photo by: Douglas County Sheriff's Office

Raymond Paul Stilley, pictured in July 2020

A Eudora man will face trial this spring for several felony charges, including kidnapping and aggravated robbery involving two relatives, both in their 80s.

The two relatives testified Monday in Douglas County District Court that Raymond P. Stilley, 32, had broken into their home late in the evening on July 12, 2020, woke them up and demanded money and bank cards from them before taking them as “hostages” and driving them around for several hours in their car.

Both testified that they had complied with what Stilley was telling them to do because he was “waving a gun” at them.

“I made the decision very early that I wasn’t going to do anything that would cause him to shoot somebody,” the male witness said.

According to testimony, Stilley drove to various stops in Topeka and Lawrence, including to multiple ATMs and bank branches once they opened the following morning. The man said Stilley had at one point told them to get in the trunk of the Honda sedan so that no one would see them; at other times, they’d sat in the back seat while Stilley met with various people, but they didn’t recall being introduced to anyone.

The witnesses said the ordeal ended after they helped Stilley buy a Dodge Charger at a dealership in Topeka. They said they then drove their sedan back to Lawrence and straight to the Lawrence Police Department. Neither needed medical attention, according to court documents.

Stilley was taken into custody after a reported standoff with Topeka police July 14, 2020, the Journal-World has reported. Detective Kim Nicholson of the Lawrence Police Department testified Monday that a Douglas County sheriff’s deputy had picked Stilley up from Stormont Vail hospital in Topeka after he was cleared medically and transported him to Lawrence. Stilley was booked into the Douglas County Jail July 18, jail records show.

Nicholson said that in an interview with police, Stilley had said that he had been on a “handful of” narcotics. Nicholson said Stilley denied or said he didn’t remember some of the allegations the relatives had made, but he also said they never lie, so if they had said something happened, it was probably true.

Altogether, Judge Sally Pokorny bound Stilley over Monday on nine felonies: two counts each of kidnapping, aggravated robbery, mistreatment of a dependent adult or an elder person and criminal threat, and one count of aggravated burglary. He pleaded not guilty to all counts, and his four-day jury trial is scheduled to begin in early June.

Stilley was also indicted on one federal count of robbery, the Journal-World has reported. Federal court records indicated Monday that the case had not progressed since it was filed in July. The Douglas County district attorney’s office previously told the Journal-World that the federal indictment would not affect Stilley’s Douglas County case.

Stilley has remained in custody of the Douglas County Jail on $150,000 cash or surety bond since his arrest, and he also has a hold from the U.S. Marshals, Douglas County Jail records show.

Related coverage

• July 22, 2020: Eudora man indicted on federal robbery charge in connection with alleged Lawrence incident