Death toll rises to 4 in Kansas shooting

December 03, 2009|John Hanna, Associated Press

TOPEKA, Kan. - An 89-year-old woman has died from injuries suffered in a weekend shooting in northeast Kansas that also left her granddaughter and two great-granddaughters dead, prosecutors said yesterday.

The state attorney general’s office will file a revised complaint against James Kraig Kahler, a former Columbia, Mo., city official charged in the shootings in Osage County, Kan., as a result of Dorothy Wight’s death, spokeswoman Ashley Anstaett said.

Wight died Tuesday at a Topeka hospital. Her granddaughter Karen Kahler, the suspect’s 44-year-old estranged wife, and the Kahlers’ daughters, Emily, 18, and Lauren, 16, were killed Saturday at Wight’s home outside Burlington, Kan.

The couple’s 10-year-old son, Sean, was also at the home but was not injured. An attorney who represented his mother said yesterday that the boy is staying with family in Wichita.

Attorney General Steve Six’s office filed a capital murder charge Monday in Osage County District Court against James Kahler, covering the deaths of his wife and daughters. Kansas law allows one capital charge - and the death penalty - for multiple killings arising from a single “scheme or course of conduct.’’

Six’s office filed three alternative charges of premeditated first-degree murder against Kahler in case he is not convicted on the capital charge.

Kahler also was charged with one count of attempted first- degree murder in Wight’s shooting and one count of aggravated burglary. Authorities believe he broke into her home.

The attorney general’s office declined to release the affidavit supporting its complaint, which contains details about the alleged crimes. It was filed under seal.