Post by Scumhunter on Aug 31, 2021 5:35:41 GMT -5
(Above photo credit: hutchnews.com)
From hutchnews.com:
As law enforcement continues to search for a Kansas man wanted for questioning in connection with an apparent double homicide discovered Friday in eastern Reno County, officials released a few additional details about the scene.
However, the names of the two victims have still not been released, pending verification of their identities through DNA, said Reno County Sheriff Darrian Campbell.
Both victims are believed to be Hutchinson men in their 50s.
Authorities are searching for Kyle Hardwick, who is listed as a “person of interest” in the crime.
“We do have an eyewitness who placed Kyle Hardwick at the scene, and supposedly he was the last known person to have seen them alive,” Campbell said.
He may be driving a 2000 red Ford F-150 extended cab pickup with veteran plates, which belonged to one of the victims but was not at the scene.
Deputies were dispatched to the property on Palamino Trail early the evening of Aug. 27 on a “welfare check” on a missing person.
A camper was on the small parcel, and it contained some makeshift buildings, but it was not a residential property, Campbell said. The land belonged to one of the suspected victims.
“Deputies started looking around the property and discovered a body in a small depression on the property, about 30 feet from the road,” Campbell said. “Attempts had been made to hide the body.”
The body was found just off a path that went into some woods, Campbell said.
A detective taking photographs while processing the scene then stumbled upon the second body, which was a short distance from the first one, though more successfully concealed.
Campbell would not say how the two men were killed, pending an arrest.
The three men, all acquaintances, apparently agreed to meet at the site on Wednesday, Campbell said.
“I believe all three of them liked guns, and one of them purchased a new gun he wanted to show the others," he said.
Because a friend of one of the men had not heard from him since Wednesday, they became concerned and contacted law enforcement on Thursday.
The eyewitness, Campbell said, reported seeing Hardwick on the property on Thursday evening.
Authorities have notified the families of who investigators believe the two men are of the possibility of their deaths, and DNA was obtained from the families for comparison. But it may take several weeks to receive confirmation.
Hardwick is from the Eudora area, Campbell said, and he also has acquaintances in Lawrence.
His ties to Hutchinson date back to a grandfather who lived in the area and is buried on Rayl's Hill, but he has no recent local connections they’re aware of, he said.
Authorities in Eudora, Lawrence, and Douglas County have been advised of the search.
“There were weapons recovered from the scene, but we don’t know how many there were or what he (Hardwick) might have taken with him, so he is considered armed and dangerous,” Campbell said.
Anyone with information about Hardwick is asked to call Crime Stoppers of Reno County at (620) 694-2666 or 800-222-TIPS, or to submit information electronically go to this website.
www.hutchnews.com/story/news/2021/08/30/search-continues-man-wanted-questioning-reno-county-double-homicide/5651598001/
Thoughts? Based on the above article's posting date, Hardwick was still being sought for questioning at least as of August 30th, 2021. Also a reminder this appears to be Reno County in Kansas, not to be confused with the city of Reno in Nevada state.
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