Jealous boyfriend convicted of girlfriend’s murder, leaving body by railroad tracks sentenced

A 43-year-old Wichita man who shot his girlfriend five times in 2017 and left her by a railroad track in south Sedgwick County will likely spend the rest of his life in prison.

Darnell Coleman was sentenced Friday to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 50 years. Sedgwick County District Judge Tyler Roush also ordered Coleman to pay $3,245.75 in restitution for the victim’s burial.

In April, a jury found Coleman guilty of first-degree murder in the slaying of 40-year-old Tamsen Kayzer.

On Oct. 30, 2017, a passing motorist found Kayzer’s body alongside railroad tracks in the 10800 block of South Meridian, little more than a mile north of Peck and the Sumner County line.

Only hours before she was found dead, Coleman accused Kayzer of cheating on him in a Facebook exchange, according to a court document released in the case.

It took a little more than two weeks to locate and arrest Coleman, and at one point the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office posted an Old West style wanted poster.

At his home in the 1600 block of South Volutsia, investigators found a shotgun between his mattresses, ammunition for .38 Special revolver with six bullets missing and bullets for a .22 caliber handgun in a closet, according to the court document.

Blood was also found in different areas, including on a white T-shirt on the bedroom floor, a bathtub handle and sponge on the tub’s ledge, and in a Chevy Suburban he was known to drive.

A check of court records by a detective revealed Coleman was convicted in a domestic violence case in 2011, after Kayzer reported he punched her four times in the face. She had previously reported being injured when Coleman pushed her to the ground several times, the report stated.

Contributing: Eagle correspondent Stan Finger