County drops charges in triple slaying; woman still faces federal counts

Charges pending in Sedgwick County against the woman accused of helping a man who allegedly killed three people near Moundridge last fall were dismissed after she was indicted by a federal grand jury last week.

Myrta Rangel, 31, remains in custody, however, after a federal judge on Wednesday decided there was sufficient reason to keep her jailed on six firearms-related charges filed April 25 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas, according to court records. The federal counts allege she gave a .40-caliber handgun to Jereme Nelson, who is facing capital murder and other charges in the Oct. 30 shooting deaths of 33-year-old Travis Street, 37-year-old Angela Graevs and Richard Prouty, 52.

Dan Dillon, spokesman for Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett, said Thursday that “when federal charges were filed, they were dropped here,” meaning in state court.

Rangel had been scheduled to appear in Sedgwick County District Court on Thursday morning for a preliminary hearing. In Sedgwick County, she was facing criminal distribution of a firearm to a felon, criminal possession of a weapon and obstruction charges.

Rangel and Nelson were captured in Mexico more than two months after the slayings. Initially, Rangel faced murder charges in Harvey County. But those were dismissed early last month in favor of filing a case in Sedgwick County, where the crimes she’s accused of allegedly occurred.

Rangel faces a June 27 trial in her federal case, court records show.

Authorities have said little about what motivated the triple slaying. But the document that records the judge’s decision to keep Rangel in jail says her charges arose from giving a weapon to a felon to be used in the “collection of a debt which was part of an international drug conspiracy.”

Rangel faces five to 20 years’ imprisonment on the various federal counts if she’s convicted.

Harvey County Attorney David Yoder has said he plans to seek the death penalty against Nelson if he’s convicted of capital murder.

This story was originally published May 4, 2017 at 4:34 PM with the headline "County drops charges in triple slaying; woman still faces federal counts."