‘Looks like an overdose’: Inmate recently sentenced in killing dies in Sedgwick County Jail

A 24-year-old Wichita man sentenced last week to more than 22 years in prison was found dead in his cell Wednesday, Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Branden Stitt said.

It “looks like an overdose,” he said, adding they are awaiting for an autopsy to shed more light into Daitrez J. Birch’s death.

Birch was unresponsive in his cell at 8:45 a.m. Wednesday. Deputies and on-site medical staff started life-saving measures, Stitt said.

The Wichita Fire Department arrived and pronounced him deceased at 8:55 a.m., Stitt said.

Birch was sentenced on Feb. 18 to 272 months in prison in the Aug. 20, 2024, killing of 39-year-old Kyce A. Barnes.

The Wichita man’s body was found stuffed in the trunk of a car in a grassy field about a quarter mile from where he was killed at Delux Inn, 8401 W. Kellogg Drive.

Barnes allegedly beat, choked, stole $200 from and pointed a gun at an 18-year-old ex-girlfriend who had also worked as his prostitute, according to a probable cause affidavit released in the case. The woman told police she was dating Birch when Barnes assaulted her at the hotel and that Birch had promised to protect her, the document says.

Birch has been at the jail since Aug. 27, 2024. He is the third inmate to die at the jail this year.

Contributing: Amy Renee Leiker with The Eagle

This story was originally published February 26, 2025 at 10:38 AM.