For 42-year-old Steven Sueppel of Iowa City, suicide alone wouldn’t ensure a designated seat in this “Hell of Fame”. Neither would his embezzlement of approximately $560,000 dollars from the bank of which he was the Vice-President - Hills Bank and Trust.
But you know if Steven Sueppel was looking for a quick one-way ticket to Hell, murdering his entire family just might have gotten that for him.
Steven Sueppel had been indicted in February of 2008 on charges of embezzlement and money laundering and was out wandering around on a $250,000 personal bond. The Sueppel family was highly regarded in the area, with regular folks considering anyone with that last name to be “good people.”
And really, from all perspectives, Stevel Sueppel and his wife Sheryl were “good people.”
After all, Steven Sueppel and his wife adopted four kids from Korea: 10-year-old Ethan, 7-year-old Seth, 5-year-old Mirra and 3-year-old Eleanor. Steven was a bank Vice-President. They lived in a nice house and they drove nice cars, including a Toyota Sienna minivan.
The expense of raising four kids is undoubtedly pretty high, which might have been a motive for Steven Sueppel’s embezzlement…or it could have been his cocaine addiction, which Steven admitted spending $219,000 on over the last three years.
Regardless of what Steven Sueppel spent his money on, he couldn’t wrap his mind around having his status in town go down to toilet. There was only one thing that he could think of to do to avoid the humiliation of having the family name drug through the mud when he was sentenced to federal prison time:
Kill his family and then himself.
Perfectly logical, really.
John List would be proud.
Because of the federal charges against Steven Sueppel, he was restricted from keeping firearms. Being a fine, upstanding citizen who would never consider breaking the law, Steven Sueppel rejected the idea of using a gun to kill his family.
The next best thing? A swing or two from a baseball bat.
We know that the first person to feel Steven Sueppel’s wrathful baseball bat was his wife, and that was on Easter Sunday. So far, we’re not sure who came next, but we do know that he tried to kill himself and his kids with carbon monoxide poisoning by leaving the car running in the garage. That didn’t work, so it was back to the baseball bat.
Unlike John List, who respectfully laid his family out next to each other in the ballroom on sleeping bags, Steven Sueppel chased his family around the house while swinging that baseball bat at their heads and left their bodies strewn about the house in bedrooms and in the toyroom.
Then, following his Easter Sunday Massacre into the wee hours of Monday, Steven Sueppel proceeded to leave messages for his father, brother and the bank he used to work for. Not apologizing for murdering his family, mind you, but for taking the cash.
Steven Sueppel also left messages at his home where his family was lying there, dead.
After trying to drown himself in a nearby river, without success, Steven Sueppel called the police and told them to get to his house immediately. That done, Steven Sueppel got into the Sienna minivan, drove off, and at sometime after 6:33 in the morning on the 24th of March, 2008, ran into the concrete support for an electronic message board above the interstate.
The minivan caught on fire and police responded to find a single body, charred beyond recognition. Because a car crash will not usually incinerate a person in 15 minutes or less, it’s believed that fire accelerants were involved.
Dental records identified the body as that of Stevel Sueppel, who is quite possibly out on the run, living off the money he saved from his embezzlement. Maybe his father and brother will send him some of the life insurance money once they collect it. I’m not certain why, if you couldn’t kill yourself by carbon monoxide poisoning, which basically makes you go to sleep, and if you couldn’t handle drowning yourself, which is fairly quick once you get over the terror of not being able to breathe - why would you choose what is possibly an uncertain death and what is certainly a painful encounter by running into something in your Toyota Sienna? Especially when you consider that a Sienna has a four-star rating for frontal collisions on the driver’s side?
Loading …
why do asses like this have to take their family with them?
[Reply]
oh geezus. bless thsoe childrens and wifes souls. if not in hell yet he will be.
[Reply]
“Dental records identified the body as that of Stevel Sueppel, who is quite possibly out on the run,”
Ummmm…. If that’s his body in the van, then either he’s now enjoying a fire with free accellerant or I am missing something. Can’t run around in this world without a body and still be a human well in this case some type of non-plant life!
I am more than sure that if he killed just himself his family could go on - not as comfortably, but a child and wife may be “yours” or “mine” but they are not “yours” or “mine” enough to kill!
[Reply]
Considering they identified the body as Steven Sueppel, I’m pretty sure he’s dead numbnuts.
admin - The author of the article and several other people believe that Steven Sueppel faked his own death. It’s been done before. It’ll happen again. You have to admit that he probably had the education to do so, the financial means to do so and the motivation to do so.
