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One recent night, John and Linda Aggson walked into the General Station convenience store and were stunned by who they saw. Until then, they didn't know that Joyce Patterson had returned to work at the store where her highly publicized abduction began.

On June 23, an armed robber took Patterson, 48, from the store, held her captive at a secluded Wichita house for three days and sexually assaulted her before releasing her, investigators say. While she was missing, authorities circulated her name and picture.

The suspect, Robert D. Abner, 39, has been charged with robbery, kidnapping and multiple sex crimes and is being held under a $500,000 bond.

On that recent night, as the Aggsons stepped into the store, there was Patterson, just doing her job: waiting on customers, making pizzas, mopping floors.

But things are different. Now Patterson is receiving gestures of kindness from customers who didn't know her name before.

For nine months before Jonell K. Lloyd was arrested and charged with murdering 17-month-old Chavira Brown, he was a fugitive.

Since early November 2007, Lloyd, 23, had been wanted for not returning to a Wichita residential center where he was serving part of his probation for aggravated battery and criminal possession of a firearm.

Sedgwick County deputies responsible for pursuing fugitives tried several times to locate Lloyd, a sheriff's official said.

Had Lloyd been caught before the girl's death, "odds are he would have gone to prison" based on his probation violations and his criminal record, said Mark Masterson, director of the Sedgwick County Department of Corrections, which was supervising him.

On Aug. 1, police found Chavira's body in the attic of a house in the 1500 block of North Green -- the same area where deputies said they had looked for Lloyd several times. He had been living there for about the past six months, said his 21-year-old girlfriend, Temeika Loudermilk, who was renting the house.

In their annual "Drunk Driving. Over the Limit. Under Arrest" campaign, law enforcement agencies across the state are cracking down on people who drive drunk.

This is the third year for the stepped-up enforcement blitz, which begins Aug. 14 and lasts through Labor Day.

Wichita police announced the campaign Friday, the same day police stepped up DUI enforcement in west Wichita through the department's "Point 08 on 08-08-08" effort.

That campaign, which ended at 3 a.m. today, targeted drivers whose blood alcohol content is above the .08 percent legal limit.

The number of traffic fatalities resulting from DUI reported between January and July dropped from seven in 2006 to five this year, according to the department.

A federal judge Friday refused to dismiss charges against the self-proclaimed grand chief of the Kaweah Indian Nation.

U.S. District Judge Wesley Brown denied a defense motion that claimed the evidence did not overcome a "good faith" defense that Malcolm Webber did not intend to commit any crimes.

"The notion he might have an altruistic motive in doing this is irrelevant," Assistant U.S. Attorney Brent Anderson told the judge.

Webber, 70, is charged in federal court with selling memberships costing $50 to more than $1,000 apiece to legal and illegal immigrants by claiming that tribal membership conferred U.S. citizenship and other benefits.

The judge's ruling came as the prosecution wrapped up its case Friday with the lengthy testimony by its lead investigator, Roger Visnaw.

Autopsy results released Friday on two girls who were gunned down while walking on a country road show one had five gunshot wounds and the other had eight.

Skyla Jade Whitaker, 11, and her friend, Taylor Paschal-Placker, 13, were shot June 8 a half-mile north of Taylor's home in the town of Weleetka, 70 miles south of Tulsa. No arrests have been made.

The state medical examiner's office said the younger girl had eight wounds to the arms, chest, abdomen and neck, and the older girl had five gunshot wounds to the head, groin and hand.

Investigators say two guns were used, leading to the presumption at least two people were involved. The isolated nature of the crime scene has led investigators to theorize local people might have been involved. No motive has been identified.

The autopsies did not indicate any sexual trauma.

A Sedgwick County judge Friday ordered Robert Abner evaluated for mental competency.

Abner, 39, is accused of kidnapping and raping a Viola convenience store clerk. He's charged with one count of aggravated robbery, one count of aggravated kidnapping, two counts of aggravated criminal sodomy and six counts of rape.

Deputy public defender Jama Mitchell told Sedgwick County District Judge Joe Kisner that she believes Abner has mental problems that prevent him from adequately defending himself against the charges. The prosecution took no position on Mitchell's motion.

Kisner ordered Abner to be evaluated by Comcare, the county's community mental health program.

That means the case will be put on hold for at least 60 days. If Comcare professionals determine that Abner is mentally incompetent, he could be sent to Larned State Hospital for a 90-day evaluation.

A federal jury has convicted a Minnesota man in connection with a 550-pound cocaine bust, one of the largest in Kansas history.

The jury found 28-year-old Nestor Ramirez of New Brighton, Minn., guilty this week of one count of conspiracy and one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine.

In October 2007, a Franklin County sheriff's deputy arrested Ramirez and co-defendant Manuel Barraza-Martinez -- who was convicted of the same charges on Aug. 1 -- on I-35. The Sheriff's Department seized the cocaine from an electronically operated hidden compartment in the cargo truck the men were operating.

Ramirez is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 3. Barraza-Martinez, a 21-year-old from Richfield, Minn., will be sentenced on Oct. 27. Each faces 10 years to life in prison.

A change of plea interrupted the trial of Tiffany Berry this week in Sedgwick County District Court.

Lawyers halted the trial Thursday, as Berry, 26, pleaded no contest to a new charge of voluntary manslaughter.

A no contest plea doesn't admit guilt but acknowledges that prosecutors have enough evidence to earn a conviction.

Berry pleaded to aiding the killing of Michael Moya Nov. 19 during a shooting in the heat of the moment. She had been standing trial on charges of first-degree felony murder and two counts of armed robbery.

Moya was shot multiple times in a house at 104 E. Eighth St. and Keena Elam was injured in what police said was a robbery that netted about $400 in cash.

discontent with incumbents

Some people are apparently so mad at Wichita's city government, they voted to dump their county commissioner.

There could be many reasons Commission Chairman Tom Winters lost Tuesday, including remnants of opposition to the county's downtown arena, a 2006 county tax increase and a recent flip-flop on the need for a new county jail.

But challenger Karl Peterjohn apparently also benefited from irritation over recent City Council decisions, especially a $6 million low-interest loan to save the struggling Old Town Warren Theatre.

Campaign precinct walkers started hearing from voters about the loan as soon as it hit the news in mid-June, said Peterjohn's treasurer, Kim Potochnik.

The race for the 84th House District is history, but it will take time for the scars from the campaign's final week to heal.

Candidate Inga Taylor says she feels hurt not because she lost, but because, she says, fellow Democrat Gail Finney used Taylor's sexuality against her to win.

Finney did not return phone messages seeking comment Friday, but issued a joint statement with Sedgwick County Democratic Party Chairman Kelly Johnston and Thomas Witt, chairman of the Kansas Equality Coalition, a gay-rights group.

"My goal always has been, and will continue to be, to represent and advocate for all Kansans," Finney said in the statement. "A major concern of my campaign was the excessive influence of out-of-state money. It was never my intention to upset or offend anyone."

Taylor is a lesbian and received substantial financial support nationwide through a connection to the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, a Washington-based political action committee.

Republicans are eyeing a Wichita district they lost to Democrats in 2004.

Democrats are eyeing a Wichita district they lost to Republicans that year.

Both parties hope to pick up more legislative seats in south-central Kansas in the Nov. 4 general election.

"People are not happy with the general state of the economy, and that will be likely reflected in a Democratic-leaning electorate," said Sedgwick County Democratic Chairman Kelly Johnston, adding that higher turnout because of the presidential election could help, too.

Sedgwick County Republican Chairman Kelly Arnold thinks otherwise.