Updated story - June 25 — Jury finds Topeka man guilty of 3 downtown Lawrence murders Trial proceedings have begun in the case of the man charged with the most murders in a single incident in recent Lawrence history: the 2017 triple homicide on Massachusetts Street. Charged with three counts of murder plus one attempted murder, Anthony L. Roberts Jr., 22, of Topeka, appeared in Douglas County District ...
A girl’s description of being groped for years led to high-level felony charges against a Lawrence man, a police affidavit reveals. The girl told Lawrence police detectives that the sexual abuse began when she was 12 and continued until she was 15, up until shortly before police got involved and the man was arrested and charged. Frank J. Martinez, 35, is charged with three counts of aggravated indecent ...
A Lawrence woman was home by herself on a recent Saturday when a man she didn’t know suddenly came in through the back door, then grabbed her by the hair when she tried to run. The man, it turns out, was trying to hide after leading law enforcement on a car chase and then a foot chase from Clinton State Park into Lawrence, according to a police affidavit in the case. Following the incident, Justin L. ...
Douglas County officials say they’ve now confirmed the recent tornado destroyed over a dozen homes and affected over 80 more in the county. The May 28 tornado touched down south of Lawrence and mowed through properties to the county line. It continued northeastward into Leavenworth County, where it finally lifted after being on the ground a total of nearly 32 miles and reaching EF-4 strength, according to the ...
Someone fired gunshots that hit a west Lawrence apartment building overnight, Lawrence police said. About 1:15 a.m. Friday, police went to the 700 block of Monterey Way after getting multiple 911 calls from nearby residents who heard the sound of gunshots in a nearby parking lot, Officer Shawn Gross said in an email to media. When they arrived, officers found "several" empty handgun shell casings in the ...
The last defendant in a group of people who robbed and shot a Lawrence man in his apartment on December 2017 is headed to prison. Though he wasn’t accused of pulling the trigger, Michael R. Smith, 28, of Kansas City, Mo., was one of five people who barged into the apartment to rob the 21-year-old man. Smith was sentenced Friday to 26 months, or just over two years, in prison followed by a year of ...