Brownback steps in on murder of a woman shot and dumped alive in a Kansas lake

Gov. Sam Brownback is offering a $5,000 reward for information in the “heinous” slaying of a woman who was shot multiple times in the head and found floating in a Montgomery County lake.

Cindy Ann Easom was found alive but mortally wounded at Card Creek where it empties into Elk City Reservoir, about 9 a.m. Dec. 7, said Montgomery County Sheriff’s Det. Chris Williams.

“Some duck hunters were out there duck hunting and found something floating in the creek,” Williams said. “One of them thought it was a body, but they weren’t for sure, so they went back to double check and sure enough, it was a body.

“We were able to retrieve her and bring her ashore and she was subsequently transported to the hospital. She was still alive at that time, and obviously she didn’t have any identification on her or anything like that, so we spent the most part of that day trying to identify who she was.”

Easom was a resident of Miami, Okla., about 10 miles south of the Kansas border, Williams said.

Easom was last seen alive when she dropped her 5-year-old son off at her sister’s house in Baxter Springs the morning she was killed.

“She dropped her son off at 6 a.m.; by 9 a.m. she’s in a creek in Montgomery County with multiple gunshot wounds,” Williams said.

The reservoir where she was found is about 75 miles west and north of Baxter Springs.

Easom didn’t have a car, so police believe she rode to her sister’s home with someone else and the same person took her to the site where she was shot and dumped, Williams said.

Easom’s sister did not see the car or know who she might have been with, he said.

On Tuesday, Brownback issued an executive order to offer the reward, saying investigators “believe that a Governor’s Reward would facilitate the information gathering process and improve the likelihood of apprehending the perpetrator or perpetrators of this heinous crime.”

Williams said the department appreciates the governor stepping in.

“Quite frankly, there’s not a whole lot of people that want to come forward,” he said. “We’ve talked to a lot of people, but we just haven’t been able to get that one lead that sends us in the right direction. So we’re hoping that this reward helps us out.”

Williams said investigators from six police agencies in two states are working to solve the crime: the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, Kansas Bureau of Investigation and Baxter Springs Police in Kansas; and the Miami Police, Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office and Highway Patrol in Oklahoma.

This story was originally published January 23, 2018 at 3:49 PM with the headline "Brownback steps in on murder of a woman shot and dumped alive in a Kansas lake."