DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Police are investigating a man’s death in central Des Moines as a homicide. Officers sent Wednesday afternoon to check on a resident found the man’s body. His name hasn’t been released, and police have not said what led officers to suspect a crime had been committed. No arrests have been reported. Police say the slaying is Des Moines’ 11th homicide of the year.

Creston Police report a woman from Creston was arrested early this (Thursday) morning, at the Union County Law Enforcement Center. 36-year old Candace Russell was taken into custody at around 1:35-a.m., for OWI/2nd offense. She was being held in the Adams County Jail for Union County, on a $2000 bond.

ORANGE CITY, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa Appeals Court has ordered a resentencing for a man imprisoned for beating an 11-year-old boy. The Sioux City Journal reports that the court ruled Wednesday that the trial judge considered an improper sentencing factor when giving 36-year-old Matthew Spaans four years in prison. Spaans and his wife, Nina Spaans, of Hawarden, pleaded guilty to four counts of child endangerment. She received a four-year suspended prison sentence and was placed on two years of probation.

Records say Matthew Spaans beat his stepson with his hands, a 56-inch sword and another item, severely bruising the boy. The documents say the boy was told to make up stories about his bruises or his next beating would be worse.

Police in Council Bluffs say two men, one wearing a Batman costume, the other a green, full-body suit, robbed a Casey’s General Store early this (Thursday) morning. The incident happened a little before 4-a.m., at the 2301 South 24th Street Casey’s in Council Bluffs. The men appeared to be brandishing a rifle and a sword. The robbers gave the clerk a bag, who filled it with an undisclosed amount of cash. The two suspects then left the store through the back door.

Robbery suspects 12-20-18

The incident remains under investigation. If you have any information that may help solve the crime, call the Council Bluffs Crime Stoppers at 712-328-7867.

An accident in Atlantic Wednesday afternoon at 10^th and Chestnut Streets resulted in one person being transported to the Cass County Memorial Hospital. Authorities say a Toyota SUV traveling westbound on 10^th Street was struck by an eastbound SUV that was turning north onto Walnut.

One of the drivers suffered unknown/possible injuries, while the other driver was not hurt. A citation for Failure to Yield upon left turn was pending against the driver of the vehicle that struck the Toyota.

Additional details were not immediately available.

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa woman has been given seven years in prison for stealing more than $192,000 from her now-dead fiance and his elderly mother. Robin Ann Bertelli, of Cedar Rapids, was sentenced Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids. She pleaded guilty to fraud and identity theft. Prosecutors say the 61-year-old Bertelli stole checks from July 2013 through September 2016 that belonged to former Navy SEAL Ken Martin Jr. and Martin’s mother and wrote them payable to herself, forging their signatures.

Prosecutors say Bertelli started a relationship with Martin around 2013 and moved in with him and his mother. Martin died in February 2016 while on vacation with Bertelli in Puerto Rico from what Bertelli said was an accidental drowning after hitting his head on a rock.