We have a brand new updated website! Click here to check it out!

Kan. woman sentenced for killing cousin’s ex, setting body on fire

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — A 38-year-old woman has been sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years in the shooting death of a man whose body was set on fire in rural Lawrence.

Christina L. Towell during a court appearance in Douglas County -photo courtesy Lawrence Journal World

Christina Towell, of Leavenworth, was sentenced Thursday. She pleaded no contest last month to first-degree felony murder for her role in the November 2017 death of 34-year-old Joel Wales of Eudora.

Towell’s cousin, 39-year-old Tria Evans, of Lawrence, was convicted earlier of first-degree murder and other charges in Wales’ death and sentenced to life without parole for 50 years.

 Wales was alone housesitting for his mother when the women broke in, shot him six times and set his body and the house on fire.

Evans and Wales had a child together.

Copyright Eagle Radio | FCC Public Files | EEO Public File