A Whiting teen was taken into custody Friday following an investigation into a shooting in Manona County near the end of January. Seventeen-year-old Jay Lee Neubaum is charged with first-degree murder, a class A felony. The Mapleton Police Department responded to a reported shooting on Jan. 31 and located a deceased male, identified as 16-year-old Joseph Hopkins of Mapleton, inside a detached garage at the scene. Authorities say three other juvenile males were present at the time of the shooting. The Iowa Office of the State Medical Examiner has ruled Hopkins’ death a homicide and the cause of death a single gunshot wound to the head. Neubaum’s bond has been set at $1 million, and he was transported to the juvenile detention center in Woodbury County. The Monona County Sheriff’s and County Attorney’s Offices, the Iowa Attorney General’s Office and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) assisted in the investigation. If charged as an adult, Neubaum would face a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole.
