PRATT – Five hundred spring turkey permits are allocated for Kansas residents in Turkey Management Unit 4, which covers the southwestern quarter of Kansas. While spring turkey permits in all other units are available over the counter and online, Unit 4 permits are issued through a lottery drawing and the deadline to apply is Friday, Feb. 8, 2019. To apply for a Unit 4 spring turkey permit, visit ksoutdoors.com and click “Hunting,” “Fees, Licenses & Permits,” then “Turkey.” Resident youth spring turkey permits, which may be purchased over the counter or online, are valid statewide, so residents age 15 and younger do not need to enter the Unit 4 draw.
The permit fee is $32.50, which includes the application fee. Unsuccessful applicants will receive a refund check for the permit price ($26) and be issued a preference point. Hunters may elect not to apply for a permit and only purchase a preference point for $6.50. Only one point may be obtained per year.
The Unit 4 spring turkey permit is also valid in adjacent Units 1, 2 and 5. Applicants have the option of applying for a Unit 4 combo permit at a reduced price, but the second turkey game tag will only be valid in Units 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6.
Unit 4 Spring Turkey Application Fees
General Application: $32.50
Landowner/Tenant Application: $20.00
General Combo Permit/Game Tag Application: $42.50
Landowner/Tenant Combo Permit/Game Tag Application: $25.00
Nonresident Tenant Application: $37.50
Nonresident Tenant Combo Permit/Game Tag Application: $50.00
Preference Point only: $6.50
Any individual who has purchased a spring turkey permit is eligible for a second turkey game tag that is valid in Units 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 ONLY.
All other spring turkey permits and game tags are sold over-the-counter and online at ksoutdoors.com.
The 2019 Kansas spring turkey season will open April 1-16 for youth and hunters with disabilities, April 8-16 for archery hunters, and April 17-May 31 for the regular season.
For more information on spring turkey hunting, visit ksoutdoors.com or call 620- 672-5911.
ELLSWORTH COUNTY — One person died in an accident just after 5p.m. Friday in Ellsworth County.
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2004 Freightliner semi driven by Nevarez Medoza, Ernesto Rafeal Nevarez Medoza, 41, Mexico, was westbound on Kansas 156 just east of the Kansas 140 Junction.
The semi came around the curve and almost jack knifed into the eastbound lane and struck a 2016 Kenworth semi driven by Derek Jeff Hopkins, 23, Jefferson, GA., head on.
Nevarez Medoza was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Parsons Funeral Home. Hopkins was transported to the hospital in Ellsworth. Both drivers were properly restrained at the time of the accident, according to the KHP.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Shawnee County District Attorney Mike Kagay says a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper was justified in fatally shooting a man whose vehicle was dragging the trooper and a Topeka police officer through the snow.
Logan from an earlier arrest in Shawnee County. He had previous conviction for robbery, drugs and forgery, according to the Kansas Dept. of Corrections
Kagay says the trooper won’t be charged in the death of 35-year-old Jarmane Logan in November.
The trooper and police officer were trying to take Chelsee Retana into custody when she and another woman got into Logan’s vehicle in Topeka. Investigators say Logan was driving away with the women while dragging the officer and trooper.
JEFFESON COUNTY — One person died in an accident just after 2:30p.m. Friday in Jefferson County.
Fatal Friday crash scene photo courtesy WIBW TV
The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a 2016 Ford F150 driven by Nicholas Roger Caudle, 20, Atchison, was southbound on U.S. 59 just south of 62nd.
Vehicle two was northbound on U59.
The driver lost control of the vehicle. It entered the northbound lane. A northbound 2007 Kia Optima driven by Lee R. Crum, 81, Oskaloosa, struck the Ford on the passenger side.
Crum was not wearing a seat belt and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the KHP.
Caudle, a passenger in the Ford Dongchen Chen, 20, Lawrence, and a passenger in the Kia Crum, Janet E Crum, 74, Oskaloosa, were transported to the hospital in Topeka.
MCPHERSON COUNTY — Authorities are working to determine the cause of an explosion and fire at a McPherson County chemical plant.
Crews on the scene of Thursday’s fire at Chemstar in McPherson – photo courtesy KWCH
Just before 4p.m. Thursday, fire crews responded to Chemstar, 503 West Hayes Street in McPherson, according to Fire Chief Keith Wyssmann.
