Kansas man gets 4 years in prison for leaving 13-year-old’s body in creek after his death
A Missouri judge sentenced a Linn County, Kansas, man to four years in prison for abandoning the corpse of a boy who died after he was attacked by a dog last year.
Damon Leonard, 47, was sentenced in Bates County Friday to four years and was given credit for 158 days already served, according to court records.
Leonard, of Pleasanton, Kansas, pleaded guilty May 22 to leaving Airen Andula’s body in a creek bed after the boy died from multiple dog bites.
Airen was riding his bike to a friend’s house in the Holiday Lakes community near Pleasanton on Dec. 21 last year when he was fatally attacked by at least one dog. The Kansas City, Kansas, Police department previously seized multiple dogs from Leonard’s property.
After a search for Airen that involved multiple agencies, his body was found in a creek bed in Bates County.
Leonard called the sheriff’s office and said he knew where Airen’s body was located. He led them to the creek, and later told deputies in an interview that he transported the boy’s body over state lines, according to a probable cause statement in support of Leonard’s arrest.
The case left the Holiday Lakes community reeling and mourning Airen’s loss.
Airen’s mother, Anita Gunn, said her son was soft-spoken and gentle. It was easy for him to make new friends, and he loved to collect Hot Wheels and Legos, she said.
In a previous interview with The Star, Gunn said she was holding onto hope for justice, but any outcome couldn’t help the family’s grief, she said.
“One of my daughters is kind of acting as if it’s not real,” she said at the time.
