Georgia couple arrested in connection with 1992 Dodge City homicide

Two suspects in a 1992 Kansas homicide were arrested last week in Forsyth, Ga., and are awaiting extradition to Dodge City.

“We have been chasing these (two) for 23 years, and it was nice to be able to resolve this,” said George Brown, an investigator with the Ford County Sheriff’s Office in Dodge City.

Kelly and Roger Jones are suspects in the death of 25-year-old Patrick Howe, whose decomposed body was found April 13, 1992, by a survey crew in a roadside ditch west of Dodge City.

The Eagle reported in 1992 that the case was initially thought to be a missing persons case and that Howe’s death may have been caused by exposure. However, William Eckert, then a Wichita forensic pathologist, determined Howe had been strangled.

Howe had been living with a couple who managed the Thunderbird Motel in Dodge City. Brown said Monday that the Joneses in 1992 had assumed the identity of Roger and Kelly Tauber and were running the motel. The couple disappeared after Howe went missing and soon became persons of interest in the case.

In 2011, the television show “America’s Most Wanted” featured an episode on Howe’s death and how Dodge City authorities were searching for the Joneses.

“In 1996, we learned there was enough evidence to go ahead and get arrest warrants for Kelly and Roger; we learned their last name was Jones,” Brown said.

Earlier this year, Ford County officials discovered the couple living at an RV campground in Georgia, Brown said.

This story was originally published March 30, 2015 at 6:51 PM with the headline "Georgia couple arrested in connection with 1992 Dodge City homicide."