Beau Arndt
Beau Arndt died from a single gunshot wound to his chest. The bullet ripped a hole in his heart before hitting his lung and his liver. A total of five bullet fragments were found in two spots, the soft flesh of his right hip and around his right kidney.
That testimony from Dr. Donald Pojman came Wednesday afternoon in the trial of Theron Thomas Kent of Topeka, who is accused of killing the 18-year-old Americus teen.
Kent is charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of Arndt, who was killed Dec. 15, 2007, while hunting with friends in northwest Lyon County near Roads 310 and D. Kent also is charged with attempted unlawful taking of wildlife, hunting without permission and criminal discharge of a firearm in connection to the incident.
In other testimony Wednesday afternoon, jurors heard from Topekan Roger Stansbury, Kent’s cousin and owner of a cabin at 300 Road 240 — the intersection of Roads 240 and C. He testified that Kent called him Thursday night, Dec. 13 and said he was coming to the cabin and asked whether Stansbury wanted to come. Stansbury declined.
He said that his cousin had standing permission to use the cabin, and that calling was just a courtesy.
Stansbury told jurors his first indication anything was wrong was when investigators contacted him in Topeka, said there had been a shooting just miles from the cabin and asked whether anyone had stayed there during the weekend.
“There’s never been no accident or problems down there,” Stansbury said. “I was surprised.”
Also during the afternoon, Angela Waner, one of the first people to tell law enforcement officials about seeing a pickup truck with three men in it about four miles from the shooting site within 30 minutes before the incident.
Waner, who lives in the 2800 block of Road C, testified Wednesday that she was headed back inside after starting her truck about 8:15 or 8:30 a.m. Dec. 15.
“I head a ‘thump thump’ that sounded like they had a flat tire,” she said of the pickup truck she saw.
The truck was a red Ford pick-up and it backed into her driveway. Waner said she works as an over-the-road trucker and is used to noticing vehicles and their tags. The SN sticker on the truck’s license plate — the designation for Shawnee County — stuck in her mind.
“She was adamant,” Deputy Pat Stevenson testified later about taking her call on the night of the Saturday that Arndt died. “She was positive the truck had a Shawnee County plate.”
At the time, Stevenson said, he also noted how similar Waner’s description was to one given by Tom Glass and Derek Jackson, the two who were hunting with Arndt.
When authorities went to Kent’s business in Topeka to interview him, Stevenson said, he saw “a red Ford pickup that matched the description of what I was looking for.”
Stevenson was present while Kansas Bureau of Investigation Senior Special Agent Bill Halvorsen interviewed Kent, both in Topeka and back in Lyon County where they visited the scene of the shooting, a cabin Kent stayed in overnight Dec. 14 and Waner’s house.
“We pulled into the driveway,” Stevenson recalled. “He rolled down the window and called her by name. ...
Thomas Theron Kent of Topeka, listens as a 22 minute recording of the 911 call to report the shooting of Beau Arndt is played in Lyon Distict Court Tuesday, June 24.
“He said, ‘I’m sorry. If there was any way I could trade places with him I would.’”
During an interview later at the sheriff’s office, Stevenson said, Kent told investigators that after changing the flat tire, he and the two men he was hunting with drove around the area and he saw a coyote in the field where Arndt was hunting.
“He stated he rolled down the window and exited the truck ... and fired a single shot at the coyote,” Stevenson testified.
He missed the animal and continued driving north. Stevenson said he asked Kent whether he saw anyone in the field.
“He said after he got going a little bit, he looked over and he saw somebody outside.
“I asked him why he didn’t stop when he saw he’d shot and someone was there,” Stevenson said. “He said, ‘I didn’t think anything about it and kept going.’”
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lewisbailbonds (anonymous) says...
this is just a sad, sad story...and I really feel bad for all parties involved...The Arndt family as well as the Kent family,,,god be with them all....
June 26, 2008 at 3:07 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )