Garden City

FBI: Jawbone a match with missing woman

A jawbone found more than two years ago near the Arkansas River in southwest Kansas belonged to a Garden City woman who disappeared in 1992 and whose husband had been charged with her killing, authorities say.

The FBI determined the bone was from Yolanda Hernandez, who was 24 when she disappeared in September 1992. A passerby found the bone in 2001 and turned it over to police in Garden City.

Her husband, Manuel Hernandez, was charged with her murder in 2002, but Finney County District Judge Thomas Richardson threw out the case when he determined there wasn’t probable cause.

That decision is under appeal.

Finney County Atty. John Wheeler said he had been waiting several months for an appeals court decision.

Manual Hernandez, 48, was deported to El Salvador after the murder charge was dismissed.

Topeka

Court: Sack lunches not cruel punishment

The Kansas Court of Appeals has rejected an inmate’s claim that a sack lunch, rather than a hot meal, is cruel and unusual punishment.

The court upheld a lower court’s ruling against Vernon J. Amos, a prisoner at the El Dorado Correctional Facility. Amos, 30, is serving a life sentence for the 1998 killing of an 18-year-old man during an attempted robbery.

The court of appeals also upheld the judge’s decision to charge Amos $25 for court costs.

Amos sued in January 2003 after he was placed in administrative segregation. Prison policy says that such inmates receive hot meals at breakfast and dinner and a cold sack lunch, according to the decision.

Wichita

USDA approves disaster designations

The U.S. Department of Agriculture approved drought-related disaster designations for 81 more counties in Kansas, bringing the entire state into disaster status, Rep. Jerry Moran said Tuesday.

“As I travel across Kansas during my 69-county tour, I see and hear the hardship that drought has brought to our producers and communities,” Moran, R-Kan., said in a news release. “This disaster designation will provide our producers with additional options for their operations.”

Producers who were forced to sell livestock due to weather-related disasters can defer taxes from the sales until next year. It also makes them eligible for low-interest operating loans.

Oklahoma City

Father turns in son wanted in homicide

A man wanted in connection with a Kansas killing was arrested after his father led police to him.

Davie Pope Sr. walked up to an officer Friday outside a northeast Oklahoma City church and said he thought his son, David Donall Pope, 24, was involved in a shooting in Wichita, Kan., according to a police report.

The father led officers to his house, where the younger man was arrested. He also was found to be in possession of crack cocaine, officers said.

The father said a friend in Wichita had called him saying he saw the younger Pope’s picture on a television news program.

The son, who lives in Wichita, had appeared at his father’s house after the shooting and said, “A guy had a gun and was going to shoot me, so I got a gun and shot him,” according to the police report.

It is rare for a family member to turn in someone who is wanted for murder, said Sgt. Gary Knight.

Kansas City, Mo.

Waitress, boyfriend charged with murder

A waitress and her boyfriend have been charged in the death of a frequent customer at the restaurant where the woman worked.

Christie Weaver, 27, and her boyfriend, Charles Villines, 23, both of Independence, Mo., were charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the death of Lee’s Summit businessman Gieng Sie “Mike” Yong. They pleaded not guilty to the charges Monday.

Yong, 43, ate often at two Waffle House locations, in Blue Springs and Lee’s Summit, where Weaver worked. Police said Weaver and Yong had a platonic relationship.

Yong’s body was found Jan. 9 after his estranged wife called authorities when he missed his son’s basketball game.

Police focused on Weaver and Villines after Yong’s cell phone records showed they were the last people to have contact with him.

On the night of the killing, court documents allege that Yong let Weaver into his home while Villines sneaked in. The couple then ransacked the home and Villines attacked Yong with a knife, the documents said.

Weaver and Villines, jailed without bond, are due back in court Feb. 4.