Area Man Charged with Murder of 2 Homeless Men

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — Police have arrested a 44-year-old man who's accused of killing two other homeless people in Cedar Rapids in separate crimes earlier this month.

Cedar Rapids police said in a news release Wednesday that Travis Standlee was arrested Tuesday night in Des Moines on two murder warrants. He's accused of killing 56-year-old Raymond Ursino and 41-year-old Sharon Mead.

Police say Ursino's body was found on the ground near a church on Sept. 5. Preliminary autopsy findings show he was strangled. Mead's body was found near a bus stop early on Sept. 11. The cause of her death has not been released.

Cedar Rapids police spokesman Greg Buelow says Standlee is back in Cedar Rapids and is being held in the Linn County Jail.