In the quiet Oakbrook subdivision of Davenport, Iowa, a neighborhood better known for its festive Christmas lights than for crime, the lives of a long-time couple were brought to a violent end. On the morning of October 5, 2016, police discovered the bodies of 57-year-old Caucasian female Donna Freese and her 58-year-old husband, Kevin Freese, inside their home on West 59th Street. Both had been fatally shot.
Donna, who ran a family business, was found on her bed, while her husband, a chief financial officer, was on the floor of the master bedroom. The initial call to police came in just before 5 a.m. reporting a shooting.
Neighbors would later tell investigators they had heard arguing at the Freese home the previous night. Living in the home with the couple was their adult son. When police arrived on the scene, they found 20-year-old Sean Michael Freese outside the house. He was soon taken into custody and, by that afternoon, was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his parents.
The subsequent investigation and trial revealed a story of familial conflict that had escalated to a fatal breaking point. Prosecutors argued that Sean Freese had grown tired of his parents' rules and curfews. The weapon he used was an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, a gift from his parents intended as an incentive for him to finish his high school diploma. On the night of the murders, after a significant argument, Sean admitted in a jailhouse phone call to a friend that he had "snapped." He retrieved the rifle from his vehicle, entered his parents' bedroom, and shot them. Evidence showed Donna sustained five gunshot wounds and Kevin received three or four.
During his trial in October 2017, the jury heard the damning audio from the jailhouse call where Sean confessed to the killings. Prosecutors detailed how he had gone to a McDonald's drive-through after the murders and before he eventually called 911. The defense argued it was a circumstantial case and that police had rushed to judgment, but they presented no witnesses. After deliberating for less than three hours, the jury found Sean Freese guilty of two counts of first-degree murder. In November 2017, he was sentenced to two consecutive life sentences in prison without the possibility of parole. An appeals court later upheld the conviction.
