Wichita jury begins deliberations in Carr brothers’ murder trial
Wichita ? After emotional closing arguments from prosecutors, jurors began deliberations late Thursday in the trial of two brothers accused of a nine-day crime spree that left five people dead.
One juror was in tears during Dist. Atty. Nola Foulston’s fiery oration that included a computer presentation of graphic pictures of four victims lying in the snow-covered soccer field were they died.
“You have four people frozen in time bullets that thrashed through their brains that drew the life out of them, that froze their hearts on that field of snow. They died by criminal means and they died together at the hands of two brothers, Jonathan and Reginald Carr,” Foulston told jurors in her closing arguments.
Family members of the victims filled the courtroom, most looking away from the screen whenever Foulston signaled them that a bloody photograph was coming.
The crime spree that ended with the shootings of five friends in a remote soccer field two years ago was driven by greed and lust, Deputy Dist. Atty. Kim Parker told jurors.
“The crimes ended because of one girl who had the resolve to survive to tell the story. … The crimes ended because of responsible citizens people in this community that were alert and responsible,” Parker said during closing arguments.
The Carr brothers are charged with numerous crimes. The most notorious involves the events of Dec. 14-15, 2000, when two armed intruders entered a Wichita home. The two women and three men inside were forced to engage in sexual acts with each other and to withdraw money from ATMs. The women were repeatedly raped before the five friends were taken to the soccer field and shot.
Aaron Sander, 29; Brad Heyka, 27; Jason Befort, 26; and Heather Muller, 25, died. Befort’s girlfriend, then a 25-year-old teacher, survived and ran a mile to find help. She identified the Carr brothers as her attackers.
The Carrs also are being tried in the Dec. 11, 2000, attempted robbery and shooting of Ann Walenta, 55, who later died, and a robbery four days earlier in which Andrew Schreiber was abducted and forced to withdraw cash from ATMs.
Parker told jurors the two armed intruders separated the friends during their ordeal and they feared that if they attacked one intruder their friend would be harmed.
“They acted for one another and it did no good,” she said.




