Crime of the Week - Wichita and Sedgwick County
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Wichita Police need your assistance to catch the people responsible for 14 burglaries since June. Between Monday, June 6, and Tuesday, Sept. 13, the suspects have burglarized stores throughout Wichita. They include Verizon Wireless, Sprint, Radio Shack, Ribbit Computers, Rent a Center, Mobile Communications, Motor Mouth Wireless and Haddock Computer. They use a glass punch to break a window to get in, and then grab what they can in a short amount of time. The loss of laptops, iPods, cell phones and televisions is valued at more than $15,000.

The two suspects are dressed in jeans and black hoodies. The vehicle used in the burglaries is a silver, four-door sedan with a sun roof and a spoiler.

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The Wichita Police Department is trying to catch a suspect believed to have robbed three banks. He robbed the Commerce Bank at 1701 S. Broadway on Saturday, Aug. 13; the Conway State Bank at 121 W. Kellogg on Thursday, Sept. 1; and the Fidelity Savings at 3525 E. Harry, on Wednesday, Sept. 7. In each case the teller was handed  a note demanding money. No weapons were seen.

The white male is approximately 6 feet tall, 170 to 180 pounds with short brown hair. In at least one of the robberies witnesses reported a second suspect. This person was driving the getaway vehicle described as a white '95-'97 Dodge Caravan. 


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The Wichita Police Department is seeking your help to solve a homicide. On Wednesday, Sept. 7, Timothy McGuigan was suppose to meet his son for breakfast, but didn't show up. When he failed to come in to work, co-workers asked his son if he would check on him. The son went to his father's house in the 2500 block of North Woodridge and found his body. Police officers said he had been shot multiple times with a small caliber handgun. There were no signs of forced entry, and robbery does not appear to be the motive.


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On the morning of Saturday, September 3, at approximately 1:30 a.m. the Wichita Fire Department responded to a shed on fire at the Woodlands Mobile Home Park at 4480 S. Meridian. The shed suffered extensive damage and was determined to be arson. Less than two hours later, The Wichita Fire Department responded to a second shed fire in the same mobile home park. The second fire spread quickly to the home, which was occupied by an adult and three children that were sleeping. Everyone escaped without injury. Both fires were ruled arson and caused over $10,000 in damages.


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Burger King Robbery 2  On the morning of Monday, Aug. 8, a black male waited outside the Burger King at 2150 W. 21st. When the manager left the restaurant, he was struck in the face. The suspect then took his money bag and ran off. He chased the suspect and another brief struggle occurred. The suspect escaped and fled in a green, four-door sedan driven by a woman.

The manager flagged down a passerby and followed the vehicle to the area of 13th and Tyler, but lost it. The Wichita police Department later found the car in a nearby neighborhood; the suspect was not located. After checking surveillance video at a nearby grocery store, the manager was able to identify the suspect. He is 5-foot-7, 200 pounds and wearing jean shorts and a black T-shirt.


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Crime and Courts
Jury selection begins in Brett Seacat’s murder trial

Jury selection is under way in the first-degree murder trial of Brett Seacat, a former law enforcement officer and police instructor accused of killing his wife and setting fire to the couple’s Kingman home more than two years ago.

Seacat entered the courtroom around 8:30 a.m. Monday, dressed in a black suit, tie and pastel shirt. He smiled briefly before sitting to review documents with his attorneys before court began.

Within minutes, more than 20 potential jurors filed into the third-floor courtroom of the historic Kingman County Courthouse to be questioned about their lives, experiences and whether they could serve fairly and impartially in a trial that’s been a talking point across the county for months.

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Mon, 20 May 2013 11:17 CDT
A fire, a body, a murder trial in Kingman after more than two years

On Monday, two years and 20 days after Vashti Forrest Seacat’s body was found in the charred remains of her Kingman home, attorneys will start picking jurors who will be asked to decide between two arguments already raised in court:

That the 34-year-old woman’s husband, Brett Seacat, a law enforcement trainer and former Sedgwick County sheriff’s deputy, shot and killed her and set fire to their home, or that she started the blaze and then shot herself.

Felicia Ryder, who organized a candlelight vigil to remember Vashti Seacat soon after the tragedy, said that Brett Seacat’s first-degree murder trial will offer closure for the town. The case has been weighing on people, and the big old house where it all happened – now vacant and boarded up – is part of that weight, Ryder said.

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Mon, 20 May 2013 11:17 CDT
Dead man proves to be key witness in murder trial

A Sedgwick County jury began deliberations Friday in a first-degree murder trial that started just six weeks after a key witness committed suicide.

But the testimony that the deceased witness gave at an earlier hearing proved to be some of the strongest evidence that prosecutors had in their case against Travis Knighten.

Knighten, 20, is charged in the May 7, 2011, shooting death of Mario Brown, 22, at an after-hours party in a parking lot at the southwest corner of 13th and Hillside.

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Fri, 17 May 2013 17:06 CDT
Last Refreshed 5/20/2013 1:24:30 PM