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A 16-year-old boy named Joseph Hopkins was fatally shot on January 31, 2020.

Joseph Hopkins was from Mapleton, Iowa. Hopkins was brutally murdered in a Mapleton detached garage. A single gunshot wound to the head caused his death.

On May 20, 2021, Jaylee Neubaum, a native of Mapleton, Iowa, was found guilty of killing Hopkins.

Who Was Joseph Hopkins From Mapleton, Iowa?

Joseph Hopkins was a 16-year-old boy from Mapleton, Iowa.

In a detached garage, Jaylee Neubaum, another teen, killed Hopkins in January 2020. When Neubaum murdered Joseph Hopkins in Mapleton, Iowa, he was only seventeen. 

Neubaum killed Hopkins with a single shot from a 12-gauge shotgun to the forehead.

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Hopkins, who Neubaum had shot on the final day of January 2020, was found by the Mapleton Police Department.

According to a news release, authorities were called to a home in Mapleton's 300 block of South Fifth Street on January 31 after receiving reports of a shooting. In a detached garage, 16-year-old Joseph Hopkins was discovered dead from a single gunshot wound to the head.

On Friday, Whiting police detained and charged 17-year-old Jay Lee Neubaum with first-degree murder.

In the garage, both of the boys were at work. Neubaum and Hopkins were bickering about who would fix the vehicle when things turned violent.

The court documents state that Neubaum fired the gun after becoming angry with Hopkins. The Mapleton Police Department discovered that Neubaum aimed a loaded gun at Hopkins after telling Hopkins that he was going to get one and then pulled the trigger to shoot poor Joseph.

Joseph Hopkins Murder Case Update

Joseph Hopkins' first-degree murder was found to have been committed by 17-year-old Jay Neubaum.

According to the lawsuit, Jay Lee Neubaum, his mother Crystal Lea Hopkins, his 16-year-old brother, and sister Destiny Roling were sued for negligence and loss of consortium with his father Aron Neubaum, grandmother Deborah Jean Neubaum, and Jay Lee Neubaum.

Jay Neubaum handled the shotgun carelessly, killing Joseph Hopkins in the process. Joseph Hopkins was killed directly because of Aron Neubaum's carelessness in allowing his kid access to a loaded, unlocked gun while in a position to control his son's behavior.

The Neubaum's counsel claimed that his client had discharged the shot unintentionally. Therefore, he asserts that Hopkins' death resulted from negligence.

During the trial, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation's Special Agent Lynn Olesen testified that Neubaum claimed the gun was pointed at the ground when the shot was discharged. According to Neubaum, Hopkins was killed when the bullet went off the ground, according to KTIV.

But Olesen affirmed that he discovered a number of inconsistencies in the statements provided by the witnesses.

Several other accusations were made against Jaylee Neubuam, the murderer who was found guilty. Nevertheless, the jury's finding declared him a killer and a sexual predator against his denial.

For his brutal crime of murdering Joseph Hopkins, a 16-year-old innocent boy, Neubuam received a sentence of fifty years in jail.

Where Is Jaylee Hopkins Now?

Jaylee Neubaum is currently detained at the Anamosa State Penitentiary after being sentenced to fifty years in prison.

A second-degree offender should often be sentenced to at least 35 years in jail. Neubaum was found guilty of lesser crimes by the jury despite being a minor.

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Jaylee Neubaum was convicted of ten counts of sexual assault in June 2021. Six girls were attacked, which is what led to this. In Monona County, he is still under investigation for the third-degree sexual abuse case.

13 to 16-year-old victims of Neubaum reported being raped many times between 2019 and 2020. They said that he had forced them at a number of Mapleton, Iowa, locations.

In the meantime, Neubaum and his lawyer have denied the accusations. They assert that the girls made up the incidents.

Neubaum was found guilty of sexually abusing two minors in June 2022. He could spend an additional 30 years behind bars as a result. Likely not until 2042 that he will be eligible for parole.

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