Fire crews found heavy smoke and fire showing from the facilities. The explosion badly damaged the structure and process machinery. Crews had the fire under control just after 5p.m.
There were no injuries.
Damage is estimated at over $2 million dollars, according to Wyssmann. The plant was still without electrical power late Friday.
The Kansas State Fire Marshal is assisting with the investigation.
Chemstar is a family-owned, Minneapolis, Minnesota-based company that makes starch-based polymer products for industrial applications, according to their corporate web site.
Surveillance camera images provided courtesy Salina Police Department
SALINE COUNTY —Police continue investigating a commercial burglary that occurred at Rod’s Gas Station, 2140 W Crawford in Salina just after midnight December 31.
Merchandise valued at $508 was stolen from the store, and a five-foot by three-foot double pane window valued at $1,000, was broken. The items stolen included lottery tickets, tobacco products, hand tools, and other miscellaneous items.
On Friday, police released security camera images.
If you have any information concerning this person, call Crimestoppers at 825-TIPS, text SATIPS to CRIMES (274637), or visit www.pd.salina.org and follow the Crimestoppers link to submit a web tip. You may receive a cash reward of up to $1,000 and you are not required to give your name.
OAKLAND, Calif. — A U.S. judge said Friday that a “substantial number” of women would lose free birth control coverage under new rules by the Trump administration that allow more employers to opt out of providing the benefit on religious and moral grounds.
BRAINS THE HEAD / FLICKR-CC
Judge Haywood Gilliam made the comment at a continuing hearing over California’s attempt to block the rules.
The changes set to go into effect on Monday would allow more employers, including publicly traded companies, to opt out of providing no-cost contraceptive coverage to women by claiming religious objections. Some private employers could also object on moral grounds.
Gilliam previously blocked an interim version of those rules — a decision that was upheld in December by an appeals court.
The case is before him again after the administration finalized the measures in November, prompting a renewed legal challenge by California and other states.
Gilliam was not expected to rule immediately.
At issue is a requirement under President Barack Obama’s health care law that birth control services be covered at no additional cost. Obama officials included exemptions for religious organizations. The Trump administration expanded those exemptions.
The rules “protect a narrow class of sincere religious and moral objectors from being forced to facilitate practices that conflict with their beliefs,” the U.S. Department of Justice said in court documents.
The states argue that millions of women could lose free birth control services, forcing them to seek contraceptive care through state-run programs and leading to unintended pregnancies.
Attorneys for California and the other states said in court documents the new rules were similar to the interim measures. One difference is a suggestion in the new rules that women can seek contraceptive coverage through federal family planning clinics for low-income people, according to the states.
The states say that would be an inadequate replacement for the contraceptive coverage many women currently have.
Hillsboro Community Hospital faces other financial problems, including a foreclosure suit filed by a bank.
By DAN MARGOLIES Kansas News Service
An eleventh-hour payment of $16,644 for delinquent utility bills averted a threatened cutoff of electricity at tiny Hillsboro Community Hospital in central Kansas.
The city, 50 miles north of Wichita and home to about 3,000 people, said in a brief news release that it gave notice to the hospital on Jan. 8 that it would shut off utilities effective at noon Friday. It received the payment in the morning.
“Accordingly, the presently noticed utility shut-off at the Hospital has been averted,” the release states. “It is the City’s ongoing desire to undertake reasonable steps to assist in keeping the Hospital open, while also being a good steward of the City’s finances and utility resources.”
Larry Paine, the city’s administrator, declined to comment, citing ongoing litigation in which the city is involved.
Earlier this week, Paine told KCUR that the hospital’s owner, North Kansas City-based EmpowerHMS, fell behind on three months of utility payments and had made no effort in recent weeks to communicate with the town.
“When we first started talking to them about the delinquency, they said, ‘You really have to wait until we get our Medicare payments in late January or February,’” Paine said, referring to officials at EmpowerHMS. “And then they sent us $12,000 and we haven’t heard from them since.”
That $12,000 check was returned for insufficient funds.
The 15-bed hospital had two patients as of Thursday. Had the lights been turned off, the hospital had plans to run on auxiliary power.
The hospital’s director of nursing could not be reached for comment.
The hospital is not out of the financial woods yet.
On Jan. 8, the Bank of Hays petitioned to foreclose on the hospital after it defaulted on a 2015 construction loan with an outstanding balance of nearly $10 million. The facility opened in 2017, replacing an older building.
