photo by: Kansas Department of Corrections

William Ray Klingler

A heavily redacted arrest affidavit in a hit-and-run that killed a 20-year-old KU student indicates that camera footage, vehicle debris, clothing fiber and other evidence led to a man’s arrest in the case.

The affidavit also suggests that defendant William Ray Klingler attempted to pass off the damage to his Ford F150 as having been caused by a collision with a deer.

Arrest affidavits indicate why police believe they had probable cause to arrest someone, but the allegations therein have not been proved in court.

Klingler, 36, is facing multiple charges related to the death of Elsa McGrain, a KU student from Nebraska who was running in the 1700 block of East 1500 Road on Nov. 6. McGrain’s body was found just after 3:30 the next morning on the side of the roadway. A preliminary autopsy report indicated that she had died from blunt force trauma, the affidavit said.

photo by: Contributed

Elsa McGrain

Video collected from a business camera on East 1500 Road showed a runner going southbound on the road while a vehicle traveling “at a high rate of speed” was heading northbound. The runner and the vehicle are lost behind an obstruction on the video at 6:07 p.m. The vehicle then emerges from behind the obstruction, but the runner never does, according to the affidavit. The location of the obstructed view is where McGrain’s body was found. Another camera from the business showed the vehicle, a white truck, turning east on Highway 24 from East 1500 Road.

Investigators at the scene found plastic pieces from a vehicle, including a piece of the headlight assembly, that they were able to identify as having come from a Ford truck made between 2004 and 2008.

Law enforcement officers then used traffic camera footage to look for a vehicle on the roadways that matched the description. They saw a white 2008 Ford F150 near Second and Locust streets just before 6 p.m. on the footage and were able to follow the route of the truck as it traveled north across the Kansas River bridge, then east onto Locust Street. The truck’s license plate indicated that it belonged to Klingler. At that time no significant damage was apparent on the front passenger headlight assembly, the affidavit said.

Two days later, Klingler was taken into custody on an outstanding warrant as officers saw him driving near North 950 Road and East 550 Road. The affidavit indicates that his truck had extensive damage to the windshield and headlight area. Klingler was read his Miranda rights, but the affidavit is heavily redacted after that, so what, if anything, he said to law enforcement is not clear.

The affidavit indicates that detectives spoke to a man who said Klingler had contacted him about damage to his truck. Klinger had told him that the damage was caused by a collision with a deer, the man said, but the man questioned that explanation because no deer fur was visible on the vehicle. Klingler evidently hesitated to tell the man where the collision had occurred. Much of the conversation between the two men is redacted in the affidavit, but at the end of the reported conversation, mention is made of the man explaining to Klingler that “that was the legal way to walk in the road.”

The affidavit also indicates that green fibers consistent with the green shirt McGrain was wearing were located in the damaged passenger side headlight assembly of the truck. Investigators also reportedly found a left-side ear cushion from a pair of headphones on the driver’s seat of the F-150. A right-side ear cushion was found at the accident scene. Additionally, a “white O shaped silicone object” was found behind the driver’s seat, and a similar object was found at the scene, the affidavit said.

Klingler apparently told law enforcement that he was on a Door Dash route on the night in question, and that route and various camera footage placed him at the scene of the accident around the time it occurred, the affidavit said.

Klingler’s attorney had asked Judge Stacey Donovan to seal the arrest affidavit, which would keep the public from seeing it, but Donovan opted instead to release a redacted version.

Klingler has been charged with failing to stop at the fatal accident, circumvention of an ignition interlock device, driving while suspended (second or subsequent offense) and no proof of liability insurance.

Court records indicate that Klingler has a criminal record going back more than 20 years, including multiple DUI and drug charges. In a pending Douglas County case from April 2024, he was charged with a fourth or subsequent DUI offense, as well as methamphetamine and circumvention of an ignition interlock device. He served a prison stint in 2021 after being convicted of tampering with electronic monitoring equipment.