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James
Kraig KAHLER
Classification: Mass murderer
Characteristics: After his spouse took a lesbian
lover and filed for divorce
Number of victims: 4
Date of murders: November 28, 2009
Date of arrest:
Next day
Date of birth: January 15, 1963
Victims profile: His estranged wife, Karen Kahler, 44;
their two teenage daughters Emily Kahler, 18, and Lauren
Kahler, 16; and his wife’s grandmother, Dorothy Wight, 89
Sentence issued in November 2009 murder of four in Burlingame
By Steve Fry - The Capital-Journal
October 11, 2011
LYNDON — James Kraig Kahler, who killed his wife, two daughters
and their great-grandmother, took a parting shot at his in-laws as
he walked out of the Osage County District Courtroom on Tuesday
after he was sentenced to death.
Kahler spoke to his parents about his son, Sean Kahler, 12.
"Take care of Sean so he's not raised by a bunch of freaks,"
Kahler said, referring to the relatives of his wife who are caring
for the boy.
During the trial in August, the boy testified about seeing his
father shoot his mother while the son and mother were cleaning
coins in a kitchen sink. Kahler allowed his then-10-year-old son
to escape unharmed.
Kahler, 48, earlier made remarks under his breath Tuesday as
the sister of his slain wife told a judge the pain the killings
have caused her.
The two remarks were uttered about 20 minutes before he was
sentenced to death for capital murder.
During the hearing, Lynn Denton, sister of Karen Kahler, said
that after the sentencing, she could go outside and enjoy the day.
"A beautiful sunny day outside," Kahler said from his seat at
the defense table.
A few minutes later, Denton talked about the last two times she
saw her niece Lauren Kahler during the Halloween and Thanksgiving
Day holidays in 2009, including a trip to the River Walk in
downtown Wichita.
"And with Sunny, too," Kahler said, referring to Sunny Reece,
the lover of his estranged wife, Karen Kahler. Kraig Kahler had
resented his two daughters and son being present when Reece and
Karen Kahler were together.
At 10:18 a.m. Tuesday, Kahler was sentenced to death for
murdering Karen Kahler; daughters Lauren Kahler, 16, and Emily
Kahler, 18; and Karen Kahler's grandmother, Dorothy Wight, 89.
The four were killed during the Thanksgiving Day weekend in
2009 at Wight’s Burlingame home.
“The court at this time for the crime of capital murder will
sentence the defendant to death under the law,” Chief Judge
Phillip Fromme announced.
Before sentencing, Fromme heard comments from Denton and
another survivor of the victims.
Denton spoke first.
“I miss her (Karen) every day, some days more than other,”
Denton said. “I still want to pick up the phone and call her.
“There are no words of how deeply I hurt because of these
tremendous losses,” she told the judge. “I loved Grandma Wight,
Karen, Emily, and Lauren very much and will miss them until the
end of my days.”
A statement written by Patricia Hetrick, the daughter of Wight,
was read into the record by Brenda Albright, office manager for
the attorney general's office.
“I lost three generations of loved ones in one fell swoop, and
to this day, I still replay that frightening night over and over
in my mind just like watching an old movie reel,” Hetrick wrote.
"I try so hard to rewrite (the end), but there is no such option."
Karen Kahler and her daughters died Nov. 28, 2009, the evening
of the shooting, but Hetrick was able to drive to Kansas to be
with her mortally wounded mother.
“I got to be with my mother until she died on Dec. 1,” Hetrick
wrote.
Hetrick talked about cleaning up and restoring Wight’s house
after the killings and said that even with all of the painting and
new furniture, she knew the house that she had grown up in would
be “hell and horror for me.”
Kraig Kahler was raised in Meriden and had lived in Columbia,
Mo., where he once headed the city utility company.
After a jury convicted Kahler of capital murder, four counts of
first-degree murder and one count of aggravated burglary, but
before it began deliberations on whether to recommend to the judge
the death penalty or life imprisonment, two notes from Sean Kahler
were read to the jurors.
“I do not want my Dad to receive the death penalty because it
would be hard on my grandparents,” the first note said.
The second note said, “I do not want my whole family gone.”
Defense attorneys said Sean Kahler was given an opportunity to
appear at the sentencing but declined. However, they said he
hadn’t changed his opinion that his father shouldn't be sentenced
to death.
Defense attorney Tom Haney said sentencing Kahler to death "was
totally anticipated today. There's never been a (Kansas) judge who
overturned the jury's recommendation for death."
Assistant attorney general Amy Hanley and Osage County Attorney
Brandon Jones, who prosecuted the case, declined to comment.
Haney filed a notice of Kahler's appeal of the convictions and
death penalty sentence. Haney has withdrawn from the case, which
will be handled by the state's capital appeals office.
At the end of court, Fromme turned Kahler over to the Osage
County Sheriff's Office to transport the defendant to the Kansas
Department of Corrections.
Jury recommends death for Kahler
By Steve Fry - The Capital-Journal
August 29, 2011
LYNDON — James Kraig Kahler showed no visible reaction Monday
afternoon as a bailiff announced a jury’s decision to impose the
death penalty for the slaying deaths of four family members.
The Osage County District Court jury decided at 3:25 p.m. to
recommend the death penalty after deliberating for 55 minutes.
Kahler’s parents, Wayne and Patricia Kahler, who were sitting
on the front row behind their son, also showed no emotion.
Lynn Denton, a surviving sister of victim Kahler’s wife, sat
quietly on the front row behind prosecutors. A supporter patted
her on the back as the unanimous decision was read.
