GREAT BEND, Kan. (AP) - A Texas woman has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for her role in the deaths of a Kansas couple who were killed on the orders of a carnival worker as part of a fictitious “ carnival mafia” initiation.
Kimberley Stacey Younger, 55, of Aransas Pass, Texas, was sentenced Monday for capital murder in the deaths of Alfred Carpenter, 78, and his 79-year-old wife, Pauline, the Kansas Attorney General's office announced.
Younger was one of four people convicted for their roles in the couple's deaths in July 2018. Investigators said one of the suspects ordered others to kill the Carpenters as part of an initiation rite into a “carnival mafia,” which didn't exist.
The Carpenters were killed after working at the Barton County Fair. Their bodies were found in a national forest near Van Buren, Arkansas.
Younger was also sentenced to just over 20 years for conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation to commit murder and theft. The sentences will be served consecutively.
Rusty Frasier, 37, of Aransas Pass, Texas, was sentenced last year to life without parole for 50 years on each of two counts of first-degree murder.
Michael Fowler, 56, of Sarasota, Florida, was previously sentenced to life for first-degree murder and theft. Christine Tenney, 40, of La Marque, Texas, was sentenced to nearly six years in prison for aggravated robbery and eight months for obstructing apprehension.
