Showing posts with label adrian burks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label adrian burks. Show all posts

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Prosecutor May Pursue Death Penalty in Kansas Killings

(CNN) -- A district attorney Friday considered seeking the death penalty for a man charged with killing a toddler and three others at a Kansas City, Kansas-area home.

Adrian Burks, 37, has been charged with four counts of first-degree premeditated murder, but prosecutors are now considering capital murder charges that could result in the death penalty if Burks is convicted, Wyandotte County District Attorney Jerome Gorman said.

Gorman said it could be a week before prosecutors decide whether to file new charges.

Among the victims Burks is accused of killing is a mother and her 3-year-old daughter, police said.

Peggy Castleberry, 41, and her daughter, Juanita Castleberry-Bess, were found shot Monday in a rural Kansas City-area home along with homeowner James Warren, 66, and Amanda Remmers, 21, police said in a statement.

Burks is being held in the Wyandotte County, Kansas, jail with bail set at $2 million.

Police apprehended Burks on Tuesday after a two-state car chase that began in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, and ended in a crash in Kansas City, Kansas, Gorman said.

Along with the premeditated murder charges, Burks also has been charged with felony fleeing and eluding.

Police first suspected Burks after they discovered he had a relationship with one of the victims, Gorman said. Authorities didn't elaborate on what the relationship entailed and who it involved.

Earlier Monday, before the slayings, one of the slaying victims saw Burks attack a man, Gorman said. Burks eventually was charged with aggravated battery in connection with the attack.

Hours after the initial crime, prosecutors allege that Burks then went to the home of the four victims and killed them after he had a domestic dispute with one of them.

"As far as a motive, obviously, domestic violence is the driving factor in this case," Gorman said Thursday.

He said he was at a loss for a motive for the child's slaying.

"Why a 3-year-old? ... One, we haven't got that far in that case, and two, I suppose when we get to that point, I still don't think we're going to have a satisfactory answer to why a 3-year-old was killed."

At the time of the killings, Burks was out of jail on pretrial release in a separate case, Gorman said. Prosecutors in Johnson County, Kansas, had charged him with criminal threat and battery over an April incident.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Murder Suspect Charged in Earlier Attack

KANSAS CITY, Kan. – The man police called a suspect in Monday’s quadruple homicide in KCK has been charged with aggravated battery for an alleged attack that happened just hours before the killings.

Wyandotte County Court records show Adrian Burks, 37, of Kansas City, Kan., was in custody of charges of aggravated battery. He was being held Wednesday on $2 million bond and had not been charged in the quadruple homicide.

Authorities tell NBC Action News the aggravated battery is related to the murders, discovered Monday in the 5200 block of Muncie, but is a separate incident. The victim of the alleged battery was not one of the four people killed, according to an anonymous source.

Burks was arrested Tuesday after leading police on a chase from Kansas City, Mo., into Kansas City, Kan.

KCK Police said Tuesday they considered him a suspect in the quadruple homicide.

Police identified the victims Wednesday as James A. Warren, 66; Amanda J. Remmers, 21; Peggy Castleberry, 41; and Juanita D. Castelberry-Bess, 3. The four -- all residents of Kansas City, Kan. -- died from multiple gunshot wounds, Wyandotte County Coroner Allen Hancock said Wednesday.

Burks was to make his first court appearance for the aggravated battery charge Wednesday at 1:15 p.m.

Separately, Burks was charged in April in Johnson County, Kan., in a domestic violence case. He faces one felony count of criminal threat and a misdemeanor count of battery. The complaint in that case states on April 17, 2009, Burks battered and threatened harm to a different woman in Roeland Park, Kan.

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Tuesday, June 23, 2009
3 Adults, Child Found Dead In Kansas City Home