DES MOINES (AP) -- In a year filled with the heartbreak of war and the devastation left by hurricanes and tornadoes, the abduction and slaying of a 10-year-old girl was chosen by AP member newspapers and broadcasters as Iowa's top story in 2005.

Jetseta Gage disappeared from her home in Cedar Rapids the evening of March 24, while her mother attended night school. A family friend had been working on their car, fixing the transmission, while Jetseta's grandmother told the girl and her 7-year-old brother to get ready for bed.

Within minutes, the girl was gone. The boy spotted his sister in the friend's pickup as he drove away.

Public response to a statewide Amber Alert led authorities the next day to a dilapidated trailer outside of the small town of Kalona. Inside, authorities found Jetseta's body. She had been asphyxiated and sexually abused.

Roger Bentley, 37, of Brandon, a registered sex offender, was charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping in the girl's death. His trial is set for Jan. 23 in Davenport.

His criminal history, including a 1994 conviction for lascivious acts with a child, led state lawmakers to toughen penalties for sex offenders, even setting off debate over the death penalty.

Iowa editors and broadcasters chose the state's ongoing debate over sex offenders who prey on children as the No. 2 story of 2005.

Cities and counties rushed to enact local restrictions on where sex offenders can live after a federal court upheld a state law banning them from living within 2,000 feet of a school or day care center.

Here are the rest of Iowa's top 10 stories, as voted by AP members:

3. HURRICANE KATRINA: Iowans rushed to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina; farmers worried about a barging bottleneck on the Mississippi River with the fall harvest approaching; Iowa insurance companies sent teams of employees to handle claims.

4. EVELYN MILLER: The body of the 5-year-old girl was found in the Cedar River almost a week after she went missing from her home in Floyd; her mother's boyfriend was arrested later on child pornography charges.

5. FUEL PRICES: Gasoline topped $3 a gallon in Iowa in the wake of Hurricane Katrina; Iowans headed into the winter season worried about the soaring cost of home heating.

6. PRISONERS ESCAPE: The escape of two inmates from the Iowa State Penitentiary led to replacement of the warden and the discipline of several employees, prompting calls for closure of the 160-year-old prison.

7. IRAQ WAR: At least 13 Iowans were killed in Iraq during 2005; About 500 soldiers from the Iowa Guard's 224th Engineer Battalion were returning home after a year of duty, leaving about 1,300 Iowa Guard troops in Iraq.

8. PSEUDOEPHEDRINE CONTROLS: Iowa enacted tough new buyer restrictions on the purchase of pseudoephedrine, a common cold medicine also used in making the highly addictive drug methamphetamine. Law enforcement officials credit the tough new law for a decline in meth labs.

9. NOVEMBER TORNADOES: Rare November tornadoes tore through the central Iowa towns of Woodward and Stratford on a Saturday night, killing and elderly woman and destroying scores of homes.

10. DRUG SLAYINGS: Drug dealer Dustin Honken and his former girlfriend, Angela Johnson, are sentenced to death by federal juries for the execution-style slayings of five people in 1993, including two young girls. Honken became the first Iowan sentenced to death in more than 40 years. Johnson became the first woman sent to death row by the federal government in 50 years.