The bank’s attorney in Wichita, Creath Pollak, declined to comment about the foreclosure petition. The petition also names the city and other defendants.
If the bank were to foreclose on the hospital, presumably it would continue running it until it found a buyer.
The hospital is one of about 20 rural hospitals, including several in Kansas and Missouri, acquired by EmpowerHMS in the last few years.
The company, which is headed by Miami resident Jorge Perez, has said its mission is to save distressed rural hospitals from closure.
To do that, it has billed insurers for lab tests run through some of the hospitals — even though few if any of the tests were for the hospitals’ own patients. The arrangement took advantage of the higher reimbursement rates so-called critical access hospitals receive.
But insurers began questioning the legality of the arrangement and, in some cases, sued to recover the money they paid for the lab tests.
Hillsboro Community Hospital paid its employees late twice last month, as did three EmpowerHMS’ hospitals in Oklahoma, one in Tennessee and another in Arkansas.
Dan Margolies is a senior reporter and editor at KCUR. You can reach him on Twitter @DanMargolies.
SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities continue investigating a Thursday afternoon officer-involved shooting that critically injured a wanted suspect.
Officer nearly hit by the wanted suspect in the red vehicle-photo courtesy Wichita Police
Just after 1 p.m. two police officers and a Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC) employee working with the enforcement apprehension unit, attempted to arrest a known 29-year-old suspect in the parking lot of the Sedgwick County Corrections Office, 905 N. Main, according to Deputy Police Chief Troy Livingston. The officers knew the suspect to be armed and dangerous.
Multiple warrants existed for the suspect including for three counts of aggravated robbery, aggravated battery; intentional bodily harm with a deadly weapon and aggravated assault; use of a deadly weapon.
The second Sedgwick County warrant was for aggravated assault; use of a deadly weapon and attempted theft of property or services. The suspect also had traffic warrants out of Newton and Wichita.
In one case, the suspect pointed a handgun and threatened loss prevention employees to avoid apprehension. In another case, the suspect entered a home armed with a handgun along with other armed suspects. The suspects battered three males in the home and a shot was fired. The suspects stole property and fled.
The officers made multiple previous attempts to have the suspect turn himself in peacefully. The officers were conducting follow-up on the suspect and believed he may arrive at approximately 1 p.m. at the Sedgwick County Corrections Office with his 26-year-old girlfriend.
The Officers observed the suspect arrive driving a red 2008 Ford Focus and park in a parking stall. His girlfriend exited the vehicle and entered the Corrections Office. The KDOC employee pulled behind the suspect vehicle and the two WPD Officers parked an unmarked vehicle and approached the front of the vehicle. The officers drew their handguns and gave verbal instructions for the suspect to exit the vehicle.
The suspect refused to exit the vehicle, reversed the vehicle forcefully ramming the KDOC vehicle and then pulled forward turning toward a WPD officer on the driver’s side of the vehicle, almost striking him. The two WPD officers fired multiple shots toward the suspect vehicle, striking the suspect multiple times.
The suspect drove the vehicle over a parking block, into a metal pole in the parking lot, into a concrete pillar, crossed Main Street and struck a concrete fence on the east side of Main. The suspect was transported to an area hospital and was reported critical condition on Friday morning, according to Livingston.
A WPD officer received minor injuries to his arm while removing the suspect from the vehicle, after the crash. The suspect was in possession of a handgun, and officers determined the tag on the Focus was reported stolen in Sedgwick County.
The WPD officer’s involved are a 13-year-veteran and a 5-year-veteran of the department. Both officers are part of the WPD Violent Crimes Task Force. Both officers have been placed on paid administrative leave, which is standard protocol in officer-involved shootings.
The case will be presented to the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office.
The WPD have requested the assistance of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation to provide accountability and transparency.
Ron Wilson is director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.
By RON WILSON Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development
Friendship and food. That’s what a person can expect to find in a special restaurant and bakery in a pretty small town setting in a northeast Kansas community. This enterprise has also significantly expanded its catering business in the region.
Mike Pray and Jake Trummer are co-owners of the Friendship House in Wamego, Kansas. The rich history of this eating establishment goes back to the 1980s.
In 1988, an old Dutch windmill was relocated into Wamego’s City Park and used as a site to grind flour. The production of the stone-ground wheat flour gave birth to an idea: Why not bake the flour into a finished product for Wamego’s visitors and residents? Three Wamego women purchased a house adjoining the city park to establish such a place.
