Preliminary hearing to reveal details of Ottawa, Kan., quadruple murders

It has been nearly a year, and residents of Franklin County, Kan., finally may get some answers.

Beginning Tuesday morning, prosecutors will reveal for the first time details of what happened to four people, including a young Olathe mother and her 18-month-old daughter, who were killed at a farm outside of Ottawa last spring.

Kyle Trevor Flack, a 28-year-old area resident, is accused of committing the worst killing spree in Franklin County since John Brown and his followers butchered five men in the pre-Civil War era of bleeding Kansas.

Flack’s preliminary hearing on charges of capital murder, first-degree murder, attempted rape and criminal possession of a firearm is scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday at the Franklin County Courthouse to determine if prosecutors have enough evidence to take the case to trial.

The bodies of three of the victims — Andrew Stout, 30; Kaylie Bailey, 21; and Steven E. White, 31 — were discovered in early May at Stout’s farm.

Several days later, searchers found the body of Bailey’s daughter, Lana-Leigh Bailey, in Osage County, just west of Franklin County.

Stout was a longtime friend of Flack. Bailey was Stout’s girlfriend, and White was his roommate.

Probable cause statements, which lay out evidence to support criminal charges, are not public record in Kansas. And police and prosecutors have revealed little about the crimes.

Charging documents don’t indicate how the victims were killed.

The only specific information released publicly is included in the allegation that Flack attempted to rape Bailey. According to allegations contained in the criminal complaint, he stripped off her shorts and underwear, gagged her and bound her hands behind her back.

The rape attempt is alleged to have occurred May 1, the day that Bailey and her daughter were killed, according to the documents.

White was killed between April 20 and April 29, and Stout was killed April 29, the documents allege.

The capital murder charge carries a potential death sentence. Although prosecutors have not said if they will seek it, Flack is being represented by Ron Evans, head of the Kansas Death Penalty Defense Unit.

He is charged with capital murder for the deaths of Bailey and her daughter, which prosecutors allege were done as part of a “common scheme or course of conduct.”

Under Kansas law, prosecutors don’t have to give notice that they intend to seek a death sentence until an arraignment. The arraignment would come after the preliminary hearing if the judge finds probable cause to support the charges.

Flack is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Stout and White. Prosecutors have filed notice that they will seek “Hard 50” sentences if he is convicted of those charges. That means he would have to serve 50 years in prison before he could seek parole.

The firearm possession charge alleges that Flack cannot legally possess a firearm because he is a convicted felon.

He was convicted of attempted second-degree murder for a 2005 shooting incident in Franklin County and spent about four years in prison before he was paroled in 2009, according to Kansas Department of Corrections records.

Prosecutors have not said how many witnesses they intend to call for the hearing in front of District Judge Thomas Sachse. About 40 subpoenas have been issued to individuals and several phone providers, according to online court records.

The judge also has not ruled on a request by prosecutors to introduce as evidence the statements Flack gave to investigators after the killings. That motion was filed under seal and is being opposed by the defense.

The request is scheduled to be taken up in court Tuesday morning before the preliminary hearing starts.

This story was originally published March 9, 2014 at 10:52 PM with the headline "Preliminary hearing to reveal details of Ottawa, Kan., quadruple murders."