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North Dakota Man Sentenced To Life For Shooting, Stabbing Four People 100 Times
Chad Isaak addressed the court for the first time since the murder trial began.
A North Dakota man who brutally murdered four people in 2019 has been sentenced to life in prison.
Chad Isaak, 47, was convicted of killing four people at a property management firm in Mandan on April 1, 2019.
Investigators said Isaak shot and stabbed his victims — RJR Maintenance & Management co-owner Robert Fakler, 52, and employees Adam Fuehrer, 42, Bill Cobb, 50, and his wife Lois Cobb, 45 — with number of combined stab wounds totaling 100.
At Tuesday’s sentencing, more than 20 people spoke or gave victim impact statements at the Morton County Courthouse in Mandan, according to KFYR News. The defendant, too, addressed the courts for the first time since the murder trial began in August.
“I can honestly tell you I am not a murderer,” said Isaak. “And that’s all I have to say.”
Isaak’s defense attorney requested that Judge David Reich grant him the possibility of parole, but the request was denied, according to KFYR.
“Mr. Isaak took the lives of four innocent people with a senseless act of extreme and brutal violence in this case,” said Judge Reich.
Although a definitive motive for the murders was never clearly established, Issak, a Navy veteran and chiropractor, lived in a trailer park managed by RJR some 40 miles away from Mandan.
“It was a preplanned, premeditated, and cold-blooded murder, judge,” prosecutor Gabrielle Goter said, according to KX News.
During the trial, Isaak’s defense postulated that law enforcement was under a “tremendous amount of pressure to solve this case,” noting that it took authorities only four days to determine Isaak fit the killer’s description. As previously reported by Oxygen.com, defense attorney Bruce Quick called the murders one of the most heinous crimes in North Dakota history.
Isaak’s defense maintained that investigators didn’t thoroughly look into other potential suspects, including disgruntled tenants and RJR employees, according to NBC News. Attorneys also held that police failed to investigate the former husband of a woman who allegedly had an affair with victim Robert Fakler.
The prosecution, conversely, relied on physical evidence to support their case, including surveillance video, bullet fragments, and other items found in the suspect’s home and vehicle. According to NBC News, authorities were able to track Isaak’s truck on the day of the shootings. Experts further testified that fibers from one or more of the victims were found in Isaak’s vehicle.
The daughter of Robert Fakler was just one of several surviving relatives who addressed Isaak on Tuesday.
“I don’t want another family to experience what we have,” she said, according to NBC News. “The brutality and extremity of the actions you carried out are enough for you to be locked away. You have taken entire lifetimes away, and I hope you have nightmares.”
Others who spoke at sentencing included Bill Cobb’s daughter (Lois Cobb’s stepdaughter) and Adam Fuehrer’s stepmother.
In addition to murder charges, Isaak was also found guilty of burglary, breaking into a vehicle, and unauthorized use of a vehicle, according to jail records.
