Andanh.com

A suburban Kansas City man convicted of murder in the videotaped sex slaying of a 41-year-old woman is a rapist whose crimes have spanned two decades and become more intense over time, prosecutors told jurors Friday.

In urging the jury to recommend the death penalty for Richard Davis, prosecutors said that the 44-year-old Independence man raped a woman in 1987 and assaulted a 5-year-old girl while on the run from authorities in 2006.

The jury on Thursday found Davis guilty of first-degree murder, kidnapping, rape, sodomy and assault in the May 2006 slaying of Marsha Spicer of Independence. He also was convicted of kidnapping, rape, sodomy and assault in the attack of 36-year-old Michelle Huff-Ricci a month earlier. He was convicted of 25 of 26 counts in all. Both Spicer's death and the attack on Huff-Ricci were recorded on videotapes that became key evidence in the trial.

Davis was acquitted on one count of first-degree assault related to the attack on Huff-Ricci. Her charred remains were found in neighboring Clay County, where Davis and his girlfriend, Dena Riley, are charged with capital murder for her April 2006 suffocation.

Riley is scheduled to go to trial next year in Spicer's killing.

A longtime Derby school board member has been charged with felony theft after Derby police accused her of stealing thousands of dollars from a family-owned business.

Prosecutors said Diana Pearce, 52, is accused of stealing $27,000 from Melvin's Electric while working there from 2001 through 2006. The company, which is no longer in business, was owned by Pearce's parents.

Pearce did not return a phone message left Friday at her home.

Pearce, who formerly used the name Diana Praeger Pearce, was first elected to the school board in 1994.

She is free on $2,500 bond and is scheduled to appear in Sedgwick County District Court for a preliminary hearing on Thursday. Under state sentencing guidelines, a person without prior convictions would normally be placed on probation if convicted of such a crime.

The search for a missing toddler turned into a homicide investigation early Friday morning, and police are still looking for the girl's father.

The 1-year-old girl was found dead at about 7:30 a.m. inside a house in the 1500 block of North Green, Lt. Ken Landwehr said.

Authorities are searching for 23-year-old Jonell K. Lloyd, who lives at that address and is thought to be the child's father.

The name of the child is being withheld pending the notification of relatives.

The search began at about 8:15 p.m. Thursday when the child's mother notified police. She told police that Lloyd had called to tell her he had taken the child to Grove Park and she had vanished when he wasn't looking.

Tuesday's primary will help determine who leads Sedgwick County for the next four years -- from the District 3 commissioner who will help oversee a budget of about $400 million to a sheriff who will try to shrink the jail's inmate population.

Election commissioner Bill Gale said last week that he expected a voter turnout of about 20 percent, or 48,000 people. That would be up from the 2006 primary, when about 16 percent of the county's 241,000 voters cast ballots.

Advance voting last week was "going pretty good," Gale said. "We're ahead of two years ago, which was a record turnout for advance voting then."

However, on Saturday afternoon, Gale sat largely alone waiting for voters to show up at the historic courthouse. The pace had been slow, he said.

Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh predicted voter turnout statewide would be the second lowest since 1990.

Question: How can a Wal-Mart clerk afford to donate $4,600 to a Senate candidate half a continent away?

Answer: Her husband's not a Wal-Mart clerk.

That question cropped up last week in the increasingly bitter battle for the Senate seat now held by Pat Roberts, R-Kansas.

In a press release, Christian Morgan, executive director of the Kansas Republican Party, questioned the legitimacy of a contribution by Yugi Wang of Arcadia, Calif.

She made an online donation June 25 to Democrat Jim Slattery, the former Kansas congressman seeking the nomination to challenge Roberts.

When candidate campaign finance reports were due Monday, three from the Wichita area were not available.

Reports for two Senate candidates -- Republican Rex Farley and Democrat Kelechi "KC" Ohaebosim -- have since been posted on the Kansas Governmental Ethics Commission Web site.

Between Jan. 1 and June 24, Ohaebosim had $12,280 available and spent $11,679. His Senate District 29 primary opponent, Rep. Oletha Faust-Goudeau, D-Wichita, had $18,640 available and spent $9,344.

Farley received a $200 donation and spent $190. His Senate District 31 primary opponent, Carolyn McGinn, R-Sedgwick, had $80,075 available and spent $14,276.

Farley and Ohaebosim do not face any fines.