On Friday, jurors convicted Kahler of capital murder, four
counts of first-degree murder and one count of aggravated
burglary, all tied to Kahler's rampage through a Burlingame home
on Nov. 28, 2009.
Slain in the shootings were Karen Kahler, 44, Kraig Kahler's
estranged wife; daughters Emily Kahler, 18, and Lauren Kahler, 16;
and Dorothy Wight, 89, grandmother of Karen Kahler. Kraig Kahler
walked into the home of Wight, gunning down his wife, daughters
and Wight. He allowed his son, Sean Kahler, then 10, to escape
unharmed.
Kahler's sentencing is to be at 9:30 a.m. Oct. 11.
Outside the courthouse, Denton, accompanied by her brother,
Bill Hetrick, his wife, Donna, and Carmen Esch, a cousin, read a
statement: "For the past year and a half, we've had a dark cloud
around us that we associated with this trial. Now that it's over,
the cloud is still there. The cloud wasn't about the trial. It is
about our loss. The verdict and sentence doesn't bring our family
back. The Kahlers, Wights, Dentons and Hetricks still have a lot
of healing to do."
Denton, Hetrick and Esch are grandchildren of Wight.
Earlier Monday, Amy Hanley, the assistant attorney general,
urged jurors to impose the death penalty, saying each of the four
slaying victims died in anguish.
Kahler’s wife, his daughters and Wight “all died with an
awareness that gave them the torture of slow death,” Hanley said.
They died with the awareness Kahler was armed with a gun, was
shooting at them and that he intended to kill each, Hanley said.
“This is the proper case,” Hanley said, to impose the death
penalty, pointing to two aggravating circumstances she said
justified the death penalty.
The aggravating circumstances were that more than one person
was killed, and the four victims were murdered in a “heinous,
atrocious or cruel manner."
“He murdered them all, one by one,” she said.
Jurors either could recommend the death penalty or life in
prison without parole.
Before deliberations began, defense attorney Amanda Vogelsberg
read two notes to jurors from Sean Kahler, now 12.
“I do not want my dad to receive the death penalty because it
would be hard on my grandparents,” the first note said.
The second note said, “I do not want my whole family gone.”
Defense attorney Tom Haney told jurors there were 12 mitigating
circumstances that outweighed the aggravating circumstances,
including that Kahler had no criminal history, he was operating
under extreme mental and emotional stress, and he had a severe
mental illness impairing his ability to think and control his
actions.
Haney also noted the two notes from Kahler’s son.
“Do you have mercy for him?” Haney said, referring to Kahler’s
son.
In Kahler’s case, prison would be worse for him than the death
penalty, Haney said, noting his suicidal tendencies and his love
of the outdoors. Throughout the trial, witnesses testified about
Kahler’s love of hunting, fishing and the outdoors.
Osage County Attorney Brandon Jones asked jurors to think about
the anguish the victims felt as jurors listened again to
recordings of one of Kahler’s daughters screaming for help as her
father walked through the home. In one recording, the dying teen
was comforted by an Osage County Sheriff’s officer.
“I don’t want to die,” the daughter told Deputy Nathan Purling.
Jones told jurors the number of aggravating circumstances don’t
have to outnumber the mitigating circumstances in order for them
to impose the death penalty. Haney told jurors if any juror found
the aggravating circumstances didn’t outweigh the mitigating
circumstances, there wouldn’t be a unanimous vote to impose the
death penalty.
“In this state, we don’t kill the mentally ill,” Haney told the
jurors.
After the verdict was returned, prosecutors Hanley and Jones
were pleased the Osage County jury had decided whether the death
penalty was appropriate for Kahler.
"We hope this gives justice to the family,"Jones said.
At sentencing, Chief Judge Phillip Fromme will decide whether
to accept the verdict.
According to Kansas law, Fromme must examine the jury verdict
imposing the death sentence to determine whether the evidence
supported the verdict. If it didn't, the judge would change
Kahler's sentence to life in prison without parole.
Prosecution evidence included testimony that:
Kahler's blood was found inside the house.
Two victims and his son identified Kahler as the shooter of
three victims.
A jacket found outside the house had Kahler's business card
in a pocket.
Neighbors saw Kahler's sport utility vehicle parked near the
shooting site and recorded the Missouri tag number, which was
registered to Kahler.
After the verdict Monday, jurors declined to talk about the
case.
Conviction in Murder of Man’s Lesbian Wife, Kids
By John Hanna - Associated Press
August 26, 2011
A jury convicted a Kansas man of capital murder on Thursday in
the shooting deaths of his estranged wife, their two teenage
daughters and his wife’s grandmother - crimes his attorneys said
he committed after his spouse took a lesbian lover and filed for
divorce.
Attorneys for James Kraig Kahler had argued that his mental
health deteriorated and he finally snapped because of his pending
divorce and his wife’s sexual relationship with another woman whom
she met when they lived in Texas. But prosecutors painted a
picture of man who coldly picked off his victims, one by one, at
the home of his wife’s grandmother, near Burlingame, a small town
20 miles south of Topeka, during the weekend after Thanksgiving
2009.
The Osage County jury needed only about two hours to reach a
verdict. Kahler, dressed in a dark suit, stood calmly and showed
no outward emotion as the bailiff announced the verdict. His
parents, seated in the front row, also appeared calm.
Jurors will next hear additional evidence and consider whether
to recommend a death sentence, weighing issues such as the cruelty
involved in the shootings against Kahler’s previous lack of a
criminal record and his mental state at the time of the crimes.
