicated Honken in manufacturing methamphetamine in 1996 and in the disappearance of Nicholson, DeGeus and the Duncans.
Sept. 11, 1997 — Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation agents excavate property in Hancock County, unsuccessfully attempting to locate the five missing persons.
Feb. 24, 1998 — Honken is sentenced to 24 years in prison. The sentence was later amended to two, 27-year concurrent prison terms.
October 2000 — Jailhouse informant Robert McNeese provides authorities with two maps, with information given to him by Johnson, pointing to two spots where the bodies were located. Both were being held in the Benton County Jail.
Oct. 13, 2000 — The remains of Lori Duncan, her daughters and Nicholson are discovered buried in a wooded area just off Cerro Gordo County Road S34 west of Mason City.
Nov. 8, 2000 — The body of DeGeus is discovered in a farm field one mile west of Burchinal. The state medical examiner determined all five people died of gunshot wounds.
Oct. 9, 2002 — Honken pleads innocent to charges of murder.
April 24, 2002 — U.S. District Judge Mark Bennett rules that any evidence found as a result of jailhouse notes from Robert McNeese inadmissible in the case against Johnson.
Feb. 13, 2003 — Federal prosecutors argue in an appeal that Robert McNeese was not a government agent when obtaining the two locations of the five murdered victims.
Feb. 18, 2003 — A federal judge denies a request to release the remains of the five victims, ruling the bodies are key evidence in the on-going cases.
September 2004 — Honken murder trial begins in Sioux City.
October 2004 — Honken found guilty of the murders of DeGeus, Nicholson and the Duncans.
May 2005 — Johnson murder trial begins in Sioux City, and she is found guilty of the five murders later that month.
October 2005 — Dustin Honken sentenced to death for the murders.
December 2005 — Angela Johnson sentenced to death for the murders.
January 2006 — Both Angela Johnson and Dustin Honken appeal their convictions to the Eighth District U.S. Court of Appeals.
September 2008 — Honken appeal denied.
November 2008 — Johnson appeal denied.
October 2009 — Johnson seeks new trial or to have her death sentence vacated.
December 2009 — Honken’s request for post-conviction relief denied.
March 2011 — Johnson’s hearing for a new trial held in Sioux City.
March 22, 2012 — U.S. District Court Judge Mark Bennett throws out Johnson’s death sentence. Prosecutors have 60 days to file an appeal.
July 25, 2019 — Bureau of Prisons directed to resume capital punishment by changing the drugs used in the federal death by injection protocol to pentobarbital.
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Timeline was initially posted on the Globe Gazette website in 2012 and has been updated to reflect new developments.
