SHAWNEE, Kan. (AP) — The FBI has opened a hate crime investigation into the stabbing death of a Kansas woman whose relatives allege the suspect is a white supremacist.

Ronald Lee Kidwell, 47, is charged with second-degree murder in the slaying of 43-year-old MeShon Cooper, who was missing for a week until her body was found July 14 at Kidwell’s home in Shawnee.

Kidwell’s estranged daughter and a cousin told The Kansas City Star that Cooper’s death was likely a hate crime because Kidwell was an avowed white supremacist. Cooper was black.

FBI spokeswoman Bridget Patton confirmed Tuesday that the agency was investigating whether Cooper’s death was a hate crime.

According to a police affidavit, Kidwell told police Cooper attacked him at his home and threatened to tell everyone that he is HIV positive. He said he “flipped out” when Cooper hit him in the hand with a knife, which he grabbed before stabbing and killing her.

A joint investigation by Shawnee, Lenexa and Kansas City police led officers to Kidwell’s home after phone records showed that Cooper visited Kidwell’s house July 6, the last day she was seen alive, the affidavit said. A search warrant was requested after police found “an overwhelming smell of bleach” at the home. Kidwell at first denied knowing where Cooper was but eventually told police that Cooper’s body was wrapped in trash bags and inside of a trashcan in his garage, according to the affidavit.

Kidwell’s estranged daughter Carolyn Foster told The Star that Kidwell was a “monster” white supremacist who enjoyed targeting and assaulting black people. She said he often showed off his swastika tattoo and bragged about belonging to the Ku Klux Klan. Forster said he pretended to befriend minorities and then harmed them.

“He’s been a monster his whole life,” she said. “He’s the true definition of evil.”

His cousin, Shana Turner, said most of Kidwell’s family had disowned him because of his racist views.

“Whenever I was around him, he’d talk about white power,” she said. When she heard about the murder allegation, “it didn’t surprise me that she (the victim) was black.”

Kidwell has spent 15 years in prison on various assault charges. In 2011, Kidwell was convicted of second-degree assault in Clay County after attacking and sexually assaulting a black woman. He did so without a condom, he told detectives at the time, despite knowing he was HIV positive.

Kidwell is jailed on $1 million bail.

SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect in connection with a stabbing.

Just after 12a.m. Tuesday, officers were dispatched to the 1500 block of SW Polk Street in Topeka after report of a disturbance, according to Lt. Ron Ekis.

Upon arrival they found an adult male victim who was suffering from several knife wounds. The victim was transported by ambulance to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Police arrested 21-year-old Tranae Christian Goodwin-Jones of Topeka. She was booked into the Shawnee County Department of Corrections for aggravated battery.

SEDGWICK COUNTY —Wichita Police Department (WPD) Officials are requesting the help of the community to locate an absconded dangerous felon, 30-year-old Tremain Shears, according to officer Charley Davidson. 

Shears has a warrant through Sedgwick County for removing his court-ordered ankle monitoring device.  Shears is a documented gang member, and is considered armed and dangerous. He has a previous conviction for aggravated, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections.

If you know the whereabouts of Shears please call 911 or Crime Stoppers immediately

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Community members in a Wichita neighborhood attended a candlelight vigil this week on the birthday of a 2-year-old child who was beaten to death this spring.

Anthony Bunn would have turned 3 on Monday, the day about 150 people gathered in Riverside to remember the child.

His mother Elizabeth Woolheater and her boyfriend Lucas Diel have been charged with murder in Anthony’s May 4 death.

Zak Woolheater is the child’s maternal grandfather. He says it’s important to gather on Anthony’s birthday to remind the community of what he calls the country’s child abuse epidemic.

The Wichita area has seen several child abuse homicides and a disappearance within the past year. The Kansas Department of Children and Families says it’s working to improve child welfare programs.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The government announced a $12 billion plan Tuesday to assist farmers who have been hurt by President Donald Trump’s trade disputes with China and other trading partners.

The plan focuses on Midwest soybean producers and others targeted by retaliatory measures.

The Agriculture Department said the proposal would include direct assistance for farmers, purchases of excess crops and trade promotion activities aimed at building new export markets. Officials said the plan would not require congressional approval and would come through the Commodity Credit Corporation, a wing of the department that addresses agricultural prices.

“This is a short-term solution that will give President Trump and his administration the time to work on long-term trade deals,” said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. Officials said the direct payments could help producers of soybeans, which have been hit hard by the Trump tariffs, along with sorghum, corn, wheat, cotton, dairy and farmers raising hogs.

In Kansas City, meanwhile, Trump told a veterans convention that he was trying to renegotiate trade agreements that he said have hurt American workers, and he asked for patience ahead of key talks.

“We’re making tremendous progress. They’re all coming. They don’t want to have those tariffs put on them,” Trump told the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention.

(backslash)rump declared earlier Tuesday that “Tariffs are the greatest!” and threatened to impose additional penalties on U.S. trading partners as he prepared for negotiations with European officials at the White House.

Tariffs are taxes on imports. They are meant to protect domestic businesses and put foreign competitors at a disadvantage. But the taxes also exact a toll on U.S. businesses and consumers, which pay more for imported products.

The Trump administration has slapped tariffs on $34 billion in Chinese goods in a dispute over Beijing’s high-tech industrial policies. China has retaliated with duties on soybeans and pork, affecting Midwest farmers in a region of the country that supported the president in his 2016 campaign.

Trump has threatened to place penalty taxes on up to $500 billion in products imported from China, a move that would dramatically ratchet up the stakes in the trade dispute involving the globe’s biggest economies.

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NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is flooding into the agricultural sector on reports that the Trump administration is preparing a plan that would send billions in aid to U.S. farmers hurt by tariffs.

CF Industries Holding and Mosaic Company both traded up more than 3 percent, while Deere & Co. shot up more than 4 percent after news of the aid package was leaked to The Associated Press by two people briefed on the plan. Shares in Archer-Daniels-Midland and FMC Corp. also rose.

The Agriculture Department is expected to announce details later Tuesday. The plan would attempt to give relief to farmers who have faced retaliation from U.S. trade partners with duties on products like soybeans and pork.

President Donald Trump is in Kansas City Tuesday, the heart of the nation’s farm country.

LINN COUNTY — One person died in an accident just before 7:30a.m. Tuesday in Linn County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 1993 Olds Regency driven by George Everett Larson, 22, Bronson, was north bound on K3 twelve miles north of Bronson.

The vehicle traveled off the east side of road. The driver lost control of the vehicle. It re-entered the roadway, crossed over north and south bound lanes, entered the ditch and rolled.

Larson was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Frontier Forensics. He was not wearing a seat belt, according to the KHP.