Kansas father: Legal system failed slain family members

A father says the Kansas legal system failed his loved ones because it kept a man’s sex offender status below the radar long enough to kill his daughter and granddaughter.

The Wichita Eagle reports that 19-year-old Keith Hawkins was charged Aug. 8 with capital murder, just hours after 24-year-old Alyssa Runyon and her 4-year-old daughter Zaylynn Paz were found dead in their Newton home.

Harvey County attorney David Yoder says Hawkins previously was supposed to be arrested for failing to register as a sex offender but that a warrant wasn’t filed in time due to a backlog of cases.

Runyon’s father, Edward Runyon, says the system failed the victims because it kept Hawkins’ status from public disclosure and didn’t hold him fully accountable for failing to register his address.


Information from: The Wichita (Kan.) Eagle, http://www.kansas.com.