78-year-old man charged in child sexual abuse case dies in Wyandotte County jail
The man who died after being found unresponsive in the Wyandotte County Detention Center over the weekend was identified as a 78-year-old Kansas City, Kansas, man awaiting trial on child sexual abuse crimes.
William J. Robertson was found unresponsive at about 1:35 p.m. during routine security checks, according to a news release from Amanda Simms, a media specialist with the Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Office.
Jail staff attempted life-saving measures. An emergency medical services crew responded and pronounced Robertson dead.
According to court and jail records, Robertson was booked into the jail on Dec. 3. The Wyandotte County District Attorney’s Office charged him that day with one count each of electronic solicitation of a child that the offender believed was under 14 years old, internet trading in child sexual abuse materials and sexual exploitation of a child by possessing media depicting a child under the age of 18 years old.
Robertson pleaded not guilty to the charges and was set for a jury trial on July 27.
On Tuesday, prosecutors asked that the case be dismissed because of Robertson’s death. Wyandotte County District Judge Michael A. Russell signed an order dismissing the case and canceled all future hearings.
The sheriff’s office requested the Kansas Bureau of Investigation to investigate Robertson’s death, which remains ongoing.
By law, the KBI investigates deaths of people held in state or county facilities unless they were under a doctor’s care or an autopsy ruled the death natural, Melissa Underwood, a spokesperson for the KBI, said.
The investigation is ongoing, but officials have found no evidence of foul play so far, Underwood said.
The Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Office said nine people have died while in custody at the jail in the past five years. According to coroner’s reports, four deaths were from natural causes, three were suicides and one was ruled a homicide. Robertson’s death is the ninth; the cause has not been determined, the sheriff’s office said.
The homicide was that of Charles L. Adair, 50, who died July 5 after a deputy knelt on his back.
The Wyandotte County District Attorney’s Office charged the deputy, Richard Fatherley, with second-degree murder or, in the alternative, involuntary manslaughter for his role in the death of Adair, who was being held in jail for failure to appear in court for misdemeanor traffic offenses.
Last week, Wyandotte County District Judge Aaron T. Roberts scheduled a three-day preliminary hearing for Fatherley to begin on Aug. 25.
The Star’s Matthew Kelly and Sofi Zeman provided information for this story.
