Man’s death after January assault ruled a homicide

The death of an 83-year-old man hospitalized following an assault in late January has been ruled a homicide by the coroner’s office.

Wendell H. Hendricks died Feb. 9 from “complications of multiple blunt force injuries,” according to an autopsy report filed in Sedgwick County District Court on March 1. His manner of death is listed as homicide.

He was hospitalized in Wichita on Jan. 24.

Wichita police Sgt. Nikki Woodrow said Monday by e-mail that the department’s homicide unit is “looking in to it” and planned to released more information later this week “after they have had a chance to talk to involved parties.” The assault was reported as an aggravated battery involving domestic violence, she wrote.

A Wichita police report shows the attack happened between 10:45 and 10:51 a.m. on Jan. 24 in the 1500 block of West 23rd Street, Riverfront Senior Residences near 21st and McLean. Woodrow in a follow-up phone call said “some sort of disturbance” preceded the assault. She did not give further details.

The police report says Hendricks and the suspect are father and child.

Hendricks was taken by ambulance to a Wichita hospital in serious condition after his wife contacted authorities, according to police documents. He suffered fractures to his nasal bone and to his left femur and underwent surgery the next day but was unable to recover.

He was pronounced dead at 8:41 a.m. on Feb. 9, according to his autopsy report. The Sedgwick County Regional Forensic Science Center conducted the autopsy later that day.

As of Monday afternoon, the suspect in the case hadn’t been jailed or charged with any crime, Woodrow said. The day of the attack, a police officer took the suspect to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries and mental health issues, according to police documents.

This story was originally published March 6, 2017 at 7:22 PM with the headline "Man’s death after January assault ruled a homicide."