Olathe man found guilty of killing his mom whose 58-pound body was covered with bed sores
An Olathe man is guilty of second-degree murder in the death of his 75-year-old mother whose emaciated body was found by authorities two years ago in her Olathe home. The man had stopped taking her to the doctor when her physical and mental health declined.
Raymond T. McManness, 54, pleaded no contest on Thursday in Johnson County District Court to charges of second-degree murder and physical mistreatment in the death of his mother, Sharon McManness. He was originally charged with first-degree murder. The charge was lowered as part of a plea agreement.
In January 2019, Raymond McManness called police to the 300 block of South Cardinal Drive when he found his mother not breathing in her bed, The Star previously reported. Her primary caregiver, Raymond McManness, was criminally charged shortly after police found his mother severely malnourished and her home in severe disarray.
Police noted Sharon McManness was “very emaciated and had large open bedsores,” according to court records. One bed sore was “open to the bone,” and the mattress was dirty.
Police found no medications, no clean clothing, no working telephones and minimal food when they searched the home. Dog feces and urine was found throughout the house. And soiled clothes, that appeared to be cut off the victim, were found in a trash can in the driveway, court records said.
Raymond McManness told police at the time that he checked on his mother twice a day. He said he had moved out six months earlier because his mother kept him awake at night, court records said. Sharon McCanness had dementia.
During an interview with police, Raymond McManness said he was his mother’s primary caregiver but couldn’t provide authorities with a detailed medical history for her. He said she refused to be treated by doctors, according to court records.
The medical examiner’s office found she had died from an infection due to open bed sores. She was malnourished and dehydrated, and weighed only 58 pounds at the time of her death, court records said.
Weeks before she died, court records said, Raymond was told by the Kansas Department of Aging to take his mother to a doctor, the records said.
According to court records, he told police he “was busy due to the holiday season, and he was scared because he had not been taking adequate care of her.”
The no-contest plea is not a direct admission of guilt. Rather, pleading no contest is an acceptance of the criminal charges and a relinquishment of a person’s right to be tried by jury.
Under the plea, Raymond McManness is recommended to spend little more than 31 years in prison with sentences to run consecutively for the murder charge and the negligence charge.
