Donald Bruce Owens Arrested in Connection With Slater Homicides

A 58-year-old man, initially named as a person of interest in the shooting deaths of Ryan Sanders and Bonnie Charlene Hupp, was arrested Friday night.

KMBC says the suspect, Donald Bruce Owens of Marshall, was arrested around 9 p.m. on June 10. According to KMMO, Owens was charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of armed criminal action, and one count of first-degree burglary. Fox 4 in Kansas City reports that Owens was located in rural Slater, and was arrested without incident.

Several law enforcement agencies have been investigating since the early morning hours of June 9, when a woman reportedly called police around 1:45 a.m. reporting that she heard shots and a man yelling for help. When an ambulance arrived, they found the man, later identified as 35-year-old Ryan Sanders, unconscious a short distance away from the caller. The man was taken to an area hospital, where he later died.

Police were then called to a home just north of the Slater city limits around 8 a.m. the same day, and discovered the body of 83-year-old Bonnie Charlene Hupp, who had also died from a gunshot wound.

Slater is a small community located about 10 miles northeast of Marshall, with a population of nearly 1,900.