Mom of 4
April 27th, 2008, 01:45 PM
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Farragut, Ia. -- Matthew Joseph Elliott seemed destined for the spotlight.
He was a star in speech contests and school plays at Farragut High School. He also pitched for the baseball team. He was charismatic, a talker, and when he discovered politics, he blossomed.
He was elected governor at the Iowa Boys State mock government convention in 1998 as a junior. He followed the accomplishment with a year as head of his high school student council. Later came a term as student body president at Drake University and a front-line job in legislative campaign battles for the Iowa Republican Party.
"We all thought, 'Here's a kid who may someday amount to something.' "
Elliott, 26, sits instead in the Polk County Jail, accused in the murder of a 7-month-old West Des Moines girl who was the child of a teenage roommate. Authorities say Elliott killed the baby while on the run for escaping from a halfway house and violation of the state's sex offender registry law.
His arrest has been followed by pointed silence and sealed court records. Few people in his hometown of 476 people will talk about Elliott, and a judge has allowed prosecutors to keep secret details of a search warrant that led to his arrest.
There is little information, official or otherwise, that helps explain how a well-connected political prodigy became a murder suspect.
"I have no clue what went wrong in this kid's head," said House Minority Leader Christopher Rants, who last spoke to Elliott sometime around January 2006. "To be honest ... I'd rather not talk about him."
Much more here: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080427/NEWS05/804270347
Farragut, Ia. -- Matthew Joseph Elliott seemed destined for the spotlight.
He was a star in speech contests and school plays at Farragut High School. He also pitched for the baseball team. He was charismatic, a talker, and when he discovered politics, he blossomed.
He was elected governor at the Iowa Boys State mock government convention in 1998 as a junior. He followed the accomplishment with a year as head of his high school student council. Later came a term as student body president at Drake University and a front-line job in legislative campaign battles for the Iowa Republican Party.
"We all thought, 'Here's a kid who may someday amount to something.' "
Elliott, 26, sits instead in the Polk County Jail, accused in the murder of a 7-month-old West Des Moines girl who was the child of a teenage roommate. Authorities say Elliott killed the baby while on the run for escaping from a halfway house and violation of the state's sex offender registry law.
His arrest has been followed by pointed silence and sealed court records. Few people in his hometown of 476 people will talk about Elliott, and a judge has allowed prosecutors to keep secret details of a search warrant that led to his arrest.
There is little information, official or otherwise, that helps explain how a well-connected political prodigy became a murder suspect.
"I have no clue what went wrong in this kid's head," said House Minority Leader Christopher Rants, who last spoke to Elliott sometime around January 2006. "To be honest ... I'd rather not talk about him."
Much more here: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080427/NEWS05/804270347