Kansas teen gets 15 years in KC double homicide. Co-defendant awaits sentencing
A Kansas City, Kansas, teen pleaded guilty last week to murder for his role in a fatal double shooting in Kansas City’s Northeast area a year ago.
Austin C. Stiles pleaded guilty Friday to two counts of second-degree felony murder and two counts of armed criminal action in the deaths of 22-year-old Jimmy Bowman and 15-year-old Antonio Frazier Jr.
Jackson County Judge Jalilah Otto accepted Stiles’ plea and then sentenced him to 12 years in prison on each of the murder convictions and 3 years on each of the armed criminal action convictions.
Otto ordered the murder sentences to run consecutively with its corresponding armed criminal action sentence — that is, one after the other. However, the two sets of sentences, each murder plus its related armed criminal action, will run concurrently, or at the same time, resulting in a total prison term of 15 years.
Prosecutors dismissed two counts of first-degree robbery and two additional counts of armed criminal action.
Stiles, who turns 19 later this month, entered his plea just days before he was to stand trial. His trial was to begin on Monday.
In late August, a jury found a co-defendant guilty of voluntary manslaughter in both killings as well as two counts each of armed criminal action and stealing a firearm.
The jury recommended that 21-year-old Jared Catarino of Overland Park serve 12 years for each manslaughter conviction, three years for each armed criminal action conviction and one year for each stealing of a firearm conviction. Sentencing is set for 1:30 p.m. Nov. 4.
According to court documents, the double homicide occurred shortly after 7 p.m. on Sept. 18, 2024, in the 300 block of Maple Boulevard in the Pendleton Heights neighborhood. Both victims were pronounced dead at the scene.
Stiles allegedly told police that they plotted to rob the victims by luring them to the park under the pretense of arranging a gun sale.
Surveillance video captured key moments of the incident, including a dark blue Chrysler 300 that arrived near the scene before the shooting. Investigators later linked the vehicle to Stiles.
