CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) - Jury selection began Monday morning for one of the men accused in the 2024 murder of 20-year-old woman from Marion.

Dakota Van Patten is charged with First Degree Murder and Kidnapping in the death of Melody Hoffman.

Investigators accuse Van Patten of helping McKinley Louisma kidnap and murder Hoffman in February 2024. Hoffman’s body was found near Lily Lake in Amana.

Investigators say Louisma and Hoffman had been in an intimate relationship before her murder.

Louisma was found guilty of First Degree Murder in 2024 and sentenced to life in prison.

Investigators say Van Patten was seen with Louisma and Logan Kimpton buying gloves and machetes from a Walmart in Cedar Rapids shortly before Hoffman was killed.

Kimpton is charged with Consipiracy to Commit a F

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