‘She took something precious’: Wichita mom sentenced for murdering teen son
A Wichita mother who killed her 14-year-old son before she was shot by police at her west-side apartment in January has been sentenced to life in prison.
Kylee Renee Hodges, 44, must serve at least 25 years before she will be eligible for parole. She pleaded guilty in June to one count of first-degree felony murder in the Jan. 28 shooting death of Claude Hodges Jr., a Northwest High School freshman and wrestler who his family said dreamed of pursuing a career in law.
Wichita police found the boy dead in a bedroom shortly before 2 a.m. on Jan. 29 after his mother failed to meet his father for a custody exchange. Officers went to Hodge’s apartment, 8405 W. Central around 6:20 p.m. on Jan. 28 to check the boy’s welfare when his father couldn’t reach him by phone. Police entered the apartment after noticing a bullet hole in an exterior wall of the apartment and found Hodges kneeling on the floor with a gun under her chin.
The episode tipped off a multi-hour standoff that ended when police shot Hodges after she pointed a gun at SWAT members.
Court records say Hodges was embroiled in a lengthy custody battle with her son’s father and had struggled with mental health and her finances after being let go from her job as a parole officer.
Some relatives and others who knew Hodges told police she had been obsessed with her son and that their relationship had grown contentious because Claude wanted to spend more time with his father and new stepmother.
But police never said publicly exactly why Hodges fatally shot her son.
At Hodges’ sentencing hearing Tuesday, the boy’s father said he believed she wanted to punish him because she was angry about his life and family support. He told Sedgwick County District Judge Jeffrey Goering that he had followed the law and rules regarding his parenting time with Claude, but Hodges often kept his son from seeing him.
“She used him as a chess piece, your honor, as a pawn so she could hurt me and try to destroy me,” Claude Hodges Sr. said in a tearful speech where he begged the judge to sentence Hodges to more than 25 years in prison for murdering his child. The judge later said he sympathized with the family and would do more if he could — but had no ability to deviate from the mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years to life for a first-degree felony murder conviction under Kansas law.
“I did what I was supposed to do. ... I just, just got to feel what it’s like to take him to school every day, to pick him up from school every day,” Claude Hodges Sr. said, “... and it was snatched from me on the 28th because of somebody’s carelessness, cowardice toward me. She (Hodges) killed my son because she is jealous of what I have.”
Other relatives, including the boy’s grandfather and great-grandmother, in court described the hole Claude’s murder left in their family.
Claude “never met a stranger,” adored being an uncle and was the kind of kid who left a mark at school and other places he went, they said.
“I don’t hate Kylee. But I will never forgive the pain that she caused. Now it’s in God’s hands, and he will make her suffer every day. ... She took something precious from the family,” the great-grandmother said.
“There’s a a lot of people hurting. And they’ll keep on hurting,” the grandfather said.
“Twenty-five years ain’t even close to what somebody deserves (for murder). ... I would love a little karma to come back on her,” Claude Hodges Sr. said.
Kylee Hodges wasn’t in court to listen to their grief and pleading.
Before her sentencing hearing began, she asked the judge to let her skip it.
Sedgwick County Assistant District Attorney Shannon Wilson argued that Hodges should, at the very least, be present when her son’s family members addressed the court. Leaving would be an “additional act of cowardice,” in addition to killing her son, she said.
Hodge’s defense attorney, Philip White, said little in response other than telling the judge to “make the hard decision.”
Goering reviewed Hodge’s rights with her, ensured she understood the gravity of her plea and its consequences, and reminded her that she would have a chance to speak on her own behalf if she stayed. None of it changed Hodges’ mind. Goering said he knew of no authority he had to force her to be present when she wanted to waive that right.
When the judge was through speaking, Hodges rose and walked out with the help of a cane, leaving behind the relatives who so desperately wanted to her to hear how the murder had devastated them.
“That is a slap in the face, another blow to my family,” one of Claude Jr.’s uncles said after she left the courtroom. “We’ve been harmed now twice in one day.”