Kahler, who goes by his middle name, Kraig, was convicted of
four counts of first-degree murder as well as a single count of
capital murder - a charge that prosecutors could bring because
Kansas law says multiple murders can qualify a defendant for the
death penalty if they’re part of "the same transaction" or "a
common scheme." Kahler also was convicted of one count of
aggravated burglary, with prosecutors contending he entered the
grandmother’s home without permission.
Kahler, 48, had directed city utility departments in
Weatherford, Texas, and Columbia, Mo., but moved back to Kansas
just weeks before the shootings to live with his parents.
Witnesses testified that he lost the Missouri job after he became
obsessed with keeping his marriage alive and that he believed his
daughters had sided with his wife.
The victims were his wife, 44-year-old Karen Kahler; her
grandmother, Dorothy Wight, 89; and the Kahlers’ daughters, Emily,
18, and Lauren, 16.
Law enforcement officers and emergency medical personnel said
that before dying, Wight and Lauren Kahler identified Kraig Kahler
as the gunman. The Kahlers’ son Sean, now 12, also testified that
he saw his father shoot his mother before he escaped the scene
without physical injury.
In closing arguments earlier Thursday, Assistant Attorney
General Amy Hanley said Kahler was angry and gunned down his
family members because he believed he could fix his problems by
getting rid of those he felt were responsible.
"The defendant had a plan," Hanley told jurors. "In his mind he
had a problem to eliminate, and he knew how to do it."
Defense attorney Thomas Haney said Kahler was mentally "broken"
because of his wife’s lesbian affair and her pursuit of a divorce.
"What happens when someone who’s rigid is put under too much
pressure?" Haney said, breaking a pencil in front of jurors. "They
snap."
Kahler was a city utilities director in Weatherford, Texas, and
Columbia, Mo., but moved back to Kansas shortly before the
shootings to live with his parents outside Topeka.
According to trial testimony, his wife began having a sexual
relationship with the other woman in Texas in 2008, before Kahler
took the job in Missouri. His wife filed for divorce in January
2009, and witnesses said Kahler became so obsessed with his
failing marriage that his work suffered and he lost his job.
Partners in a Kansas City, Mo., psychiatric office testified on
opposite sides of the case about Kahler’s mental health. One said
Kahler was so severely depressed that he wasn’t thinking
rationally and couldn’t control his behavior at the time of the
killings. The other said Kahler’s depression wasn’t serious enough
to prevent him from forming the intent to kill or making conscious
decisions about what he did.
Kansas law says a mentally ill defendant still is legally
responsible for a crime, unless his illness or mental defect
prevented him forming an intent to commit the crime and, in the
case of capital or first-degree murder, acting with premeditation.
Stories of abuse
take larger role in Kahler trial testimony
By Brennan David - ColumbiaTribune.com
August 22, 2011
Prosecutors rested their case this morning against former
Columbia Water and Light Director Kraig Kahler after a full week
of testimony focused mostly on the events surrounding his alleged
slaying of family members.
But there is more to the story than murder: Allegations of
abuse in Kahler’s relationship with his wife, one of the four
victims of the 2009 shootings, might be the focus of more
testimony this week as the defense attempts to show Kahler was
gradually driven to a breaking point.
In a March 16, 2009, petition for an ex-parte order of
protection against her husband, Karen Kahler wrote of why she was
afraid of him: “Over time it has become apparent that Kraig is
controlling. I have learned along the way that he is capable of
using force. The issues vary, but I figured out how to keep things
from becoming ugly. When money was a ‘problem,’ I wouldn’t tell
him what things (groceries, clothing, etc.) cost. When it was
about sex, I decided it was ‘easier’ to give him what he wanted
every night, than to refuse. … On the occasions I would refuse, he
has been known to be forceful and mean.”
Kansas Assistant Attorney General Amy Hanley and Osage County
Attorney Brandon Jones presented little to the jury about abuse
the defendant allegedly inflicted on his wife before the Nov. 28,
2009, shootings in Burlingame, Kan. Kraig Kahler is charged in the
fatal shootings of his wife, daughters Emily and Lauren, and
Dorothy Wight, Karen Kahler’s grandmother.
Although Kahler is not charged with battery or sexual assault,
prosecutors touched on the topic Tuesday in testimony from Karen
Kahler’s divorce attorney, Dan Pingelton. He noted Karen Kahler
was involved in a relationship with another woman and that Kraig
Kahler stalked her through the Internet during divorce proceedings
and was charged with assault in relation to a March 16 incident.
But the prosecution only addressed the topic in depth after
defense attorney Tom Haney dug into it. Haney is out to prove his
client’s obsession with his wife’s relationship with Sunny Reese
and their pending divorce drove him insane. The defense likely
will highlight the order of protection this week to make its case.
“I’m afraid it will escalate so far that someone is going to be
seriously hurt,” Karen Kahler wrote in the petition.
Last week, Osage County jurors heard Reese, 42, describe the
Kahler marriage as “very abusive” but only after the defense
questioned her about it. The abuse apparently was escalating to
such a degree that Reese refused to remove herself from
involvement with the Kahlers after friends asked her to do so
after a New Year’s Eve 2008 party, Reese testified. That party led
to an argument that Karen Kahler said became physically abusive,
and she told her husband the next day that she was leaving him for
Reese.
A few months later, she reported an altercation that led to a
misdemeanor domestic assault charge against Kraig Kahler, which
was dismissed after his wife’s death.
