Man who shot girlfriend, took photo of body headed to prison

A Wichita man who killed his girlfriend then sent a photo of her body to family last year will spend life in prison, a Sedgwick County District Court judge ordered Tuesday.

Jonathan Perret, 42, will be eligible for parole after serving 25 years of the sentence doled out for the August 2016 shooting death of 42-year-old Melissa Englert, according to a news release from the Sedgwick County District Attorney Office. Perret pleaded guilty last month to one count of first-degree felony murder in the slaying, court records show.

Authorities found Englert’s body and Perret at her parents’ home in the 100 block of South Muirfield, near Maple and Ridge, on Aug. 11 after Perret’s family received troubling messages and asked police to check on him. According to a police affidavit, Perret told police in an interview that Englert asked him to shoot her during a drunken argument, so he put a handgun in her mouth and pulled the trigger.

He sent messages to his son’s phone afterward, including a photo of a gun and a person lying on the ground. One message mentioned in the affidavit reads: “Someone needed to shot that banchies (expletive) mouth ... I did love her though!!!”

The couple lived together and had been dating for more than eight months when Englert was killed, police have said. District Judge Ben Burgess imposed the life sentence.

This story was originally published June 13, 2017 at 12:40 PM with the headline "Man who shot girlfriend, took photo of body headed to prison."