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Prosecutors: Mo. man helped daughter in murder-suicide plot

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A former Missouri jail guard persuaded her terminally ill father to fatally shoot her estranged husband to resolve a custody dispute and then kill himself so it appeared to be a murder-suicide, authorities allege.

Kilgore photo St. Clair County

Elizabeth Kilgore, 35, of Quincy, pleaded not guilty last week to first-degree murder in the death of Lance Kilgore. No attorney is listed for her in online court records. She is jailed without bond.

A Missouri State Highway Patrol sergeant wrote in charging documents that 77-year-old Charles Sander killed his son-in-law and himself in September. The shooting occurred during what was supposed to be a custody exchange of the couple’s 2-year-old son at a convenience store in Osceola, which is about 90 miles (145 kilometers) southeast of Kansas City.

The sergeant said the child was the focus of a contentious divorce that was nearly finalized. A witness who was attempting to mediate the separation said Elizabeth Kilgore described hanging a picture of her estranged husband on a tree and said it felt “good” to shoot it. Another witness reported Elizabeth Kilgore said that if Lance Kilgore tried to take her baby away, she would kill him.

After the couple separated last year, Elizabeth Kilgore moved in with her mother and began working at the St. Clair County Jail. While there, she asked two inmates for help killing her husband, according to the charging documents.

She was fired in August after one of the inmates reported that she’d made the request. She admitted under questioning to smuggling the inmate contraband but denied the solicitation allegation.

In a recorded call, she can be heard telling the second inmate that her father had offered to “handle my problem for me.” Charging documents allege she also told the inmate: “I’ll let him, but I’d hate to see one of my parents go to jail.”

Charles Sander, a convicted felon with an extensive history of drug-related arrests, was in poor health and had been taking what the sergeant described as a “farewell tour” in which he was contacting family members and other to restore broken relationships.

The sergeant wrote that Elizabeth Kilgore blamed her father for her brother’s suicide. Charging documents describe Charles Sander as being “terminal,” but no details are provided on his illness.

One witness said that the day before the shooting, he offered Elizabeth Kilgore his assistance if she wanted to run and hide with her son. The sergeant wrote that Elizabeth Kilgore told the witness she “had it taken care of” and that the witness should stop calling.

That night, Charles Sander stayed with Elizabeth Kilgore at her mother’s home, even though her parents were divorced. He left for the custody exchange the next day with his ex-wife, according to the charging documents.

While Lance Kilgore was talking to his mother-in-law, Charles Sander shot him and then shot himself. The shootings were captured on store surveillance video.

Elizabeth Kilgore arrived minutes later in another vehicle with her son, explaining that she was “running late,” the sergeant wrote.

The pistol used in the killing had been reported missing by Elizabeth Kilgore a week earlier. Lance Kilgore had expressed concerns about his safety as the situation escalated, the sergeant wrote.

Missouri man charged with illegal circumcision of 2 teens

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SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A Missouri man who started his own religious ministry has been charged with illegally circumcising two teenagers.

Abbott -photo Christian Co. Missouri Sheriff

47-year-old Curtis Abbott, of Nixa, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of child endangerment and one count of unauthorized practice of medicine or surgery. Abbott sent a statement to a local newspaper calling the allegations “false.”

A hearing is scheduled for next week.

Many details of the case, including a motive, haven’t been made public because the case was handled by a grand jury.

Nixa founded an organization called “Restore Bible Culture.” Court filings in his divorce finalized this summer say he said he has had “multiple prophetic communications.”

Abbott admitted his ministry had “several false starts in years past.”

Quaker Window Products to build new Missouri plant, create 300 jobs

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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A window manufacturing company says it plans to build a $65 million factory in central Missouri, creating about 300 new jobs.

Quaker Window Products said Thursday it will construct the plant in Eldon, which is about 30 miles (48.28 kilometer) southwest of Jefferson City.

The company already employs about 1,000 people at its Freeburg factory.

The Jefferson City News-Tribune reported Quaker plans to buy more than 100 acres of land in Eldon for its 200,000-square-foot factory.

Quaker spokesman Bill Sifflard said the factory will manufacture aluminum windows for commercial use.

Construction is expected to begin this fall, with the plant opening next fall.

UPDATE: KBI identifies wounded suspect in Kan. officer-involved shooting

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TOPEKA, Kan. – The Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) is investigating after two officer involved shooting incidents occurred Thursday morning in Topeka.