“He asked if he could sit beside me,” Karen Kahler wrote. “I
got up and he followed me and asked for a hug. I told him no, but
he kept asking, insisting, coming toward me with his arms reaching
out to me. I continued to say ‘no’ and tried to leave the room. He
blocked my exit attempts until I could shove past him. He
continued to block my exit from the room, eventually cornering me
against the cabinet. He held me from behind in a ‘bear hug’ and
the struggle resulted in several scrapes and bruises."
Kahler begins calling witnesses on Monday
By Steve Fry - CJOnline.com
August 21, 2011
LYNDON — The first witnesses capital murder
defendant James Kraig Kahler will call Monday will be a
Weatherford, Texas, couple who will testify about how Kahler's
wife and her girlfriend began behaving inappropriately at a
holiday party at their home, according to Kahler defense
attorneys.
The Kahler defense contends the former
Columbia, Mo., utility director snapped in November 2009 when his
marriage, his family, and his career disintegrated, in part due to
his wife's affair with a woman, humiliating him.
Defense attorney Tom Haney told jurors Kahler
was overwhelmed and couldn't control himself, and Kahler was
"mentally impaired to the point he was not responsible for his
actions."
Once prosecutors formally rest their case early
Monday, the defense will begin calling witnesses in Osage County
District Court.
Don and Marina Coulter, the Texas couple,
hosted a New Year's Eve party in 2008 in which Sunny Reese and
Karen Kahler drank too much and kissed, Reese said this week.
Another defense witness will be Stephen
Peterson, a Kansas City, Mo., psychiatrist, whom Kahler hired as
his expert witness about the elements of mental disease or defect,
excluding criminal responsibility of Kahler.
Another defense witness might be Reese, who
testified this week after prosecutors subpoenaed her. Reese wasn't
released from the court order to testify and remains under
subpoena.
The unanswered question is whether Kahler will
be sworn in to testify in his own case. A defendant doesn't have
to testify in a criminal case, but if he does, he can be
cross-examined by prosecutors.
The Kahler defense is expected to last two or
three days.
If Peterson testifies, prosecutors will call
at least one rebuttal witness, William S. Logan, a forensic
psychiatrist hired by the prosecutors to evaluate Kahler and to be
the prosecution's expert witness.
It is unknown whether prosecutors might call
other rebuttal witnesses.
When the rebuttal witnesses are done, the jury
will hear instructions from Chief Judge Phillip Fromme and closing
arguments from prosecutors and defense attorneys.
How long jurors deliberate on the case is up to
them. If jurors convict Kahler of capital murder, they then must
decide what punishment to recommend to the judge.
Their choices are the death penalty or life
imprisonment without parole.
If they can't unanimously decide which penalty,
it would be a prison sentence without parole.
Significant testimony during the prosecution
case included:
■ Kraig Kahler's blood was found on a handrail
and wall in the stairwell of the Wight home. Kansas Bureau of
investigation witnesses conceded the Kahler could have left the
blood during another visit over the years to the Wight home.
■ Lauren Kahler and Wight told rescuers that
Kraig Kahler shot them, and Sean Kahler, 12, testified he saw his
father shoot his mother, Karen Kahler.
■ Erik Mitchell, coroner and forensic
pathologist, testified that of seven gunshot wounds suffered by
the victims, six wounds were fatal shots, and one would have been
survivable by itself. The Kahler women were shot twice each, and
Wight was shot once. None of the wounds were immediately fatal,
Mitchell said, and Wight died three days after being shot.
■ Reese, 42, said she didn't break up the
marriage of the Kahlers so she could be with Karen. Reese said she
encouraged Karen Kahler to divorce her husband for her own safety.
Kraig Kahler had suggested that the Kahlers and
Reese have three-way sex, but they didn't, Reese said. Reese said
Karen Kahler told her Kraig Kahler had physically abused her.
■ Jurors heard recordings of Lauren Kahler
first screaming for help because a gunman was in the house, and
the wounded teen telling an Osage County deputy that her father
shot her.
■ Kahler had a bottle of prescription tablets
for anxiety disorders, but didn't take any of the medication.
■ Officers recovered three magazines of
.223-caliber ammunition, but the AK-47 style semiautomatic rifle
purchased by Kahler wasn't recovered.
■ When a KBI investigator expressed concern the
semiautomatic rifle might be found by a child, Kahler told him no
child would find it.
Kraig Kahler is accused of fatally shooting his
wife, Karen Kahler, 44; the couple’s daughters, Lauren, 16, and
Emily, 18; and Wight, 89, Karen Kahler's grandmother.
Slain wife’s lesbian lover
testifies at murder trial of former Weatherford, Texas utilities
director
James Kraig Kahler allegedly arranged a
threesome with his wife and another woman, then snapped after it
led to full-fledged affair
By John Hanna - Associated Press
August 19, 2011
LYNDON, Kan. — A former city utilities
administrator accused of killing his estranged wife and three
other family members in Kansas had encouraged his spouse to have a
sexual relationship with a Texas woman but also was an abusive
husband, the murdered wife’s lover testified Wednesday in his
capital murder trial.
Prosecutors called Sunny Reese, of Weatherford,
Texas, as a witness against James Kraig Kahler, who’s charged in
the shootings of his estranged wife, their two teenage daughters
and his wife’s grandmother. He could face the death penalty if
convicted of the slayings, which occurred the weekend after
Thanksgiving 2009 in the grandmother’s home just outside
Burlingame, a town of some 930 residents about 20 miles south of
Topeka.
