Dexter MeeksCourtesy photo Cedar Rapids Gazette
Dexter Lashun Meeks

Dexter Lashun “Big Ham” Meeks

Homicide

Dexter Lashun “Big Ham” Meeks
22 YOA
211 15th St. SE
Cedar Rapids, IA
Linn County
Crime Date: June 26, 2011
Arrest Made: Feb. 25, 2021

 

UPDATE

Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021: Mykel Allan Roberts, 29, of Modesto, Calif., made his initial appearance in Linn County District Court in Iowa, where he was charged with first-degree murder, attempt to commit murder and going armed with intent.

Mykel Allan Roberts

His cash-only bond was set at $3 million.

Cedar Rapids police investigators say Roberts has confessed to the June 2011 shooting that killed Dexter Meeks. According to court documents obtained by The Gazette, Roberts told Cedar Rapids police investigators in April 2020 he had intended to kill Meeks’ brother that morning instead of Dexter.

In 2017, Andrew Meeks was killed July 2, when he and another man were shot inside a car at the west-side Walmart. A 28-year-old Cedar Rapids man was convicted in that slaying, though the conviction was overturned last summer by the Iowa Court of Appeals.

Full story at The Gazette
 


Case Summary by Jody Ewing

 
Dexter Lashun Meeks, 22, known to his friends as “Big Ham,” was shot in the early morning hours on Sunday, June 26, 2011, near the front door of his apartment building at 211 15th St. SE in Cedar Rapids.

Shortly before 3 a.m., police responded within seconds to a call of multiple shots fired.

“Get me an ambulance, and get me additional units,” an officer said over the radio after finding Meeks.

Dexter Meeks homeCourtesy photo Jim Malewitz/The Gazette
Dozens of people gathered at 211 15th Street SE June 29, 2011 to remember the life of Dexter “Big Ham” Meeks, who was shot and killed early Sunday, June 26, 2011. In the days following Meeks’ murder, at least 75 people stopped by the site. Police are still investigating the death.

Meeks was transported to St. Luke’s Hospital where he was pronounced DOA.

Meeks’ shooting took place just across the street from Cedar Rapids’ last homicide, that of 54-year-old cab driver Cathy Stickley on April 29, 2011. Stickley was stabbed to death after dropping off a fare. Johnathan Dewayne Mitchell, 33, was charged with first-degree murder in her death, but on Oct. 23, 2013, a Story County jury acquitted him of both first-degree murder and first-degree robbery charges.

Meeks’ slaying also fell on the two-year anniversary of Dominique Mosby’s murder; Mosby, also 22 years old, was shot several times at the Cedarwood Hills apartment complex in northeast Cedar Rapids while playing dice outside on a patio with a group of men. Mosby’s 2009 homicide, as well as Stickley’s, remains unsolved.

“Big Ham” Remembered

As word traveled about his murder, family and friends gathered outside Meeks’ home to remember the big-hearted young man many called “Big Ham.”

“I was out here when I heard the gunshots. Then his brother banged on the door,” Shonte Jefferson, Meek’s girlfriend of the past four years, told KCRG-TV9. “I was hysterical. I couldn’t think straight. I didn’t know what to do.”

She recounted the last thing she’d said to Meeks. “I love you and have a good time.”

“When I heard it, I just started crying,” Meeks’ friend Sherita Matthews told Channel 9. “He used to come over play cards. He always kept laughing. He always kept me up on the new music.”

Dexter Meeks
Courtesy photo Cedar Rapids Gazette
Friends described Dexter Meeks, right, as someone with a big heart who always made people laugh.

“He would make me laugh. He has a big heart. He was my big teddy bear,“ said Jefferson.

Tips trickled in within the first few days following the shooting, but police said information about Meeks’ whereabouts earlier Saturday evening were still unclear. Witnesses were reluctant to get involved.