According to a media release, just before 10a.m., the Topeka Police Department requested the KBI conduct an officer involved shooting investigation. It was the second shooting incident that occurred on Thursday involving officers of the Topeka Police Department and a male subject. However, the subject is believed to have only suffered injuries during the second shooting incident.

Preliminary information indicates that at approximately 9:45 a.m. officers from the Topeka Police Department, and a KBI agent, were investigating the initial shooting scene at SW 32nd St. and SW MacVicar Ave. when a subject appeared matching the description of the suspect who had fired at officers at around 3 a.m. When officers attempted to question him, he ran away which prompted them to pursue him on foot nearby Jardine Elementary and Middle School property.

As officers chased the subject, gunfire was exchanged between the subject and three officers in a parking lot of the Briarwood Condominiums, located west of the intersection of SW MacVicar Ave. and SW Briarwood Plaza. The subject was struck multiple times by gunfire. Officers secured the subject’s gun. No law enforcement officers were injured during the shooting.

EMS responded and transported the subject to a local hospital where he underwent surgery. He is expected to recover. The subject has now been identified as 23-year-old Trevon L. Brown of Topeka.
The KBI will complete a thorough and independent investigation into this incident. Once completed, the findings will be turned over to the Shawnee County District Attorney for review.

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SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating  a Thursday morning officer-involved shooting and have a suspect in custody.

Police on the scene of Thursday’s officer-involved shooting photo courtesy WIBW TV

While officers were on scene investigating the earlier aggravated assault and officer-involved shooting, a male subject, matching the description of the subject in the overnight shooting, approached officers guarding the crime scene near the 3200 block of SW MacVicar in Topeka, according to police spokesperson Gretchen Koenen.

While officers were talking with the subject, his behavior became suspicious. He then fled from officers on foot.

After a brief foot-pursuit near Jardine Elementary and Middle School, the suspect produced a handgun and shot at officers.

Three officers returned fire, striking the suspect multiple times. The officers were then able to safely take the suspect into custody, recover the suspect’s firearm and call for medical response. No police officers were injured in this event.

Officers also notified officials at Jardine to take safety precautions because of the close proximity to the school.

The suspect was then transported to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

The three officers who fired at the suspect have been placed on Administrative Leave, per department policy, until the internal administrative investigation is completed.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation is handling the investigation.  Authorities have not released the suspect’s name.

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SHAWNEE COUNTY — Law enforcement authorities are investigating and searching for a suspect who shot at officers.

Just before 3a.m.  Thursday, police were working on an assignment to address vehicle burglaries in the 2000 Block of SW 33rd in Topeka, according to Lt. Andrew Beightel

Officers saw a subject wearing a white coat, baseball hat and a back pack walking down the sidewalk around the area of 33rd and SW Briarwood.

The initial officer went to turn around in his marked patrol car to try and make a consensual contact with the subject but the suspect fled into the neighborhood to the north.

A few minutes later, other officers spotted the same subject running into the apartment complex at 32nd and Macvicar.

Officers tried to make contact with the subject to investigate his behavior and for lurking and prowling at which point the suspect fled from the officers on foot again. Officers told the suspect to stop but he refused and continued to flee.

The officers pursued the suspect and as they closed in on him he shot at the officers. Two oficers returned fire and took cover. As the suspect fled he continued to shoot at the officers. The suspect was last seen running west bound through the neighborhood near SW 32nd and SW Macvicar. Both Officers are uninjured and at this time it is unknown if the suspect was struck or injured.

Other responding officers quickly set up a perimeter around the area and began looking for the suspect for multiple counts of Aggravated Assault on a Law Enforcement Officer.

As of 11a.m. Thursday, the suspect was still outstanding but officers are continuing to search the area with the assistance of the KHP helicopter and other area law enforcement agencies/assets.

The suspect is described as a male in his twenties with a baseball hat with slightly longer hair that stuck out from his hat.

Per procedure both the involved officers have been placed on administrative leave until the administrative investigation is completed. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation will be assisting in the investigative efforts related to this incident.

 

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2 charged in robberies that led to eastern Kansas manhunt

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OLATHE, Kan. (AP) — Two men have been charged in a string of suburban Kansas City robberies that led to one of the suspects exchanging gunfire with an officer.

Jimenez -photo Johnson Co.

