Presumed Guilty
Ronnie Lee Rhodes was convicted of murder in Wichita in 1981. He has maintained his innocence for three decades. To try to prove his claims, he filed a motion for DNA testing in April 2008, but evidence that once existed now can’t be found. An investigation by The Wichita Eagle and the Washburn School of Law shows the case illustrates flaws in a system that’s supposed to protect the innocent.
Beneath the surface: Wichita fights sex trafficking
Police and prosecutors knew the child sex trade in Wichita was a growing problem. But residents had no idea about the extent of the local criminal enterprise until we wrote of a 13-year-old girl who had lived through the tawdry life of trafficking. My story so outraged one mother, she reached out to me through [...]
Goal: Keep mentally ill out of prison
Sunday, August 24, 2008 By Ron Sylvester The Wichita Eagle LARNED – Eyes peered through the narrow window in the cell door. “I’m getting out tomorrow,” said the man, little more than a disembodied voice shouting over the screams of neighboring inmates at the Larned Correcti onal Mental Health Facility. He didn’t mean out of [...]
Border is a revolving doorway
Sunday, October 29, 2006 By Ron Sylvester The Wichita Eagle Marcos Ramires-Ramires hunched down in his chair last week in the federal courthouse in Wichita. He stared at his lap as interpreter LuAnn Rivera relayed what a judge, a prosecutor and his lawyer all said about his future in a language he didn’t understand. He [...]
BTK killer confesses
Tuesday, June 28, 2005 By Ron Sylvester The Wichita Eagle Dennis Rader dropped his mask Monday. With no apology or visible remorse, the former church and Boy Scout leader pleaded guilty as Wichita’s notorious BTK serial killer. Then he gave an extraordinarily detailed recollection of how he selected, stalked and strangle d 10 people. For [...]
Germ Wars: To Dodge A Plague
I was one of the first journalists in the country to write about antibiotic resistance in the mainstream press. This series appeared in the Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader in March 1999. It won a media award from the Missouri Public Health Association and a local hospital credited these articles with a 30-percent drop in antibiotic prescriptions. [...]
The sheriffs’ extradition crew
Story and two-part video Part 1 Watch Part 2 of the video Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009 By RON SYLVESTER The Wichita Eagle WICHITA, Kan. – Steve Saffell keeps a Taser tucked by his seat in the cockpit and a handgun holstered underneath his right arm. As pilot of the Sedgwick County sheriff’s airplane, Saffell’s passengers [...]
Sacred ground
Thursday, April 20, 2000 BY RON SYLVESTER The Wichita Eagle OKLAHOMA CITY – From across America, thousands once again came to this city to seek light in what once was the shadow of death. This time, they found more than an empty spot where a building used to be. On Wednesday, five years to the [...]
The man in black
I was 33 years old, when I found myself covering Branson, Mo., as it exploded as a live performing destination for country music legends. It was one of those moments when you’re a reporter at the right place at the right time. It’s also the time I interviewed Johnny Cash and June Carter. Reading this [...]
