OVERLAND PARK, Kan. -- A day after murder charges were filed against three men in death of 18-year-old Keighley Ann Alyea of Overland Park, her family provided a grim detail.
The three men thought they killed the girl Sept. 30 in Johnson County, according to what police told the family, but she became conscious as they drove to dump her body in rural Cass County.
"They had a choice to do the right thing and they chose to kill her," said her uncle, Eddie Frentrop. "They could have just dropped her off at the hospital on the steps."
Johnson County prosecutors declined to provide details on the case, including the cause of her death. On Tuesday, they also filed aggravated kidnapping and aggravated robbery charges against Dustin B. Hilt, 18, of Shawnee, Gerald S. Calbeck, 18, of Merriam, and Joseph D. Mattox, 21, of Overland Park. The three cities are all in Johnson County, which is a Kansas suburb of Kansas City, Mo. Cass County is across the state line in Missouri.
After Alyea’s murder, her body remained missing until police found it Monday evening in Cass County.
Margo Alyea, the teen's grandmother, said she and her husband largely raised Alyea, paid most of her bills and saw her almost daily.
The time she was missing, Alyea said, “I always hoped she would walk in the door -- I kept it unlocked so she could.”
She said she does not know why the men would kill her granddaughter.
“She wouldn’t have gone down without a fight,” said Alyea of Prairie Village. “I’m just glad they found her.”
Hilt and the victim had dated in the past and each had a tattoo of the other’s name on their bodies.
The family is having the Dustin tattoo taken off her body before burial, Alyea said. Her granddaughter had wanted it taken off before her death.
The father of one of the men charged said he had no details of the crime and was grasping to understand how it could have happened.
Derek Bohlken, father of 18-year-old Gerald Calbeck, said his son had never been in trouble and hardly knew Alyea.
His son started hanging out with Hilt a few weeks ago, he said.
His son lives at home and is enrolled in Johnson County Community College, scored high in math aptitude and is interested in psychology and sociology, he said.
“He’s into things like sports and he goes running,” Bohlken said.
For now, the father said, he is trying to learn more.
Read the full story at KansasCity.com.