Steven Sueppel's house

This is Steven Sueppel's former home.

It is situated at 629 Barrington Road in Iowa City.

Steven lived here with his wife, Sheryl, and their four children, whom they adopted from South Korea.

Sheryl had previously worked as an elementary school teacher but left her position in 2001 to focus on raising their children.

Sueppel was a vice president for Hills Bank and Trust. In February 2008, he was indicted on charges of stealing more than half a million dollars from his former employer.

Between 2000 and 2007, the banking executive secretly diverted the money into a personal account that he controlled.

When officials confronted Sueppel about discrepancies in one of his asset accounts, he broke down and confessed that he had stolen more than $200,000 to fund his cocaine habit.

Following an investigation by the FBI, he was eventually charged with embezzlement and money laundering, crimes that are punishable by up to 30 years in prison.

After he was fired for stealing, he began working for a local concrete company.

Although family members and friends were aware that Steven was distraught about his current situation, they said there were no signs that anything ominous was afoot.

One month before his trial was due to start, Sueppel penned a four-page note in which he claimed that his family would be better off dead. In the letter, he argued that it would "spare them" from the "pressures" caused by his legal problems.

On March 23rd, 2008, he beat his wife, Sheryl, to death with a baseball bat. He then led their four adopted children to a van in the garage, where he attempted to kill them (and himself) using carbon monoxide.

When this method failed to work, he took the children back into the house and bludgeoned them to death.

Ethan (10), Seth (9), and Mira (5) were all killed in their bedrooms. The youngest child, Eleanor (3), was murdered in the downstairs toy room.

After killing his wife and children, Sueppel drove to Lower City Park, where he attempted to drown himself in the Iowa River. However, this suicide attempt failed, as he was reportedly unable to submerge himself in the water. In a voicemail that he left on his home phone, he claimed that his body kept floating to the top.

When his second suicide attempt failed, he called 911 and told them that they needed to go to 629 Barrington Road. He then hung up the phone, got in his van, and drove northward towards Interstate 80.

Roughly five minutes after the 911 call, Sueppel deliberately crashed his Toyota van into a highway sign support pillar near the Wapsi Avenue overpass.

The impact caused the van to burst into flames.

By the time emergency services managed to extinguish the fire, his body had been so badly burned that the authorities had to use dental records to confirm his identity.

When the police entered Sueppel's house, they discovered the bodies of his wife and four children. On the kitchen table, they found a lengthy handwritten note in which he attempted to justify his actions.

During the investigation, it was revealed that he had also left voicemails for his father, brother, and former coworkers. In the messages, he expressed regret and embarrassment about his legal woes.

In one of the calls, he also claimed that his family was "in heaven."