Strangled Hutchinson woman dies from injuries, police say

A Hutchinson woman found Aug. 24 strangled and dumped unconscious in an alley died in a Wichita hospital Wednesday night.

The Reno County District Attorney’s Office filed a motion Thursday to amend one of two suspects’ charges from attempted premeditated murder to premeditated first-degree murder. A hearing on the motion against 24-year-old Isaac Granville Ervin is set for Friday.

Hutchinson Police Lt. Dustin Loepp said the victim — 29-year-old Lora Beth Stratton — met Ervin on a Facebook buy/sell/trade site after she posted about needing a place to store her belongings.

After investigating, Loepp said, police think Stratton was strangled in a nearby residence and then dumped in the alley on the 700 block of W. Seventh Avenue. A resident found the unconscious woman and called the police.

She was taken to Ascension Via Christi St. Francis. Stratton died at 9:21 p.m. on Wednesday, Loepp said. Officials are waiting on an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death.

Ervin’s girlfriend, 22-year-old Delshay Ronda Vinsonhaler, has been charged with reckless aggravated battery and felony obstruction in connection to the case. The attorney’s office has not amended those charges since Stratton’s death.

This story was originally published September 5, 2019 at 9:38 AM.