By JAMES BELL
Hays Post
Two suspects in a July 2015 hit-and-run incident that resulted in the death of Ellis County resident John J. Befort, 67, appeared in district court Friday for the first day of a preliminary hearing.
Holliann Marie Stramel, 24, and Trevor Jay Calvin, 27, both of Hays, appeared together as testimony was presented to District Court Chief Judge Edward E. Bouker to determine if there is enough evidence for a jury trial.
While Stramel has repeatedly stated she was driving the 2013 White Dodge Ram that struck Befort, testimony was given that alleged Stramel was covering for Calvin, her boyfriend at the time.
Calvin owns the pickup that allegedly struck Befort.
The first witness in the case was Peter Befort, 50, Hays, who found his brother John after he failed to return from his nightly walk near the family home in the 900 block of 210th Avenue.
He testified John Befort left the house around 6:15 p.m. July 18. Peter received a call saying John Befort had failed to return home, and he immediately drove to an area he had passed earlier, where he testified he had noticed a baseball cap laying in the roadway. When he had passed the scene earlier, he was unaware of any concerns about his brother’s location.
“If I had of known, I would’ve stopped,” he said.
He found his brother’s body about 600 feet away from the driveway of the home.
Detective Brad Ricke of the Ellis County Sheriff’s Office, also testified as to the location of the body, clothing at the scene and the discovery of pieces of a vehicle that had apparently struck John Befort.
He testified that John Befort had appeared to turn off the road with his last step before being struck and injuries sustained were to the right side of the body.
Ricke said the vehicle pieces in the area led to a search for a late model white Dodge pickup, a search that ultimately led to a confession by Stramel.
Officers immediately began searching for a truck that would match the description, starting with people closest to the scene. Through DMV records, officers found Calvin had a truck that would fit the description and lived near Befort. But when was approached, Ricke said, he indicated the truck was in Rawlins County.
A search there failed to find the truck.
Then officers approached Stramel in order to relocate Calvin.
When Ricke approached Stramel at work,at Lewis Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram of Hays, 4440 Vine, on July 22, she told him something he was not expecting.
He said Stramel asked him to go outside with her and confessed to driving the truck that hit John Befort.
Her message to Ricke was concise, he said. “She was the one who hit John Befort with Trevor Calvin’s pickup,” he testified.
Ricke said she also told him she was in possession of the truck the day of the accident because Calvin would have been unable to drive it. The pickup has an interlock device installed, and she told investigators he would have failed the test the morning of the accident, so the truck was left in her care.
Ricke, like several others, asked Stramel during the investigation if she was covering for Calvin, an accusation she denied.
James Sloan, sales director at Lewis, also testified Stramel had spoken to him about the incident.
“I’m going to jail,” Sloan testified she told him. “I killed somebody.”
In monitored calls during her detention, Stramel also allegedly told two people she was guilty of the crime.
In a “very emotional” phone call, Ricke testified she told her mother, Karen Stramel, “she hit him, and she’s going to have to live with it.” Stramel delivered a similar message to someone else during a different call.
Other testimony heard Friday, however, was contradictory.
A friend of Stramel, Cassandra Johnson, testified she arrived at Stramel’s home at around 6:33 p.m. on the day of the accident and Stramel was blow drying her hair, following a text conversation about getting ready for the evening.
From Stramel’s house to the scene of the accident is an approximately 15-minute drive.
Johnson approached law enforcement during the investigation showing a text conversation had taken place during the time the accident is believed to have occurred.
She also testified that while at a local bar Stramel received a text from Calvin that said they had “something they needed to talk about.”
When Calvin arrived, Johnson said Stramel went outside with him to talk alone and later rejoined Johnson and Calvin’s friend, Chris Klaus.
Klaus, however, testified Calvin had been with him since around noon that day and said Calvin had not driven anywhere, but during questioning, he also admitted that an accident four years ago affects his short-term memory.
Testimony went on to describe how Stramel and Calvin allegedly worked together to hide the evidence.
Ricke testified the truck had been delivered to Colorado to be fixed through a friend of Stramel’s, an arrangement she had made, but both Stramel and Calvin were seen on security footage at the scene of the delivery for repairs.
Stramel was originally charged on three counts: failure to stop and render aid at a fatality accident; concealing/altering evidence of a crime/interference with law enforcement, both felonies in Kansas; and vehicular homicide, a class A misdemeanor.
Under Kansas sentencing guidelines, the three counts together carry a punishment of 38 to 129 months in a state penitentiary, fines up to $402,500 and up to a year in county jail.
Testimony will resume at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 2, in the Ellis County Courthouse, 1204 Fort.