Woman involved in SWAT standoff charged with murdering 64-year-old Wichita man
The woman arrested peacefully following a multi-hour police standoff Sunday has been charged with the second-degree murder of a man whose body was found in the house where she holed up.
Jessica Whitney Sanders, 22, made a first appearance in Sedgwick County District Court on the charge Wednesday afternoon. Her bond was set at $200,000, according to a news release from the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office.
Police on Monday said Sanders fired a gunshot at the ground in front of an officer investigating an attempted theft at the QuikTrip at Broadway and Kellogg and wouldn’t yield to commands to stop walking Sunday afternoon. Sanders then refused to leave a home in the 800 block of South Market where 64-year-old Mark Howard of Wichita lay dead, prompting police negotiation and a SWAT standoff, authorities said.
Wichita police Officer Charley Davidson earlier this week described Sanders and Howard as acquaintances and said Howard died from a gunshot wound to his upper body received before Sanders’ alleged convenience store theft attempt. He added that Sanders acted erratically during the investigation, as if she had used illicit drugs.
Sanders is being represented by the local public defender’s office, which did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment about the murder charge. Handwritten notes from a judge and jail staff on her application for a court-appointed lawyer says she was “unable to complete” the document because she is “mentally unstable.”
Sanders’ next court date is scheduled for May 7, court records show. She remained in the Sedgwick County Jail on Wednesday afternoon.
This story was originally published April 22, 2020 at 3:05 PM.