[Reply]
BTaylorAlabama reply on March 27, 2008:
Faked his own death in the fiery crash of the minivan? An intriguing thought, but I don’t think so. I can imagine someone searching for a body match (with identical dental records … doubtful, but MAYBE it could be done). Then … killing the body match and planting the body in a house fire, which would conveniently consume the body (except for the bones and dental remains). This trick in THIS case would be to have the body match drive the van into the highway abutment. Not very likely, upon reflection. And also very unlikely, due to the speeds involved, that Mr. Sueppel was driving and bailed out at the last moment, miraculously surviving the fall and then walking or running away. No … I don’t think this is a reasonable theory, as much as the script writers might like it. I can firmly state that the murderous dad is quite deceased. Ultimate selfishness … his life ruined, and denying his “loved” ones their very lives. May the innocents rest in peace.
[Reply]
Fred reply on March 27, 2008:
I ask the question because the sentence as it reads is either wrong - should he “was” instread of “is” or something is fucked up with the ID of the body…….
look at the sentence again, read it carefully and MAKE NO ASSUMPTIONS… something sound a bit conflicting?
1. Something’s wrong with the sentence
2. Something’s wrong with using dental records to ID bodies
So keep going thru life making assumptions, I’ll ask questions. Then we’ll see whose nuts are numb in the end!
[Reply]
what a fucking asshat this guy is. Dying is too good for him. He doesnt deservere to be buried with his family.
I hope God painfully burns this motherfucker for 1000 years as he relives swinging that Louiville slugger into the skull of that 3 year old.
Rot in hell asshole
[Reply]
What a bastard.
[Reply]
stevel sueppel body was found but what happened to steven sueppel or is that just a typo?
[Reply]
I’m confused.
[Reply]
Admin- I am not sure how someone could be identified by their dental records as being dead, but I understand your doubts.
Fred- you’ve said the truest thing. If you fuck your life up, steal, cheat, whatever… yeah- kill yourself. It’s the most selfish of losers who can’t imagine that their wife or children have enough value (without them in the picture) to think that someone else would never love them or take care of them. That his children could never grow up, fall in love, have children… ‘without him being present’.
What a selfish fuck. He could have just killed himself. Unless I’m mistaken, his widow and children wouldn’t have been held liable for his thefts, would they?
c
[Reply]
Fred reply on March 28, 2008:
thanks for the compliment.
I do not know the answer to that question, esp because drugs are involved.
I do not know if the “estate” may be held liable, such that they might have been forced to sell the house.
It sounds like the community would have taken care of the wife and children for a while, had he merely done the cowardly thing and took ony his life.
To think that they could not or shuld not go in without him? Only God is tha important!
The only way I expect the world to stop or radically change when I die, is if I die as one of the billions of victims of nuclear war, metior strike, etc, else I expect that a few people will miss me, but their life will go on.
[Reply]
I am constantly amazed that some shitheads on this site vote no on EVERY fucking story. I hope all three of said shitheads get hit by a toyota sienna. If you clicked no, please feel free to contact me and tell me why, so that I am reply back to tell YOU why I fucking hate you.
[Reply]
at least the last thing he felt before he died was flames. Just gives him a preview of what his eternity in hell will be like.
[Reply]
http://www.funeralquestions.com/obits/lensing/memorial.asp?listing_id=103853
Here’s a link to a pic of the family that this a-hole destroyed.
[Reply]
If i was the family, I’d move. How could you live in a town when your relative is the mass murderer, Steve Sueppel. He’s in a very hot place right now, no doubt. I only hope the devil is continually bashing his skull in with a baseball bat as he dies in the most pain any human could ever suffer.
[Reply]
i can’t believe that tribute shows that Evil monster. Why are they paying tribute to a FUCKING monster? That tribute would be fitting if they all died in some freak car accident or something. NO, THIS GUY BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF HIS FAMILY WITH BASEBALL BATS!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT PART OF EVIL TWISTED SICK FUCK DOES THE COMMUNITY AND THEIR FAMILY NOT UNDERSTAND? SUEPPEL FAMILY YOUR KID WAS THE WORST PIECE OF SHIT INVENTED IN QUITE SOME TIME. HE RANKS UP THERE WITH SADDAM HUSSEIN. HOW THE HELL COULD THE WIFE’S FAMILY ALLOW HIS MUG ON ANY TRIBUTE, LET ALONE BURIAL WITH THAT SICK TWISTED PIECE OF SHIT, ROT IN HELL STEVE!!
