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PITTSBURG —
Domestic violence is real and often not seen or realized until situations turn frightening or tragic.
Attorneys, law enforcement, social workers, victim advocates and others attended a seminar Friday and learned about legal responses to domestic violence through the breaking down of a high-profile quadruple homicide case and a discussion of the seriousness of stalking with a representative from the National Center for Victims of Crime’s Stalking Resource Center.
Crawford County Attorney Michael Gayoso said the seminar was set up as a joint effort between law enforcement, the county attorney’s office and the Safehouse, in an effort to help those who attend become better educated about domestic violence and to better be able to see signs of abuse or danger.
Safehouse executive director Rebecca Brubaker said it also is about helping victim advocates understand.
“(The hope is) that they, as victim advocates, would be able to stand in the victims’ shoes and understand what they deal with on a day-to-day basis,” she said.
The afternoon was dedicated to stalking, which can be more prevalent in college communities with the campus atmosphere, but can happen to anyone.
“I think everyone has a notion of what stalking is, but so many actions can be dismissed,” Gayoso said. “Not all innocent actions are actually innocent.”
Hema Khan, program attorney with the Stalking Resource Center, said the casual use of the term “stalking” takes away from the seriousness of the situation.
“What the messages do is take away from the reality of the impact on victims of stalking,” she said.
Many people falsely believe if stalkers are ignored they will go away, and victims of stalking can experience a variety of struggles, including depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Khan also said victims of stalkers carry a lot of fear.
“The number one fear stalking victims report is not knowing what will happen next,” she said.
She also talked about the emotional and financial toll stalking takes on victims, including costs to relocate, changing phone numbers, developing coping strategies, and the time it takes to do so.
“When we use stalking as a casual term we take away from the real impact on stalking victims,” Khan said.
She quoted stalking victim Petty Klinke, who was eventually killed by her stalker.
“It’s going to take getting a bullet put in my head before people realize how serious this is,” Klinke said one month before her murder.
Domestic violence is real and often not seen or realized until situations turn frightening or tragic.
Attorneys, law enforcement, social workers, victim advocates and others attended a seminar Friday and learned about legal responses to domestic violence through the breaking down of a high-profile quadruple homicide case and a discussion of the seriousness of stalking with a representative from the National Center for Victims of Crime’s Stalking Resource Center.
Crawford County Attorney Michael Gayoso said the seminar was set up as a joint effort between law enforcement, the county attorney’s office and the Safehouse, in an effort to help those who attend become better educated about domestic violence and to better be able to see signs of abuse or danger.
Safehouse executive director Rebecca Brubaker said it also is about helping victim advocates understand.
“(The hope is) that they, as victim advocates, would be able to stand in the victims’ shoes and understand what they deal with on a day-to-day basis,” she said.
The afternoon was dedicated to stalking, which can be more prevalent in college communities with the campus atmosphere, but can happen to anyone.
“I think everyone has a notion of what stalking is, but so many actions can be dismissed,” Gayoso said. “Not all innocent actions are actually innocent.”
Hema Khan, program attorney with the Stalking Resource Center, said the casual use of the term “stalking” takes away from the seriousness of the situation.
“What the messages do is take away from the reality of the impact on victims of stalking,” she said.
Many people falsely believe if stalkers are ignored they will go away, and victims of stalking can experience a variety of struggles, including depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Khan also said victims of stalkers carry a lot of fear.
“The number one fear stalking victims report is not knowing what will happen next,” she said.
She also talked about the emotional and financial toll stalking takes on victims, including costs to relocate, changing phone numbers, developing coping strategies, and the time it takes to do so.
“When we use stalking as a casual term we take away from the real impact on stalking victims,” Khan said.
She quoted stalking victim Petty Klinke, who was eventually killed by her stalker.
“It’s going to take getting a bullet put in my head before people realize how serious this is,” Klinke said one month before her murder.
Domestic violence can begin with controlling behavior and end in tragedy, and Gayoso said the capital murder case study that was presented Friday morning was selected because shadows of domestic violence were present throughout the relationship.
“There was a history of domestic violence dating back to college with the defendant and the victim,” he said.
Brandon Jones is the County Attorney for Osage County, which is directly south of Topeka and one of Kansas’ larger rural counties with a population of about 17,000.
Jones said he had served as an attorney in larger counties and had become very well-versed in domestic violence cases.
“If you can try a domestic violence case, you can try almost any case,” Jones said, adding that domestic violence cases often come with tremendous challenges.
He was asked to return to his home county to take over as county attorney in 2007 and found himself trying a lot of cases involving traffic or hunting violations.
“Never in a million years did I think I would go to Osage County and get the biggest case of my lifetime,” Jones said.
He said Nov. 28, 2009 he received a call that a triple and probably quadruple homicide had occurred and a manhunt was under way.
Jones then took attorneys through a story that included years of controlling behavior that led to the cracking of “the perfect family,” the homicide event and the legal response to it.
Gayoso said James “Kraig” and Karen Kahler were married at the home of Dorothy Wight, her grandmother, in Burlingame, where Kraig later murdered Karen, their two daughters, Emily and Lauren, and Dorothy.
While photos reveal what appeared to be the perfect family, Jones said the legal autopsy of the relationship showed a great deal of mental and emotional abuse.
“He basically controlled everything,” Jones said.
Karen met a female personal trainer named Sunny Reece and, while the prosecution and defense disagreed on whether or not Kraig invited Sunny to became involved in the marriage, a relationship formed between Karen and Sunny.
“We feel that Karen was so starved for attention, and someone treated her right and with love,” Jones said.
When Kraig attempted to break off the relationship by moving to a new job things quickly spiraled into a pattern of physical abuse as well.
“All of you are experienced in domestic violence know that’s the worst time when someone who has power and control starts to lose that power they become extremely unpredictable and there’s the highest chance for violence and it starts to get ugly,” Jones said.
However, Jones said old police reports showed issues even back in the early 1980s.
“There were signs early on that this was a person with violent tendencies when things didn’t go his way,” Jones said.
Jones also continued with the legal analysis of the trial, for which Kraig was sentenced to the death penalty, and is currently in the appeals process.
