More Details Come To Light In Local Murder Case

The home at 1106 N 4th Street in Oskaloosa appears quiet now. Officers appear to no longer have the scene locked down

The motive behind Sunday nights murder is not yet known at this point, but what is for sure is that Oskaloosa is still shocked by the brutality of it all.

Information has been coming in in the case being built against Bradley William Arterburn.

Oskaloosa Police Chief Jake McGee spoke about the weapon that was used in the murder. The weapon is described as a ‘Battle Axe’ that was common in the Medieval Era. These types of weapons were designed for combat, with some designs of the axe requiring the use of both hands and having a weight of up to six pounds.

The Oskaloosa Police canvased the neighborhood on the night of the murder. They questioned those that live in the area of the home, located at 1106 North 4th. They did so in the hope that someone may have seen or heard something that would assist them in their investigation.

McGee said that this is the first time in his years of law enforcement that he’s seen anything like this. Only 2 other times, during his 25 years of law enforcement in Oskaloosa, has the department been responsible for working a murder case. Those cases date back to 1991 and 1997. Now they have this most recent case.

McGee said that so far his officers are doing well after having to deal with such a gruesome scene. He said that they will evaluate those officers later this week or next week to make sure they are still doing well, and not suffering ill effects of what they witnessed.

Bradley’s mother, Linda Arterburn made the call to 911 that evening at 8:38 p.m. During the call, she states that her son Brad Arterburn has stab wounds to the chest, and her “boyfriend [is] cut across the throat and [has] several stabs to stomach with a sword” as was reported in the Oskaloosa Police Call for Service Record. Police believe that Arterburn used a different weapon to injure himself.

When police arrived, Bradley did not go peacefully into police custody. According to the Call For Service Record, they had him in custody at 8:43 p.m. According to police, he was confrontational and they had to subdue him to get him under control. The weapons were secured at 8:52 and then reported that a second weapon was seized at 9:02 p.m.

By 9:21 Arterburn was in the Mercy helicopter and being transported to the Des Moines hospital.

Arterburn was released from Mercy Hospital and now is being held in the Mahaska County Jail without bond on a First Degree Murder charge.

The Oskaloosa Police Department is still working with Department of Criminal Investigations on the case, and they continue to review different areas they are following up with.

Robert Horovitz passed away around 10:00 p.m. at the Mahaska Health Partnership from the injuries he sustained in the attack.

McGee said that, “They handled it very very well, and I’m very proud of the way they handled that situation.”

“Well, still pretty much is shock” is what next door neighbor Nancy Beal had to say. “Hard to believe that would happen next door to you.”

Beal says that while it was all happening, they were downstairs and didn’t hear anything. Her husband came upstairs to find a street full of police cars and ambulances. People getting loaded into the ambulance.

I asked Beal if she knew Arterburn, “No not really, we never really had talked with him much. He’s pretty quiet and didn’t say a whole lot.”

A criminal charge is merely a criminal charge and not an indication of guilt. All suspects should be considered innocent until proven guilty.