HUTCHINSON, Kan. – (December 17, 2025) –
MEDIA RELEASE REGARDING STATE v. WENDELL PAYTON
RENO COUNTY DISTRICT COURT CASE NUMBER 25 CR 89
In the early morning hours of 02/01/2025, Hutchinson Police Officers were dispatched to the area of 1014 East 3rd Avenue in the city of Hutchinson, Reno County, Kansas, after a citizen in the neighborhood called Reno County dispatch reporting they could hear screaming coming from the vicinity of the residence. Officers arrived on scene shortly thereafter and observed a young female child in the front yard of the residence and observed smoke coming from the roof. Initial investigation confirmed an active fire within the house. Hutchinson Fire Department personnel responded to the residence.
Investigation of the scene after the fire was extinguished revealed that there were three persons inside the residence, two of which were deceased. The deceased were identified as a four-year-old girl and an adult female named Kalsey Payton. Autopsies performed on the victims concluded that the child died from blunt force trauma, and that Ms. Payton died from sharp force trauma. Both deaths were determined to be homicides.
The third person in the house was identified as Wendell Payton, a 37-year-old male, who exhibited signs of self-inflicted wounds from which he recovered. The investigation resulted in the Reno County District Attorney’s Office filing multiple charges against Mr. Payton in Reno County District Court case number 25 CR 89.
The investigation in the case was conducted by the Hutchinson Police Department assisted by the Hutchinson Fire Department, Reno County EMS, the Kansas Bureau of lnvestigation, the Office of the Kansas State Fire Marshall, and the Sedgwick County Fire Department. The investigation conducted by these agencies was thorough and professional.
On October 17, 2025, the defendant entered guilty pleas to the following charges: intentional, premeditated first-degree murder in the death of Kalsey Payton, intentional, premeditated first degree murder in the death of the four-year-old child, aggravated arson, aggravated endangering of the child, two counts of interference with law enforcement officers, and domestic battery against Kalsey Payton. The State gave a factual basis to support the pleas, and District Court Judge Daniel Gilligan accepted the pleas and found the defendant guilty as charged. Sentencing was scheduled for December 15, 2025, at 9:30 AM.
The defendant was sentenced on December 15, 2025. Before the sentencing, the defendant filed a motion for downward departure, requesting that the defendant receive life sentences with the minimum mandatory service of 25 years on each murder count instead of the minimum sentence of 50 years set by the controlling statute. Evidence was presented by both parties on that motion, and the motion was ultimately denied by District Court Judge Dan Gilligan. The defendant received sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole for 50 years on each count of premeditated, intentional first-degree murder.
Those sentences were ordered to run consecutively for a controlling sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole for 100 years. The defendant will receive no good time credit on those sentences. The defendant also received sentences of 66 months in the Department of Corrections (DOC) for aggravated arson, six months in the DOC for aggravated endangering of the child, eight months each in the DOC for 2 counts of interference with law enforcement officer, and six months in jail for domestic battery. The court ordered that the sentences for these five counts run concurrent to the murder sentences even though the prosecutors in the case requested that all counts run consecutively. As part of the plea agreement in this case, the defendant waived his right to appeal and waived his right to file any post-trial collateral motions.
The Reno County District Attorney’s Office believes the defendant received a sentence in this case in proportion to the crimes he committed. It is unlikely that Mr. Payton will ever be released from incarceration as a result of the sentence.
The Reno County District Attorney’s Office continues to extend its deepest condolences to the families of the victims in this case and thanks the agencies involved in ensuring justice was done for the victims.
Thomas R Stanton
Reno County District Attorney
