Updated Monday, January 7, 2013
Sac County authorities said the woman whose body was found during a kidnapping investigation was the suspect’s mother and her death was ruled a homicide.
Kirk Riley Levin, 21, was charged with kidnapping, assault while participating in a felony and assault with intent to commit sexual abuse. The charges stem from an investigation that began when Levin reportedly asked a Storm Lake woman for a ride and had her take him to his mother’s home in Early, Iowa.
While investigating the kidnapping allegation, police found the body of 45-year-old Marilyn Schmitt, Levin’s mother, in an upstairs bedroom inside the home. Preliminary autopsy findings show Schmitt died of “sharp force injuries,” and her death has been ruled a homicide.
A criminal complaint alleges Levin stabbed Schmitt between 1:30 and 5:45 a.m. January 3, 2013. The complaint says Levin “admits to law enforcement that he was the only one who could have killed the victim. Kirk Levin admitted that he choked his mother and that he had to have killed her.”
The home, at 2242 Ira Avenue in Early, was Schmitt’s residence.
At his first appearance in court, Levin’s bond was set at $200,000. He was held in the Sac County Jail.
As a result of the autopsy findings, Levin was also charged with first-degree murder.
Original story from Friday, January 4, 2013
Police found the remains of a woman from western Iowa while they were investigating another woman’s claim that she was kidnapped.
Someone called 911 at about 8 a.m. Thursday, January 3, 2013 after they saw a 21-year-old woman, near Highway 20 and Ira Avenue in rural Early, Iowa, trying to escape a vehicle and claiming she had been kidnapped.
The woman told police she had given a ride to Kirk Riley Levin, 21, after Levin showed up at her home in Storm Lake at about 6:30 that same morning.
The woman said Levin took her to a home in the 2200 block of Ira Avenue where he allegedly told her she was being kidnapped and held her against her will.
Police said they arrested Levin after they found him hiding in a nearby barn.
When they searched the Ira Avenue home, police said they found the body of a dead woman there. The death is being investigated as suspicious. The dead woman’s name had not yet been released.
Levin was charged with assault, assault with intent to commit sexual abuse and third-degree kidnapping. He was held in the Sac County Jail in lieu of $20,000 bond. At his first court appearance Friday, January 4, a prosecutor reportedly identified the deceased woman as Levin’s mother.
Online records show Levin was released January 1, 2013 from the an Iowa Department of Corrections prison after serving a sentence for a 2010 burglary conviction.
