BARTON COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are continuing the investigation into the shooting death of a Great Bend man Tuesday night.

Just after 8:30p.m. sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to a report of a disturbance and shots fired at 397 Grove Terrrace near the airport west of Great Bend, according to Sheriff Brian Bellendir.

Sheriff’s deputies and members of the Kansas Highway Patrol checked the residence and discovered the body of a 34-year-old Charles G. Rousey of Great Bend at the rear of the building, according to Bellendir. He had sustained multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Deputies were able to develop suspect information from witnesses and an “attempt to locate” was broadcast.

Members of the Great Bend Fire Department who were returning from an accident scene, had heard the broadcast and spotted the vehicle on South Main St. in Great Bend.  The fire department notified 911 dispatchers who in turn sent law enforcement to the area. Members of the Barton County Sheriff’s Office and the Great Bend Police Department stopped the vehicle on Railroad Avenue between Washington Street and Main Street. The suspect Nicholas A. Pethel, 23, of rural Great Bend  was taken into custody without incident. 

Deputies booked Pethel on a requested chargeof murder and he is being held in lieu of a $1 million bond, according to Bellendir.

 

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BARTON COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a fatal shooting in Great Bend.

Just after 8:30p.m. Tuesday, sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to a report of a disturbance and shots fired at 397 Grove Terrrace near the airport west of Great Bend, according to Sheriff Brian Bellendir.

Sheriff’s deputies and members of the Kansas Highway Patrol checked the residence and discovered the body of a 34-year-old white male at the rear of the building. The victim had sustained multiple gunshot wounds.  The victim was pronounced dead at the scene.

Deputies were able to develop suspect information from witnesses and an “attempt to locate” was broadcast.

Members of the Great Bend Fire Department who were returning from an accident scene, had heard the broadcast and spotted the vehicle on South Main St. in Great Bend.  The fire department notified 911 dispatchers who in turn sent law enforcement to the area. Members of the Barton County Sheriff’s Office and the Great Bend Police Department stopped the vehicle on Railroad Avenue between Washington Street and Main Street. The suspect Nicholas A. Pethel, 23, of rural Great Bend  was taken into custody without incident. 

Deputies booked Pethel on a requested chargeof murder and he is being held in lieu of a $1 million bond, according to Bellendir.

The name of the victim is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.  The Kansas Bureau of Investigation will be assisting with homicide investigation.

 

 
 

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) -Police announced Wednesday that a woman’s body has been found in Arkansas after police fatally shot her estranged rifle-toting husband the day before near a popular shopping area in Kansas City, Kansas.

The body of 49-year-old Sylvia Ussery-Pearson was found Tuesday night in northwest Arkansas’ Benton County, police said during a news conference in Overland Park, Kansas, where she was from. The discovery was made hours after 51-year-old Charles Pearson, a 21-year veteran Army Ranger who had completed two combat tours in Iraq, walked into a Country Inn & Suites and told the general manager that he killed his wife.

Pearson said he was armed and heading to the nearby Legends Outlet shopping district.

Police in Kansas City, Kansas, said that when law enforcement confronted Pearson at a nearby intersection, he fired several shots at officers, who returned fire and killed him.

Ussery-Pearson had been missing since Monday after leaving her home with her husband, who lived in nearby Lenexa, Kansas. Overland Park Police Chief Frank R. Donchez Jr. said her family filed a missing person report later that day and contacted her husband on Tuesday. He agreed to be interviewed and his home and car were searched.

Donchez said Pearson later called family and friends and said he was suicidal before going to the shopping area, where the shooting happened.

A note found in a Lenexa residence later led law enforcement to his wife’s body. Donchez said her death is believed to be a homicide but the cause hasn’t been released. He said no other suspects are being sought. He said the couple had been estranged since February.

Cass County, Missouri, officials on Tuesday searched a patch of land outside of Harrisonville that belonged to U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler. Police said the reason for the search was that Ussery-Pearson’s phone had pinged on Hartzler’s land about 40 miles (64.37 kilometers) south of Kansas City.

Hartzler’s spokesman, Steve Walsh, said Wednesday the Hartzlers didn’t know the missing woman or Pearson.

Johnson County District Court online records show Charles Pearson was charged last year with misdemeanor criminal damage to property after an incident in Lenexa on Oct. 8, 2018, that referenced a woman named Sylvia Pearson, according to The Kansas City Star.

Charles Pearson, who allegedly broke a mirror, was booked into the Johnson County jail and released the next day after posting bond. The court records indicate a diversion agreement in the case was signed Nov. 28, 2018.

Donchez said he didn’t know whether Pearson had PTSD from his military service.

“We need to do more for our veterans that return from combat,” he said. “This may or may not be an unfortunate circumstance of his service.”

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Police have identified a man they fatally shot near a popular Kansas City-area shopping area after he said he had killed his wife.

