Wichita woman accused of killing her 14-year-old son booked into jail: official

Michael Stavola
·2 min read

The woman accused of killing her 14-year-old son last month at her west Wichita apartment was arrested Monday night, according to Tuesday morning arrest reports.

Kylee Renee Reynolds-Hodges has been hospitalized since the incident, which included her being shot after police say she came outside, picked up a gun and pointed it at them. Two Wichita Police Department SWAT officers each fired one shot, hitting the 43-year-old woman.

She underwent multiple surgeries before being booked into Sedgwick County Jail at 6:39 p.m. Monday on suspicion of intentional and premeditated first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of her son, Claude Julius Hodges Jr.

Reynolds-Hodges has a first appearance in court Tuesday afternoon and then will be charged.

She was arrested at Ascension Via Christi St. Francis. Her mugshot shows her in a hospital gown with a large wound across her neck.

Police were called at 6:20 p.m. on Jan. 28 to Aspen Park Apartments, at 8405 W. Central, after Claude Hodges’ father called 911. He called after Reynolds-Hodges didn’t show up to drop off their son at the designated time and place.

At her apartment, officers found a bullet hole in the outside wall and a shell on the ground.

They got a key and went inside, where they found Reynolds-Hodges holding a handgun with a shotgun nearby, according to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.

Officers retreated, and SWAT was called in.

After hours of negotiating with her, Reynolds-Hodges eventually came outside and put her handgun on the ground, the KBI, which was asked to investigate the officer-involved shooting, said.

Reynolds-Hodges “quickly picked up the handgun again, and advanced toward officers while pointing the firearm in their direction,” KBI spokesperson Melissa Underwood said in a news release. “Two SWAT officers from the WPD each fired one shot toward Hodges, striking her.”

Officers then found Claude Hodges fatally shot in a bedroom. Hodges was a Wichita Northwest High School freshman wrestler who aspired to be a family lawyer.