“There have been some uncooperative witnesses, and I know that has been frustrating for the investigators,” Officer Melissa Henderson, a police spokeswoman, told the media. “That’s not uncommon with a case like this.”

Henderson said investigators were working very diligently as the followed up on leads.

“They ought to just step up to the plate.”

In December 2011 when Cedar Rapids police arrested and charged Donovan Ross, 19, for the November murder of Andre Herron, 30, Meeks’ mother, Rochelle Johnson, expressed frustration that the investigation into her son’s death was approaching the six-month anniversary and no arrests had yet been made. She also said investigators hadn’t been keeping her up to date with any progress being made on her son’s case.

Linn County in Iowa
Linn County in Iowa
 
Cedar Rapids in Linn CountyCedar Rapids in Linn County

“I cry most every day because my son’s life was taken and the person who did this to him has not been caught, and I feel if he did this to my son he would do this to someone else,” Johnson told the Cedar Rapids Gazette in a story published December 16, 2011.

The family had moved from the 15th Street SE house where Meeks was shot and into a new home, where they had a wall of photographs and mementos to celebrate Meeks’ short life.

Cedar Rapids Police Dept. spokesperson Sgt. Cristy Hamblin said other victims’ family members share the same frustration, but reasons existed as to why police couldn’t share everything they knew.

“If we tell too many things, we’re not going to be able to hold them (criminals) accountable because they clam up and distort the facts,” Hamblin told the Gazette. Families, Hamblin said, can let sensitive information slip out even if they don’t mean to.

Johnson said she’d received an anonymous call after her son’s death from someone who said they’d seen what happened. The caller promised they’d go to police, but Johnson said they never did.

Meeks’ stepfather, D.J. Masters, said family members were encouraging people to talk to police. “They ought to just step up to the plate, because if they don’t, somebody is going to do it to a member of their family,” he told the Gazette reporter.

One Year Later

It’s always the hardest: the one-year anniversary of a crime — particularly a murder — that remains unsolved.

Despite frustration and daily tears, Meeks’ family chose to spend the day holding a celebration of life cookout.

“I think about him every day. I cry every day,” Meeks’ mother told KCRG TV-9 in a June 26, 2011 news report.

“He took care of me when I was a little baby and he’ll always be my good brother. I just love him,” said Meeks’ 7-year-old brother Michael Williams, Jr.

Meeks’ grandmother, Irene Lucky, had some advice for the killer. She told Channel 9 news:

“You can’t hide. You might as well give yourself up. If you were man enough to pull that trigger, be man enough to face what you’ve got to face.”

He’s not here, but he’s not forgotten, Johnson added.

Dexter Meeks was born Oct. 1, 1988 in Illinois.

Brother Shot Six Years Later

Six days after the 6-year anniversary of Meeks’ murder, his brother, Andrew Meeks, was also shot and killed in Cedar Rapids.

Police said Andrew Meeks and another man were shot outside the Walmart on Edgewood Drive in southwest Cedar Rapids on Sunday night, July 2, 2017. Police found the two men inside a car that crashed near a loading dock after the shooting. Meeks died at the hospital hours later.

According to a KCRG-TV9 story that aired Wednesday, July 5, 2017, Andrew Meeks was called a good man and a loving father of four — the oldest not even a teen. The youngest, a premature baby, passed away a few months ago.

Information Needed

If you have any additional information about Dexter Meeks’ murder please contact Cedar Rapids Police Department Investigator Matt Denlinger at (319) 286-5442 or email M.Denlinger@cedar-rapids.org.

News Report from KCRG TV-9 Cedar Rapids – Airdate June 26, 2012

 

News Report from KCRG TV-9 Cedar Rapids – Airdate June 27, 2011

Sources:

 

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3 Responses to Dexter Meeks

  1. Kim says:

    Charges were dropped against Roberts because he gave a false confession in this case:
    https://www.thegazette.com/crime-courts/murder-charges-dropped-in-dexter-meeks-slaying/

  2. I pray the family gets justice!

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