[Reply]
It is just amazing to me how seemingly smart people with what appears to be everything going for them, except for that little embezzelment charge (things could have been much, much, much worse Steve…there are people out there that would have loved to trade their life for your little money problem) can be so incompetent, stupid, lacking in any logical thought, and downright evil?! Idiots never cease to amaze me.
[Reply]
Unfortunately only Steven will know his intentions, motives and the circumstances surrounding his death and the deaths of his family members. It is unfortunate that he felt as though this was his best option. The children were found in their bedrooms and one in an adjoining playroom- he did not chase them with a bat. Everyone makes mistakes, and it’s the judgment of others that causes such horrific outcomes. Don’t you think his family and community are suffering enough after having lost an entire family that they should not be tormented by the judgment and slander of people that never know the family at their best- or at all.
[Reply]
Miwist reply on April 12, 2008:
Since Steven Sueppel is dead the State of Iowa has dismissed all charges against him. That should clear his name.
[Reply]
Sympathy for the devil?
[Reply]
TO IOWA HAS A HEART:
SO I GET IT NOW, HE’S A NICE MURDERER, NOT A MEAN ONE. I MEAN, AFTER ALL, HE DIDN’T CHASE THEM AROUND THE HOUSE WITH A BASEBALL BAT, HE BASHED THEIR SKULLS IN WHILE ASLEEP. YEAH I SEE, HE’S A NICE GUY AND WE SHOULD FEEL SORRY FOR HIM. YOU ACT LIKE HE DIDN’T DO IT. I CAN’T STAND YOU SYMPATHETIC DUMB ASS PEOPLE, THAT LIVE IN SOME DREAM WORLD. MUST I REPEAT, THE FATHER, STEVE SUEPPEL, KILLED THE ENTIRE FAMILY IN THE MOST HORRIFIC OF WAYS. AND YOU CLAIM HE WAS A VICTIM OF CIRCUMSTANCE OR SOMETHING, WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!!! OH I’M SURE HE DIDNT INTENTIONALLY DRIVE INTO THAT SIGN EITHER, YOU’LL PROBABLY SAY THAT WASNT HIS FAULT EITHER. HE IS THE WORST PIECE OF SHIT TO WALK THE PLANET. NOW, GO FEEL SORRY FOR ANOTHER CHILD AND WIFE KILLER. YOU SAID “EVERYONE MAKES MISTAKES”. GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK, SO THIS WAS JUST A “MISTAKE”? WHAT THE FUCK WOULD IT TAKE TO MAKE YOU HATE THIS MAN? WAS NOT BEATING THEIR SKULLS IN WITH A BASEBALL BAT CRUEL ENOUGH? WOULD IT TAKE A CHAIN SAW OR SOMETHING? BE GLAD THIS MONSTER HAS LEFT PLANET EARTH AND IS NOW SMOLDERING IN HELL WHERE HE BELONGS!!
[Reply]
Sophie reply on May 20, 2008:
I know this family and sadly they spent
too much of life in this self
proclaimed thought of “prominent”
etc.
The fact is they had a another child
in this family tried for attempted rape
and got off that charge for there are attorneys in the family;
that said they were both drunk in a bar.
There is no such thing as a prominent family except in a little tiny town like this
where you might think of yourself like that.
That’s the problem with this picture.
I don’t really feel Steven Sueppel
was upset over the ruin of his family name.
He was upset because he was going to
spend 30 years in jail for taking 1/2 a million
bucks from a bank and there is NOTHING
dear old atttorney Dad could do about that one.
As far as the Cocaine charges that’s tricky
to me. Why he would initially admit to
that, truly some 200K on Cocaine and then retract it later was simply
bizarre. What would be to gain from saying
I took this to buy a drug if indeed you had just used it to support your family.
Also the went to the river to try to drown
myself might indicate NO I went to the river to get rid of the cocaine I had.
It really makes much better sense he was high on Cocaine when he committed these
murders than just fine and Dandy after Easter
Mass and Hello and bloodgeon people to
death that just does not make sense at all.
The final death with the Minivan beyond control I don’t know if they did a toxicology screen on but I have a difficult
time believing anyone stole this much money
that did not have grave Cocaine problems
that might have drove down to the Iowa River
to get rid of any of it
and charred himself beyond recognition with a fiery crash for whatever reasons.
The priest that conducted that Mass also
talked about the “scourage of mental illnesss”
so we do need to take that into consideration.
There are mental illnessses that drive people
to do insane things but that was just a one line mention and I am sure the family wanted
nothing more to to speak to about that.
