We’re counting down the top five stories on various topics today as part of an annual recap of the top stories of the year we’ll do later this month. Join the conversation by letting us know what we missed or what stories you think are important by posting a comment, below.5. A string of sexual assaults over the past four years are linked
After a reported sexual assault of a woman in her southwestern Lawrence apartment at the end of Thanksgiving break, police warned that the assaults could be linked to several others reported in the area since 2004. 4. A February high-speed chase and another in December end peacefully
Edward James Wise was apprehended with a Taser in downtown Lawrence in February after a two-county high-speed chase, and in December, burglary suspect Barbara Jo Schnegelsiepen was arrested after a chase on U.S. Highway 40 west of Lawrence after she was accused of striking a Lawrence police officer with a car. 3. Two men killed in East Lawrence shooting
Kellam Jones, 17, is the only survivor of an early morning double homicide after a botched robbery in June on Delaware Street that killed Baker University student Roland Klundt, 20. Klundt had shot and killed Jones’ accomplice, Gage Hauk, 18. Jones eventually pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.2. Sheriff’s lieutenant killed in bicycle accident
David Dillon, a 44-year-old Douglas County sheriff’s lieutenant, was killed on his bicycle by a driver who was distracted by electronics.1. KU student murdered
Kansas University student Jana Lynn Mackey was killed in July, and police said her killer, Adolfo Garcia Nunez, committed suicide in New Jersey. The events led Mackey’s parents and friends to start a service movement in her honor.