A court record released on Friday details what happened last month in room 141 of a west Wichita motel hours before a 39-year-old Wichita man was found stuffed in the trunk of his vehicle.
The Eagle has previously reported that two people had been charged in the killing of Kyce A. Barnes: one with intentional and premeditated first-degree murder and the other with interference with law enforcement.
A third person, who was arrested Thursday, has also been charged with interference with law enforcement, records show.
All three remained jailed Friday afternoon, records show.
Around 7:25 a.m. on Aug. 21, a worker at Delux Inn at 8401 W. Kellogg reported to police about finding a body in the trunk of a white Mercedes Benz E-class car about a quarter-mile away from the motel in a grassy field.
The car, which had a temporary plate, belonged to Barnes.
The “trunk was taped shut with black electrical tape,” a detective wrote in an arrest affidavit released in one of the suspect’s cases. There was also dried blood on the trunk and “what appeared to be a human foot wearing a sock stuck between the top of the right side of the trunk and the rear corner panel.”
Barnes had been shot multiple times and was wrapped in a comforter.
In room 141 of the motel, police found blood, a short barrel shotgun, drug paraphernalia and one 9 mm shell casing, the affidavit says.
Here is what else the affidavit says:
Taryn Sarah Bowman, who has been jailed since being arrested in unrelated cases on Aug. 22 and has been charged with interference in the killing, said she had dated Barnes for a month and worked as a prostitute for him.
The 18-year-old Wichita woman and Barnes lived at the motel during that time.
But then she started dating and living in a different room at the motel with 23-year-old Daitrez J. Birch, who was arrested on Aug. 27 and has been charged with intentional and premeditated first-degree murder.
Barnes was arrested on Aug. 19 for possession of a firearm by a felon, a couple drug related charges and stolen property at DICK’S Sporting Goods in west Wichita, records show.
Barnes went to the motel after getting released and went to the room where Bowman and Birch were staying. Barnes ate and showered and then asked Bowman to come talk to him while he was in room 141 collecting belongings of another woman, Bowman said.
They got into an argument when Bowman tried to take some items from the bathroom that belonged to the woman.
“(Bowman) said that she then went to walk out of the motel room and was grabbed by the back of the neck by (Barnes who) pulled (her) back into the room,” the affidavit says.
Surveillance showed a man, who one person identified as Barnes, pull a woman into room 141 and close the door at 9:58 p.m. on Aug. 20.
Bowman said he punched her, threw her out of the bed and pointed a gun at her head. He also strangled her nearly to the point of losing consciousness, she said.
Bowman said she struck him with a nearby chair and escaped as he snatched $200 from underneath her bra strap.
Bowman subsequently told Birch what happened. Bowman and Birch then confronted Barnes who again pointed a gun at her head that she again pushed away, she said.
Birch told her to go back to the room. Bowman said she then heard several gunshots.
Birch came back to the room, and he and Bowman then went to another motel. Eventually, Bowman said, Birch told her what happened.
Barnes pointed a gun at Birch and cocked it, Bowman told a police detective. Barnes told Birch that he was going to go kill them both that night, she said.
So, Birch went and got a gun from another person’s room and went back to shoot Barnes. Birch shot Barnes twice in the leg before the gun jammed, so “he went back … and got another gun, which he then used to shoot (Barnes) several more times killing him.”
Bowman said the Birch “told her that he killed (Barnes) because he promised her mother that he would protect (her) at all costs.”
They went back to room 141.
Bowman said Birch gave her a big black sheet to hold up to cover the camera while he cleaned up from the killing. She said Birch and another man then loaded the body into the trunk of Barnes’ car.
Another woman, who was homeless but often stayed at the motel, said that she saw Bowman taking items from the trunk of Barnes’ car when it was parked in front of room 141.
After that, the woman was in another person’s motel room and saw Demetrius Marcell Hill wearing blue rubber gloves and orange and red mechanic gloves. Also in that room, she saw Birch wearing blue latex gloves.
She “also said that they possibly had blood on them.”
Later on, the woman saw Birch and Hill “wrestling with something heavy into (Barne’s) car however, she couldn’t see what the object was,” according to the affidavit.
Hill was arrested Thursday at the west Wichita hotel where he was living. Hill, 48, has been charged with interference.
Barnes “leaves behind a beautiful, bright daughter and many loving family members,” according to a GoFundMe set up to help with funeral expenses. The fundraiser can be found at shorturl.at/zvcjo.
