JEFFERSON COUNTY — One person died in an accident just after 4:30p.m. Sunday in Jefferson County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2016 Jeep Wrangler driven by Rynette Lynn Reiling-Minor, 50, Oskaloosa, was eastbound on U.S. 24. The Jeep rear-ended a 2016 Dodge Dart driven by Mason Douglas Robb, 19, Perry that had stopped to turn left onto Oak Road.

After the collision, the Jeep came across the center line and struck a westbound 2018 Nissan Rogue driven by Walter Antone Zimmerling, 74, Frankfort head-on.

A passenger in the Nissan Theresa Louise Elsinger, 68, Marysville, was pronounced dead at the scene. EMS transported another passenger in the Nissan Charlotte Ann Zimmerling, 69, Frankfort, to KU Medical Center.

Reiling-Minor, Robb, and Walter Zimmerling were transported to the hospital in Topeka.

The KHP did not have information on Elsinger’s  seat belt usage. All others were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.

COWLEY COUNTY -Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on child sex allegations.

On May 30, a 20-year-old Arkansas City man told police he had observed a 13-year old girl and a 19-year-old man having sexual intercourse at a residence in Arkansas City, according to a media release from Arkansas City.

Police interviewed Dakota Alan Gaskill and identified him as a suspect in this case on June 28.

Gaskill had been arrested June 24 on suspicion of felony burglary of a non-dwelling, as well as one misdemeanor count each of criminal damage to property and theft, in connection with a June 22 burglary at the Paris Park Pool, located at 600 W. Fifth Ave. He was one of three people involved.

Following an investigation, Arkansas City Police Department has requested charges of rape of a child younger than 14 years old.

Gaskill is accused of one count of rape, two counts of rape of a child younger than 18-years-old and two counts of aggravated criminal sodomy, all of which are felonies.

Gaskill was booked into the Cowley County Jail through Cowley County District Court in Ark City for the burglary. He remained in custody on all charges for both active cases.

A Silver Alert for Sharoll Joy Schoen, 65, McPherson, has been canceled. She has been found and is save, according to a media release from McPherson police.

Authorities released no additional details Sunday evening.

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MCPHERSON COUNTY – The McPherson Police Department requested that the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) issue a statewide Silver Alert for a missing McPherson woman.

The whereabouts of Sharoll Joy Schoen, 65, are unknown, and the public’s assistance is requested to help locate her. Sharoll was last seen on July 11, 2019 at approximately 5:30 p.m. leaving the VFW, 120 S. Taft St, in McPherson, Ks.

Sharoll is 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighs 150 pounds. Sharoll has grey hair, brown eyes and glasses. She was last seen wearing light blue jeans, bright green shirt, and glasses. Sharoll is prescribed medication, which she is required to take, and she does not have with her. Please see attached photograph.

If located, please contact the McPherson Police Department at (620)245‐1266 or call 911.

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The Wichita Police Department expects to put Clydesdale horses on patrol for the first time later this summer thanks to two nonprofit civic foundations.

The pair of Clydesdales will replace two horses that soon will be retired. The yet-to-be named Clydesdales from a Goddard farm are in training. The Wichita Eagle reports that they’re scheduled to make their public debut Aug. 7 in the farmers market in the historic Old Town district downtown.

One horse can provide as much crowd control as 15 officers on foot.

Clydesdales are larger and more stable for mounted officers than the quarter horses the department currently uses. They also are calmer and more social.

But the police department didn’t have the $40,000 for two new horses and their saddles and kit, requiring private fundraising.

MCPHERSON COUNTY —Multiple county agencies responded to a mass carbon monoxide event resulting from a vehicle problem Sunday in McPherson, according to a  McPherson Fire Department Chief TJ Wyssmann.

Multiple patients being transported by several agencies to area hospitals.

At approximately 3:30p.m., McPherson Fire received a call for service to 2203 E Kansas in McPherson for a Carbon Monoxide Incident with ten victims.

First arriving crews found a Church group traveling back to Oklahoma City inside the Burger King. Ten male patients were showing signs of carbon monoxide poisoning. Additional EMS crews were requested from throughout the County and surrounding Counties. All ten patients were treated and transported to Via Christi in Wichita.

It is believed that the vehicle, which the group was utilizing for transportation, had developed a mechanical issue in which carbon monoxide enter the vehicle cabin area.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. — A Kansas woman who entered a plea for a single charge of conspiracy to commit robbery was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison.

Amanda Gresham, 33, Hurchinson, had been charged with aggravated kidnapping, aggravated robbery and aggravated burglary.

Gresham, 30-year-old John Sullivan and 38-year-old Titus Thompson were allegedly behind the abduction of 50-year-old Leon Levasseur, who was taken by knifepoint from his residence, then placed in his car and driven to an area near Burrton, where he was finally able to escape and call 911.

Police say the recovery of multiple items taken from Levasseur’s residence led them to the arrests.

Detectives determined Thompson and Sullivan were dropped off in the area of Avenue B and Elm in Hutchinson on the morning of Oct. 22, 2018, by Gresham with the intent to commit the robbery.

Gresham was also found to have violated her community corrections for cases from 2017 where she was convicted of aggravated battery, aggravated burglary and possession of drugs. Those sentences totaled seven years and were ordered to be served.

The new sentence will run concurrent to that case with her serving the 10 years in prison.

The cases against Sullivan and Thompson are still pending.

LABETTE COUNTY — One person died in an accident just before 5:30p.m. Saturday in Labette County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2012 Dodge Ram pickup driven by Charlotte A. Wheeler, 68, Coffeyville, was westbound on U.S. 166 six miles east of Coffeyville at a high rate of speed.

The pickup dropped off the left shoulder and the driver overcorrected. The vehicle entered the south ditch, rolled and ejected the driver. The pickup came to rest on its roof against a fence.

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

LYONS, Kan. (AP) — Two Kansas law enforcement officers were shot in a traffic stop, leaving one fighting for his life.

David Madden shot Rice County Undersheriff Chad Murphy when he stopped Madden for a firearm charge warrant in April near the small town of Sterling, about 70 miles (110 kilometers) northwest of Wichita.

Madden fired four shots at Murphy during the traffic stop.

“All I said was, ‘Come on, David. You have a warrant. Let’s get this taken care of,’ and that is when he rolled out of the vehicle and took the first shot.”

Madden also shot Sheriff Bryant Evans in the leg when he responded to the scene and dragged him away.

Madden, a 37-year-old former Marine, killed his father before killing himself during a standoff with police after the April shooting. He was also suspected in the 2015 disappearance of his girlfriend.

Now, Murphy said forgiving Madden has helped him move on from the shooting.

“I have made peace with myself,” Murphy said. “The way I did that was, I had to forgive David.

“In order for me to have inner peace that is what I had to do, and I did that early on because I knew if I did not, then I would turn into something that I did not like.”

He’s been attending weekly therapy and rearranged his priorities.

“Before it was work,” Murphy said. “Work was priority and then family and then God.” But now, “God is number one, family is number two, and then here comes the job.”

Murphy said he’s hopeful that he’ll return to work within a year when he regains full control of his right arm.

SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating a veteran Kansas police officer for driving under the influence.

On Friday evening, the Mulvane Police Department  booked an off-duty Wichita Police Department officer into the Sedgwick County Jail on a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence.

The officer identifies as 39-year-old Andrew E. Tapia, according to the Sedgwick County booking report is an 18-year veteran of the Wichita Police Department. He has been placed on a paid administrative assignment, according to police department spokesperson Charley Davidson.

The case is being investigated by the Mulvane Police Department and an internal review will be take place by Wichita Police, according to Davidson.