Murdered sexual assault center worker’s boyfriend gets life for her death
The boyfriend of a murdered Wichita Area Sexual Assault Center worker will spend at least 40 1/2 years in prison for her death.
Sedgwick County Judge Kevin O’Connor on Wednesday ordered Travis Becker Jr. to serve a life sentence for 42-year-old Perla Rodriguez’s first-degree felony murder plus 186 months for aggravated kidnapping. He has to serve the terms consecutively, or back to back, according to court records. The life sentence carries parole eligibility after 25 years.
Becker, 38, pleaded guilty to the charges on Nov. 16.
Rodriguez was the director of outreach services for the Wichita Area Sexual Assault Center, which helps victims, and worked closely with the Kansas Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence, which works with agencies statewide to help people in abusive relationships. Wichita police discovered her beaten body and a shovel — the likely murder weapon, court records say — inside of her northwest Wichita home on Nov. 14, 2017 after her purse was found in an Andover parking lot. Authorities arrested Becker, who has a history of mental health issues, in Olathe.
This story was originally published January 3, 2019 at 9:25 AM.