There would just be more criticisim for them.
As far as the family burying the man with the family it was originally protested by the family but the final thought is that they
felt this was the best thing to do.
It was some hope of reconciliation
together.
Let’s face it it could also be logistics
how is some priest supposed to hold to
funerals of 1000 people in two days
I don’t know.
I guess I don’t get it.
I knew this family
but I really think at the end of the day
that the only way I can believe any man could chase around kids and bash a wife to death is because he was indeed high on Cocaine and that perhaps that was a very
true statement
It was a horrific situation for this Community; the school his children
were at was evacuated to another school
for they found the dead bodies of his family
and not him,
the Public School was on lock down,
for 2 hours
the City was at alert for a “killer”
it was a sad day.
It’s just impossible to share how sad this was
for those that knew this family.
That knew this guy.
He was leaving actually detailed messages
and notes of every killing is what was originally noted so I have no clue
what the deal with
but may God in his Mercy
……………….
and perfect Justice deal with this Mess.
It was just a living hell to be down here that week.
For those that know the family imagine if you did it’s like HUH where do you place this in your mind and heart?
Please pray for all involved
it was simply a nightmare.
Mary.
[Reply]
John- I appreciate your sentiments, but your capitalization/yelling? Eh, not so much.
I enjoy calling the perpetrators of crimes being called POSs. I suggest we start calling all the people who flock to this site in order to ’support’ and be in denial about the POS’s crimes to be called something like ‘LPWSPIOV”’s. (Loser people who support POSs instead of victims).
Any takers? Anyone have an idea for a short nickname (or nicknames) for the people who come on saying- you don’t know them. They’re nice people. The news isn’t reporting all the facts. They’ll be proven innocent. Yeah, they got convicted, but it was a conspiracy…..
Maybe there could be a generic term that could be combined with a subterm/subterms relevant to their specific loserness?
c
[Reply]
DualDenz reply on March 31, 2008:
thicko!
ignoramoose!
spazzo!
emo-kid!
POS²
i’m sure i can come up with more, but i suppose this’ll do for now.
[Reply]
RealityCheck reply on April 5, 2008:
PLOPWE- People lower than us.
WONGIES- Wrong in every way.
SLUPE- Special soup.
LOFOGOPEEP-Love for the good people.
I think I’m a Slupe?(and the lofo thing)
Cool.
Yeah. Mhhm.
[Reply]
Reading some of those comments on the tribute page made me sick to my stomach. This guy steals $600 grand from his employer, spends $200 grand of it on his cocaine habit then brutally murders his whole family on Easter Sunday after coming home from church and yet these “holier than thou” people are forgiving him.
I hate religion.
[Reply]
Some of us in Iowa City have a brain as well as a heart. It’s just that our hearts properly and rightly so go out to the victims in this case, not to the brutal mass murderer. We know what kind of monster Steven Sueppel was. We too are sickened by some in the community who are still going on about poor Steve who felt he had no other options. UGH! The monster knew what his options were, he just didn’t want to go to jail. Beating his wife and little children to death with a baseball bat just appealed more to him. He couldn’t have been worried that his family couldn’t have made it without him because their extended family is extensive and rather wealthy in the area. He obviously couldn’t stand the thought of them being better off without him as they would’ve been. What some people in our community are trying hard to gloss over is that the manner in which he killed his wife and small children was an act of pure rage towards them. No doubt being the narcissistic asshole he was he blamed them for all his wrongdoing. That wonderful family he was supposedly raised in apparently never taught him to take responsibility for his own actions and allowed him to blame others. It appears that no matter what he did he was never at fault. Christ, even after what he did to his family his extended family is still trying to shove that wonderful Steve that could do no wrong bullshit down our throats. They couldn’t be embarrassed or ashamed or they would’ve held a private funeral for him instead of making it very public and putting his remains up front and center at the funeral flanked by his victim’s corpses. Hell perhaps if he would’ve killed more people they would’ve suggesting throwing those victims up there too as long as Steve remained front and center. Then, as if that wasn’t bad enough they had to display pictures of him with the children and then go on and on about how wonderful he was. Their display was not only beyond shameful but it was a disgrace and quite frankly sickening. After seeing the way they reacted to this tragedy it’s pretty plain to see that their little Stevie is still a saint in their eyes. It boggles the mind.
