Leavenworth ? Eleven-year-old Levi Boothe was taken into a ditch along the Kansas Turnpike, stabbed with needle-nosed pliers, then dragged backed to the side of the highway and left to die, law enforcement officials said.

He later was hit by a passing vehicle.

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The boy’s father, Raymond D. Boothe, 34, of Cameron, Mo., was charged Thursday in Leavenworth County District Court with first-degree murder in the death of the boy.

Leavenworth County Atty. Frank Kohl said Levi had been killed in an excessively “callous and cruel” manner.

“There also was some evidence of attempted strangulation,” Kohl said after Raymond Boothe’s first court appearance before Judge Frederick Stewart.

Boothe’s court-appointed attorney, Gary Fuller of Leavenworth, asked Stewart to order a mental evaluation. Fuller wants to determine whether Boothe is competent to stand trial and determine his mental state at the time of the alleged crimes.

The judge directed Boothe be sent to Larned State Hospital for that evaluation. No bond was set pending the evaluation. A hearing on Boothe’s mental competency to stand trial was set for Oct. 3.

After Thursday’s hearing, Fuller declined to comment.

A shackled Boothe bowed his head and sobbed as sheriff’s deputies escorted him from the courtroom.

His son’s body had been found about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday lying along the shoulder of the turnpike’s westbound lanes about a mile east of the Douglas County-Leavenworth County line.

The discovery was made after the Leavenworth County Sheriff’s Office received an anonymous 911 call reporting a pedestrian being struck. Kansas Highway Patrol troopers also responded.

About three hours later, Lawrence Police were called to an injury accident near 27th Street and Lawrence Avenue.

When they arrived, officers found Raymond Boothe walking along 27th Street away from the crash scene. With him were his three other children, girls ages 6 and 9 and a boy age 7.

The Dodge Neon the family had been in went airborne, crashed through fences, struck trees and rolled, landing upright, police and neighbors said. Later Wednesday, Lawrence Police spokesman Sgt. Mike Pattrick said the crash had been Raymond Boothe’s attempt to kill himself and the three surviving children.

Multiple stabbings

He was taken into police custody at the scene. After police learned of the incident on the turnpike, Boothe was handed over to Leavenworth County’s custody.

The children were treated for cuts and bruises at Lawrence Memorial Hospital. Late Wednesday night they were turned over to the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, Pattrick said.

An autopsy on Levi Boothe’s body was conducted Wednesday at KU Med in Kansas City, Kan. The autopsy showed the boy had been stabbed multiple times in the chest and back, Kohl said. It was still to be determined whether the boy died from stab wounds, being hit by a vehicle or a combination of the traumas.

The pathologist who conducted the autopsy, Dr. Michael Handler, was unavailable for comment Thursday afternoon.

Kohl said the police investigation revealed Levi Boothe had been left along the highway “ostensibly with the hope that if he did move or crawl into the roadway he would then be hit by a vehicle which is what happened.”

Despite extensive searches along the highway, the pliers allegedly used to stab the boy have not been recovered, Kohl said. Officers learned of the pliers and some other information in statements made by Raymond Boothe. But Kohl stopped short of saying Boothe had confessed to murdering his son.

Lawrence mystery

Kohl said he didn’t know why Boothe was in the Leavenworth area. Pattrick declined to comment when asked whether police knew what Boothe did in Lawrence before the crash.

Lawrence Police are continuing to investigate the crash. Pattrick said it generally took about a week for the department’s accident reconstruction team to complete a report. It will be forwarded to the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office, where it will be determined whether attempted murder or other charges are warranted, Pattrick said.

If Raymond Boothe is tried in Leavenworth County, a jury will determine whether he is guilty of premeditated first-degree murder or felony murder, according to court papers.

Premeditated murder means the suspect took time to think about the killing before it occurred. Conviction on the charge with a judge’s determination of aggravating factors, such as excessive cruelty, could bring a life sentence with no eligibility for parole for 40 years.

Felony murder means the suspect committed a murder while committing another felony. In Boothe’s case, the felony would be aggravated battery for stabbing Levi Boothe. Conviction carries a life sentence with eligibility for parole after 25 years.