1999 murder case won’t settle
Floyd Bledsoe has been convicted, released, and ordered back to prison
Twice in 10 years Floyd Bledsoe has received a phone call that would lead him to prison.
Bledsoe received the first of those calls on Nov. 5, 1999, while working late at the Zule dairy farm near Oskaloosa. The caller alerted Bledsoe that his sister-in-law, 14-year-old Zetta “Camille” Arfmann, had gone missing after a bus dropped her off from school.
After a three-day search, Camille’s body, shot three times in the chest and once in the back of the head, was located in a field on Bledsoe’s parents’ property.
Bledsoe was found guilty of the murder in a Jefferson County court in 2000 and sentenced to life in prison.
The other call came on June 26, 2009, while Bledsoe was again working on a dairy farm, but this time in Hutchinson. The caller alerted Bledsoe that the court decision freeing him nine months earlier had been reversed.
Hours later, Bledsoe was in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service and on his way back to prison to continue his life sentence.
In the debate about Bledsoe’s innocence or guilt, he is either one of two very different things.
For the lawyers and advocates who believe in Bledsoe’s innocence, he represents a grave injustice of a wrongly convicted man who may spend the rest of his life in prison for a crime he didn’t commit.
For the Kansas Attorney General’s Office and the Jefferson County court that convicted him, Bledsoe is a cold-blooded murderer.
Legal battles
More information
# Nov. 9, 1999: Police hold relative of slain girl
# Nov. 10, 1999: Bledsoe recieves murder charge
# Nov. 14, 1999: In-law jailed in slaying of teen-ager
# Nov. 16, 1999: Wife proclaims husband’s innocence in girl’s death
# Dec. 10, 1999: Murder suspect enters innocent plea
# April 28, 2000: Bledsoemurder case goes to jury, Bledsoe found guilty
# July 15, 2000: Bledsoe gets life, Victim’s family unsure justice was served
# Feb. 2, 2002: Murder conviction is upheld
# June 28, 2009: Federal court reverses release in murder case
Bledsoe’s attorneys from the Paul E. Wilson Defender Project at the Kansas University School of Law say the evidence against Bledsoe should not have been enough to convict him. And after studying his case for years, they’re convinced Bledsoe is innocent.
The Defender Project became involved with Bledsoe’s case two years ago after Bledsoe exhausted his state appeals when the Kansas Supreme Court affirmed his conviction in 2002.
Alice White, an attorney from the Defender Project, said the case against Bledsoe was based on the statements made by Bledsoe’s brother, Thomas Bledsoe.
White said that is concerning because Thomas initially confessed to the murder, led investigators to the body, and only recanted his confession after being charged in the murder.
“Other than Tom’s statements, there’s no evidence that Floyd participated in this crime,” said White. “It was the credibility of Tom versus the credibility of Floyd.”
But the evidence against Floyd was enough for the Kansas Attorney General’s Office, which appealed the release of Bledsoe to the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Denver.
The appeal was successful, as the court on June 26 reversed the lower court’s decision freeing Floyd.
In an e-mail statement about the court’s decision, the Attorney General’s office wrote, “We are pleased that the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the jury’s guilty verdict.”
Jefferson County Sheriff Jeff Herrig, who was the county undersheriff during the murder investigation, said that despite Floyd’s claims of innocence, he’s also pleased that he’s back in prison.
“I think it’s wonderful. … It’s a good deal all around for Jefferson County,” said Herrig, who was concerned that the county might have had to retry Bledsoe if his release was upheld.
But Herrig also acknowledges the competing theories about the crime.
“We knew that he (Floyd) was involved one way or another,” said Herrig. “There could’ve been someone else involved (in the murder).”
The Journal-World attempted to contact Floyd Bledsoe, but a spokesman from the Kansas Department of Corrections said that the department does not grant phone or face-to-face interview requests with inmates.
Life in between
Some who have gotten to know Floyd Bledsoe since his conviction have trouble believing he’s a murderer.
While at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility, Floyd took an eight-week life-skills class with the prison ministry organization Freedom Challenge. Don Starnes, executive director of the Wichita-based organization, said Floyd was a model student who continued to volunteer with the class after graduating.
Floyd’s work at the prison and his connections with the volunteers led to multiple job offers when he was released last September, Starnes said. Floyd chose to return to what he was doing 10 years ago, before his conviction — working on a dairy farm.
Orville Miller, who owns the Miller Farm where Floyd was working during his release, said the court’s reversal has devastated the workers at the farm and those involved in the prison ministry.
“It was a pretty rough afternoon,” said Miller, who got to know Floyd through volunteering at the prison. Miller said that Floyd has become a close friend, and Miller believes he is innocent.
“He’s the kind of guy I want as a neighbor. He’s got a heart for people,” Miller said.
Floyd’s concern for others was evidenced by his continued work with other ex-inmates, Miller said. Floyd would take every Monday off from work so that he could drive to Wichita to work with ex-inmates, and he had worked at establishing a local halfway house for ex-inmates, Miller said.
‘I don’t know’
White said that at this point, Floyd’s legal options for release or a new trial are limited. She said her office will be requesting that the 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals review the case, but if that’s unsuccessful, the other option would be an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Regardless of how the legal battles over Floyd Bledsoe’s guilt or innocence are resolved, there most likely won’t be a definitive resolution to the competing opinions and theories of who killed Camille Arfmann.
