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Kan. parolee in mutilation case arrested in drunken driving crash

Cook- photo Kan. Dept. of Corrections
Cook- photo Kan. Dept. of Corrections

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Wichita man on parole for killing a Topeka man and removing his tattoos and teeth to prevent identification has been arrested.

The Topeka Capital-Journal  reports that 60-year-old Kenneth Cook is jailed in Sedgwick County after a drunken driving crash on Sunday. Cook wasn’t hurt, but the other driver was. Kansas Department of Corrections spokesman Adam Pfannenstiel says Cook’s case is under review.

Cook was convicted of the 1992 killing of 33-year-old Charles Duty, whose body was found in the Wakarus River.

Cook’s initial sentence left him ineligible for parole for 40 years. But the Kansas Supreme Court found that post-death mutilation doesn’t warrant a “Hard 40” sentence. Later the first-degree murder sentence also was overturned, and Cook was retried for second-degree murder. He was paroled last year.

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