photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

Aaron B. Wright, left, appears Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2025, in Douglas County District Court.

The Lawrence Community Shelter resident accused of fatally stabbing a Lawrence woman last month also reported her death but blamed others for the killing, according to his recently released arrest affidavit.

Aaron Blake Wright, 63, is facing second-degree murder charges in the death of 35-year-old Jina Reyes-Woehler, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and mother of two whose body was found Aug. 29 behind the vacant VFW building in the 1800 block of Massachusetts Street.

photo by: Contributed

Jina Anne Reyes-Woehler

According to allegations in the partially redacted affidavit, which have not been proved in court, a man in a red shirt — later identified as Wright — told a bus driver that there was a dead body behind the VFW lodge, then walked to the Dillons grocery store across the street. An officer responding to the scene found Wright and noted that he had what appeared to be blood on his red sweatshirt.

Wright started to tell the officer that the deceased person had been “stab …,” but then trailed off and said he believed she had died from alcohol, according to the affidavit. The officer asked Wright if he had any weapons on him, and Wright said he had a pocketknife. The officer then retrieved a folding knife with a 3.25-inch blade from Wright’s pocket. The blade had a substance on it that appeared to be blood.

The officer then detained Wright, noting the stains on his shirt and knife, combined with Wright’s knowledge that the woman had been stabbed despite not having been told that, according to the affidavit.

At police headquarters Wright waived his Miranda rights and told police that he left the Lawrence Community Shelter after breakfast on Aug. 28, bought beer and went to the area of the Dillons on Massachusetts Street. There he met up with a man, John Willits, and they went behind the vacant VFW across the street to drink. Soon they were joined by others, including Reyes-Woehler, her “boyfriend,” Richard Snell, and another man, Kevin Voth. Wright told police that he knew the woman only as Jina, but later indicated that he had “hooked up” with her a couple of times in the past.

Wright purchased more beer from the grocery store, which the group drank before the three other men departed, leaving Wright and Reyes-Woehler alone behind the VFW. Wright told police that the boyfriend was angry with Reyes-Woehler for not leaving with him. Several lines of the affidavit are redacted at this point in the narrative, except the line: “Wright denied having sexual intercourse with Woehler.”

The affidavit, however, does note that Wright consented to a “suspect sexual assault exam,” during which all of his clothes were collected.

Wright told police that he got water for Reyes-Woehler from a nearby outdoor faucet, maybe around 2 a.m., then he fell asleep or passed out, until he was later awakened by Willits. Both men soon noticed that Reyes-Woehler was not moving. Wright said he told Willits he believed she was dead and to call police. Wright then rode his bike over to Dillons. In the interview he said that he did not see blood or any indication of trauma and denied touching her after he had observed she wasn’t moving, according to the affidavit.

When asked about the blood on his left shirtsleeve, Wright allegedly told police that he had gotten the sweatshirt from the community shelter the day before. When asked about blood on a shirt underneath the sweatshirt, Wright said he believed the stain was feces and said he didn’t know how it got there. He also claimed that the stain on the knife blade was rust, not blood. He denied having cut anyone with the knife.

Wright then guessed that Snell, who had been angry with Reyes-Woehler for staying behind, had come back while Wright was sleeping, got Wright’s knife from his pocket, stabbed Reyes-Woehler to death, then returned the knife to Wright’s pocket, according to the affidavit.

A detective who processed the crime scene noted that Reyes-Woehler’s shirt had holes in it consistent with it having been on Reyes-Woehler when she was stabbed. The unredacted portion of the affidavit does not indicate where the shirt was found.

The detective noted that Reyes-Woehler had four stab wounds in the chest area, two in the abdomen and three in the back. A folding chair near the body had blood on the left armrest consistent with it having been transferred there from a shirtsleeve, the affidavit said.

A coroner scene investigator on the morning the body was found determined that Reyes-Woehler had died no more than 12 hours earlier, likely sometime after 11:30 the previous night.

Detectives who processed Wright’s clothes said they found bloodlike stains not only on the sweatshirt and underlying shirt but also on Wright’s shoe, underwear, jeans, T-shirt and hat. The items will be tested by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.

In an interview with police, the boyfriend, Snell, indicated that he left the VFW around 7 p.m. and went to Watson Park to sleep.

Another man, Willits, who had been with the group told police that he left the VFW around 4 p.m. and went back to the Lawrence Community Shelter for the night. He said that Wright, a longtime friend, did not return to the shelter, where he usually slept. Willits said that in the morning he took a bus to the 1800 block of Massachusetts Street, went behind the VFW and saw Reyes-Woehler lying there, presumably asleep. Soon, however, he saw that she was not breathing. Wright was in a chair nearby, apparently half asleep and with blood on his shirt. Willits said he mentioned a cut on Reyes-Woehler’s side, to which Wright allegedly responded “I did not touch her” and “I ain’t gonna have any saliva on her.”

The third man with the group, Voth, told police that he left the group Thursday afternoon, purchased groceries, then took a bus to the shelter, where he stayed the night.

On Saturday, Wright asked Douglas County Jail staff to contact detectives, according to the affidavit. Again waiving his Miranda rights, Wright told police that he no longer believed Snell was the killer. Instead, he said, a white man named “J.R.,” who had a history of altercations with Reyes-Woehler, may have stabbed her, although he had no evidence of that.

When confronted with the blood stains on his clothing, Wright told the detectives that he might have gotten into a fight with or done something to Reyes-Woehler but he didn’t remember due to being blacked out, the affidavit said.

Wright is being held on a $1 million cash or surety bond in the Douglas County Jail. He has a lengthy criminal record, including two convictions for attempted first-degree murder in Douglas County in 1996. He was released from prison in that case in 2013, according to the Kansas Department of Corrections. He was accused of having sent an explosive device to the home of a woman who shared his last name.

In addition to the murder charge, Wright is currently facing charges of criminal threat, battery on a law enforcement officer and disorderly conduct from a March case, as well as burglary and theft charges from an August case, all in Douglas County.

He is next scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 19.