Grain Valley man charged in wife’s stabbing death

Clay County prosecutors accused a 66-year-old man Monday of stabbing his wife to death during an confrontation earlier in the day.

Larry D. Ratliff of Grain Valley faces first-degree murder and armed criminal action charges in the slaying of Carolyn S. Ratliff, 65, of Grain Valley. According to marriage license records, the couple married in 1968, when both were teens.

The stabbing was reported about 9:30 a.m. Monday in the 10200 block of Northeast 38th Street.

It was Kansas City’s fourth homicide of 2016.

According to court records:

Ratliff dialed 911 and told the dispatcher that he had killed his wife. Officers arrived and found Ratliff in the driveway. He told officers that he stabbed his wife four times in the chest and she was inside the home.

Carolyn Ratliff, who had lacerations on her neck and chest, died at the scene. Officers noticed gloves and a knife on a kitchen table.

Officers arrested Larry Ratliff, who was wearing an empty black knife sheath on the left side of his belt. They found his truck parked 1.3 miles away.

A relative told investigators that Ratliff called her several times on Monday and left a message. She did not check her voice mail but called Ratliff back. Ratliff answered the phone crying, and told her, “I stabbed your mom, I killed her.”

This story was originally published January 5, 2016 at 8:20 AM with the headline "Grain Valley man charged in wife’s stabbing death."