Trial set for February in Copper Dollar Ranch case

Theresa L. "Terri" Supino's double first-degree murder trial in the 31-year-old Copper Dollar Ranch homicide case will begin Feb. 2, 2015, in Black Hawk County.

Fifth District Judge Terry Rickers filed an order today setting the time and location of the trial, which is expected to last three weeks and will in the Black Hawk County Courthouse Courtroom #301, 316 E. Fifth St. in Waterloo. During a pre-trial conference in late August, Rickers approved a request from Supino's attorneys for a change of venue, stating there would be “substantial prejudice” against the 54-year-old if her trial were held in the Newton or Des Moines areas.

The bodies of Supino’s estranged husband, 20-year-old Steven J. Fisher, and his girlfriend, 17-year-old Melisa L. Gregory, were found the morning of March 3, 1983, at the former Copper Dollar Ranch, located about four miles northwest of Newton. Both appeared to have been attacked with an unknown weapon, initially thought to be a large caliber firearm.

Autopsies performed on the victims the day their bodies were found indicated both died as a result of multiple “chop wounds” — 13 to Fisher’s head and 17 to Gregory’s face and head — inflicted by a heavy-edged instrument. Steven also had a fracture to his lower sternum and abrasions to his groin.

Both Fisher and Gregory also had bruising and cuts to their arms and hands, and neither had alcohol or illegal narcotics in their systems at the time of their deaths.

Supino was arrested March 3, on the 31st anniversary of Fisher and Gregory’s deaths, at her home in Altoona. She is being held in the Jasper County Jail on a $300,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court for another pretrial conference at 9:30 a.m. Dec. 1.