WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A man charged in the slaying of a Wichita couple during a robbery has pleaded guilty.

The Wichita Eagle reports that 21-year-old Steven Wade Edwards II pleaded guilty to several charges, including two counts of first-degree murder.

The bodies of 70-year-old Martha Moreno and her husband, 72-year-old Godofredo Moreno, were found by their son in their home on Oct. 16, 2014. Police say the couple died of gunshot wounds.

Edwards faces a life sentence for the murder charges, and is scheduled to be sentenced on June 21. A 17-year-old has also been charged in the killings.

NEWTON -The Newton City Commission voted Tuesday night to terminate the contract of City Manager Randy Riggs, effective immediately.

The vote was 3-2, with Vice Mayor Barth Hague and Commissioner Kathy Valentine opposed, according to a media release.

The termination agreement did not outline specific reasons for the separation other than a desire by the Commission to pursue a different direction in management of the City.

As per Riggs’ contract, the City will provide a severance benefit to include:
• 12 months’ salary in the amount of $147,243.20, plus health insurance benefits.
• Unused vacation leave in the amount of $17,233.83.
• Unused sick leave in the amount of $50,968.80.

City Attorney Bob Myers was appointed to serve as interim city manager. The Commission said they would discuss the process for selecting a new city manager at a later date.

Riggs served as Newton’s city manager since March 2008. He previously was city manager in Chanute and Sterling and assistant city manager in Lawton, Oklahoma.

The Police Department in Sterling, Colorado reported on social media the couple included in Tuesday’s Silver Alert Jerry and Patricia Marshall have been located in Macon, Missouri

They are currently safe with local law enforcement, according to a social media report.

Arrangements have been made to assure the safety and well being of Mr. and Mrs. Marshall until family can reunite with them.

Nothing criminal is suspected.

————

TOPEKA- Law enforcement authorities in Kansas have issued a Silver Alert issued at the request of Colorado.

Just after 5 a.m. on Saturday, Jerry and Patricia Marshall left Sterling, CO., for Seymour, MO., driving a gold 2012 Chevrolet Impala, with CO license plate 288ZRX.

Both are elderly and are showing signs of dementia.

They forgot to take a cell phone and other personal belongings with them on the trip.

At 8 p.m. on Sunday, the couple contacted a relative and indicated that they were in Clarinda, IA.

At 2 a.m. on Tuesday, the couple and their vehicle were spotted at a BP Gas Station in Topeka.

If you see them, please call 911 or a local law enforcement agency.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Latest on the fatal shooting of a police detective in Kansas City, Kansas (all times local):

6 p.m.

The Kansas City, Kansas, police detective killed in a confrontation on Monday will be honored with a public funeral.

The funeral for Detective Brad Lancaster will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at Children’s Mercy Park, home of the Sporting Kansas City soccer team, in Kansas City, Kansas.

A visitation is scheduled at 4 p.m. Friday at Trinity Community Church in Kansas City, Kansas.

Lancaster died Monday after being shot while trying to stop a suspect who was fleeing from officers near the Kansas Speedway.

The 39-year-old Lancaster is survived by a wife and two children.

A suspect, 28-year-old Curtis Ayers, was arrested after he was shot in a confrontation with Kansas City, Missouri, officers hours after Lancaster was shot.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A Kansas man who spent 15 years in prison for a rape and murder that his brother later confessed to committing is suing law enforcement officers for fabricating evidence that led to his conviction.

Floyd Bledsoe of Hutchinson was freed in December after his brother, Tom, killed himself in prison and left behind a series of notes confessing to the November 1999 slaying of 14-year-old Camille Arfmann.

The federal lawsuit filed Tuesday says Tom Bledsoe confessed several times to killing and raping the Oskaloosa girl soon after her disappearance, but investigators coached him to instead implicate his brother.

Floyd Bledsoe was convicted in April 2000, briefly released on bond in June 2008 and returned to prison in July 2009 after the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the 2008 ruling.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The government is expecting a bountiful winter wheat harvest this year.

The National Agricultural Statistics Service forecast on Tuesday U.S. winter wheat production to be up 4 percent from a year ago, with the nation’s farmers expected to bring in 1.43 billion bushels.

The agency says the expected yield of 47.8 bushels per acre would equal the record yield set in 1999, if realized.

Hard red winter wheat, the type commonly grown in Kansas, is also forecast to be up 4 percent nationwide at 863 million bushels.

Kansas, the nation’s largest producer, is forecast to harvest 352.6 million bushels this year. Average yields in the state are expected to be 43 bushels per acre from 8.2 million acres.

Kansas farmers last year harvested 321.9 million bushels.

SHAWNEE COUNTY -Law enforcement in Shawnee County are investigating the death of a man whose body was found in a Topeka warehouse as a homicide.

The victim was identified Tuesday as 64-year-old Curt Cochran, according to a media release.

He was a teacher at Northern Hills from 1975 to 1991 and was principal from 1991 to 2000. It is now called Seaman Middle School.

Workers found Cochran’s body Monday in the back room of a warehouse.

He was part owner of 3 Men with Truck & Trailer moving company.

Topeka Police Maj. Bill Cochran says the investigation is continuing. He did not release details about why the death is considered a homicide.

The Associated Press Contributed to this report.