(Council Bluffs, Iowa) – Pottawattamie County Attorney Matt Wilber, today (Tuesday), issued a statement following the conviction Monday, on double murder charges, of 30-year-old Dequanta Roland Zachary, of Eunice, Louisiana. A jury only took about an hour to convict Zachary on two-counts of Murder in the 1st Degree, one count of Theft in the 1st Degree, and one count of Felon in Possession of a Firearm. Zachary faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole on the murder charges, and five-to 10-additional years on the Felon in Possession charge. His sentence hearing was scheduled for 9:30-a.m. December 5th, in Pott. County District Court.

An investigation into Dequanta Zachary’s actions began when a gunshot victim, 36-year-old Deonte Ivory, of Omaha), was found deceased near the Tyson Foods plant in Council Bluffs on April 28th, 2024. A second gunshot victim, 25-year-old Michael Anderson, of Omaha, was found later that same morning in the driveway of the Western Historic Trails Center. An abandoned, bullet-ridden car was found the next day in rural Glenwood. A partially burned shirt was hanging out of the gas tank.

A combination of cell phone records, social media and surveillance videos, witness statements, crime scene investigation, and an interview with Zachary, led to arrest warrants being issued May 3rd. A DNA test later found one of the victim’s blood on Zachary’s clothing. The case was tried by Pott. County Attorney Matt Wilber and Chief Deputy County Attorney Jon Jacobmeier. Matt Wilber says:

“The evidence in this case was overwhelming and this is due to the thorough and professional investigation by the Council Bluffs Police Department. There were approximately 7,000 pages in this investigation file, and bringing a double murder case from date of death to trial in less than six months is only possible with that level of dedication by our local law enforcement personnel. As is usually the case today, these murders were solved by dogged and persistent police work. I am grateful to the detectives for their efforts, particularly lead detective Taylor Coffey. Double murders do not generally happen in Council Bluffs – in fact, I think this is the only double homicide case I have tried in my 22 years as County Attorney. I am happy to bring some measure of comfort to the families of Deonte and Michael, and to have brought their killer to justice.”

The case against Dequanta Zachary was investigated by the Council Bluffs Police Department, with assistance from the FBI Cellular Analysis Survey Team and the Iowa DCI Crime Laboratory.