In the early morning hours of November 17, 2016, the quiet of a Mason City, Iowa, neighborhood was shattered by violence. Inside a home at 1620 North Hampshire Avenue, 54-year-old white female, Melida "Mindy" Kavars, and another individual, 37-year-old Caleb Christensen, were found dead. Police had been called to the residence around 2:15 a.m. to investigate reports of a shooting. Upon arrival, they discovered the tragic scene.
An autopsy would later reveal that Kavars died from a single gunshot wound to the neck and chest, while Christensen succumbed to multiple sharp-force injuries.
The investigation moved swiftly, and within minutes of the discovery, a suspect was in custody. Thirty-year-old Peter Veal of Lake Mills was apprehended about a half-mile from the crime scene after a brief foot chase. Veal was subsequently charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Kavars and Christensen. He was also charged with the attempted murder of a witness, though court documents did not initially identify that individual. Veal was booked into the Cerro Gordo County Jail, where he was held on a $1 million bond.
Peter Veal's case proceeded through the legal system, with his trial being moved to Fort Dodge in Webster County due to pretrial publicity in Cerro Gordo County. After a mental competency evaluation deemed him fit to stand trial, the proceedings commenced. In July 2017, a jury found Peter Veal guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted murder. Following the verdict, he was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences, plus an additional 25 years for the attempted murder charge. In the years following his conviction, Veal filed appeals arguing, among other things, that the jury pool was unconstitutional, but his convictions were ultimately upheld.
