GUILTY IA - Susan Kersten, 38, found slain in burned car, Iowa City, 24 Sept 1995

Recollections of a phone call the night Susan Kersten was killed two decades ago — publicly revealed for the first time Friday night on a television show — clinched the case investigators had been assembling for years against Steven Klein, leading to last month’s arrest of the former boyfriend...

That evidence, as laid out hours later on the nationally broadcast TNT program, centers on the apparently recently discovered recollections of Pam Tompkins, a cousin of the 38-year-old victim. Tompkins told investigators she had called Kersten about 8 p.m. Sept. 24, 1995 — the night of the killing. According to the TV broadcast, Kersten was in her mobile home with Klein when Tompkins said she heard shouting over the phone and the line went dead. One of the TV program’s main personalities, former prosecutor Kelly Siegler, said that revelation caused investigators to change the timeline of the killing to be about an hour earlier than they had thought for years. And that, in turn, made them rule out another man — a neighbor of Kersten’s — who also was under scrutiny.

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A 21-year-old homicide case remains on track to go to trial in the spring. During a conference Friday afternoon, both prosecutors with the Johnson County Attorney’s Office and defense attorneys for 56-year-old Steven J. Klein said they saw no reason for delaying proceedings. Klein is scheduled to go to trial on March 27

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A Mount Pleasant man charged with a 22-year-old murder will enter a guilty plea Friday, a month before he was set to go to trial.

Steven J. Klein, 56, is accused of first-degree murder in the death of Susan Kersten, 38, whose body was found Sept. 24, 1995, in her burned out car 2 miles south of Iowa City, near her home at the Regency Mobile Home Village.

Sixth Judicial District Judge Chad Kepros said in an order filed Wednesday that he was informed that Klein wishes to enter a plea and be immediately sentenced. The sentencing will occur Friday at 9:30 a.m. at the Johnson County Courthouse, where Klein was already expected to show up for a hearing. Klein's trial had been scheduled to begin March 27.

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JusticeWillBeServed said:

Cold case murder suspect Klein to enter plea, avoid trial

http://www.press-citizen.com/story/news/crime-and-courts/2017/02/16/cold-case-murder-suspect-steven-klein-enter-plea/98013822/

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A Mount Pleasant man will spend 15 years in prison after taking a plea deal in the 1995 death of an Iowa City woman.

Steven J. Klein, 56, entered an Alford plea on charges of second-degree arson, willful injury causing serious injury and suborning perjury in the death of Susan Kersten, 38, whose body was found Sept. 24, 1995, in her burned out car two miles south of Iowa City, near her home at the Regency Mobile Home Village.

As part of the deal, Klein waived his rights to appeal his case and file for post-conviction relief. He also waived his right to a statute of limitations defense to the charges.

Klein was scheduled to go to trial March 27, but said Wednesday that he wished to enter a plea and be immediately sentenced, according to an online court order filed by Sixth Judicial District Judge Chad Kepros. The sentencing happened Friday at 9:30 a.m. at the Johnson County Courthouse.

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After the hearing, family members said they were not totally happy with the deal and were not consulted by prosecutors about the agreement. They had hoped to see Klein admit to the killing even if it were a lesser charge such as manslaughter. After the sentencing, on prosecutor said they had accepted a guilty plea to willful injury and arson because those were charges where they had some physical proof.

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