Waterloo man pleads not guilty to Floyd County murder
CHARLES CITY — A Waterloo man charged with murder more than a year after a body was found in rural Floyd County has pleaded not guilty.
Armando Adame III was charged last month with first-degree murder in the death of 28-year-old Michael Johns. On October 26th of 2017, Johns was reported missing to the Grundy Center Police Department.
On December 1st, the Floyd County Sheriff’s Department was notified of a body at 290th Street and Shadow Avenue about 10 miles south of Charles City. The State Medical Examiner’s Office later determined that the cause of Johns’ death was a shotgun wound to the head and ruled the death was a homicide.
Adame was arrested in Black Hawk County six days later on December 7th on a federal arrest warrant. In May of last year, he pleaded guilty to three federal firearm charges and was sentenced in October to 25 years in federal prison. Adame was taken into custody on the murder charge on January 29th at the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility, where he was serving a sentence on prior unrelated convictions.
Adame was due in court for his arraignment hearing on Monday, but online court records show that he filed a written plea of not guilty in Floyd County District Court. No trial date has been scheduled.
If convicted of first-degree murder, Adame would receive a life prison term without the opportunity for parole.