Prosecutors drop case against woman who drove car with body in trunk
Prosecutors have dismissed an interference with law enforcement charge against a Wichita woman arrested in connection with the Christmastime shooting death of her roommate’s girlfriend.
Court records show the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office opted to dismiss the case against Vanessa Lynne Waner on Thursday as the prosecution was scheduled to present to a judge its evidence against the 34-year-old at a preliminary hearing.
Asked for an explanation, DA spokesman Dan Dillon said in an email Friday that the office “made the decision to dismiss the case without prejudice at this time” but did not say why.
“The State is free to refile the case in the future,” he wrote.
Waner’s court-appointed public defender was not immediately available for comment Friday afternoon.
Prosecutors in December charged Waner with interference with law enforcement by concealing, destroying or altering evidence of a murder in connection with the Dec. 24 death of 41-year-old Melinda K. Sprague. Police two days later found Sprague’s body in the trunk of her car parked behind a business in the 1500 block of East Harry after a co-worker reported her missing.
According to an affidavit released by the court last month, Waner told police she drove Sprague’s car and left it behind the business because it didn’t have enough gasoline to run an errand her roommate and ex-beau, 39-year-old Ahmad K. Bey, had asked her to go on.
But, she told authorities, she didn’t know Sprague’s body was in the trunk, the affidavit states.
Bey, Sprague’s boyfriend, is charged with first-degree premeditated murder in her shooting death. Court records show his preliminary hearing is set for March 25. He remains in the Sedgwick County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bond in the murder case and $100,000 bond for alleged offender registration violations.
Bey was on parole after serving a prison sentence for a 1999 second-degree murder in Crawford County when Sprague was killed.
