Briefly

Independence, KS: DNA match leads to arrest in ’95 slaying

A convicted rapist was arrested Tuesday on charges stemming from a 1995 slaying.

The 30-year-old man was arrested Tuesday at the state prison in El Dorado. No charges had been filed.

Lee Bynum, Independence police chief, said Tina Michelle Davidson, 27, of Independence, was stabbed to death in her home during the Thanksgiving weekend in 1995.

Bynum said samples of blood that didn’t belong to Davidson were discovered at the scene.

Police were notified this month the samples matched the suspect through the Combined DNA Index System, a computer system used to match DNA with crime scene evidence.

Authorities then obtained a DNA sample from the suspect to be compared to those found at Davidson’s residence.

Independence Police were notified Tuesday the samples matched.

Galena: State reports 2 deaths on roads for weekend

Two people died in traffic accidents in Kansas during the Memorial Day weekend, including a 67-year-old man who died in a two-car crash south of Galena.

Harold Sonny Gilstrap was killed Monday morning after his car was struck from behind by another car at an intersection of Kansas Highway 26 and another road, authorities said.

Bryan A. Rathbun, 28, of Wichita, died Saturday evening when he lost control of his motorcycle on a Wichita street. Police said the motorcycle hit a curb and flipped over several times.

Kansas had a record number of Memorial Day weekend fatalities in 1967, when traffic accidents claimed 19 lives on the long holiday weekend.

The record low was in 1993, when one person was killed during the Memorial Day weekend.

Leavenworth: Body pulled from river

Authorities have found the body of a Cummings man who was last seen walking across a Missouri River bridge in November.

The body of Anthony Bilderback, 25, was found Sunday in the river about a mile north of Leavenworth. He disappeared Nov. 17 while walking across the Amelia Earhart Bridge in Atchison.

Leavenworth authorities found the body Sunday, and tests confirmed Bilderback’s identity.