Suspect convicted of torture, stabbing

? A Newton man was convicted of torturing and stabbing to death a Burrton man as he lay in a mobile home.

Robert Engelhardt, 28, was convicted Friday of first-degree murder and aiding a felon for the June 2001 death of Michael Smith, 24. Engelhardt was acquitted of kidnapping and criminal threat.

Engelhardt had been accused of torturing Smith by repeatedly cutting him and then stabbing him to death. Smith was stabbed more than 48 times.

His body then was wrapped in a shower curtain and dumped near a pond north of Newton.

Engelhardt’s defense attorney, Richard Ney, tried to convince jurors that Smith was killed by another man, Engelhardt’s friend Brian Smith.

But prosecutors said Engelhardt and Brian Smith worked together in the torture and killing because they suspected that Michael Smith was an informant.

Brian Smith previously pleaded guilty to second-degree unintentional murder in the case.

Engelhardt is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 17 in Harvey County District Court.