Woman sentenced in robbery, killing of man found dead in Leavenworth County ditch
A Leavenworth woman was sentenced Wednesday to 17 years in a Kansas prison for the killing of a man whose body was found in a ditch more than four years ago.
Patricia J. Perkins, 37, pleaded guilty in August to second-degree murder and robbery of 23-year-old Travis A. Doughty. Prosecutors alleged Perkins, in concert with two others, lured Doughty to a rural part of Leavenworth County with a plan to rob him.
Leavenworth County prosecutors have said Doughty was told by Perkins and the other two conspirators that they were going out to shoot guns. The trio picked him up in a vehicle, prosecutors said, and Perkins was the driver.
On March 12, 2019, Doughty’s body was discovered near Old Mills Road. Authorities determined he died of a single gunshot wound to the back of his head.
Perkins was charged more than three years later, in September 2022.
Meanwhile, another alleged conspirator, Joshua A. Brown, 39, of Kansas City, also faces charges in Doughty’s killing.
Roughly two weeks after the shooting, Brown was arrested as part of a major federal methamphetamine trafficking investigation. He allegedly had in his possession a firearm that the Kansas City Police Department Crime Lab matched as the murder weapon, along with 700 grams of meth and three other guns.
In June, Brown was sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to participating in a drug conspiracy that authorities valued at $10 million. He has denied involvement in the killing of Doughty, according to court documents.
The third person believed to have been involved died of a drug overdose, according to Leavenworth County prosecutors.
In a statement Wednesday, Leavenworth County Attorney Todd Thompson said the case “is not done for us.”
“Our thoughts go out to the Doughty’s family; no one should die under these circumstances,” Thompson said.