Those on both sides of the debate will surely continue to argue and fight for their version of the truth. But after nearly 10 years, some involved in the case are fighting to move on.
Thomas Bledsoe now lives in McLouth, and he declined a request to be interviewed by the Journal-World.
Floyd and Thomas’ parents, Catherine and Floyd L. Bledsoe, sold their home in 2005 along with the property where the body was found. The site where Camille’s body was buried under debris has been cleared out by the new owner.
Jim Bolinger, a lay minister at the church Thomas attended, knew the Bledsoe brothers as well as Camille, and said that who committed the murder might never be resolved in his mind.
“I don’t know. … It’s all passed,” said Bolinger. “I just kind of blacked it out of my mind.”
Timeline: Floyd Bledsoe murder conviction overturned
● May 29, 2016 — Lawsuit filed by wrongfully convicted man details how law enforcement officials allegedly framed him
● May 21, 2016 — Floyd Bledsoe, wrongfully imprisoned for 15 years, pushes to end death penalty in Kansas
● May 10, 2016 — Floyd Bledsoe, wrongfully imprisoned for 15 years, says he was ‘framed,’ files lawsuit against Kansas justice officials
● Feb. 12, 2016 — Wrongfully convicted Floyd Bledsoe seeks videotaped interrogations in Kansas
● Feb. 8, 2016 — Kansas bill would allow $235K for wrongfully convicted man who spent 15 years in prison
● Jan. 18, 2016 — Jefferson County attorney doesn’t expect further action against former sheriff, others involved in wrongful murder conviction
● Jan. 17, 2016 — Bledsoe case spurs measure to allow compensation for wrongful convictions
● Jan. 10, 2016 — Requiring that police interrogations be recorded might have prevented tragedy of wrongful conviction
● Dec. 30, 2015 — ‘Who are you going to tell?’ — Floyd Bledsoe, wrongfully convicted of murder, discusses pain of prison, journey to forgiveness
● Dec. 27, 2015 — 1999 Oskaloosa murder case reopened; possibility that killer ‘had assistance’
● Dec. 13, 2015 — Web of lies, indifference to justice led to wrong Kansas brother being imprisoned for more than 15 years
● Dec. 13, 2015 — Kansas has no law on payouts for wrongly incarcerated prisoners
● Dec. 8, 2015 — Judge throws out 2000 murder conviction, frees Oskaloosa man after 15 years in prison
● Nov. 13, 2015 — Original suspect in girl’s murder dies of apparent suicide as case about to be revisited
● Oct. 21, 2015 — KU Project for Innocence, Midwest Innocence Project seeks to free convicted murderer with DNA evidence
● July 8, 2012 — Objection to DNA testing not likely
● June 20, 2012 — Motion seeks DNA testing in 1999 murder of teen
● Sept. 30, 2009 — Further appeals limited in Bledsoe case
● July 5, 2009 — 1999 murder case won’t settle
● June 28, 2009 — Federal court reverses release in murder case
● Oct. 7, 2008 — Floyd Bledsoe, sentenced to life for murder of teen sister-in-law, set free; ineffective assistance of counsel cited
● Feb. 3, 2007 — Court upholds murder conviction
● Feb. 2, 2002 — Murder conviction is upheld
● Dec. 5, 2001 — Attorneys appeal conviction of teen-ager’s murderer
● Dec. 2, 2001 — Oskaloosa murder case to be heard
● July 15, 2000 — Victim’s family unsure justice was served
● July 15, 2000 — Bledsoe gets life
● July 14, 2000 — Bledsoe sentenced to life in prison
● June 23, 2000 — Bledsoe sentencing delayed
● May 31, 2000 — Lawyer: Mother’s story changes
● April 30, 2000 — Minister supports Bledsoe in spirit
● April 28, 2000 — Bledsoe found guilty
● April 28, 2000 — Bledsoe murder case goes to jury
● April 27, 2000 — Bledsoe charges amended
● April 27, 2000 — Bledsoe prosecution rests
● April 27, 2000 — Bledsoe murder trial wrapping up
● April 26, 2000 — Tom Bledsoe seeks to explain lies
● April 26, 2000 — Bledsoe told his mother he didn’t kill Arfmann
● April 25, 2000 — Pool of potential jurors knows all about case
● April 25 2000 — Trial starts in murder of girl, 14
● April 24, 2000 — Murder trial to begin today
● Dec. 10, 1999 — Family of victim tries to cope with pain, loss
● Dec. 10, 1999 — Murder suspect enters innocent plea
● Dec. 9, 1999 — Murder suspect to be arraigned
● Nov. 30, 1999 — Case pits brother vs. brother
● Nov. 18, 1999 — Friends relieved charges were dismissed against Oskaloosa man
● Nov. 16, 1999 — Wife proclaims husband’s innocence in girl’s death
● Nov. 14, 1999 — In-law jailed in slaying of teen-ager
● Nov. 14, 1999 — Family, friends mourn Camille
● Nov. 10, 1999 — Quiet hearing for defendant charged with girl’s slaying
● Nov. 10, 1999 — Bledsoe recieves murder charge
● Nov. 9, 1999 — Police hold relative of slain girl
● Nov. 9, 1999 — Girl’s death leaves family, children with questions