Rosemary Crilly, Barbara Meinhardt, and Kathy Freeze went together to establish this business. Those three women named it Friendship House. “They were just looking for a friendly place to get together for a cup of coffee and a roll,” Mike Pray said. Baked goods and tasty lunches were the key elements of their offerings.
After 11 years, the restaurant was purchased by the Feyh family which operated it for another nine years. As the Feyhs neared retirement, they announced that the Friendship House would close if no one purchased it. Mike and Margo Pray bought it in 2008.
Mike had traveled the world in an Air Force family. He came back to the Wamego area where his grandparents lived, went to K-State, and worked in the fast food industry. After he bought the Friendship House, he was joined by Jake Trummer in 2009.
Jake had grown up in a big family at the rural community of Belvue, population 205 people. Now, that’s rural.
“We had a big garden and nine fruit trees,” Jake said. “I loved cooking and all aspects of food.” Jake worked in a butcher shop and then trained under a couple of chefs. Today he is head chef and part-owner with Mike of the Friendship House in Wamego.
“I fell in love with this little town,” Jake said. He and Mike have significantly expanded the business in the years since they began together.
Today, the Friendship House is open seven days a week for breakfast and lunch. A full homemade breakfast is available every day, with a brunch on Sundays from 11 to 2. On other days, the Friendship House is open till 3.
The goal continues to be “home cooking just like Grandma makes.” Baked goods are baked every day. This includes breads, cookies, bierocks, and delicious pastries. The menu includes soups, salads, sandwiches, gourmet burgers, daily specials, kids menu, and more.
A major change at the Friendship House has been the expansion of the catering business. “We are providing home-cooked food, prepared from scratch daily,” Jake said. “Not many caterers can provide dinner rolls that were baked fresh that day.”
The Friendship House got a contract to cater K-State football and basketball events, and is doing many more events of all kinds. In 2015, they converted the outside dining area into a catering kitchen to keep up with the demand. “When I started, catering was 5 to 10 percent of our revenue, and now it is 40 to 45 percent – while our overall revenue has grown much larger too,” Jake said.
“Wamego is a wonderful community,” Mike Pray said. “They do so many activities. The pyro crew that does the Fourth of July fireworks is amazing. Then there is the Oz Museum. I have pictures of me with the munchkins who come here for Oztoberfest.”
“People here really support you,” he said. “It’s like a family.”
Friendship and food. Those things and much more can be found at this remarkable eating establishment in Wamego. We salute Mike Pray, Jake Trummer, and all those involved with the Friendship House for making a difference with home-cooked food serving multiple communities. The goal continues to be fantastic food, fun friendships, and family feeling.
BARTON COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a stabbing.
Timothy Chism -photo Great Bend policeChism photo Barton Co.
Just after 10p.m. Thursday, police were dispatched to 1120 Morton Street, in reference to a stabbing, according to a media release.
Upon officers’ arrival, a 19-year old female was contacted. The victim and other witnesses stated Timothy Chism, a 34-year old white male, cut her throat and he fled from the residence on foot.
The victim was transported to the hospital in Great Bend and was reported in stable condition.
Police issued an attempt to locate for Chism for Aggravated Battery and he was still at large late Friday morning, according to police.
Anyone with any information, please contact the Great Bend Police Department at (620) 793-4120 or Crime Stoppers at (620) 792-1300.
BARRON, Wis. (AP) — A 21-year-old man is jailed in the deaths of a Wisconsin couple he killed because he wanted to kidnap their teenage daughter, investigators said Friday, a day after the girl approached a stranger along a rural road saying she’d been abducted in October and held against her will.
Jake Patterson -photo Barron County, Wisconsin sheriff
Jake Thomas Patterson was taken into custody shortly after 13-year-old Jayme Closs sought help from a woman walking her dog in a rural, heavily wooded neighborhood near the small town of Gordon, about 60 miles north of Barron. Jayme disappeared from her family’s home in Barron when her parents were killed Oct. 15.
During a news conference Friday, Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald said Jayme was taken against her will. The sheriff also said investigators don’t believe Patterson had any contact with the family.
Fitzgerald said investigators believe Patterson killed Jayme’s parents because he wanted to abduct her, and that Patterson “planned his actions and took many steps to hide his identity.”
