Nevada man charged with murder for allegedly shooting wife in Lenexa apartment
A Nevada man is charged with first-degree murder over a year after he allegedly fatally shot his wife in a Lenexa apartment.
Ethan McFee faces one count of first-degree murder for his alleged role in the death of 22-year-old Sadie “Cayden” Riedel in Lenexa on Feb. 26, 2025, according to a Johnson County charging document.
The pair had been married for around a month at the time of the shooting, a court document said.
Officers with the Lenexa Police Department responded to The Meadows Apartment Homes in the 7600 block of Halsey Street around 4 p.m. after receiving a 911 report of a person shot at the apartment building, Danny Chavez, a spokesperson for the department, previously said.
There, they discovered Riedel suffering from a gunshot wound to the head, Chavez said. She was declared dead at the scene. Another person was taken to an area hospital with undisclosed injuries.
Following Riedel’s death, a relative of McFee was granted guardianship and conservatorship of the man, according to Johnson County court records. He eventually relocated to Nevada with the relative, where he was arrested on May 18, Clark County court records show.
Riedel’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against McFee, and a relative acting as his guardian and conservator, according to a petition for damages filed on Feb. 2.
According to the suit, McFee and Riedel were living together at the apartment complex, where McFee kept a firearm. The lawsuit was filed on the bases of negligence, assault, battery, outrage and strict liability, seeking damages in excess of $75,000.
McFee is being held in the Johnson County Jail on a $300,000 bond, according to the jail’s inmate listing. He is set to appear for a preliminary hearing on June 18.
Family members remember Riedel as a joyful, curious and strong-willed woman “full of life and questions and exuberance,” according to her obituary. She loved to craft, do makeup and hairstyles and had recently gotten into canning before the shooting took place.
Riedel was “nearly finished” with an associates degree at the time of her death, and planned to attend cosmetology school, the obituary said.
The Star’s Ilana Arougheti contributed reporting.
