Convicted killer on parole in Wichita suspected of DUI in injury crash

A little over a year ago, Shelleen Eberhart pleaded with the Kansas Prisoner Review Board not to release her brother’s killer, Kenneth M. Cook.

“I gave them every reason why they should not release him,” Eberhart said Wednesday. “This man brutally murdered and mutilated my brother.”

In 1992, her 33-year-old brother, Charles Duty, was shot to death. Eberhart’s understanding is that her brother pleaded for his life before he died. After his death, his tattoos were cut off his arms and his teeth removed to prevent identification, and his body was tied to a beam and left in the Wakarusa River near Topeka, according to articles about the case over the years.

He would have turned 57 on Wednesday.

Despite the sister’s pleading, the board released Cook from prison onto lifetime parole supervision in Sedgwick County on Feb. 25, 2015.

Now, less than a year after his release, the 60-year-old parolee is suspected of hurting someone again — this time a 52-year-old Wichita woman.

Cook was driving a 1986 Camaro that hit the woman’s car from behind while she was stopped at a red light Sunday afternoon on MacArthur at K-42, a Kansas Highway Patrol accident report says.

She went to a hospital with an injury that didn’t appear to be life-threatening, Master Trooper Aaron McGuire told The Eagle. The woman couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday.

Eberhart hopes that Cook will be sent back to prison as a result of the collision and because he was allegedly driving under the influence — which would be a violation of his parole rules.

Whether he will return to prison, and for how long, remains unclear.

After the collision, authorities booked Cook into the Sedgwick County Jail on suspicion of aggravated battery, driving under the influence and speeding. He remains in jail on an “arrest and detain order” from the state.

The Kansas Highway Patrol has yet to present its case to prosecutors, and Cook has not been charged, District Attorney’s spokesman Dan Dillon said Wednesday.

Cook was being held with no bond amount listed on the jail’s website.

Parole officials are in the early stages of the process to determine whether Cook’s parole should revoked if it is found that he violated his parole by crashing into the car while under the influence, injuring the woman. A basic requirement for parolees is not to consume drugs or alcohol.

The parole revocation process begins with consideration by the local parole office, said Adam Pfannenstiel, spokesman for the Kansas Department of Corrections. If the local office moves to revoke Cook’s parole, the board would have final say and would decide how much time he would spend in prison.

Also, if Cook is convicted of a new felony because of the crash, that would automatically result in his parole being withdrawn, Pfannenstiel said.

In deciding whether to revoke Cook’s parole, the board would consider the nature of the alleged violation and Cook’s behavior while on parole. It wouldn’t focus on the 1992 killing because it has already found that Cook’s release on the second-degree murder conviction was appropriate, Pfannenstiel said.

But Eberhart said Wednesday that she can’t understand why the board wouldn’t make the crime a major factor in its decision. “And for the public as a whole, I don’t think it would make sense to them either.”

Cook’s initial sentence was first-degree murder, leaving him ineligible for parole for 40 years. But the Kansas Supreme Court overturned the initial sentence, eventually making Cook eligible for parole after 15 years.

The main consideration for the board is public safety, and any time someone is injured by a parolee, “that’s something we definitely take seriously,” Pfannenstiel said.

Parole revocation hearings are closed, although the board can consider comments from the public.

Before the collision, Cook was on a moderate level of parole supervision; he is employed and lives in Wichita, Pfannenstiel said.

Eberhart was 20 when Cook killed her brother.

“He was the typical big brother,” she said. “He was a very loving big brother.

“It’s been a long time, but I still miss him.”

This story was originally published February 3, 2016 at 6:43 PM with the headline "Convicted killer on parole in Wichita suspected of DUI in injury crash."