Also there were 2 pillows found next to the baseball bats inside the house and one pillow found in the backyard. So far no one has said how that pillow got into the backyard but it may indicate that one of the children was possibly getting away and was stopped. I also don’t think it was confirmed that carbon monoxide (from the garage) was found in his body but just the childrens and a very small amount at that. There are other curious things that were found such as the “family shrine” he made on the kitchen island yet for some reason rather then leave his personal papers there he saw fit to pack them up in a portifolo and take them with him when he left the house. I for one do not believe that when he left the house he intended to kill himself, otherwise why not just do it there so that he could be alongside his “family”? Why pack up his personal paperwork and take it with him? If he called the police to direct them to his home right before ramming into the sign on the interstate then why not do the same before he supposedly tried to drown himself. I just don’t buy it. I think he was going to try to get away, left the note that he as going to kill himself to buy himself some more time and that something happened that messed up his plans and when he knew he’d be caught decided to kill himself rather then go to prison for murder too. Being one that actually heard the 911 call he made he very coldly and calmly told them to go to his address and hung up. There was absolutley no emotion in his voice at all. In addition, he left all the messages for the bank employees, his father and brother after hours at their places of business so they wouldn’t get the messages until they went to work the next day, making sure they couldn’t interfer with what he was doing. Why all the phone calls to the house after he left? Trying to see if any of the victims there answered the phone or if the police had discovered his misdeeds yet? Or was he just trying to drum up some additional feel sorry for me support. In addition to the several page note he left describing what he did to his wife and children (which John List also did and went on to start a new life with a new wife and children for nearly 2 decades I believe it was) the police also found a “to do” list. Premeditated anyone? So here we have “poor Steve” coldly and calmly organizing all this stuff and packing up his personal papers in his minivan. He even apparently changed his clothes and managed to put most of the bloody clothing except for a pair of bloody socks (found in the garage) in the laundry room. You tell me if it sounds like he was initially going off to kill himself? Just because a liar, thief and mass murderer leaves a huge note we should just accept what he says as the truth? I mean on the day he got confronted at the bank about him stealing all that money he told them he spent it on cocaine. Later after the charges were filed he retracted that statement and claimed he needed it to support his family. Which do you think is more truthful? The story he gave when he was first put on the spot without having time to think about it or the story he came up with after the charges were filed? Which would a jury be more lenient on…a drug addict that stole the money from the bank to buy drugs or a father struggling to support his family? Also take into consideration that if you are NOT a drug user as he later claimed then why would spending it on cocaine be the first thing that popped into his head when he was confronted. I’m a non-drug user and if i was caught stealing something the story of oh yeah i stole it to buy drugs wouldn’t just spontaniously pop into my head when confronted unless there was some truth behind it. However, his remaining family insists he wasn’t a drug user. Yeah okay. Rolls eyes. They instead try to make it sound like it was his wife’s fault that he had to steal the money because she stopped working to take care of the children they started adopting. He had been stealing the money for 7 years and the two youngest children were 5 (Mira- correctly spelled with one r) and 3. So if that was the case and they were having finacial difficulty because he wife stopped working then how in the world could they afford to adopt 2 more children from Korea, the last of which was in the last 3 years. So you tell me cocaine addiction or financial problems for the thefts? If you wanna hear his family and friends around here tell it then poor Steve wasn’t a drug addict and his finacial difficulties were a direct result of his wife not working anymore. So even after everything they are still blaming the victim because it surely couldn’t have been his own fault. There are some seriously sick people in this community. The ones that are trying to gloss over what he did, that make excuses for him and blame his victims. I’ve never seen anything like it anywhere and it’s just so wrong. The Superintendent of the school district actually suggested in the Gazette (local newspaper) the day before the viewing at the funeral parlor that there would be a proposal for a memorial at the elementry school for either the whole entire Sueppel family or maybe just for the children. No joke. Thankfully because of the outrage from us sane folks that do live here too that was shut down and a possible memorial at the school will be for the children only. However, what is wrong with that guy who is the head of the school system in Iowa City, that he would even suggest a memorial that would include a mass murderer at an elementary school? This demonstates how difficult it has been for the rest of us that have a brain to be around all these people who are so oblivious to reality.
And before another family member or Sueppel family friend says anything to this post…like how disrespectful my post is to the family…here’s my advice to you…shove it…there’s a whole lot of us in this community that are sick over what you people have been doing and saying…you don’t speak for all of us and stop trying to act like you do…what you attempting to perpetuate in this community is sickening and disgusting and I have news for you…we all aren’t going to just go along with it…so put that in your crack pipe and smoke it. Maybe then your lil Stevie would approve. UGH!
[Reply]
My thought is, everyone agrees with your statement. That Steven Sueppel was one creepy Mother Fucker.
[Reply]