Ex-inmate charged in deaths of Christian bookstore owners
Kansas City, Mo. ? DNA evidence has led Jackson County prosecutors to charge a former prison inmate with killing the owners of a Christian bookstore.
Kellen C. McKinney, 27, whose last known address was Kansas City, Kan., was charged Thursday with two counts each of first-degree murder and armed criminal action in the deaths of 79-year-old John Caylor and his 76-year-old wife, Mildred.
The couple, whose throats were cut, were found dead last month at their Raytown Bible & Music Store.
A cash register likely containing less than $100 was empty, but a donation jar did not appear to have been disturbed.
Police originally said they had no witnesses or suspects in the case. The break came when the Kansas City Police Crime Lab ran a genetic sample, which had been obtained from a blood-stained bag left near the cash register, through a DNA database. McKinney, who had served a prison sentence in Kansas, came up as a match, police said.
According to the Kansas Department of Corrections, McKinney began serving a sentence for robbery and aggravated burglary in January 1995. The sentence stemmed from a case in Montgomery County. He was paroled in October 2001 but was returned to custody for a violation in July 2002. He was paroled again in November 2002.