23-year-old Pedro Antonio Torres and 18-year-old Mario Jimenez were charged Wednesday with five counts of aggravated robbery. Jimenez also was charged with aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer. Torres had an additional felony theft charge. Their attorneys didn’t immediately return phone messages.

Olathe, Kansas, police say officers stopped a vehicle after four convenience stores were held up early Monday.

Police say Torres was arrested after a short chase. But Jimenez is accused of firing at an officer before he was arrested hours later after a manhunt that caused some schools to be locked down. No one was hurt.

School funding, immigration and guns highlight Kan. governor forum

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By 

The five candidates for Kansas governor faced off at a forum Tuesday night in Wichita.

It was a rare opportunity for Independent Rick Kloos and Libertarian Jeff Caldwell to share a stage with the three major candidates — Republican Kris Kobach, Democrat Laura Kelly and independent Greg Orman.

Caldwell has advocated for legalizing marijuana and using tax revenue from that to shore up the state budget. Kloos talked about being a “frustrated Republican,” describing himself as pro-gun rights and anti-abortion.

The forum setup strayed from more straightforward descriptions of each candidate’s policy into more of a debate as candidates traded jabs on education funding, guns and Medicaid.

GUNS

Kelly leaned into the Second Amendment, saying law-abiding citizens should have a right to concealed carry and to hunt. However, she said Kansas should enact “common sense” policies restricting gun access.

Kobach reiterated his support for gun rights and said he wants to see the age for concealed carry lowered from 21 to 18.

“Why is it that we say somebody who’s 18 or 19 or 20 can carry a weapon in the U.S. military, but they can’t defend themselves in a dark parking lot at night against an attacker?” he asked.

Orman, by contrast, said concealed carry should be further restricted.

“In the state of Kansas, you need a thousand hours of training to legally wax an eyebrow, but now, because of the constitutional carry amendment, anybody can carry a concealed weapon — even onto some of our schools — without a minute’s worth of safety training,” Orman said.

MEDICAID

Kelly said she has pushed for Kansas to expand Medicaid for as long as that’s been an option.

“We’ve left $3 billion of Kansas taxpayers’ money back in Washington, D.C., for other states to provide services for their citizens and for them to expand their economies and for them to grow jobs,” Kelly said. “We need to change that.”

Kelly again hit at former Gov. Sam Brownback’s legacy, criticizing his 2017 veto of the Kansas Legislature’s attempt to expand Medicaid.

Kobach was the lone candidate against expanding Medicaid. He said Kansas taxpayers can’t afford it.

“What we need to do instead of imagining that money grows on trees, like my opponents do. is we need to think about where we spend the money and how to make it more efficient,” he said.

Orman said he’d expand Medicaid, but do so in a way that avoided costing the taxpayers money.

EDUCATION FUNDING

Kobach said that while state spending on K-12 education has increased, he thinks Kansas schools aren’t seeing improvement. He argued for spending 75 cents of every dollar on classroom instruction.

“I would say we need to look at where we’re spending the money before we start shoveling more money at the problem,” he said.

Orman said the best way to improve Kansas schools is by growing the economy and improving Kansas infrastructure. With a growing economy, parents have better jobs.”

Kelly has repeatedly described herself as the education candidate while campaigning. During the debate, she brought up Brownback’s tax cuts, saying the resulting cuts needed to balance the budget put Kansas schools in dire straights. She said voting for Kobach as governor would lead to new tax cuts and more problems for schools.

PROTECTIONS FOR LGBT KANSANS

Moderators asked the candidates whether they would reinstate an executive order from Gov. Kathleen Sebelius that protected state employees from discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Brownback rescinded the order early in his second term.

Four of the five candidates said they would reinstate the order, with Kelly adding that she’d take it to the Legislature to have those protections codified into law. Kobach was the lone dissenter, but didn’t explain his stance.

Kobach, Kelly and Orman will face off in Wichita again later this month at a conference for the Kansas Association of Broadcasters.

Missouri appeals ruling that blocked part of voter photo ID

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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri’s top election official on Thursday said the state is appealing a judge’s ruling that blocked enforcement of parts of a voter photo identification law, adding that the ruling is causing “mass confusion” as the marquee Missouri U.S. Senate election approaches.

Republican Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft in a statement said the state attorney general has appealed the ruling and asked it to be put on hold as that process plays out.

At issue is Senior Cole County Circuit Judge Richard Callahan’s recent ruling striking down a requirement that a voter lacking a valid photo ID must sign a sworn statement and present some other form of identification in order to cast a regular ballot. Callahan also blocked the state from advertising that a photo ID is required to vote.