Fitzgerald said investigators believe the girl was “the only target.”
A woman said she was walking her dog along a rural road Thursday afternoon when a disheveled teenage girl called out to her for help, quickly grabbed her and told her she was lost. Only then did the girl reveal her name.
Jeanne Nutter said Friday that Jayme told her she had walked away from a cabin where she’d been held captive, a cabin not far from Nutter’s home.
“I was terrified, but I didn’t want to show her that,” Nutter, a social worker who spent years working in child protection, told The Associated Press on Friday. “She just yelled please help me I don’t know where I am. I’m lost.”
Nutter said she didn’t want to bring Jayme to her nearby home because it was too close to where she’d been found, and she didn’t want them to be alone. She said: “My only thought was to get her to a safe place.”
The two went elsewhere in the neighborhood, to the home of Peter and Kristin Kasinskas. Jayme was skinny and dirty, wearing shoes too big for her feet, but appeared outwardly OK, the neighbors said.
“I honestly still think I’m dreaming right now. It was like I was seeing a ghost,” Peter Kasinskas told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “My jaw just went to the floor.”
Image courtesy Barron Co. Wisconsin Sheriff
Jayme went missing after police discovered someone had broken into the family’s home outside Barron and fatally shot her parents, James and Denise Closs. Jayme was nowhere to be found. The Barron County Sheriff’s Department said the girl had likely been abducted.
Detectives pursued thousands of tips, watched dozens of surveillance videos and conducted numerous searches in the effort to find Jayme. Some tips led officials to recruit 2,000 volunteers for a massive ground search on Oct. 23, but it yielded no clues.
Barron County Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald said in Novemberthat he kept similar cases in the back of his mind as he worked to find Jayme, including the abduction of Elizabeth Smart, who was 14 when she was taken from her Salt Lake City home in 2002. She was rescued nine months later with the help of two witnesses who recognized her abductors from an “America’s Most Wanted” episode.
“I have a gut feeling she’s (Jayme’s) still alive,” Fitzgerald said at the time.
He was right.
During the 20 minutes Jayme was in their home, Peter and Kristin Kasinskas said they tried to make her feel more comfortable. They offered her water and food, but she declined both. Jayme was quiet, her emotions “pretty flat,” Peter Kasinskas said.
Jayme told the couple she didn’t know where she was or anything about Gordon. From what she told them, they believed she was there for most of her disappearance.
Gordon is about 40 miles (64.4 kilometers) south of Lake Superior and about 65 miles (104.6 kilometers) north of Barron, Jayme’s hometown. Gordon is home to about 645 people in a heavily forested region where logging is the top industry.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office confirmed on its website that Jayme was found in the town at 4:43 p.m. Thursday, and that a suspect was taken into custody 11 minutes later.
Sue Allard, Jayme’s aunt, told the Star Tribune that she could barely express her joy after learning the news Thursday night.
“Praise the Lord,” Allard said between sobs. “It’s the news we’ve been waiting on for three months. I can’t wait to get my arms around her. I just can’t wait.”
———–
BARRON, Wis. (AP) — The Latest on authorities in Wisconsin finding 13-year-old Jayme Closs alive nearly three months after her parents were killed and she disappeared (all times local):
Image courtesy Barron Co. Wisconsin Sheriff
A Wisconsin couple is describing the dramatic moments when a neighbor pounded on their door to say she had stumbled across Jayme Closs, a 13-year-old girl who had been missing nearly three months.
Kristin and Peter Kasinskas say their neighbor had a skinny, dirty girl with matted hair standing next to her. The neighbor shouted, “This is Jayme Closs! Call 911!”
Peter Kasinskas tells the Minneapolis Star Tribune that Jayme was quiet and showed little emotion. He says she told them she didn’t know where she was or anything about Gordon, the small town near where she was found.
Jayme’s parents were killed in October at the family’s home near Barron and Jayme went missing. The place where she was found is a little more than an hour’s drive to the north.
Authorities say they have a suspect in custody and planned to release more information Friday.
___
10:50 p.m.
A town official says a Wisconsin girl who turned up safe after being missing nearly three months was found in a small forested area of cabin-like homes about 6 miles east of the small Town of Gordon.
Jayme Closs was found Thursday afternoon in northwestern Wisconsin, about 65 miles north of where her parents were shot to death and Jayme vanished from their home in October.
