History of the Brooks Case
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del.icio.usOct. 6, 2006: Witness details teen girl's strangling
BY RON SYVESTER
The Wichita Eagle
Everett Gentry wasn't talking, until detectives confronted him with a bit of technological sleuthing.
Gentry learned Wichita police had tracked his cell phone to Butler County on the night Chelsea Brooks disappeared, near where her body turned up in a shallow grave six days later. The tone of the interview with Detectives Heather Bachman and Tim Relph changed. Gentry, then 17, began talking.
Thursday, Gentry took the stand against two of his friends - one whom he considered a brother - at their preliminary hearing on charges of capital murder.
Guided by pinpoint questions from the Sedgwick County district attorney's chief litigator, Kevin O'Connor, Gentry told a detailed story that brought tears to the eyes of Chelsea's family and turned stomachs in the courtroom.
As is typical for preliminary hearings, Judge Ben Burgess heard mostly one side, and he's required by law to weigh the evidence more favorably toward the state as he considers whether to send the case to trial.
If he does, Elgin "Ray Ray" Robinson, 20, and Ted Burnett, 49, will enter a plea at the end of today's hearing.
Thursday, Gentry told of watching the 14-year-old girl being strangled as he drove down East Harry and Andover Road last summer.
'Like a brother'
Gentry told O'Connor he considered Robinson "like a brother." The two had been friends since Gentry was in middle school.
Chelsea caught Robinson's attention when she went to his house for sleepove rs with his younger stepsister.
Soon, the two men learned they were to be fathers together.
Gentry's girlfriend became pregnant in August 2005. She had her baby May 30.
Robinson seemed happy at first, when he learned Chelsea was pregnant around January. But his mood would soon change.
Chelsea's age meant Robinson could be charged with rape. He asked Chelsea not to tell anyone he was the father.
But Chelsea's mother filed a protection from abuse order against him. Robinson heard the parents might try to press charges.
"I said he should probably move out of town," Gentry testified.
Instead, Gentry heard Robinson say: "If Chelsea would go missing, there'd be no case."
"You're my boy," Gentry said his older friend would tell him. "I need your help."
Gentry, meanwhile, had been buying marijuana at an apartment building at 1244 S. Market, where he befriended Ted Burnett.
Burnett had spent time in prison for drug charges, but nothing violent. Gentry said that as far as he could tell, Burnett and his girlfriend, Trudy Guthrie, spent most of their time smoking crack.
With Gentry, Burnett smoked pot. Gentry had told Burnett about Robinson and the pregnant girl.
On June 9, Robinson arranged for Gentry to pick up Chelsea at Skate South. Gentry said Robinson pointed to the restraining order as a reason he would have to meet them later.
Gentry picked up Chelsea and took her to his sister's apartment. He then left to buy pot at Burnett's apartment.
Then Robinson called.
"Is that your boy?" Gentry said Burnett asked. "Let me talk to him."
Gentry put Robinson on speaker phone, and heard this conversation.
Robinson: "If you take care of her for me, I'll give you $500."
Burnett: "I'll do anything for $500."
The drive
Gentry - who pleaded guilty earlier this year to capital murder as a juvenile, with no death penalty facing him - said Burnett grabbed a pair of latex gloves and an audio cord with red and white plugs.
When Gentry returned to his sister's apartment, Chelsea was mad. Robinson hadn't shown as promised. She'd been text messaging her friends on a cell phone.
It was nearing 9:30 p.m., and Chelsea wanted to go back to the skating rink.
Gentry said he had to take his friend somewhere first. Burnett sat in the back seat, behind Chelsea.
Gentry drove east on Harry Street, past Oliver, Rock Road, Greenwich. He saw Burnett wrap the cord around his hands and snap it. Then he yanked it around the girl's neck.
"Ted!" Gentry said he yelled.
Chelsea started screaming. Gentry saw Burnett dig his foot into the back of the car seat to brace himself, "with all his strength," until the girl stopped kicking.
Gentry said Burnett told him to turn left on Andover Road. Burnett held the cord around Chelsea's neck, and the girl remained motionless as they drove "past Applebee's and Dillons, until it started to look like the country" around 60th Street North.
On a dirt road, Gentry said, he saw Burnett pull the girl from the car and drag her behind a row of trees.
They buried the girl, Gentry said, "face down."