Police on Wednesday said 51-year-old Charles Pearson, of nearby Johnson County, Kansas, was the man who walked into a Country Inn & Suites Tuesday and told the general manager he killed his wife. He said he was armed and heading to the nearby Legends Outlet shopping district.

Kansas City, Kansas, police spokesman Jonathon Westbrook said when law enforcement confronted Pearson at a nearby intersection, he fired several shots at officers, who returned fire and killed him.

Overland Park police said Tuesday they were searching for 49-year-old Sylvia Ussery-Pearson, who hasn’t been seen since leaving her home Monday. Ussery-Pearson is listed in 2018 property records as Pearson’s wife.

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By MARGARET STAFFORD

Kansas City, Kansas, police shot and killed a man on Tuesday who told a hotel manager that he had killed his wife and was heading to a popular shopping and restaurant area.

The “very angry and distraught” man entered the Country Inn & Suites near the Legends Outlet shopping area said he had killed his wife, said Jacob Honeycutt, general manager of the business.

“He said ‘I’m heavily armed and very dangerous. I’m going to Legends. You better call police,'” Honeycutt told The Associated Press.

The man was not armed when he entered the Inn, said Honeycutt, who tried to follow the suspect but couldn’t catch him before he got into a car and sped away, driving through stop signs before the confrontation with police.

Officer Jonathan Westbrook told The Kansas City Star the gunman was waiting at an intersection for police to arrive.

“We were able to locate him so quickly because he was stationary,” Westbrook said. “Given the information that he was heavily armed and dangerous, our officers were very tactical in how we approached the subject.”

The man raised an assault-style rifle at officers, who tried to convince him to put it down, Westbrook said. Eventually the man fired several shots at the officers and they fired back, he said.

The number of rounds fired by the unidentified gunman and officers was not immediately known. No officers or bystanders were injured.

Law enforcement authorities were investigating to determine if the man had committed any earlier crimes, Westbrook said.

Honeycutt said he and a front desk manager were the only people in the front desk area of Inn when the man arrived. He praised police for their quick response to the situation.

“I was worried about the safety of my guests and employees but also all the people in the rest of the shopping area,” he said “We wanted to try and stop them but unfortunately we couldn’t so we got ahold of the police as quickly as possible.”

The man was stopped before he made it into the Legends, which is full of stores and restaurants in a rapidly developing area in western Kansas City, Kansas. The County Inn & Suites is on a road that surrounds the shopping area, located near other businesses such as Cerner and Cabela’s and the stadium for the Sporting KC soccer team.

All the businesses were reopened and operating normally about two hours after the man was shot.

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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A judge has found prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office in Kansas City, Kansas, improperly listened to recorded communications between inmates and their defense attorneys in a ruling that could upend hundreds of federal convictions and sentences.

U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson in a ruling handed down late Tuesday set up what she called a roadmap for reviewing federal cases for potential violations of the Sixth Amendment right to counsel. Robinson also found the office in contempt of court for violating her orders to preserve evidence and turn over documents to the court-appointed special master investigating the practice.

Robinson said she would impose monetary sanctions against the government as punishment.

The ruling also cited internal dysfunction in the U.S. attorney’s office, saying prosecutors distrusted current and past management “to the point of insubordination.”

SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a shooting and searching for suspects.

Just before 4:30 p.m., Tuesday, police in the area of the 800 Block of SE Rice in Topeka heard several gunshots, according to Lt. Robert Simmons.

A few moments later, police stopped a vehicle at Interstate 70 and SE Rice Road with an adult male passenger with a gunshot wound that was determined to be life threatening by medical personnel.

The victim was taken to a local hospital for treatment of his injuries.

Police have not reported an arrest and have not identified the victim.

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LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A Tennessee man faces several felonies after allegedly leading sheriff’s deputies on a 3.5-mile chase with a baby and loaded guns in his truck.

Kenneth Jeremy Leedom, 32, Woodbury, Tennessee was charged Monday with aggravated battery against a law enforcement officer, aggravated endangering of a child, attempting to elude a police officer and possession of stolen property.

His defense attorney did not immediately return a call Tuesday seeking comment.

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office says Leedom was arrested Sunday after driving off from a traffic stop. He allegedly rammed a patrol vehicle as deputies were trying to stop him.

The charges indicate the boy with him was 9 months old. A woman also was in the truck.

No one was injured.

SEDGWICK COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating an armed robbery and have two boys in custody.

Just after 11p.m. Monday, a 46-year-old woman contacted an off-duty Wichita police officer at the Quick Trip on South West Street who reported that while in West Douglas Park, in 3200 Block of West Douglas, two boys pointed hand guns and demanded property, according to officer Charley Davidson.

The suspects took three bags from her containing miscellaneous property and cash.

Investigators identified two suspects. One was located returning home on South Sheridan and was armed with a BB-gun.  The second boy was located at his home in the 3800 Block of West 11th Street where officers also recovered some of the stolen property.

The 12-year-old and 14-year-old boys are being held in juvenile detention on requested charges of aggravated robbery.

