SHELDON, IOWA: A 42-year-old Iowa man is likely to plead guilty for fatally shooting his 62-year-old mother at their shared home in March 2023.
Nathaniel Byron Kassel sent a spine-chilling text to his family members about his plan to murder his mother moments before he allegedly carried out the heinous act.
According to criminal complaint documents filed in district court, Kassel messaged other family members, stating “I’m killing Jody,” at approximately 8:45 pm Wednesday, March 22.
At about 11.30 pm, he was reportedly overheard having a conversation with someone on the telephone during which he said that he had “made a mistake and hurt someone.”
According to The N’West Iowa Review, the cold-hearted killer reached a deal with prosecutors in which he has agreed to plead guilty to one count of first-degree murder in the March 2023 slaying of his mother Jody Lynn Duskin.
It is mandatory under Iowa state law that defendants convicted of first-degree murder have to serve a sentence of life without the possibility of parole.
On September 1, O’Brien County District Court Judge John M Sandy filed court documents noting that the District Attorney’s Office and Kassel had come to an agreement on the pleading and punishment.
Court records show Judge Sandy scheduling a joint plea and sentencing hearing for 8.30 am on September 18.
He also ordered Kassel’s attorney Sioux City Public Defender Jon Loos Jr to file a formal guilty plea with the court before the proceeding.
Who discovered Jody Lynn Duskin's body?
According to a press release from the Iowa Department of Public Safety, Sheldon Police Department officers responded to a call about an adult female found dead inside a home located in the 600 block of 4th Avenue in Sheldon at about 4 pm on March 23.
First responders found the victim upon arriving at the scene, who was later identified as Duskin.
The mother was declared dead at the scene and her corpse was discovered by an unnamed family member.
An autopsy was performed after two days by the Iowa Office of the State Medical Examiner which determined Duskin died on March 23.
Her manner of death was determined to be a homicide and the cause of death was determined to be a gunshot wound to the head.
When was Nathaniel Byron Kassel arrested?
At about noon on March 24, South Dakota officers located Kassel in Flandreau and placed him under arrest.
The Santee Sioux Tribe police chief reportedly spotted the 2013 Ford Edge registered to Duskin at the Royal River Casino & Hotel and took him into custody at the nearby Native Nations Cannabis Dispensary.
He was reportedly found with two handguns taken from his mother’s home.