Defense attorneys contend that Kahler snapped
mentally because his wife was having an affair with Reese and was
pursuing a divorce. Kahler, 48, was utilities director in
Weatherford, Texas, before becoming water department director in
Columbia, Mo., in 2008, though he lived outside Topeka at the time
of the killings.
But Reese testified that Kahler, who often went
by his middle name, consented to her sexual relationship with his
wife, Karen, before it began in 2008. She testified that he once
gave the two women roses at the same time.
“Kraig knew for the get-go and was very
accepting,” Reese testified. Later, she told jurors, “He agreed to
everything. He was very pleased.”
Reese also has been subpoenaed as a witness by
Kahler’s attorneys and could testify again when the defense
presents its case. Kahler’s attorneys describe him as mentally ill
for months before the shootings, suffering from hallucinations and
becoming unable to function at work. The killings occurred several
months after he lost his job in Columbia, Mo.
Most of the questions Wednesday in Osage County
District Court about the two women’s relationship came from
defense attorney Thomas Haney, who noted that Reese sent Karen
Kahler an email in January 2009 about “how to divorce a
narcissist.” Haney also had Reese read to jurors a text message
she sent to Kahler around that time, telling him, “She doesn’t
love you, Kraig, not like you think she does.”
As for Kahler consenting to the lesbian affair,
Haney said, “To keep his marriage alive, he was willing to consent
to a sexual relationship between her and you.”
Haney has repeatedly described the defendant as
a loving father and husband. But Reese called the Kahler marriage
“a very abusive relationship,” saying she’d heard of screaming
matches between them. But Reese acknowledged during questioning by
Haney that she’d not witnessed incidents herself but based her
comments on what Karen Kahler had told her.
“I wanted to protect her,” Reese testified. “I
thought I could.”
The victims of the shootings were: Karen
Kahler, 44; her grandmother, Dorothy Wight, 89, and the Kahlers’
daughters, Emily, 18, and Lauren, 16. Emily died in the home, and
the other three victims were transported to a Topeka hospital
before dying.
The Kahlers also had a son, Sean, now 12, who
was at the scene of the shootings but fled without being
physically injured. He testified Monday, the trial’s first day,
that he saw his father shoot his mother.
Law enforcement and emergency medical personnel
have said that Wight and Lauren Kahler also identified Kraig
Kahler as the gunman before they died. Prosecutors have spent much
of their time presenting physical evidence tying him to the
shootings.
Prosecutors played a recording for jurors
Wednesday of an emergency call, triggered by an alarm to a private
security and medical emergency monitoring system Wight had in her
home. The recording, improved by a law enforcement technician,
featured a young woman screaming, “Somebody’s going to kill us!”
and, in answer to an operator’s statement, “He’s in the home!”
Reese identified the voice as Lauren Kahler’s
and bowed her head as she listened to the half-minute recording,
shaking at times. Reese appeared nervous throughout her testimony
and was often wide-eyed.
But Reese testified that Kahler wanted to bring
her into his sexual relations with his wife, proposing it in a
text message as the lesbian relationship started.
Karen Kahler’s divorce attorney testified
Tuesday that she had told him Kahler had proposed such an
arrangement. The attorney, Dan Pingelton, of Columbia, said Karen
Kahler told him that her husband had brought the two women
together, but Reese said they’d known each other since 2006 from
working as fitness trainers at a Weatherford, Texas, gym.
Haney noted that no one has produced a copy of
a text message from Kahler to Reese, seeking a sexual relationship
with the two women.
Haney asked Reese, “You don’t have anything
other than your testimony today that Kraig Kahler suggested a
threesome?”
Reese replied, “No sir. It’s my word."
Deputies detail
capture of Kraig Khaler
When approached, he said, 'I’m the guy'
By Brennan David - ColumbiaTribune.com
August 17, 2011
LYNDON, Kan. — When sheriff’s deputies searched Kraig Kahler’s
red Ford Explorer the day after his family was killed, they found
a rifle box with a caliber size engraved on its side — the same
caliber of casing that was discovered at the murder scene.
Yesterday afternoon, testimony in Kahler’s murder trial focused
on the aftermath of the killings, Kahler’s capture and evidence
collection.
Testimony from several Osage and Shawnee county
deputies, as well as investigators with the Kansas Bureau of
Investigation, occupied the attention of the 15 Osage County
jurors yesterday afternoon.
Defense attorney Tom Haney does not dispute that his client
committed the Nov. 28, 2009, crime in Burlingame, Kan. Instead,
Haney said his case will show his client was not sane at the time
of the killings and will accuse a Texas woman, Sunny Reese, of
wrecking the Kahler family home and driving him to his “tipping
point.”
Columbia attorney Dan Pingelton represented Karen Kahler during
her divorce from the defendant. He said yesterday that his client
and Reese were in love. Reese was scheduled to testify today.
Kraig Kahler, former director of Columbia Water and Light, is
charged with capital murder, four alternative counts of
first-degree murder and aggravated burglary. He allegedly shot and
killed his wife, Karen Kahler, 44, and daughters Emily, 18, and
Lauren, 16. He also is accused of fatally shooting Karen Kahler’s
grandmother, Dorothy Wight, 89.
On Monday, former Osage County sheriff’s Deputy Nathan Purling
said that minutes before arriving at Wight’s home he had been
dispatched to investigate a suspicious red Ford Explorer and heard
over the police radio a report of a boy who said his dad shot his
mom. Twelve-year-old Sean Kahler, who was 10 at the time of the
killings, told the jury Monday he escaped the home when Kraig
Kahler opened fire on his mother.