SYRACUSE, Kan. (AP) — The Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office says a 23-year-old man drowned in a public pond near Syracuse.

The sheriff says the body of Joaquin Vazquez Hernandez, of Syracuse, was recovered from the pond Tuesday evening.

Emergency responders were called about 2 p.m. Tuesday after a man went underwater in the pond and didn’t resurface.

People near the pond tried unsuccessfully to rescue the man.

GRAY COUNTY —Law enforcement authorities are investigating two suspects on drug charges after a traffic stop arrest.

On Monday night, a sheriff’s deputy on patrol stopped a car for a traffic violation on U.S. Highway 50, according to the Gray County Sheriff.

During that stop he detained the driver and passenger of the vehicle for plain view marijuana possession.

During a search of the car the deputy found a loaded 9mm handgun and approximately 2.2 pounds of dispensary retail marijuana along with just under $5,000.00 in cash.

According to the sheriff’s office, “People argue about marijuana laws and the medicinal effects and they are entitled to their opinion, but this was criminal possession with intent to distribute, a business that doesn’t care about safety or health of the traffickers, the officers or the citizens. This like any stop for a law enforcement officer is dangerous, but needed.”

Both men in the vehicle were arrested and are in the Meade County Jail.

FORD COUNTY — One person died in an accident just after 5p.m. Tuesday in Ford County.

The Kansas Highway Patrol reported a John Deere Tractor driven by Bernard V. Stegman, 59, Spearville, was northbound on Garnett Road three miles southwest of Spearville. The driver failed to stop at the railroad crossing.

A BNSF train struck the tractor. EMS transported Stegman to the hospital in Dodge City where he died.  There were no injuries to three occupants of the train, according to the KHP.

SEDGWICK COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating a shooting and have made an arrest.

Just before 11:30a.m. Monday, police responded to shooting call at a home in the 700 Block of south Laura in Wichita, according to officer Charley Davidson.

Upon arrival, officers found a 9-year-old girl with an injured finger. Investigators learned the girl was playing in her backyard when she heard two loud bangs and a projectile hit her finger, according to Davidson.

A boy next door was seen retreating back into a home with an object in his hand. As officers approached the residence, the boy exited armed with a silver handgun. Police issued verbal instructions to the boy who again retreated back into the home.

After officers made phone contact with those in the home, four juveniles and an adult exited the residence without incident.

Police confiscated a handgun and arrested a 16-year-old boy on requested charges of aggravated battery, criminal possession of a firearm by a juvenile, obstruction and an outstanding warrant, according to Davidson.  Police do not believe the 9-year-old was an intended victim. The boy appears to have been shooting at some type of target, according to Davidson and it is illegal to fire a gun in the city. The Sedgwick County will review the case.

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Local officials are helping Kansas and Missouri preserve a truce in an economic “border war” that had seen the states use incentives to lure jobs across their border in the Kansas City area.

The cooperation came ahead of a summit Tuesday in Kansas City, Kansas, between Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly and Missouri Gov. Mike Parson.

The Port Authority of Kansas City’s board agreed Monday to limit incentives to companies relocating to Missouri to 10-years, the existing limit in Kansas. Mayor Quinton Lucas has promised to push for a similar limit in Kansas City, Missouri.

Parson signed a law in June and Kelly issued an executive order earlier this month declaring that their states won’t use their incentives to lure existing jobs across the border.

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OKLAHOMA CITY – Law enforcement authorities are investigating a suspect on child sex charges.

According to a media release from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, the agency began an investigation after allegations surfaced that 34-year-old Justin White had inappropriate relationships with young females while a teacher at Smithville Public Schools in McCurtain County and as a Youth Pastor at Spiro Baptist Church in LeFlore County, Oklahoma.

He is currently employed as the Youth Pastor at Clayton Avenue Baptist Church in Hugo, Oklahoma and the baseball coach at Smithville Public School.

During the 2013-2014 school year he allegedly had sexual intercourse with a female student several times at his residence located on school property, according to the OSBI.

During the investigation, agents spoke with another girl who was a member of the Spiro Baptist Church youth group when White was Youth Pastor. The girl who was underage at the time, said White would take her upstairs at the church to be alone. When alone, White would inappropriately touch and kiss the teenager.

White was arrested at the Clayton Avenue Baptist Church in Hugo and is currently in the Choctaw County jail awaiting transport to McCurtain County and then to LeFlore County.

GEARY COUNTY — Authorities made a water rescue on a Kansas river Monday.

Just before 10p.m, the Geary County Sheriff Department and Junction City Police Department responded to the Grant Avenue Boat ramp in reference to a thirty-five year old Kansas man who was having mechanical issues with a 14-foot john boat and became stranded on an island of trees in the river

The man was not wearing his personal flotation device until told to do so by first responders. The Geary County Sheriff Department deployed their flat bottom boat and was able to get the subject and his boat safely to shore.