Ashcroft said there’s confusion because Callahan’s ruling “directs the STATE not to use the statement.” But Ashcroft said it’s local election authorities who would have been responsible for requesting voters without proper photo identification to sign an affidavit, “so it is not clear if they are bound by the judge’s decision.”

“The judge’s decision has injected mass confusion into the voting process just weeks before an important election – an action the courts historically and purposely have not taken,” Ashcroft said, adding that many local election authorities already had trained poll workers to require voters to sign a sworn statement.

Callahan’s ruling came as voters are preparing for a Nov. 6 election headlined by the race between Democratic U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill and Republican challenger, Attorney General Josh Hawley, whose office is defending the state law on behalf of Ashcroft.

Strategist Symone Sanders of Priorities USA, a Washington-based liberal advocacy group that sued on behalf of some Missouri voters, in a statement praised Callahan’s ruling and criticized the photo ID law as having “required voters to sign a threatening and confusing affidavit to receive a regular ballot if they didn’t have photo identification.”

“What’s confusing is the Secretary of State’s support of limiting access to the ballot box,” she said.

Missouri’s 2016 law was enacted when the Republican-led Legislature overrode the veto of then-Gov. Jay Nixon, a Democrat. Voters in 2016 also approved a constitutional amendment intended to permit photo identification laws. The Missouri law was not yet in effect for the 2016 elections.

Voter photo ID requirements have been pushed by Republicans in numerous states as a means of preventing fraud. They have been opposed by Democrats who contend such laws can disenfranchise poor, elderly, disabled and minority voters who are less likely to have photo IDs.

EU Ready for Talks over U.S. Beef

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The European Union is readying to negotiate with the United States to allow the U.S. to increase beef exports to EU countries. The European Commission sought approval from its 28-member states last month to open negotiations with Washington. The approval process is expected to be completed next week to allow negotiations to begin. Beef is separate from an arrangement between President Trump and the EU to consider a free trade agreement. Reuters reports that a negotiated agreement on beef would settle a dispute that dates back to 1981 when the European Union banned the use of growth hormones in meat across the EU, including imports. The EU says it will look to raise the U.S. share of hormone-free beef imports into Europe, but would need to convince other countries considered to be “substantial” suppliers to accept less. In 2009, the EU and the U.S. agreed to a quota system for hormone-free beef imports, but U.S. share of the quota has slipped from 100 percent to 30 percent.

UPDATE: Kansas native, NASA astronaut Nick Hague safe after emergency landing

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BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (AP) — A booster rocket failed less than two minutes after launching an American and a Russian toward the International Space Station on Thursday, forcing their emergency — but safe — landing on the steppes of Kazakhstan.

It was the latest in a recent series of failures for the troubled Russian space program, which is used by the U.S. to carry its astronauts to the station.

NASA astronaut Nick Hague of Hoxie, Kansas and Roscosmos’ Alexei Ovchinin were subjected to heavy gravitational forces as their capsule automatically jettisoned from the Soyuz booster rocket and fell back to Earth at a sharper-than-normal angle and landed about 20 kilometers (12 miles) east of the city of Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan.

“Thank God the crew is alive,” said Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, when it became clear that they had landed safely. He added that the president is receiving regular updates about the situation.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, who watched the launch at Baikonur along with his Russian counterpart, tweeted that Hague and Ovchinin are in good condition. He added that a “thorough investigation into the cause of the incident will be conducted.”

Hague and Ovchinin lifted off as scheduled at 2:40 p.m.  (4:40 a.m. EDT)Thursday from the Russian-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The astronauts were to dock at the International Space Station six hours after the launch.

But the three-stage Soyuz booster suffered an unspecified failure of its second stage about two minutes after launching. Search and rescue teams were immediately scrambled to recover the crew and paratroopers were dropped from a plane to reach the site and help the rescue effort.

It was to be the first space mission for Hague, who joined NASA’s astronaut corps in 2013. Ovchinin spent six months on the orbiting outpost in 2016.

While the Russian space program has been dogged by a string of launch failures and other incidents in recent years, Thursday’s mishap marked the program’s first manned launch failure since September 1983, when a Soyuz exploded on the launch pad.

The astronauts were flown by helicopter to Dzhezkazgan and will later be taken to Baikonur and on to Star City, Russia’s space training center outside Moscow.