Purling discovered Wight when he entered the home. He said she
was attempting to nurse a gunshot wound to the abdomen while
sitting in a recliner. With the shooting confirmed, Purling said
he immediately informed dispatch that the suspicious red vehicle
must be involved. The call resulted in a manhunt.
The vehicle was later found abandoned on the county line just
moments after it passed a deputy. The driver parked it in a
driveway and fled the scene, and the vehicle was retrieved and
processed for evidence. A perimeter, stretching two miles in all
directions, was established around the vehicle to locate the
driver.
Deputies searched for 7½ hours but did not locate the driver.
Around 7 the next morning, Shawnee County sheriff’s Deputy Ed
Nelson testified to being stopped by another vehicle while
patrolling the area. The man asked if a murder suspect was caught
yet and informed the deputy that a man just ahead was walking
along a ditch.
Nelson said he approached the man, who later was identified as
Kraig Kahler. “I’m the guy you’re looking for,” Nelson said he was
told.
Nelson said Kahler told him he was from Columbia and that his
wife had filed for divorce and she was having an affair.
Kraig Kahler also told the deputy he was armed with a holstered
revolver. Long pocket knives also were found on him as well as
hundreds of dollars in cash, pliers, gloves, a flashlight and a
mesh hunting bag. Sean Kahler testified Monday that his father
left the Meriden, Kan., family home just hours before the killings
to go to the bank.
“He appeared to be cold, tired,” Nelson said of Kraig Kahler.
A rifle box was found in Kraig Kahler’s red Ford Explorer with
a caliber size engraved on its side, said Shawnee County sheriff’s
crime scene Deputy Reanne Rice. The same caliber casing was
discovered at the murder scene. The weapon never was recovered,
but the rifle’s clip was found and collected.
Additional rifle clips were found in the vehicle, as well as a
hiking backpack equipped with supplies such as soap, lotion, hand
towels, toilet paper, cotton balls, beef jerky and trail mix. A
large amount of canned goods also were found in the vehicle
Son testifies against father
11-year-old says dad shot his mother
Wayne White
- Och-c.com
August 15, 2011
LYNDON—In a
clear and unwavering voice, an 11-year-old boy testified Tuesday
that he saw his father shoot his mother at his great grandmother’s
Burlingame home.
Testifying by
closed circuit video from the jury room in the Osage County
Courthouse, with his father James Kraig Kahler sitting in the
courtroom, Sean Kahler told about visiting his great grandmother
with his mother and two sisters during the Thanksgiving holiday
last year and the events that followed.
The boy’s
testimony was presented at a preliminary hearing for Kraig Kahler,
46, who is charged with capital murder for the deaths of his wife,
Karen Kahler, the couple’s teenage daughters, Emily and Lauren,
and Karen Kahler’s grandmother, Dorothy Wight. All were shot in
Wight’s Burlingame home Nov. 28, 2009.
Sean
testified he had left his father’s parents’ home near Meriden,
after spending Thanksgiving there and went with his mother and
sisters to Wight’s home in Burlingame.
Questioned by
assistant attorney general Amy Hanley, Sean said he was cleaning
some old coins he and his mother had found at his grandmother’s
house. He said as the two were standing at the kitchen sink, his
father entered the home.
“My dad came
through the door and shot my mom,” the boy said.
When asked if
he saw what happened to his mother, he answered, “I just heard her
collapse on the floor from the shot.
“I just caught
a glimpse, I think she was holding her leg.”
Questioned by
Kraig Kahler’s attorney, Thomas Haney, Sean said he then ran
outside. “The first thing I did was duck down and then he went
around the kitchen counter and that’s when I ran out the door,”
Sean said.
He explained
that after going outside, he went to the front of the house in an
attempt to get back inside the house.
“My first
thought was to go in and get a phone,” he said, “so I was trying
to find a way to get back in. I started opening the door and saw
my dad go by again, and then I closed it.”
He testified
that he heard one or two more shots and then ran to a neighbor’s
house, but no one was home. He then went to another nearby house
in which he could see people inside.
When they
answered the door, “I told them to call 911 because there had been
a shooting across the street at Dorothy Wight’s house,” he said.
He said that
once he calmed down, “I told them my dad had shot my mom, sisters
and great grandma.”
He described
the gun used by his father as a .223 caliber rifle that he had
seen only once before, when the family lived in Texas. The boy
said he knew about guns because his dad had given him a .223
caliber rifle, and he recently shot a deer with his grandfather’s
.243 caliber rifle.
Also testifying
at the hearing were two of Wight’s neighbors, Michelle Davidson
and Trevor Gibson, who live a block and a half west of Wight’s
home. The couple testified that on Nov. 28, 2009, they were inside
their home when an unrecognized noisy vehicle drove by and parked
nearby on Collins Street. They became suspicious and watched a
person exit the vehicle and walk down the road.
“We thought
the person was stealing,” Davidson said.
Gibson
testified he went to the vehicle to investigate and noted a
Missouri license tag number on the red Ford Explorer.
“First I called
the Burlingame Police Department, but I couldn’t get a hold of
anybody,” Davidson said.
Upon
contacting Burlingame’s utility department, they were advised to
call 911, she said. A 911 dispatcher told her that no deputies
were in the area, but to keep watching the vehicle.
A while later,
the couple saw a man come back to the vehicle, carrying an object
they could not identify.
