Attorneys in Kansas have begun filing motions for discovery and a judge has sealed the probable cause affidavits in the cases related to the deaths of an elderly Wichita couple last July at the Barton County Fair.
The court filings are of local interest because the truck and camper of the slain couple was stolen and their bodies were transported to Arkansas, where they were dumped near Natural Dam near Highway 59 north of Van Buren in the Ozark National Forest.
A telephone conference was held Thursday in Barton County District Court for two of the three suspects charged with capital murder and two additional suspects who have been charged with lesser crimes, all related to the deaths of Alfred “Sonny” Carpenter and Pauline Carpenter.
The call was a status hearing for defendants Michael Fowler Jr., 54, Sarasota, Florida, who is charged with one count of capital murder and one count of theft; Rusty Lee Frasier, 35, Aransas Pass, Texas, who is charged with one count of capital murder; Christine Tenney, 38, Santa Fe, Texas, who is charged with three counts of obstructing apprehension; and Thomas Drake, 31, of Van Buren, who is charged with three counts of obstructing apprehension.
Kimberly Younger, 52, from McIntosh, Fla., has also been charged with one count of capital murder, one count of conspiracy to commit murder, one count of criminal solicitation and one count of theft.
According to earlier reports, Van Buren police said Younger posed as a carnival mafia member named “Frank Zaitchik” and texted others to kill the Carpenters on the fairgrounds at Great Bend, where the couple sold handbags, trinkets and other items.
They died on July 14, 2018.
Fowler reportedly told investigators that the killings were an initiation into the carnival mafia. According to officials, there is no such thing as the "carnival mafia."