NASA posted pictures of Hague and Ovchinin undergoing a medical check-up at Dzhezkazgan’s airport. One of the pictures showed Hague smiling and another had him sitting next to Russia’s space agency chief Dmitry Rogozin.

Dzhezkazgan is about 450 kilometers  northeast of Baikonur, and spacecraft returning from the ISS normally land in that region.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov said all manned launches will be suspended pending an investigation into the cause of the failure. He added that Russia will fully share all relevant information with the U.S.

Earlier this week, Bridenstine emphasized that collaboration with Russia’s Roscosmos remains important.

Relations between Moscow and Washington have sunk to post-Cold War lows over the crisis in Ukraine, the war in Syria and allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential vote, but they have maintained cooperation in space research.

The Russian Soyuz spacecraft is currently the only vehicle for ferrying crews to the International Space Station following the retirement of the U.S. space shuttle fleet. Russia stands to lose that monopoly in the coming years with the arrival of SpaceX’s Dragon v2 and Boeing’s Starliner crew capsules.

The last time the Russian space program had a manned launch failure was in 1983. Soviet cosmonauts Vladimir Titov and Gennady Strekalov jettisoned and landed safely near the launch pad after the Soyuz explosion.

Russia has continued to rely on Soviet-designed booster rockets for launching commercial satellites, as well as crews and cargo to the International Space Station.

While Russian rockets had earned a stellar reputation for their reliability in the past, a string of failed launches in recent years has called into doubt Russia’s ability to maintain the same high standards of manufacturing.

Glitches found in Russia’s Proton and Soyuz rockets in 2016 were traced to manufacturing flaws at the plant in Voronezh. Roscosmos sent more than 70 rocket engines back to production lines to replace faulty components, a move that resulted in a yearlong break in Proton launches and badly dented Russia’s niche in the global market for commercial satellite launches.

In August, the International Space Station crew spotted a hole in a Russian Soyuz capsule docked to the orbiting outpost that caused a brief loss of air pressure before being patched.

Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin has raised wide concern by saying that the leak was a drill hole that was made intentionally during manufacturing or in orbit. He didn’t say if he suspected any of the current crew — an American, a Russian and a German aboard the station. The current crew’s stint in orbit will likely be extended following Thursday’s aborted launch.

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BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (AP) — Two astronauts from the U.S. and Russia were safe after an emergency landing Thursday in the steppes of Kazakhstan following the failure of a Russian booster rocket carrying them to the International Space Station.

NASA astronaut Nick Hague of Hoxie, Kansas and Roscosmos’ Alexei Ovchinin lifted off as scheduled at 2:40 p.m. (0840 GMT; 4:40 a.m. EDT) Thursday from the Russia-leased Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan atop a Soyuz booster rocket. Roscosmos and NASA said the three-stage Soyuz booster suffered an emergency shutdown of its second stage. The capsule jettisoned from the booster and went into a ballistic descent, landing at a sharper than normal angle.

The launch failure marks an unprecedented mishap for the Russian space program, which has been dogged by a string of launch failures and other incidents.

“Thank God, the crew is alive,” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when it became clear that the crew had landed safely.

They were to dock at the orbiting outpost six hours later, but the booster suffered a failure minutes after the launch.

NASA and Russian Roscosmos space agency said the astronauts were in good condition after their capsule landed about 12 miles east of the city of Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan.

Search and rescue teams were heading to the area to recover the crew. Dzhezkazgan is about 280 miles northeast of Baikonur. Spacecraft returning from the ISS normally land in that region.

Roberts: We’re Making Progress on Farm Bill

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Senate Agriculture Committee Debbie Stabenow and Pat Roberts at a field hearing for the 2012 Farm Bill

Senator Pat Roberts says lawmakers are making progress on the farm bill. The Senate Ag Committee Chairman told Politico this week “we’re making progress,” adding “I know I keep saying that, but it’s true.” None of the 12 titles of the farm bill are completed, but Roberts says the commodity title is “close” to being finished. However, Ranking Senate Ag member Debbie Stabenow reported that she and House Ag leader Mike Conaway remain at odds over moving funding around in the commodity title. Conaway allegedly wants to move a small amount of funding from Midwest-based crops to cotton. The so-called “Big Four” leaders of the conference committee, Senators Roberts and Stabenow along with Representatives Conaway and Collin Peterson, are waiting for review by the Congressional Budget Office before forging quickly ahead, according to Roberts.

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