“Hey, you, stop
right there,” Davidson said she yelled at the man as she shined a
flashlight on him, but he placed the object in the back seat, got
in the vehicle, and drove off as Gibson approached on foot.
Before the
man came back to the vehicle, Davidson said, she thought she heard
a gunshot and then heard sirens.
Osage County
Sheriff’s Deputy Nathan Purling testified that he was the first
law enforcement officer to arrive at Wight’s home, responding to a
call of a suspicious vehicle. Then he was notified of a Life Alert
call from Wight’s home.
“Shortly after
that, I was told there was a shooting at that residence,” Purling
said.
He said he grabbed a rifle and took a position behind a tree in
the front yard to observe, and then went to the front porch and
looked in a window. He said he saw Wight sitting in a chair in the
living room and saw blood.
“I forced my
way inside,” Purling said. “I stopped and looked at her injuries,
and told dispatch we needed as much medical attention as we could
get.”
He began searching the house to make sure it was safe and then
found Karen Kahler in the kitchen still alive. He said he also
noticed empty .223 caliber shell casings on the floor.
After
hearing a voice crying for help from the second floor, Purling
said he went up the stairs as another deputy covered him. There he
found Lauren Kahler suffering from gunshots. He said she was
writhing in pain and he tried to calm her. He asked who shot her
and she said her father had.
“Don’t let me
die,” the girl told him, he testified. “I don’t want to die.”
“I comforted
her as best as I could,” Purling said.
Purling said
he then went back downstairs to the living room where he found
Emily Kahler dead on the living room floor.
Wallace
Brannen, an emergency medical technician employed by American
Medical Response, testified he responded to the emergency call and
provided care to Wight as she was transported to Topeka. Brannen
said Wight told him Kraig Kahler “came in and just started
shooting.”
Brannen’s
testimony about Wight’s statements drew an objection from the
defense, but Osage County Magistrate Judge Stephen Jones overruled
it due to Hanley citing “dying declaration” as the reason to admit
the hearsay statements.
Shawnee County
Sheriff’s Deputy Ed Nelson testified he was the first law
enforcement officer to locate Kraig Kahler after an all night
search of an area near the Osage-Shawnee county line. Nelson said
he was not a participant in the search, but was patrolling in the
area after he came on duty that Sunday morning and was notified by
a person in a vehicle that the suspect was “just over the hill.”
Upon driving a short distance, he encountered Kraig Kahler walking
in the ditch along Auburn Road.
When he made
contact with the individual, “He stated, ‘I’m the guy you’re
looking for,’” Nelson said.
Nelson said
Kraig Kahler was carrying a hunting knife and a handgun, but
offered no resistance to his arrest.
Testimony
indicated Kraig Kahler was located less than a half mile from
where his vehicle was found.
“Thirteen hours
after the shooting, Mr. Kahler was located four blocks away from
his vehicle?” Haney asked Nelson.
Nelson
confirmed Haney’s question. Haney also asked whether Nelson knew
if a rifle had been recovered, but then withdrew the question.
Osage County
Sheriff’s Deputy John Knapp testified that he was involved in a
search of the area where Kraig Kahler had been located, and said a
magazine for a .223 caliber rifle was found in the ditch.
Investigator
Bob Beckham, of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, testified he
searched Kraig Kahler’s vehicle after it had been impounded in an
Osage County Sheriff’s Department garage. He said he discovered a
long white box that had a label indicating it was for a .223
caliber Mac 90 rifle. He said further investigation revealed the
box had contained a rifle sold in Texas to Kraig Kahler.
With testimony
completed, Jones agreed with the prosecution that enough evidence
had been presented to support the charges against Kraig Kahler:
capital murder, or four counts of first degree murder in the
alternative, and one charge of aggravated burglary.
“The court’s
going to find the allegations of amended complaint filed Dec. 10,
2009, have been proved,” Jones said. “It does appear those
felonies have been committed and there is probable cause to
believe the defendant has committed them.”
Jones then
bound Kraig Kahler over for trial before Osage County District
Judge Phillip Fromme. Arraignment is set for 9:30 a.m. Feb. 7.
Earlier
Tuesday, Fromme had been asked to rule on an appeal of Jones’
denial of the defense request to waive the preliminary hearing.
Fromme ruled the court did not have jurisdiction to hear an appeal
of Jones’ decision.
Kahler charged with capital murder
By James Carlson - CJOnline.com
November 30, 2009
LYNDON -- Armored by a
bulletproof vest, a wiry James Kraig Kahler was marched into the
Osage County Courthouse on Monday morning where he was formally
charged in the shooting deaths of his wife and two teenage
daughters and the shooting of his wife's grandmother.
Count one, the judge read aloud, capital murder
punishable by the death penalty.
Kahler didn't raise an eye from his size 10
jail slippers as four armed sheriff's deputies guided him into the
courtroom. Once inside, the 46-year-old rarely looked up during
his 15-minute first appearance.
In the alternative of capital murder, he was
charged with three counts of first-degree murder, one count of
attempted first-degree murder and one count of aggravated
burglary.
In setting Kahler's bond at $10 million,
District Judge Phillip M. Fromme said Kahler -- due to the nature
of the crime and his out-of-state residence -- presented a flight
risk.
Kahler said he had contacted Topeka attorney
Jason Belveal but wasn't sure of Belveal's credentials. Asked
about his participation, Belveal wouldn't comment Monday.
Fromme appointed the Kansas Death Penalty
Defense Unit.
A preliminary hearing was set for 1:30 p.m.
Dec. 10.
