State of Iowa v. Yemissi Nadege Keto

CourtCourt of Appeals of Iowa
DecidedJune 18, 2025
Docket24-0916
StatusPublished

This text of State of Iowa v. Yemissi Nadege Keto (State of Iowa v. Yemissi Nadege Keto) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State of Iowa v. Yemissi Nadege Keto, (iowactapp 2025).

Opinion

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF IOWA

No. 24-0916 Filed June 18, 2025

STATE OF IOWA, Plaintiff-Appellee,

vs.

YEMISSI NADEGE KETO, Defendant-Appellant. ________________________________________________________________

Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Dallas County, Thomas P. Murphy,

Judge.

A defendant appeals her convictions for first-degree murder and child

endangerment resulting in death. AFFIRMED.

Jessica Donels of Parrish Kruidenier, L.L.P., Des Moines, for appellant.

Brenna Bird, Attorney General, and Katherine Wenman, Assistant Attorney

General, for appellee.

Heard at oral argument by Schumacher, P.J., and Buller and Sandy, JJ. 2

SCHUMACHER, Presiding Judge.

Following the death of her one-year-old son, Yemissi Keto appeals her

convictions for first-degree murder and child endangerment resulting in death.

Keto claims the district court erred by excluding evidence of domestic abuse as it

relates to her insanity defense. Keto also challenges the sufficiency of the

evidence for her convictions. Upon review, we affirm.

I. Background Facts & Proceedings

On the morning of August 31, 2023, officers from the Waukee Police

Department responded to a 911 call from Keto. The dispatch was issued for an

“unknown problem.” Officers were informed “the caller was possibly sick and

vomiting and was requesting an ambulance.” Keto met officers at her front door.

As they entered the home, the officers noticed a strong smell of bleach. Keto was

struggling to speak and appeared distraught. Officers asked what was going on,

and Keto responded, “my son.” She directed the officers upstairs, where her

thirteen-month-old son, D.K., was located, unconscious and not breathing.

Officers found D.K. in a diaper on the floor, face up, and without a pulse.

Open containers of cleaning products were strewn upstairs. The floor surrounding

D.K. was “very wet and saturated” with what officers would later determine was

bleach. Sputum observed around D.K.’s mouth smelled of bleach. Although D.K.

was cold to the touch and slightly stiff, responders performed life saving measures.

Their efforts produced no signs of life. Responders ceased life-saving measures

roughly twenty-five minutes later. D.K. was pronounced dead at the scene.

Meanwhile, officer Chris Kickbush, who was located downstairs, and Stevi

Bundy, a mental-health professional serving as an emergency responder for the 3

Waukee Police Department’s crisis intervention team (CIT), spoke with Keto to

gather information about what had occurred.1 Keto was exhibiting signs of physical

distress, sweating profusely, and often grabbing her throat. She also appeared to

have a slight language barrier. But Keto could answer questions in English about

D.K.’s name, date of birth, and how long she had lived in the home. She elaborated

when asked about her husband, his work as an over-the-road truck driver, his

whereabouts at the time, and her relationship with him.

At multiple points after emergency responders had arrived, Keto said “drink”

or “drinking” with nothing further. She denied that she had been drinking alcohol.

Keto began coughing and spitting up into a bowl as Officer Kickbush and Bundy

talked with her. Bundy noticed her spit-up had a chemical smell. Eventually, Keto

was asked directly whether she drank bleach. Keto responded, “Yes.” Bundy

asked Keto “if she gave her child bleach that morning,” and Keto responded, “Yes.”

Approximately fifteen minutes had passed between the time Bundy and

Officer Kickbush began talking with Keto and when she disclosed the involvement

of bleach that morning. Only after Keto said she drank bleach did she inform

officers that she speaks French as a primary language.

Shortly thereafter, Keto was taken by ambulance for medical treatment.

Keto had “significant amounts of swelling in her mouth and in her airway.” Given

the information that Keto had consumed bleach, hospital staff was concerned the

swelling would continue to the point Keto would no longer be able to breathe. She

1 The 911 call that prompted the police dispatch did not indicate a need for a CIT

response. Officer Kickbush and Bundy responded because they were near the dispatch location when the dispatch call was issued. 4

was intubated and sedated accordingly. She remained intubated and sedated until

September 2. At the recommendation of hospital staff, officers waited for more

than twenty-four hours after the sedatives were discontinued and Keto’s breathing

tube was removed before interviewing Keto.

On September 3, Detective Bryan Levsen spoke with Keto using an

interpreter, Officer Tolidji Hogbonouto. Keto stated that she wanted to die when

she drank the bleach on August 31. She confirmed that “the bleach bottles and

the containers of cleaning product that were consumed were kept in

a . . . cupboard upstairs next to [D.K.’s] bedroom; and they had a lid on them, and

that lid was unable to be opened by [D.K.]” She did not remember the answers to

some of Detective Levsen’s questions. At the end of the interview, Detective

Levsen provided Keto his business card in case she wanted to talk further.

On September 4, Keto began talking to an officer who sat watch outside of

her hospital room. Keto spoke with the officer in English and did not request a

translator. Keto told the officer, “I put cleaning stuff on his face. . . . And the name

is [D.K.]” Keto acknowledged, “[D.K.] died.” When asked if she knew how D.K.

died, Keto responded, “I put cleaning stuff in his face.”

After Keto spoke to the officer on watch, Detective Levsen returned per

Keto’s request. Officer Hogbonouto translated. Keto admitted to drinking bleach

in a suicide attempt. She stated she held D.K. down in the spot where emergency

responders found him and poured a cleaner over his face because she did not

want to leave him behind after she left. She admitted that when the cleaner did

not cause D.K. to lose consciousness she held her hand over D.K.’s nose and

mouth. After D.K. stopped breathing, Keto drank more bleach. She remembered 5

calling her brother after D.K. stopped breathing but did not remember how long

after these events she called the police.

On September 5, Keto was transferred to the University of Iowa’s medical

psychiatry unit. There, she exhibited symptoms of tactile, visual, and auditory

hallucinations.

The State charged Keto with first-degree murder, a class “A” felony in

violation of Iowa Code section 707.2(1)(e) (2023), and child endangerment

resulting in death, a class “B” felony in violation of Iowa Code section 726.6(1)(a)

and (b). Keto asserted she was not guilty by reason of insanity.

Prior to trial, the State filed a motion in limine to exclude evidence of alleged

domestic abuse between Keto and her husband. A hearing on the motion was

held. The State argued the evidence was irrelevant and would risk confusing the

issues at trial. Keto countered by arguing the evidence was relevant to her insanity

defense and that it should be admissible to impeach Keto’s husband if he denied

being abusive or violent during trial testimony. In a written ruling on the motion,

the district court ruled:

Prior bad acts by the defendant’s spouse: Granted. This involves alleged domestic abuse.

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