Denny Kline, board chairman in the Town of Gordon, says he first learned Jayme was found while listening to a police scanner, which he has for work. He says he heard Jayme was walking down the road and someone stopped near her.
Kline says he heard on the scanner that Jayme told them who she was, and they brought her to their home.
The Associated Press was not able to verify Kline’s account with authorities late Thursday. The non-emergency line at the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office rang unanswered and Sheriff Thomas Dalbec didn’t respond to an email.
Authorities say a suspect is in custody but aren’t giving other details ahead of a Friday news conference.
___
9:40 p.m.
Wisconsin authorities say a teenager missing since her parents were killed in October was found alive in a tiny town about 40 miles south of Lake Superior.
Thirteen-year-old Jayme Closs went missing Oct. 15 when her parents were found dead in the family’s home near Barron in northwestern Wisconsin. The Barron County Sheriff’s Department posted on its Facebook page Thursday evening that she had been found alive in Douglas County, Wisconsin, which borders Lake Superior.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Department posted a note on its website saying Jayme was “located” in the Town of Gordon at 4:43 p.m. Thursday and a suspect was apprehended in the town about 10 minutes later. The note offered no other details. The department’s non-emergency line rang unanswered Thursday evening and Sheriff Thomas Dalbec didn’t immediately respond to an email.
The Town of Gordon lies about 65 miles north of Barron.
Jayme’s grandfather, Robert Naiberg, tells the Minneapolis Star Tribune that the teen was being treated at a hospital before being reunited with family.
___
9 p.m.
A Wisconsin mayor says he’s overjoyed that a teenager missing since her parents were killed in October has been found alive
Thirteen-year-old Jayme Closs went missing Oct. 15, when her parents were found dead in the family’s home near Barron in northwestern Wisconsin. The Barron County Sheriff’s Department posted on its Facebook page Thursday evening that Jayme had been found alive in Douglas County, Wisconsin, which borders Lake Superior.
Authorities are planning a news conference Friday morning. They say they have a suspect in custody but won’t give more details until then.
Barron Mayor Ron Fladten says he hasn’t heard any details about Closs’ discovery. He says knowing she’s been found is “unbelievable. It’s like taking a big black cloud in the sky and getting rid of it and the sun comes out again.”
___
8:55 p.m.
The cousin of a 13-year-old Wisconsin girl who was missing almost three months before being found safe Thursday is thanking law enforcement and the community for support.
Lacey Naiberg posted on Facebook after the Barron County sheriff reported that Jayme Closs had been found. Jayme went missing in October after her parents were killed at the family home in northern Wisconsin.
Naiberg wrote “there are no words to describe” the feeling of having so many people come together to help. She asks people to continue to pray for “Jayme’s well-being and our families healing.”
Authorities say a suspect is in custody, but say they won’t release any more information ahead of a news conference Friday.
___
8:29 p.m.
Authorities in northwestern Wisconsin say a 13-year-old girl who went missing in October after her parents were killed has been found alive.
The Barron County Sheriff’s Department said on its Facebook page that Jayme Closs has been located Thursday and that a suspect was taken into custody.
Sheriff Chris Fitzgerald says the sheriff’s office in Douglas County, about 70 miles north of Barron County, located the girl. A suspect was apprehended a short time later. The statement did not say where Jayme was found or give any further information about the suspect.
The sheriff’s office plans to hold a news conference Friday morning to discuss the case.
Jayme Closs has been missing since her parents were found dead Oct. 15 at the family’s home near Barron.
SALINE COUNTY — A Kansas man critically injured in a January 5 accident in Saline County has died.
photos courtesy Saline County Sheriff’s Office
A 1998 Chevy S10 pickup driven by Craig McCombs, 37, rural Saline County, was westbound in the 6200 block of West State Street and North Hohneck west of Salina according to Saline County Sheriff Roger Soldan.
The driver who was ejected, sustained substantial injuries, including injuries to the head, Soldan said.
He was transported by EMS to Salina Regional Health Center and then flown to a Wichita hospital in critical condition and died Thursday, according to Soldan
A witness driving behind McCombs told deputies that he reported the accident within two minutes of it happening.
When deputies arrived approximately four minutes later, there was a small fire in the engine compartment of the pickup. The fire then spread, engulfing the pickup, Soldan said.
There was evidence of alcohol at the scene, according to Soldan.
KDWPT
On Friday, police released security camera images.