Following the proceeding, Deputy Attorney
General Barry Disney, who will lead the prosecution, said Kahler
is presumed innocent until proven guilty. The tragedy, he said,
has been difficult on the residents of Osage County.
"I don't think if it happened a hundred times
in a county people would be used to it," Disney said.
Deputies were called about 6:15 p.m. Saturday
to 905 S. Topeka Ave. just outside Burlingame, where they found
four people shot. One was pronounced dead at the scene and three
others were transported to Stormont-Vail Regional Health Center in
Topeka. Two of the three victims died shortly after arrival to the
hospital.
Karen Kahler, 44; Emily Kahler, 18; and Lauren
Kahler, 16, were identified as the deceased. Disney confirmed the
couple's 10-year-old son was also present in the home at the time
of the shootings. A neighbor on Sunday said the boy was able to
notify another neighbor about assistance.
Dorothy Wight, 89, was still in critical
condition, Disney said.
Kahler is the former director of the Water &
Light Department in Columbia, Mo. In January of this year,
Kahler's wife filed for divorce. In March, he was arrested and
charged in Columbia with third-degree domestic assault after an
altercation with his wife. By September, he was forced to resign
due to his personal problems.
His domestic assault trial was set to begin
Wednesday, and the court struggle for the couple's kids was to
continue later this month.
For much of the proceedings on Monday, Kahler
held his head in his hands and answered Fromme in short phrases.
Karen Kahler's brother and his wife sat in the
second row of benches. Their gaze rarely veered from Kahler.
Man arrested in slayings
By James Carlson - CJOnline.com
November 28, 2009
BURLINGAME -- A domestic dispute simmering 200
miles away boiled to the surface in this tiny Osage County town
over the weekend as a former Columbia, Mo., city official was
arrested Sunday in connection with capital murder in the shooting
deaths of his wife and two teenage daughters.
James "Kraig" Kahler, 46, was booked into Osage
County Jail on Sunday afternoon, just days before he was to stand
trial in Columbia for a domestic assault charge related to an
incident with his wife. Kahler's first appearance is scheduled for
11 a.m. today in the District Court of Osage County, where formal
charges are expected to be filed.
The Kansas Attorney General's Office, leading
the investigation, said Kahler also will face charges of attempted
first-degree murder and aggravated burglary of Dorothy Wight, the
owner of the home and Kahler's grandmother-in-law. As of Sunday,
Wight remained in critical condition in a Topeka hospital.
Deputies were called about 6:15 p.m. Saturday
to 905 S. Topeka Ave. just outside Burlingame, where they found
four people shot. One was pronounced dead at the scene and three
others were transported to Stormont-Vail Regional Health Center in
Topeka. Two of the three victims died shortly after arrival to the
hospital.
Karen Kahler, 44; Emily Kahler, 18; and Lauren
Kahler, 16, were identified as the deceased.
Townspeople were stunned by the news as they
smoked outside their apartment or walked into church Sunday
morning.
"I'm just sick about the whole mess," said
local resident George Masters, who has known Wight "for years and
years."
The shootings came after a year-long slide for
Kahler's marriage -- and consequently, his career.
Kahler told reporters he was looking for
"larger opportunities" for his family when he became the director
of the city water department in Columbia, Mo., in June 2008.
But a series of events changed that.
In January of this year, his wife, Karen, filed
for divorce. On March 16, Kahler was arrested after an altercation
with Karen. She filed for a court protective order against Kahler
that same day, and Kahler was later charged with 3rd degree
domestic assault.
By September, his personal life had bled into
his professional life as he was forced to resign his city position
due to "difficult family issues," according to a city news
release.
Court records show the Kahlers' divorce trial
was scheduled for Dec. 21. Court records also reveal the Kahlers
had been sparring over their children and that a hearing was
scheduled for January.
Kahler was to face a court trial Wednesday in
Columbia, Mo., connected to the domestic assault charge. Instead,
he sits in an Osage County jail cell.
Asked Sunday about a previous history of
violence for Kahler, Kansas Attorney General spokeswoman Ashley
Anstaett said, "There's been some talk about what was going on in
Columbia."
After authorities were called to the scene
Saturday, they initiated a multi-agency manhunt involving the
Kansas Highway Patrol's helicopter unit, KHP ground units, the
Shawnee and Osage County sheriff's offices, and police from Auburn
and Topeka. Law enforcement blocked about 2 miles of Auburn Road
between Auburn and Burlingame as air, ground and K-9 units
searched the area.
Kahler was finally apprehended by Shawnee
County sheriff's deputies in the area of 112th and Auburn Road at
7:27 a.m. Sunday, county dispatchers said.
Initial reports indicated a man was responsible
for the incident at a home in the small Osage County town. Police
radio traffic indicated a 10-year-old child at the house was able
to run from the scene and call for help. A neighbor, who wished to
remain anonymous, confirmed a boy at the scene of the crime had
notified a neighbor about the shootings.
Everybody in town seemed to know Wight and her
husband, George, who died a few years ago. Masters just shook his
head Sunday morning.
"They are fine people, fine people," he said of
the Wights.
Cathy Fagan, who lives across the street from
the residence, remembered her children fishing in the Wights'
pond.
"She is a wonderful lady," Fagan said.
LeeAnn Smiley, who lives next door to Wight,
called her "one strong lady." She said she had seen the family
members arrive for the holiday weekend.
The shootings were the second triple-homicide
in Osage County this year. In January, Michael Shirley shot his
three children before taking his own life in a Scranton residence.
