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File Photo
Wayne White | Managing Editor
BURLINGAME—The fourth victim of a shooting in Burlingame has
died and charges against suspect James Kraig Kahler will be amended
to include an additional count of first-degree murder.
The Kansas Attorney General’s Office announced Dec. 2 that
Dorothy Wight, 89, Burlingame, had died at 4:13 p.m. Dec. 1. Wight
was one of four people shot in her Burlingame home the evening of
Nov. 28. Wight’s granddaughter, Karen Kahler, 44, and Kahler’s
daughters, Emily, 18, and Lauren, 16, died from injuries in the
attack.
James Kraig Kahler, 46, was arrested Nov. 29 following an almost
12-hour manhunt in the area of Auburn Road on both sides of the
Osage and Shawnee county line.
Ashley Anstaett, spokesperson for the attorney general’s office
said Karen, her daughters and son Sean, 10, had been visiting Wight
during the Thanksgiving holiday.
Anstaett said Sean was also in Wight’s home at the time of
the shootings.
“Sean was in the house and escaped safely,” Anstaett
said.
Anstaett said 911 calls alerted law enforcement to the shootings.
After one caller reported a suspicious vehicle, “The follow
up call came from a neighbor when the son ran to the house,”
Anstaett said.
The Osage County Sheriff’s Office reported that one person
was found dead at the scene, while three others were transported
to Stormont-Vail HealthCare in Topeka. Two of the victims died at
the hospital, while Wight was admitted in critical condition.
Law enforcement from across the area converged on an area along
Auburn Road in southern Shawnee County, where a vehicle the suspect
was driving was located at a farmstead. The manhunt continued through
the night with assistance of a law enforcement helicopter and dogs.
At approximately 7:30 a.m. Nov. 29, Kraig Kahler was located in
a ditch beside Auburn Road, between 109th Street and 117th Street
and arrested without incident, Anstaett said.
Although law enforcement would not comment on the activities, a
search of the area continued for several days after Kahler’s
arrest. Auburn Road residents said deputies had notified them of
a continued search for weapons, and Monday and Tuesday of last week
law enforcement officers could be seen walking and riding horses
in the area.
Anstaett, who is handling all media inquiries on the case, would
not say whether Kahler was armed when found or whether a weapon
had been recovered.
“I cannot comment on a murder weapon or the investigation,”
Anstaett said Monday.
On Nov. 30, Kahler was formally charged in Osage County District
Court with capital murder, and in the alternative, three counts
of first-degree murder. He was also charged with attempted first-degree
murder for the shooting of Wight, and aggravated burglary.
Anstaett said the charges would be amended to include Wight’s
death in the capital murder charge and an additional alternative
count of premeditated first-degree murder will be added. The attempted
murder charge will be dismissed, she said.
Anstaett said the amended complaint would likely be filed before
Kahler’s preliminary hearing scheduling conference at 1:30
p.m. Thursday.
“The amended charges will be part of the scheduled hearing,”
Anstaett said.
At Burlingame Saturday, while the town’s annual Country Christmas
celebration was getting underway, a memorial service was held for
the slain Kahlers. Osage County Sheriff Laurie Dunn and deputies
guarded The Federated Church of Burlingame during the service, turning
away local media. Other media allowed inside the church reported
that approximately 200 people attended the service.
Last Thursday, in Columbia, Mo., a candlelight vigil was held for
the victims at the Activity and Recreation Center where Karen worked
as a personal trainer, according to the Columbia Daily Tribune.
Earlier in the day at Rock Bridge High School, about 150 students
and teachers gathered in memory of Lauren Kahler, a junior at the
school, and Emily Kahler, a 2009 Rock Bridge graduate and freshman
at St. Louis College of Pharmacy, the newspaper reported.
A service for Wight is scheduled for 10 a.m. Dec. 12 at The Federated
Church of Burlingame. Burial is to follow at Burlingame Cemetery.
Kraig Kahler, a former Columbia, Mo., city official, is being held
in the Osage County Jail on $10 million cash bond. The attorney
general’s office reported that Kahler also lived in Columbia,
but jail records indicate his residence is at Meriden. An address
listed on the jail log is the same as Kahler’s father’s
address; Dunn confirmed the information came from Kahler when he
was booked into the jail.
The jail log also indicated Kahler listed his occupation as “retired.”
He had resigned from his job as Columbia’s water and light
director in September after being asked to do so by Columbia City
Manager Bill Watkins, according to a city of Columbia press release.
Kahler was appointed to the position July 14, 2008.
Watkins said Kahler had been experiencing “some difficult
family issues” at the time of his resignation.
“This has affected his focus on the department in a way that
is not likely to change in the near future,” Watkins said.
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