On Tuesday, a North Dakota judge sentenced Chad Issak to serve four consecutive life terms in prison, one for each of his victims, without the possibility of parole in what police say was one of the most horrific crimes the state has ever seen.
A jury found Isaak guilty of killing Bill Cobb, 50; his wife Lois Cobb, 45; Robert Fakler, 52; and Adam Fuehrer, 42, who were found shot and stabbed inside the RJR Maintenance and Management building on April 1, 2019.
South Central District Judge David Reich handed down Isaak's sentence to serve the rest of his life in prison, but before hearing the judge read the verdicts, Isaak addressed the court, saying, "I can honestly tell you that I'm not a murderer, and that's all I have to say."
One of Isaak's lawyers asked the judge to consider the possibility of parole when considering his sentence. However, prosecutor Gabrielle Goter said Isaak is a danger to the community who has shown zero remorse for his crimes.
Goter said Isaak's crimes were "preplanned and premeditated." The judge sided with Goter and denied the request for the possibility of parole.
Before Reich sentenced Isaak, family members of the victims were allowed to address the court.
Robert Fakler's wife, Jackie Fakler, called Isaak "a coward" who didn't give the victims a chance to flee or fight.
"You have made me hate," she said.
Jackie Fakler also read victim impact statements from the Cobb family, who couldn't attend the hearing because of bad weather.
Jamie Binstock, a daughter of Robert and Jackie Fakler, told the court that Isaak is a "heinous individual" who should spend the rest of his life in prison and experience a "lifetime of suffering" and nightmares.
"I do not want your life to end. Your family does not need to suffer the same way we did," Binstock said.
North Dakota doesn't have the death penalty.
The jury deliberated for more than four hours at the end of the nearly three-week trial before it convicted Isaak of murder, burglary, unlawful entry into a vehicle and a misdemeanor count of unauthorized use of a vehicle.
Isaak, a chiropractor and Navy veteran, lived at a Washburn, North Dakota, property managed by RJR Maintenance and Management, but authorities never established a motive for the killings.
It was one of the most heinous crimes in North Dakota history, defense attorney Bruce Quick acknowledged during his opening statement. But he maintained that investigators didn't seriously consider other possible suspects, including people who had either been evicted, sued or fired by RJR.
Prosecutors during the trial showed security camera footage from numerous businesses that authorities said tracked Isaak's white pickup truck from Mandan, North Dakota, to Washburn on the day of the killings, along with footage from a week earlier that they said indicated the killer had planned out the attack.
Forensic experts testified that fibers on the clothing of the slain workers matched fibers taken from Isaak's clothing and that DNA evidence found in Isaak's truck was linked to Fakler and possibly Lois Cobb.
Prosecutors presented the case as a puzzle in which all of the pieces pointed to Isaak, including a knife found in his washing machine and gun parts found in his freezer.
The defense argued that police failed to check out the ex-husband of a woman who allegedly had an affair with Fakler.
"I wanted you to know that these four individuals were wonderful people," Jackie Fakler said to Isaak. "I thoroughly loved my husband and I forgive him."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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