BTK strangler Dennis Rader among 7 Kansas killers serving century-plus sentences
Emmanuel Walker, 36, received a stiff 52-year prison sentence this month in Shawnee County District Court for crimes that included last year's gunshot murder in Topeka of Kirk Sexton.
But Walker's sentence is still a half century less than any of those given to these seven current Kansas prison inmates, all of them convicted murderers. Five were convicted in murders that happened in Topeka.
Each was sentenced to at least 102 years, with none being eligible to be released before 2091.
1. Dennis Rader, the BTK serial killer
Current age: 78.
Earliest potential release date: Feb. 26, 2180, according to the website of the Kansas Department of Corrections.
Where he's an inmate: El Dorado Correctional Facility.
What he did: Rader was sentenced to 10 consecutive life terms after pleading guilty in 2006 to the first-degree murders of 10 people between 1974 and 1991 in the Wichita area. Those included seven women, one man and two children, ages 9 and 11. Rader sent taunting letters to police and media outlets dubbing himself "BTK," which stood for 'Bind, Torture and Kill." After a long hiatus, he reinitiated communication with media outlets and police in 2004 and was arrested in 2005 after investigators traced a floppy disk back to him. Rader was ineligible for the death penalty because his last murder came in 1991, three years before Kansas reinstated the death penalty.
2. Tyrone Baker
Current age: 53.
Earliest potential release date: Dec. 5, 2091, according to the corrections department website.
Where he's an inmate: Lansing Correctional Facility.
What he did: Baker was convicted of crimes that included the December 1989 first-degree murder of Ida Mae Dougherty, 72, whom he suffocated in her home in Topeka's upscale Westboro community; and her neighbors Lester Haley, 87, and Nancy Haley, 69, whom he shot to death after driving them to western Douglas County. Baker was accompanied during his crime spree by his then-girlfriend, Lisa Pfannenstiel, who accepted an arrangement through which she pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary and conspiracy to commit aggravated burglary. She was released from prison in December 1993.
3. Richard Grissom
Current age: 63.
Earliest potential release date: Oct. 6, 2093, according to the corrections department website.
Where he's an inmate: El Dorado Correctional Facility.
What he did: Grissom was convicted of crimes that included the first-degree murders of Joan Marie Butler, 24, Theresa Brown, 22, and Christine Rusch, 22, all of whom vanished over an eight-day period in June 1989 in Johnson County. The bodies of the three have not been found. Grissom previously served time in a juvenile correctional facility for the January 1977 Leavenworth County beating death of 72-year-old Hazel Meeker, committed when he was 16 years old.
4. Joseph Krahn
Current age: 40.
Earliest potential release date: March 13, 2167, according to the corrections department website.
Where he's an inmate: El Dorado Correctional Facility.
What he did: Krahn received three "Hard 50" sentences requiring him to serve at least 50 years on each conviction. The sentences, which are required to run consecutively, were imposed after he was convicted of first-degree murder in the March 2017 killings by strangulation of Luke Davis, 20, and Matthew Leavitt, 19, and the death by asphyxiation of Nicole Davis, 38. Witnesses said Krahn personally killed the three at 115 N.W. Grant in North Topeka as part of a planned, intentional act. Krahn was among five people sentenced to prison for crimes involved.
5. Kora Liles
Current age: 37.
Estimated earliest year of release: 2124. While an earliest potential release date isn't listed on the corrections department website, information in a news release put out after her sentencing indicated Liles’ sentence called for her to serve at least 107 years.
Where she's an inmate: Topeka Correctional Facility.
What she did: Liles was convicted of crimes that included three counts of first-degree murder in the killings of Davis, Leavitt and Fisher in March 2017 at 115 N.W. Grant in Topeka as part of a planned, intentional act. She was among five people sentenced to prison for crimes linked to the case.
6. Joseph Lowry
Current age: 37.
Estimated earliest year of release: 2153. While an earliest potential release date isn't listed on the corrections department website, information in a news release put out after his sentencing indicated Lowry's sentence would be at least 136 years.
Where he's an inmate: Hutchinson Correctional Facility.
What he did: Lowry was convicted of crimes that included three counts of first-degree murder in the killings of Davis, Leavitt and Fisher in March 2017 at 115 N.W. Grant in Topeka. Also convicted of crimes linked to the case were Krahn; Liles; Brian Flowers, 39, a Hutchinson Correctional Facility inmate serving time for two counts of first-degree murder, who could be released at the earliest on March 13, 2067; and Shane Mays, 25, an Ellsworth Correctional Facility inmate serving time in the case for aggravated battery and attempted second-degree murder. Mays could be released at the earliest on Dec. 29, 2024. He told authorities the other defendants gave him a choice between taking part in the triple homicide or being killed himself.
7. Richard Showalter
Current age: 36.
Estimated earliest year of release: 2130. While an earliest potential release date isn't listed on the corrections department website, a Capital-Journal article published after his sentencing in 2021 said Showalter's sentence called for him to not be eligible for release until he had served at least 112 years, three months.
Where he's an inmate: Lansing Correctional Facility.
What he did: Showalter was convicted of crimes that included two counts of first-degree murder in the March 2018 southeast Topeka killings of Lisa Sportsman, 28, and her cousin, 17-year-old Jesse Polinskey, who both died of blunt trauma injuries suffered during a home invasion. Also convicted of crimes linked to the case were Bradley Sportsman and Matthew Hutto. Bradley Sportsman and Lisa Sportsman were married but separated at the time. Bradley Sportsman, 46, is an inmate at Ellsworth Correctional Facility. He could be released at the earliest on Aug. 21, 2057, the corrections department website said. Hutto, 24 and an inmate at Hutchinson Correctional Facility, could be released at the earliest on July 23, 2068, it said.
Contact Tim Hrenchir at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: These 7 Kansas killers are each serving sentences of 102 years or more
