In the early hours of October 22, 2018, the city of Fort Dodge, Iowa, was rocked by a sudden act of violence that claimed the lives of two brothers. Eldominic Rhodes, a 34-year-old Black male, and his older brother, Marion Rhodes, 37, were found shot to death in an alley behind an apartment building located at 910 Second Avenue North. The incident began with an argument between a man named Tanner J. King and another individual, Cletio Clark. Clark was confronting King over allegations that King had sold "bad" drugs to Clark's girlfriend.
The confrontation escalated when Marion Rhodes happened to walk by. After an exchange of words with Clark, Marion made a phone call. Shortly thereafter, Eldominic Rhodes arrived at the scene in a vehicle and got out, approaching the ongoing argument. It was at this moment that Tanner King reportedly pulled out a handgun. He first shot Eldominic and then turned the weapon on Marion, shooting him as well. King also fired a shot toward Cletio Clark, but missed him. Clark was able to flee in his girlfriend's car as King ran from the scene.
The subsequent investigation by Fort Dodge police and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation quickly focused on Tanner King, who lived in the apartment building overlooking the alley where the brothers' bodies were found. When detectives canvassed the area, they encountered King, who provided a series of alibis that could not be verified. A search warrant executed at King's apartment uncovered a box of. 40-caliber ammunition with fifteen bullets missing. Investigators also found a receipt in his trash showing he had purchased the ammunition just two days before the killings. King himself told police that his DNA might be found on shell casings recovered from the crime scene.
Within days, police arrested 28-year-old Tanner King and charged him with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder. Another man, 46-year-old Paul Keller, was also arrested in connection with the case; he was charged with obstructing prosecution for allegedly hiding physical evidence on behalf of King. In December 2019, after a three-week trial that had been moved to Story County, a jury found Tanner King guilty of the first-degree murders of both Eldominic and Marion Rhodes. He was subsequently sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison without the possibility of parole. An appeal of his conviction was later denied.
