Staff and Wire Reports
An elderly northeast Kansas woman has died from injuries in a weekend shooting that also claimed her granddaughter and two great-granddaughters.
Kansas’ attorney general announced on Wednesday the death of 89-year-old Dorothy Wight of Osage County.
James Kraig Kahler, 46, a former Columbia, Mo., city official already is charged with capital murder in the deaths of his his 44-year-old estranged wife, Karen, and their daughters, 18-year-old Emily and 16-year-old Lauren.
Kahler is the former head of Weatherford’s municipal utility department.
Spokeswoman Ashley Anstaett said Wight died Tuesday at a Topeka hospital but the attorney general’s office delayed the announcement until family members were notified.
The shootings Saturday occurred in Wight’s home outside Burlingame.
Authorities say the Kahler’s 10-year-old son, Sean, also was at the home but was not physically injured.
Kahler appeared in an Osage County court Monday where a judge set his bail at $10 million. He was assigned a death penalty defense team, according to published reports.
He had been scheduled to appear in a Columbia, Mo. court Wednesday on a domestic assault charge. He was accused of assaulting his wife in March. That altercation led to his dismissal as director of Columbia’s Water and Light Department.
He had also been accused of slashing the tires on his wife’s car and cutting utility lines to her home.
She had reportedly filed for divorce in January. The pair had recently fought over chiild custody and financial issues, according to reports.
Kahler left his Weatherford post to accept the job in Columbia in June 2008.
