Police identify woman killed in west Wichita

Police identified the woman killed Thursday morning in a house in the 100 block of South Muirfield as Melissa Englert.

The body of Englert, 42, was found at her parents’ home at 131 S. Muirfield in west Wichita shortly after 10 a.m., according to Lt. Todd Ojile. Her boyfriend, Jonathan Perret, was arrested at the scene.

Officers had gone to Perret’s residence in the 9800 block of West Second to check on his welfare after being contacted by family members in Texas, Ojile said. No one was at the residence, but a follow-up investigation led them to the house on Muirfield, where Englert’s car was discovered.

Perret, 41, and Englert had been dating for more than eight months, Ojile said, and both lived in the residence on West Second. Police received several calls about the two arguing or fighting throughout the past two months, he said.

Perret and Englert had gone Wednesday night to check on her parents’ house and collect their mail while they were in Kansas City, Ojile said. While they were there, an argument broke out and one of the two retrieved a handgun from inside the house.

Ojile said Englert was shot and killed between midnight and 5 a.m. Thursday.

That house is west of Ridge Road and just north of Maple. Perret was booked into the Sedgwick County Jail at 3:17 p.m. Thursday on suspicion of first-degree murder. He is being held on $350,000 bond.

A police document states officers went to check on the victim’s welfare after his relatives reported receiving “suspicious messages” – including photos of Englert’s body – from Perret. Her body was discovered shortly before 9 a.m., and she was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after 10 a.m.

Ojile said police will present their case against Perret to the district attorney’s office Monday morning.

Sheri Copridge, with the YWCA Women’s Center, spoke about the organization’s efforts to shelter and support victims of domestic violence at the police’s Friday morning briefing.

She highlighted the shelter’s challenge in providing shelter as one of only two domestic violence shelters in Wichita, saying it has to turn away about 75 women each month because it is at capacity.

“We are working every day to try to decrease the statistics (of domestic violence), which are shocking, so this isn’t happening so often not just in our city but all over the world,” Copridge said. “It’s not just a law enforcement problem, it’s a community problem.”

This story was originally published August 12, 2016 at 7:55 AM with the headline "Police identify woman killed in west Wichita."